Fast, private PDF reader for Windows 10/11 and Linux (Pardus 23/25).
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BarePDF is an open-source PDF reader for Windows 10 and 11 built with Rust, Slint, and Google PDFium. It handles documents locally on your CPU, enforces a verified zero-telemetry policy, and uses demand-driven rendering with byte-budgeted LRU caches so memory usage remains bounded regardless of document length.
- Why BarePDF
- Installation and Downloads
- Core Features
- Keyboard Shortcuts
- Architecture
- Performance Benchmarks
- System Requirements
- Zero Telemetry and Release Security
- Developer Guide
- Testing
- Packaging and Releases
- Contributing
- Privacy and License
| Principle | Technical Reality |
|---|---|
| Fast by design | Priority-queued render pipeline. Only visible viewport pages receive CPU rasterization; obsolete scroll jobs cancel immediately via generation tokens. |
| Bounded memory | Byte-budgeted LRU bitmap caches (32 MB raw, 16 MB UI, 4 MB thumbnails) prevent memory from growing unchecked on 500+ page documents. |
| Zero telemetry | 100% offline. Zero background analytics, zero tracking IDs, zero account requirements, zero network calls during reading. |
| Native Windows integration | Native Win32 printing, high-DPI handling, Shell thumbnail extension for File Explorer, and standard Default Apps registration. |
| Full keyboard control | Quick command palette HUD (Ctrl+K), custom viewing modes, and dedicated single-key shortcuts. |
| Cryptographic security | Update manifests are signed with Ed25519; download packages are verified against SHA-256 hashes and embedded PE version metadata. |
You can install BarePDF through the Windows Package Manager (WinGet), use the standalone setup installer, or run the portable zero-install archive.
Install directly from PowerShell or Windows Terminal:
winget install Woffluon.BarePDFDownload BarePDF-Setup-x64-vX.Y.Z.exe from the official download page or GitHub Releases.
- Runs per-user without requiring administrator privileges.
- Default path:
%LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\BarePDF. - Registers file associations cleanly in Windows Default Apps and "Open with" menus.
- Installs the native Windows Explorer thumbnail provider DLL.
Download BarePDF-Portable-x64-vX.Y.Z.zip for a zero-install deployment.
- Extract to any directory or USB drive.
- Run
BarePDF.exedirectly. - Writes no keys to the Windows registry.
Download barepdf_<version>_amd64.deb from the official download page or GitHub Releases.
- Pardus Paket Kurucu: Double-click the
.debpackage to install through Pardus's graphical package manager. - Terminal Installation:
sudo apt install ./barepdf_*_amd64.deb - Installs to
/usr/bin/barepdfand registers desktop entry withapplication/pdfMIME type.
Download BarePDF-<version>-x86_64.AppImage for universal Linux portability:
chmod +x BarePDF-*-x86_64.AppImage
./BarePDF-*-x86_64.AppImageEvery release publishes a BarePDF-vX.Y.Z-SHA256SUMS.txt manifest. Verify your installer hash in PowerShell:
$Installer = Get-Item .\BarePDF-Setup-x64-v*.exe
Get-FileHash -Algorithm SHA256 -LiteralPath $Installer.FullNameCompare the calculated hash with the corresponding value in the published manifest.
Note
The installer is intentionally not Authenticode-signed. Windows may display an Unknown publisher prompt on first run. Verify the SHA-256 checksum against the official release manifest for cryptographic confirmation.
BarePDF provides seven core feature suites built directly into the desktop application:
- Merge PDFs: Combine multiple PDF documents into a single file with custom ordering.
- Split & Extract: Extract specified page ranges (e.g.
1-3, 5, 8-10) or split documents into separate single-page files. - Visual Page Organizer: Reorder, rotate, and delete pages visually.
- Crop Margins: Define custom crop boundaries (
PageCropRect) to trim excess white space for printing or small-screen reading.
- Text Highlights (
Ctrl+H): Highlight selections backed by PDFium glyph vector geometry. - Freehand Vector Ink: Draw ink strokes with custom brush colors, thickness, and full undo/redo history (
Ctrl+Z). - Signature Stamps: Create, save, and place reusable signature stamps with pixel-exact placement preview.
- Typewriter Text Notes: Insert custom typographic text notes (
FreeTextAnnotation) directly onto document coordinates. - Save & Export: Save annotations in place (
Ctrl+S) or export a clean annotated copy (Ctrl+Shift+S).
- Press
Ctrl+Kfrom any screen to summon the heads-up display palette. - Jump directly to any page number by typing the target page (e.g.
