Hermes: A Login-Free Desktop PDF Reader
A desktop PDF reader built from scratch after one login screen too many. Open source, released for Windows, macOS (Apple Silicon) and Linux.
Why I built it
I was tired of PDF readers that wanted a login before they'd open a file. Hermes is a desktop reader that opens a PDF and gets out of the way.
What it does
Open several PDFs side by side in tabs, pick up where you left off with document history, and move through long files with page-by-page navigation. The app updates itself automatically. No account, no login.
How it's built
Hermes is a Tauri desktop app: a Rust backend with a TypeScript front end, built with Vite. PDFs render through PDF.js. Tauri's file system and dialog plugins open local files, and its updater plugin delivers automatic updates. The current release is v0.1.5.
Status
Open source, with releases for Windows, macOS (Apple Silicon) and Linux.