Studio Tools
Free online image, PDF and text tools in one app: remove backgrounds, upscale with AI, make passport photos, read text from images (English and Nepali), and merge, split, edit, sign and convert PDFs. No sign-up, and uploaded files are deleted automatically.
Live site: https://imagetools-358n.onrender.com
Screenshots
| Document tools | Background remover |
|---|
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| Merge PDF | Text editor |
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Features
Every feature runs in one of three places:
- Browser: nothing is uploaded.
- Node: the Express backend.
- Python: the internal AI services that the backend starts itself.
| Feature | Browser | Node backend | Python |
|---|
| Image tools | | | |
| Photo Editor (light, colour, filters, resize) | Canvas | — | — |
| Crop (straighten, ratios, rotate/flip) | Canvas | — | — |
| Image Compressor | Upload, preview | sharp | — |
| Background Remover | Upload, preview | Queue | BiRefNet-Massive |
| AI Upscaler (2× / 4×) | Upload, preview | upscayl-bin (needs a GPU) | — |
| AI Retouch | Brush and mask | Built-in engine (sharp) | LaMa (optional, better results) |
| Watermark Remover | Brush, found areas | Removal via retouch | Detection (OpenCV) |
| Passport & MRP Photo | Presets, crop, sheet | Crop, resize, print sheet | Face detection, background, HEIC |
| OCR Editor | Editor | tesseract (fallback) | PaddleOCR |
| PDF tools | | | |
| PDF Viewer | pdf.js | — | — |
| Merge / Split / Organize / Rotate PDF | pdf.js thumbnails | pdf-lib | — |
| Images to PDF | Layout options | pdf-lib + sharp | — |
| Add Watermark / Page Numbers | Live preview | pdf-lib | — |
| Edit PDF / Sign PDF | Drawing layer, signature pad | pdf-lib | — |
| PDF to Images | Page picker | Jobs, ZIP download | PDFium |
| Compress PDF | Presets | Jobs | qpdf (pikepdf) |
| Protect / Unlock PDF | Password field | Jobs | pikepdf |
| PDF to Text | Result, export | Jobs, text cleanup | PDF text + PaddleOCR |
| PDF to Word | Preview, .docx download (original layout, or as edited) | Jobs, layout | pdfplumber + python-docx, PaddleOCR / Tesseract for scans |
| Text tools | | | |
| Text Editor, Text Cleaner, Case Converter, Word Counter | Tiptap | — | — |
| Whiteboard | | | |
Whiteboard (/whiteboard) | Excalidraw editor, autosave in IndexedDB | — | — |
Tech stack
| Part | Language | Main tools |
|---|
| Frontend | TypeScript, CSS | React 19, Vite, Tailwind CSS 4, Untitled UI, React Router, Zustand, pdf.js, Tiptap |
| Backend | TypeScript | Node.js 20.6+, Express 5, sharp, pdf-lib, Multer, Helmet |
| AI services | Python 3.11–3.13 | FastAPI, PyTorch (BiRefNet-Massive), PaddleOCR, OpenCV, PDFium, pikepdf |
Project structure
studio_tools/
├── frontend/ React app (Vite)
│ └── src/
│ ├── pages/ one folder per page (Home, Pdf, Text, Ocr, …)
│ ├── features/ tool logic (editor, documents, pdf-canvas, ocr, text, …)
│ ├── components/ ui/ (Untitled UI), layout/, common/, landing/
│ ├── lib/ api client, constants (routes), seo
│ └── routes/ React Router config
├── backend/ Express API
│ ├── src/
│ │ ├── routes/ all /api routes (routes/index.ts)
│ │ ├── controllers/ HTTP layer only
│ │ ├── services/ pdf/, compression/, retouch/, ocr/, photo-generator/, …
│ │ └── config/env.ts every setting and its default
│ ├── python/image_service/ image + PDF service (BiRefNet-Massive, OpenCV, PDFium, pikepdf)
│ ├── python/ocr_service/ OCR service (PaddleOCR)
│ └── vendor/upscayl/ upscaler binary + models (installed by setup, git-ignored)
├── scripts/ setup-ml.sh, check-processing.sh
└── docs/screenshots/ images used in this README
The browser only talks to our backend (frontend → /api/* → backend → engine). It never sees API keys or calls outside services.
Run it locally
Requires Node.js 20.6+. The AI tools also need Python 3.11–3.13. The upscaler needs a Vulkan-capable GPU; Apple Silicon works.
npm install # root: installs concurrently
npm run install:all # frontend + backend packages
cp backend/.env.example backend/.env
scripts/setup-ml.sh # optional: Python services, models, upscaler (asks before downloading)
scripts/check-processing.sh # optional: checks which engines are ready
npm run dev # backend on :5000, frontend on http://localhost:5173
In development, Vite forwards /api to the backend, so no CORS setup is needed.
macOS: AirPlay Receiver uses port 5000. Turn it off (System Settings → General → AirDrop & Handoff), or set PORT=5050 in backend/.env and API_PROXY_TARGET=http://localhost:5050 in frontend/.env.
| Where | Command | What it does |
|---|
| root | npm run dev | Runs backend and frontend together |
| root | npm run build | Builds both apps |
frontend | npm run build | Type-checks, builds to dist/, writes SEO pages |
frontend | npm run lint | Lints with oxlint |
backend | npm run dev | API with hot reload (tsx) |
backend | npm run build / npm start | Compiles to dist/ / runs it |
backend | npm run typecheck | Type-checks without building |
Deployment (Render)
The live site runs as two Render services:
This is the beginning of the README. Read the rest at the original. Read the full README ↗
