Why I Built It
I needed to compress a PDF last week. The first 5 Google results all required uploading my file to a server. Some wanted my email. Others limited me to 2 files per day.
I'm a developer. I thought: we have WebAssembly, Web Workers, and the File API — why are we still uploading PDFs to random servers?
So I built PDF Toolbox — a collection of PDF tools that process everything locally in your browser.
What It Does
- Compress PDF — reduce file size while keeping quality
- Merge PDF — combine multiple PDFs into one
- Split PDF — extract pages or split into individual files
- PDF to JPG — convert each page to an image
- JPG to PDF — bundle images into a PDF
- Unlock PDF — remove password protection (if you know the password)
Tech Stack
Built with Next.js 16 + TypeScript + Tailwind CSS, deployed on Vercel. The PDF processing uses client-side libraries so files never touch a server. Every tool works offline once the page is loaded.
Design Decisions
Privacy-first architecture
This was my number one constraint. All PDF processing runs in the browser using the Web Worker API. When you drop a file, it stays in your browser's memory — nothing is sent to any backend. You can turn off your internet connection after the page loads and everything still works.
No limits, no registration
Most PDF tools gate features behind accounts or daily limits. PDF Toolbox has no concept of users — there's no database, no login, no tracking. Use it as many times as you want.
Simple UI, complex backend
I kept the interface dead simple: drag-and-drop, one-click processing, instant download. But under the hood there's a lot going on — streaming file reads, memory-efficient processing for large PDFs, and proper error handling for edge cases like encrypted files and corrupted PDFs.
What's Next
- PDF to Word — coming soon
- Watermark PDF — add text/image watermarks
- Dark mode — working on it
- Mobile PWA — installable offline app
Try It Out
Head over to pdftoolbox-three.vercel.app and try compressing a PDF. No signup, no upload, no catch.
I'd love feedback from the Dev.to community! What PDF features would you find most useful? Drop a comment below.
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