--- title: "surf vs Chat-with-Scanned-Documents" type: "comparison" canonical_url: "https://www.graphcanon.com/compare/deta-surf-vs-tony-xlh-chat-with-scanned-documents" tools: ["deta-surf", "tony-xlh-chat-with-scanned-documents"] --- # surf vs Chat-with-Scanned-Documents *GraphCanon updated Aug 15, 2026* ## Verdict Pick surf if surf is an open-source tool for managing personal notes by integrating local or remote AI models to process files and webpages; pick Chat-with-Scanned-Documents if leverages Dynamic Web TWAIN for scanning and Tesseract.js for text extraction, integrating LangChain for chat functionality. [surf](https://deta.surf) reports 3.5k GitHub stars, 251 forks, and 32 open issues, last pushed Aug 10, 2026. [Chat-with-Scanned-Documents](https://github.com/tony-xlh/Chat-with-Scanned-Documents) has 6 stars, 3 forks, and 0 open issues, last pushed May 25, 2023. Figures are from public GitHub metadata via [surf's repository](https://github.com/deta/surf) and [Chat-with-Scanned-Documents's repository](https://github.com/tony-xlh/Chat-with-Scanned-Documents). | | [surf](/tools/deta-surf.md) | [Chat-with-Scanned-Documents](/tools/tony-xlh-chat-with-scanned-documents.md) | | --- | --- | --- | | Tagline | Tools for organizing files and webpages locally to generate notes using personal AI notebooks. | A demo chatting with documents scanned using Dynamic Web TWAIN and Tesseract.js | | Stars | 3,522 | 6 | | Forks | 251 | 3 | | Open issues | 32 | 0 | | Language | TypeScript | JavaScript | | Adopt for | surf is an open-source tool for managing personal notes by integrating local or remote AI models to process files and webpages. | Leverages Dynamic Web TWAIN for scanning and Tesseract.js for text extraction, integrating LangChain for chat functionality. | | Persona | - | - | | Runtime | - | - | | License | Apache-2.0 | MIT | | Categories | Data & Retrieval, Developer Tools, LLM Frameworks | Data & Retrieval, Developer Tools | ## Trust and health _Sourced signals - not a safety guarantee. No winner column._ | | [surf](/tools/deta-surf.md) | [Chat-with-Scanned-Documents](/tools/tony-xlh-chat-with-scanned-documents.md) | | --- | --- | --- | | Maintenance | Very active (96%) | Dormant (18%) | | Days since push | 2d | 1178d | | Open issues (now) | 32 | 0 | | Stars delta | Unknown | 0 (30d) | | Open issues delta | Unknown | 0 (30d) | | Owner type | Organization | User | | Full report | [trust report](/tools/deta-surf/trust.md) | [trust report](/tools/tony-xlh-chat-with-scanned-documents/trust.md) | ## Decision facts: surf - **Adopt for:** surf is an open-source tool for managing personal notes by integrating local or remote AI models to process files and webpages. ## Decision facts: Chat-with-Scanned-Documents - **Adopt for:** Leverages Dynamic Web TWAIN for scanning and Tesseract.js for text extraction, integrating LangChain for chat functionality. ## Choose when ### Choose surf if… - surf is primarily TypeScript; Chat-with-Scanned-Documents is JavaScript. - License: surf is Apache-2.0, Chat-with-Scanned-Documents is MIT. - Tags unique to surf: claude, deepseek, gemma, knowledge-base. - Also covers LLM Frameworks. - Need a robust integration with both local and remote language models for comprehensive note creation ### Choose Chat-with-Scanned-Documents if… - Chat-with-Scanned-Documents is primarily JavaScript; surf is TypeScript. - License: Chat-with-Scanned-Documents is MIT, surf is Apache-2.0. - Tags unique to Chat-with-Scanned-Documents: document scanning, dynamic web twain, langchain, ocr. - Need to interact with content from scanned documents ## When NOT to use surf - Prefer using proprietary, closed-source tools that do not allow open model choices - Require extensive cloud-based collaboration features among multiple