42). - Search and execute commands, toggle tints, change layouts, or launch PDF tools without leaving the keyboard.
- Single Page: Clean, distraction-free view focused on one page at a time.
- Continuous Vertical: Smooth demand-driven scrolling with dynamic page prefetching.
- Two-Page Spread: Side-by-side display for landscape monitors and multi-column documents.
- Book Mode: Cover-aware two-page spread that formats facing pages accurately.
- Presentation Mode (
F5) and Fullscreen (F11): Borderless, focused presentations with keyboard navigation.
- Normal: Standard crisp white background.
- Sepia: Warm paper tone designed to minimize eye strain during long daytime reading sessions.
- Night: Low-contrast dark paper theme for dimly lit environments.
- Amber: High-temperature amber tint for late-night review.
- Inverted Mode (
Ctrl+I): Full color inversion for maximum contrast reading.
- High-Resolution Printing (
Ctrl+P): Direct printing through native Windows print spoolers with print preview. - Windows Explorer Thumbnails: Dedicated 64-bit shell extension (
barepdf-thumbnail) that renders crisp page previews directly in Windows File Explorer folders.
- Zero Network Traffic: The reading engine makes zero network requests while opening, viewing, annotating, or modifying documents.
- No Analytics: No Google Analytics, no telemetry pings, no telemetry tokens, and no tracking cookies.
- No User Accounts: BarePDF requires no email, sign-in, cloud subscription, or license activation.
- Privacy-Preserving Updates: Update checks remain completely inactive until the user chooses to opt in. When enabled, requests go exclusively to official GitHub Releases API endpoints.
| Category | Action | Primary Shortcut | Alternative Shortcut |
|---|---|---|---|
| File | Open document | Ctrl+O |
Drag & drop file |
| File | Save annotations | Ctrl+S |
Toolbar save |
| File | Save annotations as | Ctrl+Shift+S |
Toolbar export |
| File | Print document | Ctrl+P |
Toolbar print |
| Navigation | Command Palette HUD | Ctrl+K |
Toolbar search icon |
| Navigation | Find in text | Ctrl+F |
Toolbar find |
| Navigation | Next page | PageDown or → |
↓ or Space (presentation) |
| Navigation | Previous page | PageUp or ← |
↑ or Backspace (presentation) |
| Navigation | First page | Home |
|
| Navigation | Last page | End |
|
| Navigation | Toggle bookmark | Ctrl+D |
Sidebar bookmarks |
| Zoom & View | Zoom in | + or = |
Ctrl++ |
| Zoom & View | Zoom out | - |
Ctrl+- |
| Zoom & View | Actual size (100%) | Ctrl+0 |
Toolbar fit menu |
| Zoom & View | Rotate clockwise | Ctrl+R |
Toolbar rotate |
| Zoom & View | Rotate counter-clockwise | Ctrl+Shift+R |
|
| Zoom & View | Full screen | F11 |
|
| Zoom & View | Presentation mode | F5 |
|
| Zoom & View | Invert colors | Ctrl+I |
Command Palette |
| Annotations | Highlight text | Ctrl+H |
Context menu |
| Annotations | Undo drawing / annotation | Ctrl+Z |
Toolbar undo |
| General | Copy text selection | Ctrl+C |
|
| General | Select all text | Ctrl+A |
|
| General | Dismiss / Exit mode | Esc |
BarePDF separates user interface, core geometry, and rendering across modular Rust crates:
flowchart TD
APP["apps/barepdf<br/>Process entry, callbacks & event loop"] --> UI["crates/barepdf-ui<br/>Slint markup, HUD & dialogs"]
APP --> CORE["crates/barepdf-core<br/>Layout, annotations & preferences"]
APP --> PDF["crates/barepdf-pdf<br/>PDFium abstraction & adapter"]
APP --> RENDER["crates/barepdf-render<br/>Priority scheduler, LRU caches & cancellation"]
APP --> PLATFORM["crates/barepdf-platform<br/>OS service interfaces"]
PLATFORM --> WIN["crates/barepdf-platform-windows<br/>Win32 clipboard, dialogs & printing"]
APP --> I18N["crates/barepdf-i18n<br/>Complete English & Turkish localizations"]
THUMB["crates/barepdf-thumbnail<br/>Windows Explorer thumbnail provider DLL"] --> PDFIUM["sibling pdfium.dll"]
PDF --> PDFIUM
| Component | Responsibility |
|---|---|
apps/barepdf |
Executable entry point, settings loading, event loops, and command dispatch |
crates/barepdf-core |
Domain types, coordinate layouts, selection logic, crop boundaries, and annotation models |
crates/barepdf-pdf |
Safe Rust bindings and actor managing Google PDFium operations |
crates/barepdf-render |
Priority render queues, generation cancellation, adaptive memory budgeting, and bitmap caches |
crates/barepdf-ui |
Slint user interface, Command Palette HUD, tool panels, and canvas rendering |
crates/barepdf-platform-windows |
Native Win32 printing, clipboard, drag-and-drop, and registry integration |
crates/barepdf-thumbnail |
COM-registered Windows Explorer shell extension for native PDF thumbnails |
crates/barepdf-i18n |
Bi-directional internationalization tables for English and Turkish |
packaging/windows |
Inno Setup packaging configurations and WinGet manifest generators |
website |
Static Astro documentation website and release metadata integration |
Detailed performance findings are documented in docs/BENCHMARKS.md.
