pdfkit README

The project's README from github.com/foliojs/pdfkit. As one markdown file: README.md.

PDFKit

A JavaScript PDF generation library for Node and the browser.

Description

PDFKit is a PDF document generation library for Node and the browser that makes creating complex, multi-page, printable documents easy. The API embraces chainability, and includes both low level functions as well as abstractions for higher level functionality. The PDFKit API is designed to be simple, so generating complex documents is often as simple as a few function calls.

Check out some of the documentation and examples to see for yourself! You can also read the guide as a self-generated PDF with example output displayed inline. If you'd like to see how it was generated, check out the README in the docs folder.

You can also try out an interactive in-browser demo of PDFKit here.

Installation

Use npm or yarn package manager. Just type the following command:

# with npm
npm install pdfkit

# with yarn
yarn add pdfkit

Features

Coming soon!

Example

Both const PDFDocument = require('pdfkit') and import PDFDocument from 'pdfkit' remain supported for backward compatibility. New code should prefer the named PDFDocument export, which will make a future migration to an ESM-only package more straightforward.

const { PDFDocument } = require('pdfkit');
const fs = require('fs');

// Create a document
const doc = new PDFDocument();

// Pipe its output somewhere, like to a file or HTTP response
// See below for browser usage
doc.pipe(fs.createWriteStream('output.pdf'));

// Embed a font, set the font size, and render some text
doc
  .font('fonts/PalatinoBold.ttf')
  .fontSize(25)
  .text('Some text with an embedded font!', 100, 100);

// Add an image, constrain it to a given size, and center it vertically and horizontally
doc.image('path/to/image.png', {
  fit: [250, 300],
  align: 'center',
  valign: 'center'
});

// Add another page
doc
  .addPage()
  .fontSize(25)
  .text('Here is some vector graphics...', 100, 100);

// Draw a triangle
doc
  .save()
  .moveTo(100, 150)
  .lineTo(100, 250)
  .lineTo(200, 250)
  .fill('#FF3300');

// Apply some transforms and render an SVG path with the 'even-odd' fill rule
doc
  .scale(0.6)
  .translate(470, -380)
  .path('M 250,75 L 323,301 131,161 369,161 177,301 z')
  .fill('red', 'even-odd')
  .restore();

// Add some text with annotations
doc
  .addPage()
  .fillColor('blue')
  .text('Here is a link!', 100, 100)
  .underline(100, 100, 160, 27, { color: '#0000FF' })
  .link(100, 100, 160, 27, 'http://google.com/');

// Finalize PDF file
doc.end();

The PDF output from this example (with a few additions) shows the power of PDFKit — producing complex documents with a very small amount of code. For more, see the demo folder and the PDFKit programming guide.

Browser Usage

There are three ways to use PDFKit in the browser:

In addition to PDFKit, you'll need to collect its output. Browsers provide a Blob object for storing binary data and creating URLs that can be displayed in an iframe, downloaded or uploaded.

Experimental output helpers

PDFKit provides experimental toBlob and toBytes helpers from pdfkit/output. These functions may change before they are stabilized. Call the selected helper before ending the document so it receives the complete output.

Use toBlob when displaying, downloading or uploading the PDF in a browser:

import { PDFDocument, registerStdFonts } from 'pdfkit';
import Helvetica from 'pdfkit/standard-fonts/Helvetica';
import HelveticaBold from 'pdfkit/standard-fonts/HelveticaBold';
import { toBlob } from 'pdfkit/output';

registerStdFonts(Helvetica, HelveticaBold);
const doc = new PDFDocument();
const output = toBlob(doc);

// Add your content to the document here, as usual.

doc.end();
const blob = await output;
const url = URL.createObjectURL(blob);
iframe.src = url;

// Revoke the URL when the iframe no longer needs the PDF.
// URL.revokeObjectURL(url);

Use toBytes instead when a binary API, worker or parser needs one contiguous Uint8Array:

import { toBytes } from 'pdfkit/output';

const output = toBytes(doc);
doc.end();
const bytes = await output;

The stable, dependency-free alternative is to collect the document's Uint8Array chunks using its events and construct the Blob directly:

const chunks = [];

doc.on('data', chunk => chunks.push(chunk));
doc.on('end', () => {
  const blob = new Blob(chunks, { type: 'application/pdf' });
  const url = URL.createObjectURL(blob);
  iframe.src = url;
});

// Add your content to the document here, as usual.
doc.end();

You can see an interactive in-browser demo of PDFKit here.

