Getting Started

Let’s build a basic, scrollable PDF viewer. This guide will walk you through the essential setup.

1. Installation

You’ll need a few packages to create a minimal viewer: the core library, the engine, and a few essential plugins.


npm install @embedpdf/core @embedpdf/engines @embedpdf/plugin-loader @embedpdf/plugin-viewport @embedpdf/plugin-scroll @embedpdf/plugin-render


pnpm add @embedpdf/core @embedpdf/engines @embedpdf/plugin-loader @embedpdf/plugin-viewport @embedpdf/plugin-scroll @embedpdf/plugin-render


yarn add @embedpdf/core @embedpdf/engines @embedpdf/plugin-loader @embedpdf/plugin-viewport @embedpdf/plugin-scroll @embedpdf/plugin-render


bun add @embedpdf/core @embedpdf/engines @embedpdf/plugin-loader @embedpdf/plugin-viewport @embedpdf/plugin-scroll @embedpdf/plugin-render

2. Create Your Viewer Component

The core of your viewer will be the <EmbedPDF> component, which manages the engine and plugins.

Here is a minimal PDFViewer component that loads a document from a URL and renders it in a vertically scrollable viewport.

PDFViewer.tsx


import { createPluginRegistration } from '@embedpdf/core';
import { EmbedPDF } from '@embedpdf/core/react';
import { usePdfiumEngine } from '@embedpdf/engines/react';
 
// Import the essential plugins
import { ViewportPluginPackage } from '@embedpdf/plugin-viewport';
import { Viewport } from '@embedpdf/plugin-viewport/react';
import { ScrollPluginPackage } from '@embedpdf/plugin-scroll';
import { Scroller } from '@embedpdf/plugin-scroll/react';
import { LoaderPluginPackage } from '@embedpdf/plugin-loader';
import { RenderPluginPackage } from '@embedpdf/plugin-render';
import { RenderLayer } from '@embedpdf/plugin-render/react';
 
// 1. Register the plugins you need
const plugins = [
  createPluginRegistration(LoaderPluginPackage, {
    loadingOptions: {
      type: 'url',
      pdfFile: {
        id: 'example-pdf',
        url: 'https://snippet.embedpdf.com/ebook.pdf',
      },
    },
  }),
  createPluginRegistration(ViewportPluginPackage),
  createPluginRegistration(ScrollPluginPackage),
  createPluginRegistration(RenderPluginPackage),
];
 
export const PDFViewer = () => {
  // 2. Initialize the engine with the React hook
  const { engine, isLoading } = usePdfiumEngine();
 
  if (isLoading || !engine) {
    return <div>Loading PDF Engine...</div>;
  }
 
  // 3. Wrap your UI with the <EmbedPDF> provider
  return (
    <div style={{ height: '500px' }}>
      <EmbedPDF engine={engine} plugins={plugins}>
        <Viewport
          style={{
            backgroundColor: '#f1f3f5',
          }}
        >
          <Scroller
            renderPage={({ width, height, pageIndex }) => (
              <div style={{ width, height }}>
                {/* The RenderLayer is responsible for drawing the page */}
                <RenderLayer pageIndex={pageIndex} />
              </div>
            )}
          />
        </Viewport>
      </EmbedPDF>
    </div>
  );
};

3. Render Your Component

Finally, add your new PDFViewer component to your main application file.

App.tsx


import { PDFViewer } from './PDFViewer';
 
function App() {
  return <PDFViewer />;
}
 
export default App;

Interactive Example

When you run the code above, it will produce a functional, scrollable PDF viewer like the one shown here:

Loading PDF Engine...

You now have a functional PDF viewer!

Next Steps

Discover how to add more features by Understanding Plugins.