@boxpdf/html-reader

Readable HTML-to-PDF rendering built on @boxpdf/writer. It is for invoices, receipts, reports, emails, and other authored document HTML where a useful static PDF matters more than browser pixel emulation.

npm install @boxpdf/html-reader @boxpdf/writer pdf-lib

The original boxpdf-html package and boxpdf-html command remain supported. They are published from the same build and at the same version as @boxpdf/html-reader. New projects should use the scoped package; existing projects do not need to change.

CLI

Render an HTML file directly:

npx @boxpdf/html-reader invoice.html invoice.pdf

The scoped package also provides html-reader as a shorter command name.

With generated Tailwind CSS:

npx tailwindcss -i ./tailwind.css -o ./dist/tailwind.css --minify
npx @boxpdf/html-reader invoice.html invoice.pdf --css ./dist/tailwind.css

For very large inputs, add --stream:

npx @boxpdf/html-reader archive.html archive.pdf --stream
type archive.html | npx @boxpdf/html-reader - archive.pdf --stream

Streaming makes two bounded passes over the HTML: one for CSS, fonts, and images, then one for incremental layout and PDF output. Stdin is spooled to a temporary file so it can be reopened. The output replaces its destination only after a successful conversion. This path requires boxpdf 1.12.0 or newer.

With PDF 2.0 AES-256 password encryption:

BOXPDF_PASSWORD='open me' \
  npx @boxpdf/html-reader invoice.html invoice.pdf --password-env BOXPDF_PASSWORD

--password-env accepts an environment-variable name. The variable must be set to a non-empty password. The password value is never accepted as a command argument, which keeps it out of the command line and process listing.

With custom fonts and local images:

npx @boxpdf/html-reader invoice.html invoice.pdf \
  --font ./Inter-Regular.ttf \
  --bold-font ./Inter-Bold.ttf \
  --font-family 'Inter=normal:Inter-Regular.ttf,bold:Inter-Bold.ttf'

Useful flags:

html-reader <input.html> <output.pdf>
html-reader - <output.pdf>                  # read HTML from stdin
html-reader input.html output.pdf --css app.css
html-reader input.html output.pdf --base-url ./public
html-reader input.html output.pdf --password-env BOXPDF_PASSWORD
html-reader input.html output.pdf --debug
html-reader input.html output.pdf --unsupported-css
html-reader input.html output.pdf --profile
html-reader input.html output.pdf --stream

The CLI defaults to pdf-lib's built-in Helvetica family. Use real embedded fonts for production output when brand matching, unicode coverage, or exact metrics matter.

Related MCP server: PDF2MD MCP Server

MCP server

boxpdf-html mcp is a stdio MCP server for AI agents. It's batteries-included: an html_to_pdf tool plus the full boxpdf library docs, so an agent never has to add a second server.

claude mcp add boxpdf-html -- npx -y @boxpdf/html-reader mcp

Tools

• html_to_pdf — render an HTML string (and optional css) to a PDF. Writes to outputPath, or returns the PDF inline as a base64 resource. Always returns warnings and unsupportedCss diagnostics so the agent can fix its input.

  • Args: html (required), css, outputPath, size (Letter/A4/Legal/Tabloid, default Letter), margin (default 40), baseUrl, fonts: { regular, bold, italic, boldItalic } (TTF/OTF paths), allowRemote (default false — http(s) image fetches are blocked unless enabled), debug.

• boxpdf_docs — focused guidance for building PDFs with the libraries directly. topic: quickstart (default), fonts, themes, tables, pagination, streaming, html-api, cloudflare.

Resources: boxpdf-html://guide, boxpdf-html://readme, boxpdf://readme, and the five boxpdf://templates/<name> sources (receipt, boarding-pass, resume, order-confirmation, certificate).

The server runs no JavaScript and (by default) makes no network requests. outputPath writes with the agent's filesystem permissions; without it, PDFs over 1 MB are summarized rather than inlined.

API

htmlToPdf — one call to bytes

htmlToPdf(html, options?) is the simplest path: it creates the document, embeds fonts, renders, and returns the PDF bytes. Fonts default to the built-in Helvetica family, so the minimal call needs no setup.

import { htmlToPdf } from "@boxpdf/html-reader";

const bytes = await htmlToPdf("<h1>Invoice</h1><p>Thanks for your order.</p>");

Pass embedded fonts (via loadFont) and a resolveImage callback for production output:

import { readFile } from "node:fs/promises";
import { PDFDocument } from "pdf-lib";
import { loadFont, loadImage } from "@boxpdf/writer";
import { htmlToPdf } from "@boxpdf/html-reader";

const pdf = await PDFDocument.create();
const inter = await loadFont(pdf, await readFile("Inter-Regular.ttf"));
const interBold = await loadFont(pdf, await readFile("Inter-Bold.ttf"));
const logo = await loadImage(pdf, await readFile("logo.png"));

const bytes = await htmlToPdf(await readFile("invoice.html", "utf8"), {
  pdf,                       // reuse the document you embedded into
  font: inter,
  boldFont: interBold,
  resolveImage: ({ url }) => (url === "logo.png" ? logo : undefined),
  margin: 40
});

Options: font / boldFont / italicFont / boldItalicFont (default to Helvetica), pdf (render into an existing document), margin (default 40), size (default US Letter), width (CSS containing-block width; defaults to the page's content width), debug, plus everything htmlToBoxpdf accepts (resolveFont, resolveImage, baseUrl, defaultFontSize, defaultColor, diagnostics, profile).

htmlToBoxpdf — the nodes, for full control

htmlToBoxpdf turns HTML into normal boxpdf nodes without rendering. Reach for it when you need the nodes themselves, the warnings/diagnostics, multiple render passes, or renderFlow headers/footers.

