explaingit

compdf/compdf-self-hosted

Analysis updated 2026-05-18

65TypeScriptAudience · ops devopsComplexity · 3/5LicenseSetup · moderate

TLDR

A self-hosted, open source platform for editing and converting PDFs, Office documents, and images, run entirely on your own servers via Docker.

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((repo))
    What it does
      Edits PDFs
      Converts documents
      Converts images
    Tech stack
      TypeScript
      Docker Compose
    Use cases
      Private document center
      Format conversion
      Internal PDF workflows
    Audience
      Enterprises
      DevOps teams

Code map

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What do people build with it?

USE CASE 1

Run your own private PDF editing and conversion service without sending documents to an outside cloud provider.

USE CASE 2

Convert PDFs to Word, Excel, images, or other formats and back through a browser-based tool center.

USE CASE 3

Merge, split, rotate, watermark, or encrypt PDF files as part of an internal document workflow.

USE CASE 4

Manage API keys, usage, and license status for a document processing service through a built-in dashboard.

What is it built with?

TypeScriptDockerDocker Compose

How does it compare?

compdf/compdf-self-hostedboring-software-inc/dither-kitgaearon/woodshed
Stars656565
LanguageTypeScriptTypeScriptTypeScript
Last pushed2026-01-13
MaintenanceQuiet
Setup difficultymoderateeasymoderate
Complexity3/52/53/5
Audienceops devopsdeveloperpm founder

Figures from each repo's GitHub metadata at analysis time.

How do you get it running?

Difficulty · moderate Time to first run · 30min

Requires Docker and Docker Compose installed, ships with a default admin/admin login on first run.

Use freely for any purpose, including commercial use, as long as you keep the copyright notice.

In plain English

ComPDF Self-Hosted is a ready to deploy, open source platform for editing and converting documents that you run yourself instead of using an outside cloud service. It gives you a full set of PDF tools accessible right in a web browser, along with a management dashboard, and everything stays on your own servers rather than being uploaded to a third party. The tool covers a wide range of document work. On the PDF editing side it can merge, split, rotate, insert or delete pages, extract pages, add or remove watermarks, and encrypt or decrypt files. On the conversion side it can turn PDFs into Word, Excel, PowerPoint slides, images, HTML, plain text, CSV, RTF, JSON, OFD, and Markdown, and convert those formats back into PDF as well. It also handles converting images into documents and documents into images, so it covers PDFs, common Office formats, and images from a single platform. Alongside the document tools, it includes a dashboard for managing the system: viewing API key details and usage statistics, checking license status, reviewing an audit log of what actions were taken, and setting basic system details like the account password, name, and logo. Getting it running is meant to be quick if you already have Docker installed. You clone the project, copy an example environment file, and start everything with one Docker Compose command, after which the web tool and an admin dashboard are available in a browser, complete with a default admin account for first login. A free license is included out of the box for local testing and evaluation. A paid Enterprise license removes limits like watermarks on processed documents and page count restrictions, and adds batch processing. This is aimed at companies or teams that want their own private, self-controlled document processing service rather than depending on an external PDF API, and at developers comfortable running Docker containers. It is released under the MIT license.

Copy-paste prompts

Prompt 1
Walk me through deploying ComPDF Self-Hosted on my server using Docker Compose, step by step.
Prompt 2
Explain the difference between the free license and the Enterprise license for this PDF platform.
Prompt 3
Show me how to set up the development environment with hot reload for the ComPDF web frontend.
Prompt 4
Help me configure the .env file for a production ComPDF Self-Hosted deployment.
Prompt 5
List the document conversion formats this tool supports so I know if it covers my use case.

Frequently asked questions

What is compdf-self-hosted?

A self-hosted, open source platform for editing and converting PDFs, Office documents, and images, run entirely on your own servers via Docker.

What language is compdf-self-hosted written in?

Mainly TypeScript. The stack also includes TypeScript, Docker, Docker Compose.

What license does compdf-self-hosted use?

Use freely for any purpose, including commercial use, as long as you keep the copyright notice.

How hard is compdf-self-hosted to set up?

Setup difficulty is rated moderate, with roughly 30min to a first successful run.

Who is compdf-self-hosted for?

Mainly ops devops.

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