Principle:Puppeteer Puppeteer PDF Generation
| Knowledge Sources | |
|---|---|
| Domains | Browser_Automation, Document_Generation, Rendering |
| Last Updated | 2026-02-11 23:00 GMT |
Overview
A technique that converts rendered web page content into a PDF document with configurable page layout, margins, and formatting.
Description
PDF Generation leverages the browser's built-in print rendering engine to produce PDF documents from web content. Unlike screenshot capture (which produces raster images), PDF generation creates vector-based documents that support text selection, hyperlinks, and scalable graphics.
Key capabilities include:
- Paper format selection: A4, Letter, Legal, Tabloid, and custom dimensions
- Margin control: Individual top, right, bottom, left margins
- Orientation: Portrait or landscape
- Background rendering: Option to include CSS background colors and images
- Header/footer templates: Custom HTML templates with page numbers, dates, titles
- Page ranges: Generate PDF for specific page ranges only
- Scale control: Scale content between 0.1x and 2.0x
Usage
Use PDF generation for creating printable reports from web dashboards, archiving web content as documents, generating invoices or receipts from HTML templates, or producing documentation from web-based content management systems. The page must be fully loaded before generating the PDF. PDF generation requires the browser to run in headless mode.
Theoretical Basis
PDF generation uses the browser's print rendering pipeline:
# PDF generation pipeline
1. Page content is fully rendered
2. Browser applies print media styles (@media print)
3. Content is paginated according to paper dimensions
4. Headers and footers are inserted (if configured)
5. CSS backgrounds are included (if printBackground: true)
6. Content is rasterized/vectorized into PDF format
7. PDF binary data is transferred from browser to Node.js
8. If path specified: write to file system