CCS PDF Editor — Architecture

High-level design of the CCS PDF Editor as an offline-first, client-side application. For ownership and residual risk see SYSTEM-PROFILE.md and GOVERNANCE.md. For deploy overview see README.md.

1. Purpose of the system

CCS PDF Editor is a static web application (optional Windows WebView2 shell) that:

1. Renders PDF pages (PDF.js canvas + text layer + interactive AnnotationLayer for widgets).
2. Lets staff annotate with DOM overlays in Editor workspace.
3. Lets staff fill form fields in Editor with Pointer (native widgets and/or designer fill surfaces).
4. Lets staff design fillable AcroForm fields in Form workspace; supported native widgets are auto-imported as designer overlays (no prompt).
5. Optionally runs local OCR (Tesseract.js + English data under lib/; file:// uses base64 embeds).
6. Exports either:
• Project (.ccspdf) — PDF bytes + appended compressed edit state (overlays + form layout), or
• Final PDF — source pages + rasterized annotation layer (html2canvas) + live form widgets (pdf-lib AcroForm), optional QPDF (WASM) password protect.
7. Opens many password-protected PDFs via PDF.js onPassword UI.
8. Prints via the browser/print pipeline (full-opacity annotations; form designer chrome omitted).

It is not multi-tenant SaaS, not a document management system, and not a certified electronic signature platform.

2. Context diagram

                    ┌─────────────────────────────────────┐
                    │  Optional: intranet reverse proxy    │
                    │  TLS · optional SSO / IP allowlist   │
                    └──────────────────┬──────────────────┘
                                       │ HTTPS (static only)
                                       ▼
                    ┌─────────────────────────────────────┐
                    │  Static web host                     │
                    │  index.html, js/, lib/, assets/      │
                    │  NO document database / upload API   │
                    └──────────────────┬──────────────────┘
                                       │ download assets once
                                       ▼
     Local PDF / .ccspdf ──────►┌──────────────────────┐──────► Saved PDF / .ccspdf
     (user disk / share)        │  Browser tab memory  │        (user disk / share)
                                │  PDF.js · overlays   │
                                │  pdf-lib · Tesseract │
                                └──────────────────────┘
                                       │
                                       ▼
                                Printer / PDF printer
                                (OS / org print path)

Optional alternate runtimes:
  · Windows WebView2 shell (deploy_windows / build-windows.ps1)
  · Browser offline zip pack (build-release.ps1) — file:// capable
  · Tauri-style shell if adopted later (same static UI)

3. Application layering

┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  Browser / WebView2 DOM                                   │
│  index.html · style.css · fonts.css · modals              │
└────────────────────────────┬─────────────────────────────┘
                             │
┌────────────────────────────▼─────────────────────────────┐
│  js/ui/*          Toolbars, modals, hotkeys, header density│
│  js/interaction/* Mouse, keyboard, drag, file import       │
│  js/overlays/*    Text, shapes, images, tables, snip,      │
│                   form-fields (design + Editor fill UI)    │
│  js/features/*    OCR, print, signature + form attestation │
│  js/engine/*      PDF render, AnnotationLayer, native-forms│
│  js/core/*        State, history, import/export (io.js)    │
│                   host-bridge (WebView2 open-with)         │
└────────────────────────────┬─────────────────────────────┘
                             │
┌────────────────────────────▼─────────────────────────────┐
│  lib/*  PDF.js · pdf-lib · qpdf.wasm · html2canvas ·      │
│         Tesseract (+ offline embeds for file://) · fonts  │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

There is no required JS build pipeline for the static web UI. Scripts load with defer from index.html. Windows EXE is produced separately via scripts/build-windows.ps1.

