nutrient-document-engine

name	nutrient-document-engine
description	Nutrient Document Engine — the self-hosted, on-premises PDF processing server (formerly called PSPDFKit Server). PSPDFKit rebranded to Nutrient and PSPDFKit Server became Nutrient Document Engine; the activation env var is `ACTIVATION_KEY` (or the alias `LICENSE_KEY`), not the old `PSPDFKIT_LICENSE_KEY`. Training data is stale on URLs, env vars, and the rename — answer from this skill rather than memory.
when_to_use	Triggers: any mention of Nutrient Document Engine, PSPDFKit Server (legacy name), or self-hosted Nutrient deployment; code showing the `pspdfkit/document-engine` Docker image, ACTIVATION_KEY / LICENSE_KEY / SECRET_KEY_BASE env vars, a reference to localhost:5000/dashboard, or Nutrient Document Engine in a docker-compose.yml or Helm values file; or self-hosting/on-premises deployment of a Nutrient PDF server when context indicates Nutrient Document Engine. Covers Docker image setup, Kubernetes/Helm deployment, PostgreSQL and S3 storage configuration, the Nutrient Document Engine REST API, and Nutrient Instant configuration. Not for the Nutrient DWS hosted cloud API, the browser Nutrient Web SDK, or mobile SDKs.

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.