Drop a PDF viewer into your Vue app and let people highlight text, leave notes with replies and review redactions. @inkbar/vue gives you components and composables to build your own toolbars, plus note and suggestion popovers, all styled by @inkbar/theme.

Annotations are plain typed objects. Bind them with v-model to keep them in your own state, or let Inkbar hold them with undo and redo.

Install

pnpm add @inkbar/vue @inkbar/core @inkbar/theme

Vue 3.5 or later is a peer dependency. Add the Vite plugin from @inkbar/core/vite so PDF.js can load its worker and fonts; the @inkbar/core README covers it.

Usage

<script setup lang="ts">
import { ref } from 'vue'
import {
  InkRoot,
  InkViewport,
  InkToolbar,
  InkToolButton,
  InkToolbarSeparator,
  InkUndo,
  InkRedo,
  InkPrevPage,
  InkPageInput,
  InkPageCount,
  InkNextPage,
  InkZoomSelect,
  InkNotePopover,
  InkSuggestionCard,
} from '@inkbar/vue'
import type { Annotation } from '@inkbar/core'
import { assets } from 'virtual:inkbar-assets'
import '@inkbar/theme/theme.css'

defineProps<{ signedUrl: string; documentId: string }>()

const annotations = ref<Annotation[]>([])
</script>

<template>
  <InkRoot
    :src="{ url: signedUrl, key: documentId }"
    :assets="assets"
    v-model:annotations="annotations"
  >
    <InkToolbar>
      <InkToolButton tool="select" />
      <InkToolButton tool="highlight" />
      <InkToolButton tool="redact-area" />
      <InkToolButton tool="note" />
      <InkToolbarSeparator />
      <InkUndo />
      <InkRedo />
    </InkToolbar>
    <InkViewport />
    <InkToolbar label="Page and zoom">
      <InkPrevPage />
      <InkPageInput />
      <InkPageCount />
      <InkNextPage />
      <InkZoomSelect />
    </InkToolbar>
    <InkNotePopover />
    <InkSuggestionCard />
  </InkRoot>
</template>

Each control is a separate component, so put them in any order or leave some out. Buttons show icons from @inkbar/icons. Put your own in a button's default slot to replace one, and use InkIcon to put the same icons on your own buttons.

v-model:annotations makes your list the source of truth. Leave it off and Inkbar keeps the state itself, with undo and redo.

Controlled mode

With v-model:annotations, Inkbar proposes each change through update:annotations and shows whatever list you pass back. To change annotations yourself, replace the array: annotations.value = [...annotations.value, next]. In-place mutation (push, splice, editing an item) is not observed, so the viewer never sees it.

Undo and redo are off in controlled mode unless you pass :history="true". Inkbar then keeps a stack of your list's past values and applies undo and redo through v-model. Every change to the list is a step, including the list you load from your server when the document opens. Clear the history once that load has reached the viewer, so the first undo does not empty the list:

const root = useTemplateRef<InstanceType<typeof InkRoot>>('root')

async function onReady(doc: InkDocument) {
  annotations.value = await loadAnnotations(doc.key)
  await nextTick()
  root.value?.history.clear()
}

Inside InkRoot, useHistory() returns the same object. Its batch(fn) runs fn and records what it changes as one undo step. With :history="true" on a controlled list, you still get one update:annotations event per add. The step lands when the current task ends, and canUndo updates then. Any other change you apply to the list in that window joins the step. In both modes, fn must be synchronous.

key identifies the document. Reuse the same key when only the signed URL changes and the document is not reloaded.

Note popover

InkNotePopover opens the thread of the activated note. A new note has no text yet, so the form first writes the note's own text (labelled "Comment"); after that it adds replies.

A root note with no text and no replies is removed when its popover closes, or when activation moves to another annotation, so abandoned notes do not stay on the page. Locked notes are never removed. If you add notes yourself (add({ type: 'note', ... })), give them contents, or they will be removed the first time someone opens and closes them.

Keyboard

The scroll element takes focus. With the highlight or redact tool active, Enter turns the text selection into a mark; with the note tool, Enter places a note in the middle of the current page and opens it. On a focused annotation, Enter or Space selects and activates it (a note opens its thread and a suggested redaction its card; other types are only selected), ArrowUp and ArrowDown move between annotations, Shift + arrow moves it by 1 pt (add Alt for 10 pt), Ctrl or Cmd + Shift + arrow resizes an area mark, and Delete removes it. The full table is in the @inkbar/core README.

Styling

Components carry state on data attributes, for example [data-annotation][data-state="selected"] and [data-tool="highlight"][data-state="on"]. @inkbar/theme gives a default look. Your own CSS overrides it without !important.

Composables

useDocument, useAnnotations, useTool, useSelection, useZoom, usePage, useHistory and useEmbedded read the state of the nearest InkRoot. Build your own toolbar or side panel from them.

Licence

MIT. From the team behind Redactr.