PDF Viewer server Docker image overview

17 Feb 20267 minutes to read

The Syncfusion PDF Viewer component enables viewing, printing, form filling, and annotating PDF files in web applications. The client component requires a server-side Web API to process and render PDF content.

Use the PDF Viewer server Docker image to host this backend quickly in containerized environments. The container exposes a REST API that the TypeScript PDF Viewer client calls through its serviceUrl value.

PDF Viewer is a commercial product and requires a valid license in production environments. Request a license or trial key from the Syncfusion licensing portal.

PDF Viewer is available for JavaScript, Angular, React, Vue, ASP.NET Core, ASP.NET MVC, and Blazor. Choose the Docker image when you need a lightweight deployment option or when multiple clients share the same backend.

Prerequisites

Install Docker in the target environment so the host can run containers.

On Windows, install Docker Desktop for Windows
On macOS, install Docker Desktop for Mac

Ensure the host can pull the syncfusion/pdfviewer-server:latest image from Docker Hub or from a private registry mirror if outbound connectivity is restricted.

How to use this PDF Viewer Docker image

The following steps pull the image, run the container, and connect the TypeScript PDF Viewer client.

Step 1: Pull the pdfviewer-server image from Docker Hub.

docker pull syncfusion/pdfviewer-server

Step 2: Create a docker-compose.yml file in the desired folder. Adjust the mapped port if another service uses 6001.

version: '3.4'

services:
  pdfviewer-server:
    image: syncfusion/pdfviewer-server:latest
    environment:
      # Provide your license key for activation
      SYNCFUSION_LICENSE_KEY: YOUR_LICENSE_KEY
    ports:
      - "6001:80"

Security note: Store SYNCFUSION_LICENSE_KEY in Docker secrets, environment variables, or orchestration-specific secret stores instead of saving it in source control.

Step 3: In a terminal, navigate to the folder containing docker-compose.yml and run:

docker-compose up

Alternatively, run the container directly with the license key:

docker run -d -p 6001:80 –e SYNCFUSION_LICENSE_KEY= YOUR_LICENSE_KEY syncfusion/pdfviewer-server:latest

In production, avoid embedding license keys in files or image tags. Use environment variable management (for example, an .env file loaded by Compose), Docker secrets, or a platform-managed secret store.

When the container starts, the server is available at http://localhost:6001. Open the API endpoint at http://localhost:6001/api/pdfviewer to verify the default GET response. For production deployments, use https:// and a secure environment for license storage.

Step 4: Set the PDF Viewer client’s serviceUrl to the server endpoint (for example, http://localhost:6001/api/pdfviewer). For details on creating a client application, see the PDF Viewer getting-started guide: https://help.syncfusion.com/document-processing/pdf/pdf-viewer/javascript-es6/getting-started/

<!DOCTYPE html><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head>
          <title>Essential JS 2</title>
          <link href="//cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/ej2-base/styles/material.css" rel="stylesheet">
          <link href="//cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/ej2-pdfviewer/styles/material.css" rel="stylesheet">
          <link href="//cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/ej2-buttons/styles/material.css" rel="stylesheet">
          <link href="//cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/ej2-popups/styles/material.css" rel="stylesheet">
          <link href="//cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/ej2-navigations/styles/material.css" rel="stylesheet">
          <link href="//cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/ej2-dropdowns/styles/material.css" rel="stylesheet">
          <link href="//cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/ej2-lists/styles/material.css" rel="stylesheet">
          <link href="//cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/ej2-inputs/styles/material.css" rel="stylesheet">
          <link href="//cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/ej2-splitbuttons/styles/material.css" rel="stylesheet">
          <link href="//cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/ej2-drawings/styles/material.css" rel="stylesheet">
          <link href="//cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/ej2-inplace-editor/styles/material.css" rel="stylesheet">
          <link href="//cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/ej2-calendars/styles/material.css" rel="stylesheet">
          <link href="//cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/ej2-richtexteditor/styles/material.css" rel="stylesheet">

            <!-- Essential JS 2 PDF Viewer's global script -->
            <script src="//cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/ej2-pdfviewer/dist/global/ej2-pdfviewer.min.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
            <script src="//cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/dist/ej2.min.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
       <script src="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/dist/ej2.min.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
</head>
       <body>
            <!--element which is going to render-->
              <div id="container">
                <div id="PdfViewer" style="height:500px;width:100%;">
                </div>
               </div>
            <script>
               // Initialize PDF Viewer component.
                var pdfviewer = new ej.pdfviewer.PdfViewer({
                    documentPath: "https://cdn.syncfusion.com/content/pdf/pdf-succinctly.pdf",
                    serviceUrl: "http://localhost:6001/api/pdfviewer"
                });
                ej.pdfviewer.PdfViewer.Inject(ej.pdfviewer.TextSelection, ej.pdfviewer.TextSearch, ej.pdfviewer.Navigation,ej.pdfviewer.Print);
                //PDF Viewer control rendering starts
                pdfviewer.appendTo('#PdfViewer');
            </script>
  <script>
var ele = document.getElementById('container');
if(ele) {
    ele.style.visibility = "visible";
 }
        </script>
<script src="index.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
</body></html>

How to configure the distributed Redis cache in this Docker image

The PDF Viewer server caches loaded document instances. To use a distributed cache, configure Azure Cache for Redis with Docker Compose as follows.

Step 1: Create an Azure Cache for Redis instance and copy the connection string. Follow the Azure Cache for Redis quickstart.

Step 2: Provide the connection string with the REDIS_CACHE_CONNECTION_STRING variable in docker-compose.yml. The default sliding expiration is 10 minutes. To change it, set DOCUMENT_SLIDING_EXPIRATION_TIME.

version: '3.4'
services:
  pdfviewer-server:
    image: syncfusion/pdfviewer-server:latest
    environment:
      # Provide your license key for activation
      SYNCFUSION_LICENSE_KEY: YOUR_LICENSE_KEY
      REDIS_CACHE_CONNECTION_STRING: YOUR_REDIS_CACHE_CONNECTION_STRING
      DOCUMENT_SLIDING_EXPIRATION_TIME: “20”
    ports:
      - "6001:80"

Review the platform-specific getting started guides:

Angular: https://help.syncfusion.com/document-processing/pdf/pdf-viewer/angular/getting-started
React: https://help.syncfusion.com/document-processing/pdf/pdf-viewer/react/getting-started
Vue: https://help.syncfusion.com/document-processing/pdf/pdf-viewer/vue/getting-started
ASP.NET MVC: https://help.syncfusion.com/document-processing/pdf/pdf-viewer/asp-net-mvc/getting-started
ASP.NET Core: https://help.syncfusion.com/document-processing/pdf/pdf-viewer/asp-net-core/getting-started
Blazor: https://blazor.syncfusion.com/documentation/pdfviewer/getting-started/server-side-application

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