4. Core runtime flows

4.1 Open PDF

1. User selects file(s), drops onto the viewer, or (Windows shell) uses Open with / argv path.
2. Bytes enter memory (ArrayBuffer).
3. If encrypted, PDF.js onPassword drives the password modal; user password unlocks the document.
4. PDF.js renders each page to canvas (annotationMode DISABLE so widgets are not double-painted).
5. Text layer + AnnotationLayer (renderForms: true) for interactive native widgets.
6. Source bytes retained in window.sourcePdfBuffers[fingerprint] for later export.
7. If file is .ccspdf, trailer schema reapplied as overlays.
8. Otherwise, supported native widgets are auto-imported as Form designer overlays (silent); matching native AnnotationLayer sections are hidden so Editor fill uses the designer fill surface without doubles.

4.2 Edit / fill

• Annotation overlays are DOM elements inside .pageContainer.
• Form filling in Editor + Pointer: native AnnotationLayer widgets and/or .form-field-fill controls on designer overlays.
• Undo/redo records DOM operations via historyEngine.
• No server round-trip.

4.3 Workspaces (Editor vs Form)

APP.workspaceMode is "editor" or "form". Body classes workspace-editor / workspace-form (and tool-select) control hit-testing:

Switching into Form always selects Pointer. Save PDF and Print temporarily apply full-opacity annotation styling so Form-mode dimming is not included in output.

4.4 Save Project (.ccspdf)

1. Acquire save destination first (native picker / modal) while user gesture is valid.
2. For each page: copy original PDF page via pdf-lib; serialize overlay + form-field JSON.
3. Gzip + hash edit state; append after PDF bytes with markers.
4. Write blob to destination.

4.5 Save PDF (annotations flattened + fillable fields)

1. Acquire save destination first (critical for Chromium File System Access API).
2. If the UI is in Form mode, temporarily restore full-opacity annotations for capture.
3. For each page: copy the source page; if decorative overlays exist, hide form designer widgets and the base canvas, rasterize overlays, and embed the PNG.
4. After all pages exist: create AcroForm widgets (text, checkbox, radio group, dropdown; signature field where supported).
5. Optionally encrypt the finished bytes with a user password via QPDF (WASM) (content-preserving; AcroForm fields remain fillable).
6. Write the final PDF.

4.6 OCR

1. Tesseract worker initialized with local workerPath, corePath, langPath under ./lib/.
2. On file://, worker/core/lang assets load via base64 embeds + IndexedDB language seed (CORS-safe).
3. Canvas pixels recognized in-browser; text layer spans injected for selection/stamp tools.
4. No remote OCR endpoint in this release.

4.7 Print

Temporarily uses full-opacity annotation styling, clones page canvases and annotation overlays (not form designer chrome), then opens the browser print dialog.

5. Data flow & trust boundaries

5.1 In-memory data

While a document is open, memory may hold: full PDF bytes, high-resolution canvases, overlay HTML (including text that may be PHI), form-field designer state, OCR results, and signature/image bitmaps.

5.2 Persistence

6. Offline-first model

Service worker (sw.js): network-only pass-through (PWA installability); no Cache API precache or fallback. Offline intent = no CDN hard-dependency + vendored lib/ / assets on the origin; script/CSS freshness via config.js ?v=.

Deploy modes:

7. Security design notes

8. Deployment topologies

8.1 Internal OWA (primary)

• Static files on intranet web server.
• Path example: /pdf-edit/ matching manifest.json start_url.
• Access: VPN / campus network / reverse-proxy auth as CCS prefers.

8.2 Windows WebView2 shell (supported optional)

• Same static UI under app/, hosted in a small WinForms + WebView2 EXE.
• Open with / file associations via tools\Register File Types.bat (HKCU).
• Desktop icon via tools\Create Desktop Shortcut.bat.
• Single-instance named pipe for second-launch file handoff.
• Inventory separately on SYSTEM-PROFILE if production.

8.3 Browser offline pack (supported optional)

• scripts/build-release.ps1 stages app/ + launchers + docs.
• Edge/Chrome --app= launchers; works offline including OCR/encrypt embeds.

