Building Redaktix: A Zero-Server, Browser-Local PDF & Document Redaction Tool
Last tax season, I needed to redact sensitive details from a W-2 form and a bank statement before sending them to a landlord. I tried several "free online redaction tools," but every single one required uploading my sens
Last tax season, I needed to redact sensitive details from a W-2 form and a bank statement before sending them to a landlord. I tried several "free online redaction tools," but every single one required uploading my sensitive documents to an external server.
That felt completely backwards for documents whose whole point is privacy.
So I built Redaktixβa browser-local document redaction tool where your files never touch a server.
π‘οΈ How It Works (Tech Stack)
- 100% Client-Side: Everything runs locally inside the browser using HTML5 Canvas and WASM.
- Local OCR: Text extraction and pattern detection happen on-device inside a Web Worker.
- Auto-Detection: Uses regex and checksum algorithms (Luhn, ABA routing) to automatically detect US SSNs, bank numbers, credit cards, and EINs.
- Metadata & Layer Removal: Strips hidden PDF text layers and embedded metadata upon export, outputting a clean flattened PDF or image.
- Offline-Ready: Works as a PWA once loaded.
π Try It Out
You can try it live here: redaktix.com
It's completely free to use. I'd love your feedback on the client-side redaction approach, UX, and detection accuracy on real-world scanned documents!
Originally published by Dev.to WebDev. Aggregated on AIWithGhost for educational purposes β full credit and traffic to the original publisher.