# CLAUDE.md
This file provides guidance to Claude Code (claude.ai/code) when working with code in this repository.
## Common Development Commands
### Build and Test
- **Build project**: `./gradlew clean build`
- **Run locally**: `./gradlew bootRun`
- **Full test suite**: `./test.sh` (builds all Docker variants and runs comprehensive tests)
- **Code formatting**: `./gradlew spotlessApply` (runs automatically before compilation)
### Docker Development
- **Build ultra-lite**: `docker build -t stirlingtools/stirling-pdf:latest-ultra-lite -f ./Dockerfile.ultra-lite .`
- **Build standard**: `docker build -t stirlingtools/stirling-pdf:latest -f ./Dockerfile .`
- **Build fat version**: `docker build -t stirlingtools/stirling-pdf:latest-fat -f ./Dockerfile.fat .`
- **Example compose files**: Located in `exampleYmlFiles/` directory
### Security Mode Development
Set `DOCKER_ENABLE_SECURITY=true` environment variable to enable security features during development. This is required for testing the full version locally.
### Frontend Development
- **Frontend dev server**: `cd frontend && npm run dev` (requires backend on localhost:8080)
- **Tech Stack**: Vite + React + TypeScript + Mantine UI + TailwindCSS
- **Proxy Configuration**: Vite proxies `/api/*` calls to backend (localhost:8080)
- **Build Process**: DO NOT run build scripts manually - builds are handled by CI/CD pipelines
- **Package Installation**: DO NOT run npm install commands - package management handled separately
- **Deployment Options**:
- **Desktop App**: `npm run tauri-build` (native desktop application)
- **Web Server**: `npm run build` then serve dist/ folder
- **Development**: `npm run tauri-dev` for desktop dev mode
#### Import Paths - CRITICAL
**ALWAYS use `@app/*` for imports.** Do not use `@core/*` or `@proprietary/*` unless explicitly wrapping/extending a lower layer implementation.
```typescript
// ✅ CORRECT - Use @app/* for all imports
import { AppLayout } from "@app/components/AppLayout";
import { useFileContext } from "@app/contexts/FileContext";
import { FileContext } from "@app/contexts/FileContext";
// ❌ WRONG - Do not use @core/* or @proprietary/* in normal code
import { AppLayout } from "@core/components/AppLayout";
import { useFileContext } from "@proprietary/contexts/FileContext";
```
**Only use explicit aliases when:**
- Building layer-specific override that wraps a lower layer's component
- Example: `import { AppProviders as CoreAppProviders } from "@core/components/AppProviders"` when creating proprietary/AppProviders.tsx that extends the core version
The `@app/*` alias automatically resolves to the correct layer based on build target (core/proprietary/desktop) and handles the fallback cascade.
#### Component Override Pattern (Stub/Shadow)
Use this pattern for desktop-specific or proprietary-specific features WITHOUT runtime checks or conditionals.
**How it works:**
1. Core defines stub component (returns null or no-op)
2. Desktop/proprietary overrides with same path/name
3. Core imports via `@app/*` - higher layer "shadows" core in those builds
4. No `@ts-ignore`, no `isTauri()` checks, no runtime conditionals!
**Example - Desktop-specific footer:**
```typescript
// core/components/rightRail/RightRailFooterExtensions.tsx (stub)
interface RightRailFooterExtensionsProps {
className?: string;
}
export function RightRailFooterExtensions(_props: RightRailFooterExtensionsProps) {
return null; // Stub - does nothing in web builds
}
```
```typescript
// desktop/components/rightRail/RightRailFooterExtensions.tsx (real implementation)
import { Box } from '@mantine/core';
import { BackendHealthIndicator } from '@app/components/BackendHealthIndicator';
interface RightRailFooterExtensionsProps {
className?: string;
}
export function RightRailFooterExtensions({ className }: RightRailFooterExtensionsProps) {
return (
);
}
```
```typescript
// core/components/shared/RightRail.tsx (usage - works in ALL builds)
import { RightRailFooterExtensions } from '@app/components/rightRail/RightRailFooterExtensions';
export function RightRail() {
return (
{/* In web builds: renders nothing (stub returns null) */}
{/* In desktop builds: renders BackendHealthIndicator */}
);
}
```
**Build resolution:**
- **Core build**: `@app/*` → `core/*` → Gets stub (returns null)
- **Desktop build**: `@app/*` → `desktop/*` → Gets real implementation (shadows core)
**Benefits:**
- No runtime checks or feature flags
- Type-safe across all builds
- Clean, readable code
- Build-time optimization (dead code elimination)
#### Multi-Tool Workflow Architecture
Frontend designed for **stateful document processing**:
- Users upload PDFs once, then chain tools (split → merge → compress → view)
- File state and processing results persist across tool switches
- No file reloading between tools - performance critical for large PDFs (up to 100GB+)
#### FileContext - Central State Management
**Location**: `frontend/src/core/contexts/FileContext.tsx`
- **Active files**: Currently loaded PDFs and their variants
- **Tool navigation**: Current mode (viewer/pageEditor/fileEditor/toolName)
- **Memory management**: PDF document cleanup, blob URL lifecycle, Web Worker management
- **IndexedDB persistence**: File storage with thumbnail caching
- **Preview system**: Tools can preview results (e.g., Split → Viewer → back to Split) without context pollution
