Stirling PDF, the self-hosted document toolkit that has become one of GitHub's most popular PDF projects, has shipped version 3.0.0. The headline addition is "PDF Processor," a batch automation layer that turns its existing tools into repeatable pipelines.
The reasoning is simple: a utility you click through for one document does not help when you have ten thousand scans. In Processor, a workflow is assembled from four parts — source, trigger, processing steps and destination. Sources named by the project include folders, FTP and S3 storage, with SFTP and SMB arriving according to the release notes. A pipeline can run on a schedule, when a watched folder changes, when a webhook fires, or when someone uploads or exports a file in the editor.
The documentation describes the classic use cases directly: run OCR across 10,000 scans to make them searchable, compress a whole folder, or convert an entire document library. Administrators can also use "policies" to enforce a standard on documents entering or leaving the organization, and a review screen to investigate and resolve failed runs. Recent processing activity can be exported as CSV.
AI is optional and off by default
Processor can optionally call AI models to classify documents or extract information from them. That feature ships disabled and can be pointed at self-hosted models, the project says. Batch processing is metered: 1,000 PDFs a month are free across Processor, API and AI features, with another 500 per month if you connect a server to stirling.com — which also unlocks the vendor's hosted AI. Ordinary use of the PDF editor stays free and unlimited, the project says.
Also in 3.0
The rewritten PDF text editor has left alpha, with what the developers call a better interface, higher performance and improved compatibility, plus changes to the form editor and automatic form detection. It gains its own reading view and support for PDF portfolios. A QR code can turn a phone into an input surface for hand-drawn signatures. Redaction, file management and the mobile interface also saw work.
Two caveats: conversion to the accessible PDF/UA standard is still unfinished, and Processor is currently reachable only through the browser version — not from the desktop app, though desktop support for connected environments is planned. The release also carries bug fixes and security hardening, including limits on unpacking untrusted archives.
Why it matters
The uncomfortable secret of document work is that most of it is unglamorous volume: invoices, scans, forms, filings. Stirling PDF's move from "tool you operate" to "pipeline you leave running" is what separates a handy utility from something a team can standardise on — and the metered free tier is a bet that the heavy users will pay for throughput rather than headcount.
