[HN Gopher] Got tired of bad PDF WebApp so we made a Free, Open-...
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Got tired of bad PDF WebApp so we made a Free, Open-Sourced,
Private Alternative
Author : PseudoComputer
Score : 90 points
Date : 2025-08-02 23:42 UTC (23 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (luxpdf.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (luxpdf.com)
| PseudoComputer wrote:
| Hey guys, we're building LuxPDF.com, an ongoing project to
| develop the most transparent PDF WebApp in the world. We just
| launched (so expect some bugs, UI problems etc.), and our site is
| currently in early-stage development. We offer over 15+ PDF
| Tools, all completely free, all open-sourced, all client-side,
| with no registration needed, no file size limits, and no batch
| processing limits.
|
| We built this because we're students, so we constantly used these
| PDF WebApps to convert, and compress PDF Files, files that
| contained very sensitive information like names, financial
| information, etc. We were so frustrated with current WebApps
| because they required logins, had restrictions if you were on
| their free plan, were closed source etc. So we built LuxPDF to
| try and solve the problem of bad PDF WebApps in 2025.
|
| The only source of funding we seek is just donations through
| BuyMeACoffee/Sponsors. All we're asking simply is, if you value
| what we do, we warmly welcome your support, whether it's just
| recommending our site to a friend or colleague, finding bugs,
| suggesting new features, or donating through BuyMeACoffee. Any
| donators/sponsors will have their names/banner and a custom
| message of their choice listed on the webapp, as a Thank You.
| PseudoComputer wrote:
| Here's the link to our Repo:
| https://github.com/VSRemoter/LuxPDF
| rainonmoon wrote:
| This is really excellent work team. It's great to see more
| straight-forward but polished tools that solve a concrete
| problem simply.
| PseudoComputer wrote:
| For sure, we're still very early in development but we didn't
| know how hard it was going to be to develop it, so we decided
| to open-source it. Worst case scenario, if we fail, someone
| could use our repo for motivation, clean it up and maybe
| launch something better.
| throw_m239339 wrote:
| Is it a competitor to tools like Sedja?
| p_ing wrote:
| > You agree not to use LuxPDF to process any material that is
| unlawful, offensive, or otherwise objectionable.
|
| So I can't take Hunie Pop images and convert them to PDF?
|
| The site says the tool is open source but I can't find a link to
| said source. It also doesn't indicate which open source license
| is being used (presumably one is). Don't forget to put .DS_Store
| in your .gitignore.
|
| And the site itself is like daggers in the eyes. Black text on
| white background. The dark mode hipsters will change their tune
| in their 30s.
|
| What PDF revision do you support? I figure this is based on pre-
| existing open source libraries which typically means 1.6, max.
|
| You should make a connector for Power Automate.
| BitPirate wrote:
| Took me a while, but I found the repository:
| https://github.com/VSRemoter/LuxPDF
| p_ing wrote:
| Yeah, I had found it, hence my .DS_Store comment ;-)
| siliconpotato wrote:
| > offensive or..objectionable
|
| Offence and objection are totally subjective. Even unlawful is
| very dependent on which particular country you are in.
| p_ing wrote:
| Heh. And if you look at the ToS, it ends with:
|
| > These Terms of Service and your use of the website are
| governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the
| applicable jurisdiction.
|
| Which jurisdiction!? It doesn't even identify where the
| owners and operators reside which would be the 'default'
| jurisdiction.
|
| I don't know where I am, man!
| Spivak wrote:
| It's a student project with a ToS that's basically "don't use
| this for anything that could get us in trouble." I don't find
| that particularly unreasonable especially when honor codes at
| schools are usually stricter than "whatever is legal is
| allowed."
|
| I know it's programmer-brain to naturally probe the edges of
| things but at the same time as adults we're expected to
| understand and navigate fuzzy concepts like inappropriate
| behavior without having to have it spelled out like you do with
| young kids.
| another_twist wrote:
| Oh thank you so much. These are common and very annoying pain
| points.
