❖ RECTO STUDIO

The Open-Source Desktop Publishing Suite Engineered for Craftsmanship.

"Why should the craft of arranging thought upon paper require rent paid to a landlord in San Jose?"

Recto Studio is a high-performance, open-source desktop publishing suite built from the ground up for independent book designers, editorial typographers, zine publishers, and printmakers. Built with a local-first philosophy, it brings professional-grade prepress, typographic precision, and multi-format publishing directly into the browser and desktop with zero cloud lock-in.

▶ Launch Recto Studio in your browser (No account, no sign-up)

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⚡ Architectural & Engineering Highlights

• Client-Side PDF/X-1a & Tagged PDF/UA Compiler: Zero-cloud prepress engine generating print-ready PDFs with 3mm bleed, crop marks, spot/process colors, semantic structure trees, and accessible screen-reader tags directly in browser memory.
• Sub-Pixel Typographic Engine: InDesign-grade multi-column text balancing, baseline grid alignment, optical margin alignment, hyphenation dictionaries, and an automated copyfit orphan buster.
• Zero-Allocation Canvas Pipeline: 60 FPS viewport rendering featuring dual-buffer coordinate mapping, spatial indexing, sub-pixel edge alignment, and magnetic snapping without GC stutter on low-power hardware.
• Peer-to-Peer CRDT Real-Time Collaboration: Distributed document synchronization enabling multiple collaborators to co-edit spreads, adjust typography, and see live remote presence cursors across browser tabs or local networks.
• Universal Multi-Format Output Engine:
  • Print PDF: Native PDF/X-1a with trim marks and bleed.
  • EPUB 3 Packages: Semantic reflowable and fixed-layout XHTML/CSS book manifests.
  • Self-Contained 3D Web Flipbooks: Single-file HTML5 packages with page-turn physics and keyboard navigation.
  • One-Click Prepress Packages: Bundled ZIP containing native .recto project files, print PDFs, high-res assets, and a prepress instruction manifest.

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⌨️ Keyboard Shortcuts & Accelerators

Shortcut	Command / Action	Category
V	Selection Tool (Transform & Move)	Tools
T	Type Tool (Create Multi-Column Text Frame)	Tools
F	Frame Tool (Image Placeholder Container)	Tools
M	Rectangle Tool	Tools
O	Ellipse Tool	Tools
L	Line / Divider Tool	Tools
P	Vector Pen Tool (Bézier Path Editing)	Tools
H / Space + Drag	Hand Tool (Viewport Pan)	Navigation
W	Preview Mode Toggle (Show / Hide Guides & Bleed)	View
Ctrl + + / Ctrl + -	Zoom In / Zoom Out	View
Ctrl + 0	Fit Spread in Window	View
Ctrl + Z	Undo (30-step state history)	Edit
Ctrl + Shift + Z / Ctrl + Y	Redo	Edit
Ctrl + Alt + Shift + C	Fill Frame Proportionally	Frame Fitting
Ctrl + Alt + Shift + E	Fit Content Proportionally	Frame Fitting
Ctrl + Alt + C	Fit Frame to Content	Frame Fitting
Ctrl + Alt + E	Fit Content to Frame	Frame Fitting
Ctrl + Shift + E	Center Content in Frame	Frame Fitting
Delete / Backspace	Delete Selected Elements	Edit

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🛠️ Repository & Project Structure

recto-studio/
├── src/
│   ├── types/               # Type system & discriminated unions
│   ├── engine/              # Viewport math, renderer, hit testing, guides
│   ├── state/               # Reactive state manager, persistence, snapshots
│   ├── ui/                  # Toolbar, top bar, contextual control bar, inspector
│   ├── export/              # PDF/X-1a compiler, PDF/UA accessibility engine
│   ├── templates/           # Curated editorial, novel, and zine presets
│   ├── epubExport.ts        # EPUB 3 packager
│   ├── flipbookExport.ts    # Single-file HTML5 3D flipbook generator
│   ├── packageExport.ts     # Prepress ZIP packager
│   ├── main.ts              # Application initialization & bootstrap
│   └── style.css            # Studio dark mode theme
├── tests/                   # Vitest unit & integration test suites
│   ├── viewport.test.ts     # Coordinate mapping & zoom math tests
│   ├── state.test.ts        # Undo/redo stack & mutation tests
│   ├── pdfGeometry.test.ts  # Prepress points & bleed math tests
│   └── integration.test.ts  # Comprehensive engine integration suite
├── dist/                    # Production bundle outputs
├── ARCHITECTURE.md          # In-depth systems architecture document
└── vite.config.ts           # Bundler configuration

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🚀 Development Quickstart

Prerequisites

• Node.js (v18+ recommended)
• npm or pnpm

Installation

git clone https://github.com/artificia1/recto-studio.git
cd recto-studio
npm install

Development Server

npm run dev

Open your browser to http://localhost:5173.

Running Unit & Integration Tests

npm test

Production Build

npm run build

Generates optimized, minified production assets into the dist/ folder.

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📜 License

Released under the MIT License. Copyright (c) 2022-2026 Abhinav. Created by independent creators for independent creators.