The browser build has no access to the file system. You can register a Uint8Array under a path before passing that exact path to registerFont, image or file:

import { PDFDocument, registerFile } from 'pdfkit';

const response = await fetch('/fonts/Roboto-Regular.ttf');
const fontData = new Uint8Array(await response.arrayBuffer());

registerFile('fonts/Roboto-Regular.ttf', fontData);

const doc = new PDFDocument();

// register an alias for the font path
doc.registerFont('Roboto', 'fonts/Roboto-Regular.ttf');
// or use the path directly
doc.font('fonts/Roboto-Regular.ttf');

// Optionally unregister the path when it is no longer needed.
registerFile('fonts/Roboto-Regular.ttf', undefined);

Registration is global to the loaded PDFKit module. Registering the same path again replaces its data. In Node, registered data takes precedence over a file at the same path; unregistering it restores normal file system lookup. Both APIs are available as named exports from the CommonJS entry point:

const { PDFDocument, registerFile } = require('pdfkit');

registerFile('files/example.txt', new Uint8Array([1, 2, 3]), {
  birthtime: new Date('2020-01-02T03:04:05Z'),
  ctime: new Date('2021-02-03T04:05:06Z'),
});
registerFile('files/example.txt', undefined);

registerFile accepts only a Uint8Array or undefined. You can still pass a Uint8Array or ArrayBuffer directly to registerFont, image and file, and you can pass a data URL directly to image and file. An unregistered file path throws in the browser. The optional birthtime and ctime values must be valid Date objects; either omitted value defaults to the time of registration.

Documentation

For complete API documentation and more examples, see the PDFKit website.

License

PDFKit is available under the MIT license.

pdfkit (foliojs/pdfkit)

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10.7K ·GitHub
Pdfkit
What is this?PDFKit is a JavaScript library for generating complex, multi-page, printable PDF documents in Node.js and in the browser.
Is it a framework or a library?It is a library you require or import into your own code; it has a chainable API with both low-level drawing functions and higher-level helpers for text, images, tables, and forms.
How do I add it to a project?Install it with npm or yarn, then require PDFDocument (or use the new named import) and pipe its output to a file or stream.
What does PDFKit depend on under the hood?It bundles helper packages for fonts, images, and crypto: fontkit for font handling, png-js for PNGs, fflate, linebreak, and the @noble crypto libraries for encryption.
Does the browser build work the same as Node?No — the browser build has no file system access, so fonts and images must be registered as Uint8Array data (or passed as ArrayBuffer/data URL) instead of referenced by file path, and an unregistered path throws.
Why would I use this instead of a headless browser to make PDFs?PDFKit generates PDFs programmatically with a canvas-like vector/text API instead of rendering HTML, which keeps it lightweight and gives precise control over layout, fonts, and PDF-specific features like forms and encryption.
How do I use PDFKit in the browser specifically?You can bundle it with Browserify or webpack, or use the prebuilt pdfkit.standalone.js file from releases; output is collected via a Blob or the experimental toBlob/toBytes helpers.
What image and font formats can I embed?Images support JPEG and PNG (including indexed and transparent PNGs). Fonts support TrueType, OpenType, WOFF, WOFF2, TrueType Collections, and Datafork TrueType, with font subsetting handled automatically.
Can I secure or restrict the generated PDFs?Yes, PDFKit supports PDF encryption and setting access privileges like printing, copying, modifying, annotating, form filling, and content assembly permissions.
Does PDFKit support accessible/tagged PDFs?Yes, it includes accessibility support through marked content, logical structure, Tagged PDF, and PDF/UA compliance.
What are similar projects?pdfcraft, sharp, node-canvas, bentopdf, PDFPatcher, liteparse, react-pdf, awesome-design
Which topics is it in?jpeg, documents, vector, images, png, annotations, pdf-generation, vector-graphics, document, fonts, mit-license, font
Creator
foliojs
Size
58.9 MB
Stars
10.7K
Updated
CommitOct 11Releasev0.20.2Aug 30
Age
15y
Commits · 90 Days