markdown-it-pdf

abstract

This library is a tool for rendering markdown files as a PDF file.

It uses the following technologies:

• Markdown-it: for parsing markdown files.
• Puppeteer: for rendering HTML files as a PDF file.

With this library, you can easily generate PDF files from markdown files.

Features

• Render markdown files as PDF files via Command Line Interface.
• Host the html pages to have been Rendered from markdown files.
• Flexibly customizable, including:
  • Output directory and file name
  • HTML template
  • Paper size, margin, header, footer, etc. in the generated PDF
  • Markdown-it plugin for syntax extension
• Supports logging execution status

How to Use.

[step0]: Install the library

create npm project and install this library with npm

npm init -y
npm install -D markdown-it-pdf

Of course, you can install it globally or use it as a command only without installing it (using npx command).

[step1]: First of all you write documents in Markdown

First, create the source code documents in Markdown with the following directory structure:

<project-root>
+ src
  + img
  | + logo.png
  | + img001.jpg
  + sub01
  | + sub01-001.md
  | + sub01-002.md
  + styles
  | + style001.css
  | + style002.css
  + sample001.md
  + sample002.md
+ package.json
+ node_modules

• You can convert multiple Markdown files to PDF files in bulk.
• The target files are searched recursively.
• You can also specify the style (css) to be applied to Markdown.
• You can also specify the image data (png or jpg) to be used in Markdown.

[step2]: Determine the rendering method.

You can select the rendering method as follows:

Method	Summary
CLI Printer	You can generate PDF files in bulk by using the CLI.
CLI Server	You can start an HTTP server on localhost to distribute HTML files generated from Markdown.
Node.js API	You can extend this library by using markdown-it-plugins, or embed it in your own application and convert Markdown to PDF.

[step3][CLI] Configure

Create configuration file (named markdown-it-pdf-config.json) on root directory like bellow:

{
    "recursive": true,
    "externalUrls": ["https://hoo.bar/styles/test.css"],
    "margin": {
        "top": "12.7mm",
        "bottom": "12.7mm",
        "left": "12.7mm",
        "right": "12.7mm"
    }
}

See more information on this article - About Configurations.

[step4][CLI] Execute

This tool include Command Line Interface which launches the server and prints the output them pages to the files as PDF.

Printer: Convert multiple Markdown files to PDFs

markdown-it-pdf print src pdf --config markdown-it-pdf-config.json

If you want to print(convert) markdown files into PDF files, then you use print command. First option is the root directory of the markdown files. Second option is the output directory of the PDF files.

Server: Start the HTTP server to distribute HTML

markdown-it-pdf serve src --config markdown-it-pdf-config.json

If you want to start the HTTP server to distribute HTML, then you use serve command. For example if you want to print yourself, want to share your MD files with others, or want to debug before writing CSS files, then you use serve command.

The first option is the root directory of the markdown files.

Other options for the CLI

Option	Alias	Summary
--config	-c	Specify the configuration file path.
--log	-l	Specify the log level. trace, debug,info,warn,error,silent
--help	-h	Show help.
--version	-v	Show version.

[step3][API] Create Application

Embed into your service(app)

See more information on this article - About APIs.