Earlier quoted context omitted.
I tried to make it clear with the popup message that appears when you start chatting: "Public demo. Use sample data only. Messages are processed by the selected AI provider." But you're right that it's not as evident as I wanted to, I'm making a small copy update to make it clearer: "Public demo. Your chat messages leave your device and are sent to the selected AI provider. Use sample data only." (Since there's suppo…
Embed a small llm with wasm so it's all private. Maybe make an api so when the os has a local llm it will use that eventually
Show HN: Filling PDF forms with AI using client-side tool calling
31–38 of 38 posts
Re: Show HN: Filling PDF forms with AI using client-side tool calling
#32In the chat box I typed my SSN is "123-45-6789". It filled it in in the wrong box (4 Exemptions). What problem is this solving? Isn't it easy enough to just click in the correct box and type the values? How does this compare to Claude Cowork?
On "what are we trying to solve":
Forms (PDFs, scanned paper) are still everywhere and aren't going away. SimplePDF Copilot exists to make the transition less painful. A few concrete use cases:
- Pre-filling repetitive forms from existing data sources (CRM, EHR, etc. via MCP/RAG). In most industries, employees fill forms by copy-pasting or retyping. With AI + tool calling, most of the form arrives pre-filled and the employee just corrects or adds the missing bits.
- Filling foreign-language forms. If you've moved to a new country, or know someone who has, you've had to fill out forms in a language you don't master.
- Understanding a contract before signing it. "Can I actually trust all the clauses here?" Reading proficiency changed the world by giving people a way to understand what they were signing. This extends it to legalese and odd clauses.
On Claude Cowork:
Different shape, and a different privacy model. Cowork drives a sandboxed virtual desktop: you can't see exactly what it's doing while it fills, and correcting a wrong value means another back-and-forth with the LLM.
Copilot works inside your editor: every change is visible as it happens, you can amend any field with one click, and the document never leaves your browser + it's LLM agnostic: bring your own (local or hosted).
Re: Show HN: Filling PDF forms with AI using client-side tool calling
#33Re: Show HN: Filling PDF forms with AI using client-side tool calling
#34Re: Show HN: Filling PDF forms with AI using client-side tool calling
#35This looks interesting, I’m looking for a good personal PDF editor that I can use in windows and private. Seems like your product is more for organizations, any idea if such a thing exists. It seems like the market is full of bloated (Adobe/foxit) or not properly working editors.
We offer both: - A privacy-focused PDF editor, free for individuals, used by 200k users monthly: https://simplepdf.com/editor - The same editor, embeddable into one’s app for companies, with the same privacy guarantees (everything happens in the browser) + the resulting PDF is stored in their own storage (« bring your own storage »). The majority of our paid customers are in healthcare where privacy is non-negotiable…
I like that, but (and I might be ignorant) can't you just change it's all in browser to something else and the users would be oblivious? I'm cautious of this because these kind of solutions still susceptible to a lot of problems internally or some kind of governmental interception.
Is it possible to download as an app and disable internet (not sure if it's a feature of any browsers).
Re: Show HN: Filling PDF forms with AI using client-side tool calling
#36Re: Show HN: Filling PDF forms with AI using client-side tool calling
#37damn, that's a super cool idea specially when you are submitting something complex , love it and gone use it whenever I'm filling something crazy
Re: Show HN: Filling PDF forms with AI using client-side tool calling
#38Earlier quoted context omitted.
We offer both: - A privacy-focused PDF editor, free for individuals, used by 200k users monthly: https://simplepdf.com/editor - The same editor, embeddable into one’s app for companies, with the same privacy guarantees (everything happens in the browser) + the resulting PDF is stored in their own storage (« bring your own storage »). The majority of our paid customers are in healthcare where privacy is non-negotiable…
This is very late sorry, just checking HN. I like that, but (and I might be ignorant) can't you just change it's all in browser to something else and the users would be oblivious? I'm cautious of this because these kind of solutions still susceptible to a lot of problems internally or some kind of governmental interception. Is it possible to download as an app and disable internet (not sure if it's a feature of any b…
Excellent question! The answer is simple: we're known on the market, and trusted by our customer for this secure handling of PDFs. Should we decide to change that (unbeknownst to them), we would effectively kill our reputation and the company by extension.
> Is it possible to download as an app and disable internet (not sure if it's a feature of any browsers).
Back in the days, SimplePDF used to work offline. However maintaining that in conjunction with our paid customers features (where the online connectivity is mandatory) was too big of a maintenance burden. We decided a year ago to drop this support (silently), and no one has complained since then, confirming our hunch that it is not a high-demand feature.