Stirling-Tools/Stirling-PDF
Stirling PDF
Stirling-PDF is a self-hosted document processing suite designed for secure, private file management. It functions as a comprehensive transformation engine that executes complex operations—such as merging, splitting, converting, and redacting documents—directly on the host machine. The platform provides both a browser-based interface for interactive editing and a programmatic, API-first architecture that allows for the automation of document workflows through standard HTTP requests.
The project distinguishes itself through its focus on private, infrastructure-agnostic deployment and granular security. It supports role-based access control and stateless session authentication, ensuring that sensitive operations remain protected within a user-controlled environment. By offering a unified interface for sequential file transformations, it enables users to chain multiple processing tasks into single, automated pipelines while maintaining full control over document integrity and security.
The system covers a broad range of document manipulation capabilities, including optical character recognition, digital signature validation, and advanced layout operations like booklet imposition and page reorganization. It is built for flexible integration, supporting deployment across containerized environments, bare metal, or native desktop installations. Configuration is managed through environment variables, YAML files, or the web interface, allowing for consistent behavior across diverse infrastructure setups.
Features
- PDF Processing - Executes complex document transformations and rendering tasks on the host machine to maintain high performance and data security.
- Stateless Session Authentication - Manages user identity and authorization using cryptographically signed tokens to maintain secure state across distributed client-server interactions.
- API-First Document Processors - A programmatic interface enabling automated document workflows through standard HTTP requests for integration into external software pipelines and services.
- Document Automation Pipelines - Building custom pipelines to merge, split, convert, and transform PDF documents programmatically through a centralized service.
- Optical Character Recognition Engines - Converting scanned images and non-searchable documents into accessible, indexable text formats using automated server-side processing.
- Browser-Based PDF Editors - A client-side interface for interactive PDF manipulation, including annotation, redaction, and visual content management directly within the web browser.
- Authentication & Authorization Systems - The application configures user authentication, manages accounts, and defines role-based access control to secure application access and protect sensitive user data.
- User Access Control - The application manages user access by defining roles, creating accounts, and controlling permissions for administrative and standard user operations.
- PDF Security and Signing - The application secures PDF documents by adding or removing passwords, changing permissions, and applying digital or handwritten signatures to protect document integrity.
- Document Security Tools - Deploying private infrastructure to redact, sign, and password-protect sensitive files without relying on third-party cloud services.
- Self-Hosted PDF Suites - A comprehensive document processing platform providing browser-based tools for editing, converting, securing, and managing PDF files within private infrastructure.
- PDF Page Manipulation - The application manages PDF pages by rotating, extracting, reorganizing, numbering, or removing specific pages to refine document structure and content.
- RESTful APIs - Exposes core document processing capabilities through standardized HTTP endpoints to facilitate programmatic integration and automated workflow chaining.
- API-Driven Document Integrations - Connecting external applications to a robust backend service for programmatic PDF manipulation and metadata management via RESTful endpoints.
- PDF Editors - The application provides tools to edit PDF metadata, add stamps or images, replace colors, and retrieve document information to customize file properties.
- PDF Manipulation Utilities - The application combines multiple PDF files into a single document or splits a single PDF into multiple separate files to organize document collections.
- PDF Transformation Engines - A server-side processing environment that executes sequential file operations, format conversions, and complex layout modifications through a unified interface.
- PDF Workflow Orchestrators - The application allows chaining multiple PDF operations into a single workflow by uploading files once and applying sequential transformations to the document.
- Container Orchestration - Packages the application and its runtime dependencies into portable images to ensure consistent execution across diverse infrastructure environments.
- Kubernetes Deployments - The application supports deployment in high-availability environments using container orchestration, persistent volume claims, and ingress configurations for scalable operations.
- Containerized Deployments - The application provides deployment as a containerized service using standard container runtimes with support for multiple image variants tailored to specific requirements.
- Role-Based Access Control - Enforces granular security policies by validating user identity and permissions against defined roles before granting access to sensitive operations.
- Environment Variable Configurations - The application supports configuring application parameters using environment variables to facilitate containerized deployments and infrastructure-as-code workflows.
- PDF Annotations - The application enables viewing and annotating PDF documents directly within the browser using built-in tools for marking up content and adding comments.
- PDF Format Converters - The application converts PDF files to and from various formats including office documents, images, and web markup to facilitate cross-platform compatibility.
- PDF Redaction Tools - The application removes sensitive information from PDF documents using manual or automated redaction tools to ensure data privacy and compliance.
- PDF Compression - The application reduces the file size of PDF documents to optimize storage and sharing while maintaining document quality and readability.
- PDF Layout Operations - The application supports advanced layout operations such as overlaying PDFs, booklet imposition, scaling, and adding scanner effects to modify document structure.
- Container Orchestration Services - Orchestrating scalable document processing services using container runtimes and environment-based configuration for consistent production deployments.
- Containerized Productivity Services - A portable application architecture designed for deployment across bare metal, container orchestration, or virtualized environments with configurable security and authentication.
- PDF Comparison Tools - The application compares two PDF documents to identify and highlight differences between them for version control and content verification.
- Native Desktop Installers - The application supports native desktop installation with system-level integration, including file association and fast startup, across multiple operating systems.
- Digital Signature Validators - The application validates PDF digital signatures using configurable trust sources and revocation checking to ensure document integrity and authenticity.
- API Authentication Strategies - When security is enabled, all API requests require authentication. There are two ways to handle API authentication: ### User-Specific API Keys[](#user-specific-api-keys "Direct link to User-Specific API Keys") 1. Obtain
- Server Certificate Management - The application enables generating or importing custom server certificates to support secure document signing with options for automatic renewal and keystore management.
- Declarative Configuration - Centralizes system parameters through environment variables and YAML files to enable infrastructure-as-code workflows and simplified deployment tuning.
- System Defaults Management - The application manages user authentication, localization, and system defaults using either environment variables or a centralized configuration file for consistent behavior.