| BitPirate wrote:
| Alternative: Stirling PDF
| smeggysmeg wrote:
| I desperately wish Stirling wasn't a webapp. Having to setup
| and launch a web server and browser to edit a PDF on my
| computer seems insane. We skipped the "foss, local app" stage,
| where Adobe dominates, and jumped straight to the web service
| model.
| PseudoComputer wrote:
| I think the core audience for Stirling PDF is a lot different
| from ours. Stirling PDF looks like there built for enterprise
| users and big business. We built LuxPDF to be more for
| students, small business owners, freelancers, etc. To be honest
| we saw our site as an alternative to FreeConvert & PDFCandy,
| not for Stirling PDF.
| teleforce wrote:
| Is it just only me that is wondering why Microsoft does not
| provide a productivity tool to rival Adobe virtual monopoly on
| PDF viewing and editing?
|
| Just include this PDF software in the 365 subscription and see
| how many are still subscribing to the bane of Adobe PDF software
| suites.
| sitzkrieg wrote:
| they complete somewhat in some niche cases. eg edge can handle
| encrypted and even classified pdf workloads
|
| but run of the mill editing stuff? dream on lol
| daveoc64 wrote:
| Adobe threatened Microsoft with an antitrust lawsuit when
| Microsoft wanted to add PDF export functionality to Office
| 2007.
|
| I can't imagine how Adobe would react if they built a whole PDF
| solution!
| teleforce wrote:
| Thanks for the info.
|
| Nothing happened when Microsoft added the PDF export
| functionality to Office, it's an empty threat after all.
|
| Last year apparently OnlyOffice 8.1 has added PDF native
| editing in their software suites.
| pona-a wrote:
| I don't want this to sound like an accusation, but did you vibe-
| code this? The site's style is looking very similar to what you
| might get from Claude.
| p_ing wrote:
| The settings.json included in the GitHub repo has
| kiroAgent.configureMCP: false, so you may be correct that an AI
| addon was used.
|
| https://kiro.dev/
|
| In fact, that domain looks similar to luxpdf.
| PseudoComputer wrote:
| No it's a very valid question, yes we did use Kiro IDE running
| on Claude 4 for some of the more complicated tools like Sort
| Pages (getting the UI, image preview etc) and some other tools.
| Developing this PDF WebApp was a lot more complicated than we
| thought so we had to resort to vibe coding for some
| functionality. We used Claude mostly for the tools and the
| "initial generation"/layout of the site.
| qhwudbebd wrote:
| In case your first instinct (like mine) was to browse through the
| implementation, the javascript is at
| https://github.com/VSRemoter/LuxPDF/blob/main/script.js
| PseudoComputer wrote:
| Yes, I can't believe I didn't attach on the main site, will do
| this asap haha
| brumar wrote:
| Thanks. I'll add the answer to my own question too: pdfLib is
| the dependency at work to make it work in the browser runtime.
| CommanderData wrote:
| Well done, hopefully gains traction. The alternative websites you
| talk about are an absolute nightmare to navigate only to find a
| suprise login or subscription.
| PseudoComputer wrote:
| Yes, and we hope that at worst case, someone uses our Repo as
| motivation to build a better version of LuxPDF if it fails.
| byyll wrote:
| How does that compare to https://github.com/Stirling-
| Tools/Stirling-PDF ?
| cxr wrote:
| A cursory check reveals some answers:
|
| * the one you linked is a browser-based thin client; this one
| runs right on the user's machine
|
| * 100% less Docker and other devslop--drastically simpler
| deployment and development cycles
| byyll wrote:
| It still seems to require a browser to use. But sure, I guess
| it's easier to start with.
| upcoming-sesame wrote:
| Thank you for building this.
|
| The biggest pain in my opinion though is PDF editing, for
| example, filling annoying image based forms with predefined
| square boxes/spaces
| fzil wrote:
| oh man, "Free, Open-Sourced, Private Alternative" and I win HN
| title bingo!
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(page generated 2025-08-03 23:02 UTC)