flippy-pdf — an Issuu-style PDF flipbook viewer

A small, reusable JavaScript library that turns any PDF into an Issuu-style two-page flipbook with drag-to-flip, keyboard navigation, fullscreen, and zoom. No framework dependency — drop it into any page. Mobile-friendly: collapses to a single-page slide layout under 900px.

Preview the sample

The repo ships with sample.pdf and a Vite dev server wired up to it.

1. Install

npm install

2. Start the dev server

npm run dev
# or: npm run serve / npm start

Vite will open http://localhost:5173 in your browser. The sample PDF is loaded automatically.

Heads up: the sample PDF is ~33 MB. The first page renders in ~1 second; the rest stream in priority order while you read.

3. Build a static bundle (optional)

npm run build
npm run preview

npm run build outputs an optimized bundle to dist/, and npm run preview serves that bundle locally so you can sanity-check the production build.

Controls

| Action | Mouse / Touch | Keyboard | | ----------------- | ------------------------------ | ------------------- | | Next spread | Click right-side arrow | → Space PgDn | | Previous spread | Click left-side arrow | ← PgUp | | Drag-to-flip | Click & drag a page sideways | — | | Jump to page | Type a number in the toolbar | — | | Fullscreen | Toolbar button | F | | Zoom | Toolbar + / − / reset | — | | First / last page | — | Home / End |

Use the library in your own project

The library is published under ./src/index.js and the styles under ./src/flipbook.css.

<link rel="stylesheet" href="/path/to/flipbook.css" />
<div id="my-flipbook" style="width: 100%; height: 100vh;"></div>

<script type="module">
  import { Flipbook } from '/path/to/flipbook.js';

  const fb = new Flipbook({ container: '#my-flipbook' });
  await fb.load('/path/to/your.pdf');
</script>

If you bundle with Vite/webpack/Rollup, the same import works:

import { Flipbook } from 'flippy-pdf';
import 'flippy-pdf/style.css';

const fb = new Flipbook({ container: document.getElementById('viewer') });

// Any URL works — local path, absolute, S3 presigned URL, CDN, etc.
fb.load('https://my-bucket.s3.amazonaws.com/magazines/issue-03.pdf');

Remote PDFs and CORS. PDF.js fetches the document via XHR/fetch, so the host (S3, CloudFront, your own server) must send permissive CORS headers:

Access-Control-Allow-Origin: *
Access-Control-Allow-Methods: GET

For an S3 bucket, add a CORS rule that allows GET from your origin. For S3 presigned URLs no extra setup is needed beyond the bucket CORS config.

PDF.js worker setup

The library uses PDF.js, which runs its parser in a Web Worker. Out of the box the worker is loaded from a CDN; for production you'll usually want to host the worker yourself. Pass workerSrc once at startup:

import { Flipbook, setWorkerSrc } from 'flippy-pdf';

// Vite / Rollup
import workerUrl from 'pdfjs-dist/build/pdf.worker.mjs?url';
setWorkerSrc(workerUrl);

// Webpack 5+ (asset modules)
setWorkerSrc(new URL('pdfjs-dist/build/pdf.worker.mjs', import.meta.url).href);

// Or just point at a self-hosted file
setWorkerSrc('/static/pdf.worker.min.mjs');

You can also pass it per-instance via the workerSrc constructor option.

API

new Flipbook(options)

| Option | Type | Default | Notes | | ---------------- | -------------------------- | --------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------- | | container | string \| HTMLElement | required | Selector or element to mount the viewer into. | | pdfUrl | string | — | If provided, you can call load() with no args. | | renderScale | number | ~devicePixelRatio | Render scale for PDF.js. Higher = sharper, slower. | | flipDuration | number (ms) | 700 | Page-flip animation duration. | | enableDrag | boolean | true | Drag a page edge to flip. | | enableKeyboard | boolean | true | Listen on document for arrow / page keys. | | singlePageBreakpoint | number (px) | 900 | Below this stage width, layout switches to one-page-at-a-time with a horizontal slide. | | workerSrc | string | jsDelivr CDN | PDF.js worker URL. Set globally with setWorkerSrc() or per-instance. |

Methods

• await flipbook.load(pdfUrl?) — load a PDF (returns this).
• flipbook.next() — advance one spread.
• flipbook.prev() — go back one spread.
• flipbook.goTo(page) — jump to the spread containing page (1-indexed).
• flipbook.destroy() — tear down DOM, revoke object URLs, free PDF.

How spreads work

Like a real magazine: the cover (page 1) is shown alone on the right of an empty left half, then pages 2–3, 4–5, … pair up. If the document has an even number of pages, the back cover sits alone on the left of the final spread.

Responsive layout

On stage widths below singlePageBreakpoint (default 900px) — phones and tablets in portrait — the layout collapses to one page at a time and the flip becomes a horizontal slide. Above the breakpoint, the standard two-page magazine spread is shown. Mode is re-evaluated on resize, so rotating a device or resizing the window swaps layouts on the fly and preserves the current page.

How it works (briefly)

• PDF rendering: PDF.js renders each page off-screen to a canvas, which is converted to a JPEG Blob and stored as an object URL. Pages render in priority order (cover → current spread → rest) so the reader can start flipping almost immediately.
• The flip itself is a single <div> ("the leaf") with two faces, rotated around the spine using CSS 3D transforms. Drag-to-flip drives the rotation in real time from pointer events; release-without-completion snaps back.
• Backface culling and a soft gradient on each face give the curl shadow.

Browser support

Anything modern: Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge. Requires CSS 3D transforms, backface-visibility, ES modules, and ResizeObserver — all baseline since ~2020.

Project layout

flippy-pdf/
├── index.html         # Demo page
├── package.json
├── vite.config.js
├── public/
│   └── sample.pdf     # The bundled sample (served at /sample.pdf)
└── src/
    ├── index.js       # Library entry
    ├── flipbook.js    # The Flipbook class
    └── flipbook.css   # Widget styles

License

MIT.