Stirling PDF

Stirling PDF is a self-hosted PDF manipulation tool. Runs natively on NixOS (no Docker) on obox.

Configuration

• Branded as "semi.sh PDF"
• Update notifications disabled for all users
• Behind Caddy reverse proxy
• Admin configured via UI (not env vars - env-based admin only works on first boot with empty DB)

NixOS Config

services.stirling-pdf = {
  enable = true;
  environment = {
    UI_APPNAME = "semi.sh PDF";
    UI_HOMEDESCRIPTION = "Privacy-first PDF tools, hosted on semi.sh";
    UI_APPNAVBARNAME = "semi.sh PDF";
    SYSTEM_SHOWUPDATE = "false";
    SYSTEM_SHOWUPDATEONLYADMIN = "false";
  };
};

Admin Login

Set up via the web UI on first boot. If you need to reset:

# Clear state and restart
sudo rm -rf /var/lib/stirling-pdf/*
sudo systemctl restart stirling-pdf

Then set admin password from the UI.

Google Drive Integration

Google Drive integration is a paid feature (Server plan, $99/mo). PREMIUM_ENABLED=true only turns on license key checks - it doesn't bypass the license. Not configured.

Free Alternative for Drive Access

Mount rclone Google Drive as a fuse filesystem on obox, point Stirling's file picker at that path. Free, uses existing rclone config.