Nutrient Document Engine

Nutrient Document Engine

Self-hosted, on-premises document processing server. Provides the same core operations as Nutrient DWS but runs in the user's own infrastructure. Also backs the Nutrient Web SDK's server-backed mode — handling persistent annotation storage and Nutrient Instant real-time collaboration.

Documentation

Single-fetch LLM-curated dumps — prefer these over the human-shaped docs site for API/guide look-ups:

• Guides: https://www.nutrient.io/guides/document-engine/llms.txt
• Cross-product index (other Nutrient SDKs): https://www.nutrient.io/llms.txt

Example Repositories

• Node.js + Docker Compose (Nutrient Document Engine + Nutrient Web SDK): https://github.com/PSPDFKit/pspdfkit-server-example-nodejs
• Rails + Docker Compose (Nutrient Document Engine + Nutrient Web SDK): https://github.com/PSPDFKit/pspdfkit-server-example-rails
• Web examples catalog with Nutrient Document Engine (dashboard at localhost:5000): https://github.com/PSPDFKit/pspdfkit-web-examples-catalog
• MCP server exposing Nutrient Document Engine capabilities to AI agents: https://github.com/PSPDFKit/nutrient-document-engine-mcp-server

Key Concepts

• Docker image: pspdfkit/document-engine on Docker Hub.
• License activation: set ACTIVATION_KEY (or the alias LICENSE_KEY — either works). The pre-rebrand PSPDFKIT_LICENSE_KEY is not the current name; the engine fails on startup with "No ACTIVATION_KEY or LICENSE_KEY set" if missing.
• Nutrient Instant: real-time collaboration backbone shared across the Nutrient client SDKs (Web, iOS, Android, React Native, Flutter). Enable in Document Engine config and point the client at the engine URL.
• Document Engine vs Nutrient DWS: Document Engine runs on the user's infrastructure (no data leaves the environment); Nutrient DWS is Nutrient's hosted cloud service. Use Document Engine when data residency or offline operation is required.