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Version: v2026.0.0

Open your first document

This guide assumes you have ARender running via Docker Compose quickstart.

Open the default document​

Open your browser at http://localhost:8080. ARender loads with a default sample document. You can navigate pages, zoom, annotate, and search text immediately.

Open a document by URL​

To open a document from an external URL, that URL must be authorized in the broker configuration. By default, only relative sample and tmp paths are authorized:

authorized.paths=../../samples/,../samples/,../../tmp/,../tmp
authorized.urls=

To allow an external URL, set the authorized.urls property on the Document Service Broker. As an environment variable:

  service-broker:
    environment:
      - "DSB_AUTHORIZED_URLS=https://example.com/"

Restart the services, then open:

http://localhost:8080/?url=https://example.com/my-document.pdf

Open a local file​

Files under the default authorized paths (../../samples/, ../samples/, etc.) are accessible without additional configuration:

http://localhost:8080/?url=../../samples/my-document.pdf

Use the REST API​

You can load documents programmatically through the broker REST API (exposed on port 8761).

Upload a document (the broker accepts raw binary content):

curl -X POST http://localhost:8761/documents \
  -H "Content-Type: application/octet-stream" \
  --data-binary @my-document.pdf

The response is a JSON object containing the document ID:

{"id": "b64_NDNiMmI0NjctZGZlOS00MjgzLWExZWYtMjVkNGIyNTQ5Nzgw"}

Get the document layout (page count, dimensions):

curl http://localhost:8761/documents/{documentId}/layout

Get a page image (page 0, 800px wide, no rotation):

curl "http://localhost:8761/documents/{documentId}/pages/0/image?pageImageDescription=IM_800_0" \
  --output page0.png

Get text positions for a page:

curl http://localhost:8761/documents/{documentId}/pages/0/text/position

See the REST API reference for the complete endpoint list with response examples.

Viewer features​

Once a document is open, you can:

  • Navigate: use the page thumbnails on the left, or Page Up/Down keys
  • Zoom: use the zoom controls or Ctrl+scroll
  • Search: press Ctrl+F for full-text search with highlighting
  • Annotate: use the annotation toolbar to add highlights, stamps, notes, shapes
  • Compare: open two documents side by side for text or image comparison
  • Export: download the document with or without annotations

Next steps​

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