electron-pdf
A command-line tool that uses Electron to generate PDF files from URLs, HTML, or Markdown files.
What is electron-pdf?
Electron-PDF is a command-line tool and Node.js library that generates PDF files from URLs, HTML, or Markdown sources. It uses Electron's Chromium engine to render web content accurately and provides extensive options for customizing the output, solving the need for programmatic, high-quality PDF creation in development workflows.
Developers and engineers who need to automate PDF generation from web content in Node.js applications, CI/CD pipelines, or via command-line scripts.
It offers a reliable, Electron-based rendering engine with fine-grained control over PDF output, a programmatic API for integration, and support for multiple input formats, making it a versatile alternative to cloud-based PDF services or simpler HTML-to-PDF converters.
Overview
📄 A command line tool to generate PDF from URL, HTML or Markdown files.
Use Cases
Best For
- Automating PDF reports from dynamic web applications
- Converting documentation written in Markdown to printable PDFs
- Generating invoices or statements from HTML templates in a Node.js backend
- Creating snapshots of web pages as PNG images for thumbnails or previews
- Integrating PDF generation into CI/CD pipelines for documentation builds
- Self-hosting a PDF rendering service to avoid third-party API dependencies
Not Ideal For
- High-throughput web services requiring fast PDF generation, as Electron's startup overhead slows down processing.
- Serverless or containerized environments with strict memory limits, due to Electron's heavy resource footprint.
- Projects needing PDF generation from non-web sources like DOCX or images without intermediate HTML conversion.
- Teams that prioritize minimal setup and dependency management, as configuring xvfb for headless servers adds complexity.
Pros & Cons
Pros
Uses Electron's Chromium engine to capture pages exactly as they appear in a browser, including complex CSS and JavaScript, ensuring high-fidelity output.
Supports live URLs, local HTML files, and Markdown documents, making it versatile for different content types without extra conversion steps.
Provides a Node.js API with event-driven job handling and in-memory buffer support, allowing seamless embedding into applications for automated workflows.
Exposes extensive CLI and API options based on Electron's printToPDF, such as page size, margins, and orientation, giving fine-grained control over PDF appearance.
Can export to PNG images or capture rendered HTML in addition to PDF, extending utility for scenarios like thumbnails or snapshots.
Cons
Spawns full Electron browser instances per job, consuming high memory and CPU, which can be prohibitive for low-resource servers or scalable applications.
Requires xvfb and environment configuration on Linux without a GUI, as noted in the README, adding deployment overhead and potential points of failure.
The README admits event documentation is a work in progress, which can hinder advanced usage and debugging for custom JavaScript integration.
Warnings about segmentation faults with in-memory buffers and the need for careful window management indicate potential crash scenarios if not configured correctly.
Frequently Asked Questions
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