| ▲ | Show HN: PDFMergely – In-browser PDF tools that never upload your files(pdfmergely.com) |
| 16 points by pdfmergely a day ago | 24 comments |
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| ▲ | gettalong a day ago | parent | next [-] |
| Why is it that everyone now duplicates/vibe-codes PDF tool websites? It seems that there is one new each week for about half a year now with none providing any outstanding features over the others. |
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| ▲ | jamessb 21 hours ago | parent | next [-] | | This one's website (and a dead comment replying to you) suggests that processing the PDF in the browser, rather than uploading to a server, is a point of differentiation. However, there are older tools that do this, such as BentoPDF (which is also open source) [1]. [1]: https://www.bentopdf.com/ | |
| ▲ | cyanydeez a day ago | parent | prev [-] | | theyre the AI todo app: sufficiently complex and mildly useful. will fail when real use case outstrips its minimum depth. |
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| ▲ | hasudon7171 a day ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| To me, it looks like a design generated by AI. It had exactly the same vibe as those kinds of sites I see all the time. |
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| ▲ | pdfmergely 4 hours ago | parent [-] | | I appreciate the directness, and you are right. The design has not yet earned trust, and that is on where I am working in. For a tool people hand documents to, looking trustworthy and being trustworthy need to line up. Thank you for saying it plainly. |
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| ▲ | pmb_developer 19 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| Would you consider open-sourcing the client-side code? For privacy-focused PDF tools, that seems like the easiest way to make the “no upload” claim more trustworthy. |
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| ▲ | sscaryterry a day ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| Where is the company registered? None of these details are on your website. |
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| ▲ | pdfmergely a day ago | parent [-] | | Fair point, I'll add an About/Contact page with who's behind it. It's a small solo project; there's no company entity yet, but also no account or server, so nothing of yours is collected — files are processed in your browser and never leave your device (verifiable in the Network tab). | | |
| ▲ | sscaryterry a day ago | parent [-] | | No one is going to take your word at face value. Assume people don't know how to open the developer tools. | | |
| ▲ | pdfmergely a day ago | parent [-] | | A good point . open the Network tab" isn't a real answer for most people, and "trust me" isn't either. Two things that don't depend on either:
(1) the offline test is something anyone can do ,load the page, turn off your wifi, and the tools keep working, which they couldn't if they relied on a server;
(2) the site ships a Content-Security-Policy that blocks outbound connections, so it's the browser enforcing it, not my word. The real fix for trust is open-sourcing it and getting a third-party audit, which is on my list. Appreciate you pushing on this. | | |
| ▲ | sscaryterry a day ago | parent [-] | | I don't know the answer honestly :) Just giving you the feedback I got before! | | |
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| ▲ | fp64 a day ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| Which library did you compile to WASM for this? I doubt this is a from scratch implementation of full PDF |
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| ▲ | pdfmergely 4 hours ago | parent [-] | | A fair question. There is no from scratch PDF engine here. It is @cantoo/pdf-lib, a maintained fork of pdf-lib, running client side in a Web Worker, with WebAssembly handling the heavier parts such as encryption. I am happy to go deeper on any part of it. |
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| ▲ | steveharrison a day ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| Love the idea, but would help trustworthiness if the design looked a little less vibe-coded. |
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| ▲ | kewop 12 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| I cannot be the only one expecting a github repo on the website, right? |
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| ▲ | pdfmergely 4 hours ago | parent [-] | | Ofc not the only one, and the expectation is reasonable. A repo is coming, and for a tool like this it arguably should have been there from the start. Thank you for the nudge. |
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| ▲ | vedant_getbags 16 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| kindly improve the SEO to not end up in the vibecoded graveyard |
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| ▲ | jimjimjim a day ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| Question about merging: How do you handle merging multiple pdf that have forms? Are the form fields renamed to prevent form field name clashes? And what pdf toolkit do you use? |
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| ▲ | pdfmergely a day ago | parent [-] | | Our merge is page-level, not form-aware. We copy the pages (including the visual appearance of form fields), but we don't merge the PDFs' AcroForm dictionaries. As a result, form fields typically aren't fillable after merging, and field name conflicts aren't an issue, so we don't rename fields. We use @cantoo/pdf-lib (a maintained fork of pdf-lib) running entirely client-side in a Web Worker, so all processing happens locally in the browser and no files leave the user's device. |
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| ▲ | pixel_popping 16 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| OP, you already know your website will end up in the graveyard, I just don't understand how anyone can still put up the same exact template as the last 100K viby websites released, it's literally a prompt away to have an original design, type that prompt, PLEASE. |
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| ▲ | pdfmergely a day ago | parent | prev [-] |
| Author here. Quick note on how the "no upload" claim actually works, since it deserves scrutiny. There's no upload endpoint to send files to. When you pick a file, the browser hands the app the bytes directly; the work runs in a Web Worker on your device, with WebAssembly for the heavier parts like encryption. The finished PDF is built locally and downloaded. The page is also locked down with a strict CSP so file data has no network path out — you can open the Network tab and confirm nothing leaves while you work. After the first load it works fully offline, which is the easiest proof. The honest tradeoff: because everything runs on your device, very large files depend on your machine's memory and a phone won't match a desktop. We process a page at a time to keep memory in check. Tools today: merge, split, reorder, rotate, delete/extract pages, compress, watermark, page numbers, protect/unlock. Free, no sign-up. Would love feedback on what to add next. |
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| ▲ | da-x a day ago | parent [-] | | Perhaps you can also provide a Tauri-based independent downloadable app. |
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