From 0df383d1c053faba03a538340038e2aa05d7c187 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Gregor Zurowski <gregor@zurowski.org>
Date: Wed, 16 Sep 2026 11:31:13 +0200
Subject: [PATCH 1/2] Stop using CORS proxy for papers

---
 components/work/WorkDocument.tsx |  2 +-
 types/work.ts                    | 23 +++--------------------
 2 files changed, 4 insertions(+), 21 deletions(-)

diff --git a/components/work/WorkDocument.tsx b/components/work/WorkDocument.tsx
index 6c4e16107..16aff2a89 100644
--- a/components/work/WorkDocument.tsx
+++ b/components/work/WorkDocument.tsx
@@ -87,7 +87,7 @@ export const WorkDocument = ({ work, metadata }: WorkDocumentProps) => {
                   <div className="bg-white rounded-lg shadow-sm border mb-6 relative">
                     {work.pdfCopyrightAllowsDisplay ? (
                       <DocumentViewer
-                        url={pdfFormat.internalUrl || pdfFormat.url}
+                        url={pdfFormat.url}
                         className="min-h-[800px]"
                         onPdfUnavailable={() => setPdfUnavailable(true)}
                       />
diff --git a/types/work.ts b/types/work.ts
index a394b537f..81186596c 100644
--- a/types/work.ts
+++ b/types/work.ts
@@ -5,9 +5,7 @@ import { Topic, transformTopic } from './topic';
 import { createTransformer, BaseTransformed } from './transformer';
 import { Hub } from './hub';
 import { NoteWithContent, transformNoteWithContent } from './note';
-import { ProxyService } from '../services/proxy.service';
 import { stripHtml } from '../utils/stringUtils';
-import { transformUser, TransformedUser } from './user';
 import { transformTip, Tip } from './tip';
 import { transformProposalReview, type ProposalReview } from './aiPeerReview';
 import type { FundingPool, GrantApplicationVisibility } from './grant';
@@ -74,10 +72,6 @@ export type DocumentVersion = {
 export interface FormatType {
   type: string;
   url: string;
-  /**
-   * This is a proxied URL for internal use (e.g., to avoid CORS issues when rendering PDFs).
-   */
-  internalUrl?: string;
 }
 
 export interface Work {
@@ -320,21 +314,10 @@ export const transformWork = createTransformer<any, Work>((raw) => {
     doi: raw.doi,
     journal: transformJournal(raw),
     formats: raw.file
-      ? [...(raw.formats || []), { type: 'PDF', url: raw.file, internalUrl: raw.file }]
+      ? [...(raw.formats || []), { type: 'PDF', url: raw.file }]
       : raw.pdf_url
-        ? [
-            ...(raw.formats || []),
-            {
-              type: 'PDF',
-              url: raw.pdf_url,
-              internalUrl: ProxyService.generateProxyUrl(raw.pdf_url),
-            },
-          ]
-        : (raw.formats || []).map((format: FormatType) => ({
-            ...format,
-            internalUrl:
-              format.type === 'PDF' ? ProxyService.generateProxyUrl(format.url) : undefined,
-          })),
+        ? [...(raw.formats || []), { type: 'PDF', url: raw.pdf_url }]
+        : raw.formats || [],
     license: raw.pdf_license,
     pdfCopyrightAllowsDisplay: raw.pdf_copyright_allows_display,
     figures: raw.first_preview

From 18413c9562e8e18d05b7399e9fb5a962959482f0 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Gregor Zurowski <gregor@zurowski.org>
Date: Wed, 16 Sep 2026 11:31:41 +0200
Subject: [PATCH 2/2] Remove proxy service

---
 services/proxy.service.ts | 21 ---------------------
 1 file changed, 21 deletions(-)
 delete mode 100644 services/proxy.service.ts

diff --git a/services/proxy.service.ts b/services/proxy.service.ts
deleted file mode 100644
index 01fc61c7d..000000000
--- a/services/proxy.service.ts
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,21 +0,0 @@
-const getBaseUrl = (): string => {
-  if (process.env.VERCEL_ENV === 'production') {
-    return 'https://proxy.prod.researchhub.com';
-  }
-  return 'https://proxy.staging.researchhub.com';
-};
-
-export const ProxyService = {
-  getBaseUrl,
-  generateProxyUrl: (url: string): string => {
-    // Don't proxy ResearchHub CDN URLs
-    if (url && url.includes('researchhub')) {
-      return url;
-    }
-
-    const baseUrl = getBaseUrl();
-    return `${baseUrl}/proxy?url=${encodeURIComponent(url)}`;
-  },
-};
-
-export default ProxyService;