- Startup Latency: Process initialization to active window in 65 ms to 95 ms (warm) and 140 ms to 190 ms (cold).
- Settled Memory: 28 MB to 35 MB idle working set; 55 MB to 72 MB for a 500-page document.
- LRU Eviction: Memory usage remains bounded by byte budgets rather than total page count.
- Profiling Script: Run
powershell -File scripts/benchmark-memory-and-startup.ps1 -PdfPath <file> -Runs 5.
| Specification | Requirement |
|---|---|
| Operating System | Windows 10/11 (build 19041+) or Linux (Pardus 23/25, Debian 12+, Ubuntu 22.04+) |
| Architecture | 64-bit x86 (x86_64) |
| Memory | 512 MB minimum (1 GB recommended) |
| Disk Space | Approximately 50 MB for application files and PDFium runtime |
| Network | None required for reading; optional for user-enabled update checks |
BarePDF adheres to an uncompromising privacy and security baseline:
- Strict Offline Operation: The application makes zero outgoing network connections while running.
- Opt-in Update Mechanism: Automatic update checks are disabled until you explicitly opt in via preferences.
- Cryptographic Signatures: Every release publishes an Ed25519-signed
latest.json.sigmanifest. Updates verify the signature with a hardcoded public key before prompting to install. - Validation Pipeline: Downloaded update packages are checked against URL, file size, SHA-256 hash, and internal PE version numbers.
- No Downgrades: The updater rejects downgrades, same-version reinstalls, untrusted redirects, and unsigned payloads.
- Windows 10 or 11 on x64.
- Rust 1.92 or newer with Cargo.
- Visual Studio 2022 Build Tools (with Windows SDK and C++ build tools).
- Node.js 22.12 or newer and pnpm 10 (for building the website).
- Inno Setup 6 (only for building Windows installer packages).
git clone https://github.com/Woffluon/BarePDF.git
cd BarePDF
# Download the pinned, SHA-256 verified PDFium binary
powershell -File packaging/windows/scripts/fetch-pdfium.ps1 `
-Destination target/debug/pdfium.dll
# Run debug build
cargo run --package barepdfpnpm --dir website install --frozen-lockfile
pnpm --dir website run devRun the full validation suite from the repository root:
cargo fmt --all --check
cargo clippy --workspace --all-targets --all-features --locked -- -D warnings
cargo test --workspace --all-features --locked
cargo audit --deny warnings
pnpm --dir website run test
pnpm --dir website exec astro check
pnpm --dir website run buildProduct versioning is governed strictly by [workspace.package].version in Cargo.toml. All installer scripts, manifests, and documentation derive from this single source of truth.
powershell -File packaging/windows/scripts/fetch-pdfium.ps1
powershell -File packaging/windows/scripts/stage-release.ps1
powershell -File packaging/windows/scripts/build-portable.ps1
powershell -File packaging/windows/scripts/build-installer.ps1
powershell -File packaging/windows/scripts/validate-installer.ps1
powershell -File packaging/windows/scripts/generate-checksums.ps1
powershell -File packaging/windows/scripts/generate-package-manifests.ps1Unsigned build artifacts are written to target/release/artifacts/. GitHub Actions attaches the cryptographic Ed25519 signature before publishing.
- Read
AGENTS.mdand the developer documentation. - Create a feature branch from
main. - Keep pull requests focused, concise, and backed by automated regression tests.
- Run all validation checks listed in the Testing section.
- Use Conventional Commit messages (
feat:,fix:,docs:, etc.). - Open a pull request with an explanation of changes and validation output.
- Zero telemetry, zero analytics, zero external network requests for document reading.
- Distributed under the MIT License.
- Third-party licenses and notices are cataloged in
THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.md.
Report suspected security vulnerabilities through GitHub Security Advisories.
Bare. Fast. Yours.
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