Docx to PDF in the Browser Using Pandoc and Typst (WASM)
Details
- External ID
- 46946183
- Source
- HN
- Company
- —
- Product
- Docx to PDF in the Browser Using Pandoc and Typst (WASM)
- Website domain
- toolkuai.com
- Launched
- Feb. 9, 2026
- Cohort
- —
- Upvotes
- 6
- Upvotes percentile
- 0.28099730458221023
- Tags
- —
- Fetched at
- Sept. 7, 2026, 9:26 p.m.
- Updated at
- Sept. 7, 2026, 9:26 p.m.
Description
Hi HN,I wanted a way to convert .docx to .pdf without uploading my files to a random server or installing a 2GB LaTeX distribution.I built a simple tool that runs Pandoc and Typst entirely in the browser via WebAssembly.How it works:- Pandoc (WASM) parses the .docx file.- It outputs Typst markup.- Typst (WASM) compiles that markup into a PDF.Status: It's still a work in progress. It handles basic formatting, tables, and images well enough for daily use, though complex Word layouts might still be a bit wonky.Why this?- Privacy: Everything stays in your browser.- Speed: No server round-trips.- Lightweight: No need to install Pandoc or Typst locally.Check it out: https://toolkuai.com/word-to-pdfFeedback is welcome, especially on how to better map Word styles to Typst.
Enrichment
- Theme
- document and PDF utility tools
- Vertical
- Horizontal
- Function
- Dev tools
- Audience
- Developer
- AI stance
- Not AI
- Project type
- Hobby / open-source project
- Normalized one-liner
- docx to pdf conversion in browser
- Manually corrected
- False
Could you build this?
Yes The project connects existing pre-compiled WebAssembly builds of Pandoc and Typst inside the browser to transpile DOCX to Typst markup and render it as PDF. Vibe coding can easily assemble the client-side JavaScript glue and UI around these WASM binaries.
Discussion
1 comment analyzed.
Competitors mentioned: Doc2PDF.vbs script
Competitors
Other products that read as similar to this one — 347 launches clear the similarity bar, closest 8 shown.
Attention rank: #321 of 348 (itself plus its competitors, highest first — normalized so YC and Product Hunt are compared fairly).
Launched 100 days after the earliest competitor.
- MDXport · hn · 2025-12-17 · 5 upvotes · similarity 0.72
- Rudoc · hn · 2026-07-25 · 17 upvotes · similarity 0.65
- Altto · ph · 2026-09-17 · 1 upvotes · similarity 0.60
- How far can you push file conversion into the browser? · hn · 2026-02-19 · 5 upvotes · similarity 0.56
- Docx-to-Markdown · hn · 2026-09-16 · 5 upvotes · similarity 0.55
- PDF to Word Free · ph · 2026-09-15 · 1 upvotes · similarity 0.53
- PDF to MD · ph · 2026-09-10 · 1 upvotes · similarity 0.52
- Latex.to · hn · 2026-08-03 · 6 upvotes · similarity 0.52
Other launches for this product
- No other launches for this product.
Same idea, different domain
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