8.4 What not to do

• Do not put an unauthenticated public internet copy if staff will open PHI without compensating controls.
• Do not add a “upload PDF to server for processing” feature without a full architecture and governance revision (data store, access control, audit, retention).
• Do not load OCR models from public CDNs in production CCS builds.

9. File format: .ccspdf / embedded project state

CCS project files are valid PDFs that also carry an editable schema + optional audit.

9.0 Primary: Catalog dictionary /CCSProject (schema 4.0+)

Stored on the document catalog (private key ignored by most readers):

Implemented in js/core/project-state.js. Load tries legacy trailer first (if present), then catalog.

Save Project (.ccspdf) and Export PDF (.pdf) both embed /CCSProject (no trailer by default).

• .ccspdf: re-editable package — open in CCS to restore overlays; other apps only show base PDF + AcroForm.
• Export PDF: stamps baked into pixels for any reader; form fields remain fillable; schema is audit/restore of forms.

Trailer dual-write is opt-in only (dualWriteTrailer: true).

Resilience note: Other editors may strip unknown catalog keys on “Save as”. Hex-in-catalog is the standard private-data pattern; full legal non-repudiation still needs signed metadata / external e-sign when required.

9.1 Legacy trailer (still written + read)

1. Valid PDF body (with or without /CCSProject).
2. Trailing ASCII marker: \n---CCS-SAVE-STATE---.
3. Integrity hash + delimiter + gzip-compressed JSON schema of overlays and optional rolling audit.

Ordinary PDF readers open the PDF portion; edit restore requires this application (or a compatible tool that understands trailer and/or /CCSProject).

9.2 Rolling project audit (insight log)

High-signal changes while a document is open are recorded in memory (js/core/project-audit.js) and written into the trailer on Save Project.

Entry shape (approx.): { id, t (ISO-8601), action, detail? }

Typical action codes: FIELD_CREATED, FIELD_FILLED, FIELD_SIGNED, FIELD_IMPORTED, TEXT_ADDED, IMAGE_ADDED, SHAPE_ADDED, OVERLAY_DELETED, OVERLAY_TRANSFORM, PAGE_CHANGE, SAVE_PROJECT, plus coarse EDIT fallbacks from history.

Guarantees / non-goals

• Insight for support and contested-project review — not a keystroke log, not multi-user collaboration history.
• Not identity-bound to Windows/Entra user; the app has no login.
• Strings truncated; passwords and bulk PHI values are not retained for their own sake.
• Export PDF also embeds /CCSProject (schema includes overlays/forms for re-edit; decorative layers are still flattened into page pixels).
• File-level who/when remains OneDrive / network share versioning where staff save files.

9.3 Layered seal + form-signature attestation

Project schema may include a .seal object built so hashes do not loop on themselves (js/core/project-state.js, js/core/project-crypto.js):

Form signature fields (Editor fill): fixed attestation wording, signed name, ISO time, basic browser/device meta, and digests are stored on the field and included in schema → schemaHash. UI shows a compact caption with mid-length hashes; a body-level hover popover exposes full hex with Copy (js/features/signature.js).

This is device-local attestation, not certified legal e-sign / identity proofing.

9.4 Incident extraction (IT)

To extract project state / audit without opening the editor (supports catalog /CCSProject and legacy trailer):

Prefer trailer when both exist (same as app open path); use -PreferCatalog to force catalog.

Outputs (folder *_extract next to the source file):

Verifies the integrity hash using the same algorithm as the app (Uint8Array comma-join + salt CCS-SAVE-HASH-CHECK-S4lT!!). This is decode/gunzip, not QPDF password removal. Exit code 0 = integrity OK; 2 = hash mismatch (artifacts still written for investigation).

Training lab: USER-TRAINING.md Track D · SOP: WINDOWS-INSTALL-SOP.md §8.

(§9.4 continues the extract workflow formerly numbered §9.3 in older docs.)

10. Related documentation

Rendered for the browser from repository markdown. Edit the .md sources, then re-run powershell -File docs/marketing/render-docs.ps1 from the repo root.