**Critical**: All file operations go through FileContext. Don't bypass with direct file handling.
#### Processing Services
- **enhancedPDFProcessingService**: Background PDF parsing and manipulation
- **thumbnailGenerationService**: Web Worker-based with main-thread fallback
- **fileStorage**: IndexedDB with LRU cache management
#### Memory Management Strategy
**Why manual cleanup exists**: Large PDFs (up to 100GB+) through multiple tools accumulate:
- PDF.js documents that need explicit .destroy() calls
- Blob URLs from tool outputs that need revocation
- Web Workers that need termination
Without cleanup: browser crashes with memory leaks.
#### Tool Development
**Architecture**: Modular hook-based system with clear separation of concerns:
- **useToolOperation** (`frontend/src/core/hooks/tools/shared/useToolOperation.ts`): Main orchestrator hook
- Coordinates all tool operations with consistent interface
- Integrates with FileContext for operation tracking
- Handles validation, error handling, and UI state management
- **Supporting Hooks**:
- **useToolState**: UI state management (loading, progress, error, files)
- **useToolApiCalls**: HTTP requests and file processing
- **useToolResources**: Blob URLs, thumbnails, ZIP downloads
- **Utilities**:
- **toolErrorHandler**: Standardized error extraction and i18n support
- **toolResponseProcessor**: API response handling (single/zip/custom)
- **toolOperationTracker**: FileContext integration utilities
**Three Tool Patterns**:
**Pattern 1: Single-File Tools** (Individual processing)
- Backend processes one file per API call
- Set `multiFileEndpoint: false`
- Examples: Compress, Rotate
```typescript
return useToolOperation({
operationType: 'compress',
endpoint: '/api/v1/misc/compress-pdf',
buildFormData: (params, file: File) => { /* single file */ },
multiFileEndpoint: false,
});
```
**Pattern 2: Multi-File Tools** (Batch processing)
- Backend accepts `MultipartFile[]` arrays in single API call
- Set `multiFileEndpoint: true`
- Examples: Split, Merge, Overlay
```typescript
return useToolOperation({
operationType: 'split',
endpoint: '/api/v1/general/split-pages',
buildFormData: (params, files: File[]) => { /* all files */ },
multiFileEndpoint: true,
filePrefix: 'split_',
});
```
**Pattern 3: Complex Tools** (Custom processing)
- Tools with complex routing logic or non-standard processing
- Provide `customProcessor` for full control
- Examples: Convert, OCR
```typescript
return useToolOperation({
operationType: 'convert',
customProcessor: async (params, files) => { /* custom logic */ },
});
```
**Benefits**:
- **No Timeouts**: Operations run until completion (supports 100GB+ files)
- **Consistent**: All tools follow same pattern and interface
- **Maintainable**: Single responsibility hooks, easy to test and modify
- **i18n Ready**: Built-in internationalization support
- **Type Safe**: Full TypeScript support with generic interfaces
- **Memory Safe**: Automatic resource cleanup and blob URL management
## Architecture Overview
### Project Structure
- **Backend**: Spring Boot application
- **Frontend**: React-based SPA in `/frontend` directory
- **File Storage**: IndexedDB for client-side file persistence and thumbnails
- **Internationalization**: JSON-based translations (converted from backend .properties)
- **PDF Processing**: PDFBox for core PDF operations, LibreOffice for conversions, PDF.js for client-side rendering
- **Security**: Spring Security with optional authentication (controlled by `DOCKER_ENABLE_SECURITY`)
- **Configuration**: YAML-based configuration with environment variable overrides
### Controller Architecture
- **API Controllers** (`src/main/java/.../controller/api/`): REST endpoints for PDF operations
- Organized by function: converters, security, misc, pipeline
- Follow pattern: `@RestController` + `@RequestMapping("/api/v1/...")`
### Key Components
- **SPDFApplication.java**: Main application class with desktop UI and browser launching logic
- **ConfigInitializer**: Handles runtime configuration and settings files
- **Pipeline System**: Automated PDF processing workflows via `PipelineController`
- **Security Layer**: Authentication, authorization, and user management (when enabled)
### Frontend Directory Structure
The frontend is organized with a clear separation of concerns:
- **`frontend/src/core/`**: Main application code (shared, production-ready components)
- **`core/components/`**: React components organized by feature
- `core/components/tools/`: Individual PDF tool implementations
- `core/components/viewer/`: PDF viewer components
- `core/components/pageEditor/`: Page manipulation UI
- `core/components/tooltips/`: Help tooltips for tools
- `core/components/shared/`: Reusable UI components
- **`core/contexts/`**: React Context providers
- `FileContext.tsx`: Central file state management
- `file/`: File reducer and selectors
- `toolWorkflow/`: Tool workflow state
- **`core/hooks/`**: Custom React hooks
- `hooks/tools/`: Tool-specific operation hooks (one directory per tool)
- `hooks/tools/shared/`: Shared hook utilities (useToolOperation, etc.)
