storytold/pdfcraft

PdfCraft: An open-source PDF reader and editor written by scratch in pure Rust

What it solves

PdfCraft is an open-source, clean-room reimplementation of Adobe Acrobat built in Rust. It provides a fast, native application for reading, organizing, combining, splitting, and securing PDFs without requiring an account, telemetry, or cloud processing.

How it works

Built as a Cargo workspace of specialized crates, the project separates the core PDF engine from the UI. It implements the ISO 32000 specification to handle everything from stream filters and encryption (RC4 to AES-256) to rendering and text extraction. The application is cross-platform (macOS, Windows, Linux, FreeBSD, and WebAssembly) and ensures data safety through atomic writes and incremental saves that leave original bytes untouched.

Who it’s for

It is designed for users who need a professional-grade, private PDF workbench and developers who want to embed PDF automation into their workflows or AI agents.

Highlights

  • High-Fidelity Rendering: Supports complex scripts, vertical CJK, color emoji, and transparency.
  • Agent-Ready: Includes a CLI and an opt-in Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for AI agents (like Claude) to inspect, edit, and manipulate PDFs.
  • Privacy-First: Works entirely offline with no telemetry or cloud dependencies.
  • Robustness: Zero crashes across the pdf.js test corpus and verified with independent tools like qpdf.
  • Comprehensive Toolset: Features for page organization, document combining/splitting, form filling, and threaded comments.

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