Introduction

@scaryterry/pdfium is a TypeScript/JavaScript wrapper for the PDFium library, compiled to WebAssembly for use in Node.js and modern browsers.

• PDFium — An open-source library for PDF manipulation and rendering, developed by Google and used in Google Chrome.
• @scaryterry/pdfium — A modern TypeScript wrapper with type safety, automatic resource management, and structured error handling.

Features

• Zero dependencies — PDFium is compiled to WebAssembly and bundled with the package.
• Type-safe — Full TypeScript support with branded types and strict mode.
• Automatic resource cleanup — Symbol.dispose support (using keyword).
• Typed exceptions — Error subclasses with error codes for precise handling.
• Universal — Works in Node.js 22+ and modern browsers.

Capabilities

Feature	Description
Render pages	Convert PDF pages to RGBA pixel data
Extract text	Get text content with position information
Search text	Find text with bounding rectangles
Read annotations	Access all 28 annotation types
Read bookmarks	Navigate document outlines
Extract attachments	Get embedded files
Read structure	Access tagged PDF structure trees
Create documents	Build PDFs from scratch
Save documents	Save with various options

Quick Example

import { PDFium } from '@scaryterry/pdfium';
import { promises as fs } from 'fs';
import sharp from 'sharp';

async function renderFirstPage() {
  const pdfData = await fs.readFile('document.pdf');

  using pdfium = await PDFium.init();
  using document = await pdfium.openDocument(pdfData);
  using page = document.getPage(0);

  const { data, width, height } = page.render({ scale: 2 });

  const png = await sharp(data, {
    raw: { width, height, channels: 4 },
  }).png().toBuffer();

  await fs.writeFile('page-1.png', png);
}

Installation

pnpm add @scaryterry/pdfium

See Installation for bundler configuration.

Platform Support

Platform	Status	Notes
Node.js 22+	✅ Full support	WASM loads automatically
Modern browsers	✅ Full support	Requires WASM URL/binary
React/Vite/Next.js	✅ Full support	See bundler config
Web Workers	✅ Full support	For off-main-thread processing

TypeScript Support

The library is written in TypeScript with strict mode:

• Branded handle types prevent mixing document/page handles
• Typed error classes with specific error codes
• Full interface definitions for all options and results
• Support for ES2024 using keyword

Use Cases

PDF Rendering

Convert PDF pages to images for:

• Thumbnail generation
• Document preview
• Print preparation
• Image extraction

Text Processing

Extract and search text for:

• Full-text indexing
• Content analysis
• Data extraction
• Accessibility

Document Analysis

Inspect PDF structure for:

• Bookmark extraction
• Attachment handling
• Annotation processing
• Structure tree navigation

PDF Generation

Create documents for:

• Report generation
• Invoice creation
• Certificate production
• Form generation

Next Steps

• Quick Start — 5-minute tutorial
• Installation — Setup and configuration
• Render PDF — Rendering guide
• API Reference — Complete API docs