ReaderAvailable

The reader: checks first, then runs.

A reader is the software that opens IDOP documents. Ours runs in the browser, inside IDOP Cloud, and installs as an app. It is built on the same core as our command-line validator.

§ 01What a reader does

Four duties, defined by the specification.

Any software can be an IDOP reader if it does these things. They are requirements, not features.

Validate

Parse the whole package independently of any ZIP library and check every rule before anything runs.

Isolate

Run document code in a context with no network, no access to the reader, and no access to other documents.

Broker

Answer storage, network and configuration requests — only within what the manifest declares and the user grants.

Save

Write state into a new revision of the file, and validate the result before it replaces the old one.

§ 02Processing model

From file to running document.

Input

.idop file

Untrusted until proven otherwise.

Step 1 · Reader

Validation before execution

  1. Size limits
  2. ZIP structure, parsed independently
  3. mimetype
  4. Every path
  5. Bounded decompression, CRC
  6. Manifest
  7. Executable boundary
  8. Capabilities and consent

Any failure refuses the whole file, with a stable error code. Nothing runs before all checks pass.

Step 2 · Running

Sandbox

The document’s code. Opaque origin, no network, no access to the reader or other documents.

code/**

Reader

Answers each request — or refuses it.

  • Storage — a working copy of storage/
  • Network — only declared origins, after consent
  • Credentials — injected by the reader, never shown to code

Step 3 · Save

A new revision

Only storage/ and the revision in idop.json change. The result is validated again before it replaces the file.

The processing model of an IDOP reader, simplified. The normative text is in the specification, sections 9 to 12.

§ 03Where it runs

Readers, today and planned.

Web reader in IDOP Cloud

Available

Runs in current versions of Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Safari. Install it as an app from the browser; in Chrome and Edge it then opens .idop files from your file manager.

Android

Planned

The installed web reader already receives files shared to it on Android. A store listing is planned.

Native desktop readers

Planned

Today the web reader installs as an app; native readers are planned.

Your own reader

Available

The specification defines everything a reader must do, so anyone can build one.

Open a document in the reader.

IDOP Cloud runs in the browser. Start from a template, open a file you were sent, or keep your own — no installation, and no account needed just to open a document.