users ## When NOT to use Chat-with-Scanned-Documents - Situations demanding real-time, high-volume document scanning and processing - Applications requiring more advanced AI chat capabilities beyond LangChain ## Common questions ### What is the difference between surf and Chat-with-Scanned-Documents? surf: Tools for organizing files and webpages locally to generate notes using personal AI notebooks.. Chat-with-Scanned-Documents: A demo chatting with documents scanned using Dynamic Web TWAIN and Tesseract.js. See the comparison table for live GitHub stats and shared categories. ### When should I choose surf over Chat-with-Scanned-Documents? Choose surf over Chat-with-Scanned-Documents when surf is primarily TypeScript; Chat-with-Scanned-Documents is JavaScript; License: surf is Apache-2.0, Chat-with-Scanned-Documents is MIT; Tags unique to surf: claude, deepseek, gemma, knowledge-base; Also covers LLM Frameworks; Need a robust integration with both local and remote language models for comprehensive note creation. ### When should I choose Chat-with-Scanned-Documents over surf? Choose Chat-with-Scanned-Documents over surf when Chat-with-Scanned-Documents is primarily JavaScript; surf is TypeScript; License: Chat-with-Scanned-Documents is MIT, surf is Apache-2.0; Tags unique to Chat-with-Scanned-Documents: document scanning, dynamic web twain, langchain, ocr; Need to interact with content from scanned documents. ### When should I avoid surf? Prefer using proprietary, closed-source tools that do not allow open model choices Require extensive cloud-based collaboration features among multiple users ### When should I avoid Chat-with-Scanned-Documents? Situations demanding real-time, high-volume document scanning and processing Applications requiring more advanced AI chat capabilities beyond LangChain ### Is surf or Chat-with-Scanned-Documents more popular on GitHub? surf has more GitHub stars (3,522 vs 6). Stars measure visibility, not whether either tool fits your constraints. ### Are surf and Chat-with-Scanned-Documents open source? Yes - both are open-source projects on GitHub (surf: Apache-2.0, Chat-with-Scanned-Documents: MIT). ### Where can I find alternatives to surf or Chat-with-Scanned-Documents? GraphCanon lists graph-backed alternatives at [surf alternatives](/tools/deta-surf/alternatives) and [Chat-with-Scanned-Documents alternatives](/tools/tony-xlh-chat-with-scanned-documents/alternatives) ([surf markdown twin](/tools/deta-surf/alternatives.md), [Chat-with-Scanned-Documents markdown twin](/tools/tony-xlh-chat-with-scanned-documents/alternatives.md)), ranked by typed relationship edges rather than popularity votes. ### Is there a machine-readable version of this comparison? Yes. The markdown twin at [this comparison](/compare/deta-surf-vs-tony-xlh-chat-with-scanned-documents.md) mirrors this page for agents and LLM crawlers, with the same stats table and FAQ answers. ### Which is better maintained, surf or Chat-with-Scanned-Documents? surf: Very active. Chat-with-Scanned-Documents: Dormant. Compare maintenance labels, days since push, and release cadence in the trust section below - stars alone do not measure maintenance. ### Where are the full trust reports for surf and Chat-with-Scanned-Documents? GraphCanon publishes per-repo trust reports with dated maintenance, provenance, and scan summaries: [surf trust report](/tools/deta-surf/trust); [Chat-with-Scanned-Documents trust report](/tools/tony-xlh-chat-with-scanned-documents/trust). --- **Machine-readable endpoints** - JSON: [`/api/graphcanon/graph?tool=deta-surf`](/api/graphcanon/graph?tool=deta-surf) - LLM index: [/llms.txt](/llms.txt) - Full corpus: [/llms-full.txt](/llms-full.txt) _GraphCanon - The knowledge graph for AI development. https://www.graphcanon.com/_