open-files

Minimal, sleek, cross-platform document viewer for PDF, Markdown, JSON, Text, Mermaid, and EPUB.

Built with Tauri v2 + React + TypeScript + Vite.

Supported Formats

Format	Extensions	Renderer
PDF	.pdf	pdfjs-dist
Markdown	.md, .markdown	@create-markdown/core + preview
Mermaid	.mmd, .mermaid	@create-markdown/preview-mermaid
JSON	.json	Pretty-print with error display
Text	.txt, .log, .csv, .yaml, .toml, .xml, etc.	Preformatted viewer
EPUB	.epub	epubjs

Prerequisites

• Node.js (v20+)
• pnpm (v8+)
• Rust (for Tauri native builds)
• Xcode Command Line Tools (macOS) or equivalent platform toolchain

Getting Started

# Install dependencies
pnpm install

# Run in browser (dev mode, no Tauri shell)
pnpm dev
# Open http://localhost:1420

# Run as native desktop app (requires Rust toolchain)
pnpm tauri:dev

# Build native app bundle
pnpm tauri:build

# Initialize mobile projects when the local toolchains are installed
pnpm tauri:ios:init
pnpm tauri:android:init

Scripts

Command	Description
pnpm dev	Start Vite dev server (browser mode)
pnpm build	TypeScript check + Vite production build
pnpm preview	Preview production build
pnpm typecheck	TypeScript type checking only
pnpm test	Run unit tests with Vitest
pnpm secrets:scan	Scan tracked and untracked source files for common secret patterns
pnpm setup:hooks	Enable the repository pre-commit hook locally
pnpm tauri:dev	Launch Tauri desktop app in dev mode
pnpm tauri:build	Build native desktop app bundle
pnpm tauri:ios:init	Generate the iOS target project
pnpm tauri:ios:dev	Launch on iOS simulator/device
pnpm tauri:ios:build	Build the iOS app
pnpm tauri:android:init	Generate the Android target project
pnpm tauri:android:dev	Launch on Android emulator/device
pnpm tauri:android:build	Build the Android app

Secret Safety

This repo intentionally ignores local env files, signing material, credentials, and build artifacts. The committed pre-commit hook runs node scripts/secret-scan.mjs to block common API keys, private key blocks, and credential assignments before commit.

pnpm install enables .githooks/ automatically via the prepare script. If hooks are not active, run:

pnpm setup:hooks
pnpm secrets:scan

GitHub Actions also runs the same secret scan on pushes and pull requests.

Architecture

open-files/
  index.html              # Vite entry
  src/
    main.tsx              # React mount
    App.tsx               # Main app shell (header, drop zone, routing)
    fileTypes.ts          # File extension detection
    useFileLoader.ts      # File loading (Tauri native or browser fallback)
    renderMarkdown.ts     # Markdown/Mermaid rendering pipeline with DOMPurify
    styles.css            # System-aware light/dark theme
    viewers/
      PdfViewer.tsx       # PDF rendering with pdfjs-dist
      MarkdownViewer.tsx  # Markdown with @create-markdown/preview
      MermaidViewer.tsx   # Mermaid via fenced code block rendering
      JsonViewer.tsx      # JSON pretty-print with error handling
      TextViewer.tsx      # Plain text / log / CSV viewer
      EpubViewer.tsx      # EPUB reader with navigation
    __tests__/
      fileTypes.test.ts   # File type detection tests
  src-tauri/
    src/                  # Rust backend (Tauri plugins)
    tauri.conf.json       # Tauri v2 configuration
    capabilities/         # Tauri v2 permission capabilities
    Cargo.toml            # Rust dependencies

Features

• Single-window UI with clean empty state and unsupported-format messaging
• Open files via native dialog (Tauri) or browser file picker (dev mode)
• Drag and drop file loading
• File metadata display (name, size, format)
• System-aware light/dark theme (follows OS preference)
• PDF page navigation
• EPUB chapter navigation

Release Targets

open-files uses Tauri v2 so the same React/TypeScript interface can be packaged for macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS, and Android. Desktop builds are ready from this scaffold. Mobile targets are initialized with the scripts above once Xcode/iOS and Android SDK/JDK prerequisites are installed on the release machine.

Known Limitations

• Markdown renders Mermaid fenced code blocks via @create-markdown/preview-mermaid
• EPUB rendering depends on epubjs which has limited CSS support for complex layouts
• PDF worker is bundled inline; large PDFs may be slow on first render
• No file watching or auto-reload on external changes
• No search within documents
• No print support
• Browser dev mode uses <input type="file"> fallback instead of native dialog
• Android builds require a Java runtime plus Android SDK tooling; those are not bundled with this repo

License

MIT