- **`core/constants/`**: Application constants and configuration
- **`core/data/`**: Static data (tool taxonomy, etc.)
- **`core/services/`**: Business logic services (PDF processing, storage, etc.)
- **`frontend/src/desktop/`**: Desktop-specific (Tauri) code
- **`frontend/src/proprietary/`**: Proprietary/licensed features
- **`frontend/src-tauri/`**: Tauri (Rust) native desktop application code
- **`frontend/public/`**: Static assets served directly
- `public/locales/`: Translation JSON files
### Component Architecture
- **Static Assets**: CSS, JS, and resources in `src/main/resources/static/` (legacy) + `frontend/public/` (modern)
- **Internationalization**:
- Backend: `messages_*.properties` files
- Frontend: JSON files in `frontend/public/locales/` (converted from .properties)
- Conversion Script: `scripts/convert_properties_to_json.py`
### Configuration Modes
- **Ultra-lite**: Basic PDF operations only
- **Standard**: Full feature set
- **Fat**: Pre-downloaded dependencies for air-gapped environments
- **Security Mode**: Adds authentication, user management, and enterprise features
### Testing Strategy
- **Integration Tests**: Cucumber tests in `testing/cucumber/`
- **Docker Testing**: `test.sh` validates all Docker variants
- **Manual Testing**: No unit tests currently - relies on UI and API testing
## Development Workflow
1. **Local Development**:
- Backend: `./gradlew bootRun` (runs on localhost:8080)
- Frontend: `cd frontend && npm run dev` (runs on localhost:5173, proxies to backend)
2. **Docker Testing**: Use `./test.sh` before submitting PRs
3. **Code Style**: Spotless enforces Google Java Format automatically
4. **Translations**:
- Backend: Use helper scripts in `/scripts` for multi-language updates
- Frontend: Update JSON files in `frontend/public/locales/` or use conversion script
5. **Documentation**: API docs auto-generated and available at `/swagger-ui/index.html`
## Frontend Architecture Status
- **Core Status**: React SPA architecture complete with multi-tool workflow support
- **State Management**: FileContext handles all file operations and tool navigation
- **File Processing**: Production-ready with memory management for large PDF workflows (up to 100GB+)
- **Tool Integration**: Modular hook architecture with `useToolOperation` orchestrator
- Individual hooks: `useToolState`, `useToolApiCalls`, `useToolResources`
- Utilities: `toolErrorHandler`, `toolResponseProcessor`, `toolOperationTracker`
- Pattern: Each tool creates focused operation hook, UI consumes state/actions
- **Preview System**: Tool results can be previewed without polluting file context (Split tool example)
- **Performance**: Web Worker thumbnails, IndexedDB persistence, background processing
## Translation Rules
- **CRITICAL**: Always update translations in `en-GB` only, never `en-US`
- Translation files are located in `frontend/public/locales/`
## Important Notes
- **Java Version**: Minimum JDK 17, supports and recommends JDK 21
- **Lombok**: Used extensively - ensure IDE plugin is installed
- **File Persistence**:
- **Backend**: Designed to be stateless - files are processed in memory/temp locations only
- **Frontend**: Uses IndexedDB for client-side file storage and caching (with thumbnails)
- **Security**: When `DOCKER_ENABLE_SECURITY=false`, security-related classes are excluded from compilation
- **Import Paths**: ALWAYS use `@app/*` for imports - never use `@core/*` or `@proprietary/*` unless explicitly wrapping/extending a lower layer
- **FileContext**: All file operations MUST go through FileContext - never bypass with direct File handling
- **Memory Management**: Manual cleanup required for PDF.js documents and blob URLs - don't remove cleanup code
- **Tool Development**: New tools should follow `useToolOperation` hook pattern (see `useCompressOperation.ts`)
- **Performance Target**: Must handle PDFs up to 100GB+ without browser crashes
- **Preview System**: Tools can preview results without polluting main file context (see Split tool implementation)
- **Adding Tools**: See `ADDING_TOOLS.md` for complete guide to creating new PDF tools
## Communication Style
- Be direct and to the point
- No apologies or conversational filler
- Answer questions directly without preamble
- Explain reasoning concisely when asked
- Avoid unnecessary elaboration
## Decision Making
- Ask clarifying questions before making assumptions
- Stop and ask when uncertain about project-specific details
- Confirm approach before making structural changes
- Request guidance on preferences (cross-platform vs specific tools, etc.)
- Verify understanding of requirements before proceeding