import { readFile } from "node:fs/promises";
import { PDFDocument } from "pdf-lib";
import { loadFont, loadImage, renderFlow } from "@boxpdf/writer";
import { fontFamily, htmlToBoxpdf } from "@boxpdf/html-reader";

const html = await readFile("invoice.html", "utf8");
const pdf = await PDFDocument.create();

const inter = await loadFont(pdf, await readFile("Inter-Regular.ttf"));
const interBold = await loadFont(pdf, await readFile("Inter-Bold.ttf"));
const logo = await loadImage(pdf, await readFile("logo.png"));

const result = htmlToBoxpdf(html, {
  font: inter,
  boldFont: interBold,
  resolveFont: fontFamily({
    Inter: { normal: inter, bold: interBold },
    "sans-serif": { normal: inter, bold: interBold }
  }),
  resolveImage: ({ url }) => (url === "logo.png" ? logo : undefined),
  baseUrl: process.cwd(),
  width: 532
});

console.log(result.warnings);
await renderFlow(pdf, result.nodes, { margin: 40 });
const bytes = await pdf.save();

width is the CSS containing block width in PDF points. A US Letter page with 40pt margins has a 532pt content width, so width: 532 is a good default.

streamHtmlToPdf — bounded large-document conversion

streamHtmlToPdf accepts a function that reopens the HTML for each of its two passes and writes PDF bytes incrementally. Embed fonts before calling it; use prepare to embed images found by the resource preflight before output begins.

import { createReadStream, createWriteStream } from "node:fs";
import { PDFDocument, StandardFonts } from "pdf-lib";
import { nodeAdapter } from "@boxpdf/writer";
import { streamHtmlToPdf } from "@boxpdf/html-reader";

const pdf = await PDFDocument.create();
const font = await pdf.embedFont(StandardFonts.Helvetica);

const result = await streamHtmlToPdf(
  () => createReadStream("archive.html"),
  nodeAdapter(createWriteStream("archive.pdf")),
  { pdf, font, width: 532, margin: 40 }
);

console.log(result.pageCount, result.dom.maxBufferedNodes);

Ordinary block wrappers and tables are released in bounded continuation fragments. Atomic layouts such as flex/grid, positioned or transformed containers, and single uninterrupted text nodes have explicit safety caps and fail with a useful error when they cannot be streamed safely. Selectors whose meaning depends on sibling position conservatively disable wrapper fragmentation.

Fonts

Fonts are explicit. boxpdf-html does not discover system fonts and does not ship a browser font stack. This keeps rendering deterministic and works in serverless runtimes.

At minimum, pass font. Pass boldFont and italicFont if your HTML uses bold or italic text:

const result = htmlToBoxpdf(html, {
  font,
  boldFont,
  italicFont,
  width: 532
});

For CSS font-family, use fontFamily():

const resolveFont = fontFamily({
  Inter: {
    normal: interRegular,
    bold: interBold,
    italic: interItalic,
    boldItalic: interBoldItalic
  },
  Helvetica: {
    normal: fallback,
    bold: fallbackBold
  },
  "sans-serif": {
    normal: fallback,
    bold: fallbackBold
  }
});

The resolver receives { families, weight, style } and returns a pdf-lib PDFFont. You can provide your own resolver when you need looser mapping, font aliases, language-specific fallbacks, or weight synthesis.

Gotchas:

• font-family: system-ui only works if your resolver maps system-ui.

• Standard pdf-lib fonts are convenient but limited; use embedded TTF/OTF fonts for real documents.

• Complex shaping depends on pdf-lib/fontkit behavior. Western-language invoice/report text is the target.

• Font metrics affect layout. Use the same embedded fonts in tests and production when visual stability matters.

Tailwind CSS

Tailwind works when you render its generated CSS, not raw class names alone. The usual flow is:

1. Write document HTML with Tailwind classes.

2. Run Tailwind against that HTML.

3. Inline or pass the generated CSS to boxpdf-html.

4. Render with a containing width that matches your intended PDF content area.

Example source:

<div class="p-6 bg-[#f8fafc] text-gray-900">
  <div class="max-w-[520px] rounded-[10px] border bg-white p-5 shadow-sm">
    <div class="grid grid-cols-[1fr_2fr] gap-x-4 gap-y-3">
      <div class="rounded-md border border-blue-200 bg-blue-50 p-3">
        <p class="text-xs font-semibold uppercase tracking-wide text-blue-700">Status</p>
        <p class="mt-1 text-sm font-bold">Paid</p>
      </div>
      <div class="rounded-md border border-gray-200 p-3">
        <p class="text-xs font-semibold uppercase tracking-wide text-gray-600">Notes</p>
        <p class="mt-1 text-sm leading-5">Two fraction column wraps later.</p>
      </div>
    </div>
  </div>
</div>

Build CSS:

@import "tailwindcss";
@source "./invoice.html";

npx tailwindcss -i ./tailwind-input.css -o ./tailwind-output.css --minify
npx @boxpdf/html-reader invoice.html invoice.pdf --css ./tailwind-output.css

Supported Tailwind patterns include common spacing, color, text, border, radius, width/height, flex, grid, table, image, and arbitrary-value utilities. Unsupported utility declarations can be reported with --unsupported-css or diagnostics: { unsupportedCss: true }.

Tailwind gotchas:

• Responsive/state variants are parsed as CSS; there is no viewport interaction. Choose a single generated CSS target for the PDF you want.

• Two-dimensional transforms support ordered translate, scale, rotate, skew, and matrix function lists, their X/Y variants, transform-origin, and the standalone translate, rotate, and scale properties. Length/percentage translations and deg, grad, rad, and turn angles are supported. Three-dimensional transforms, shadows, filters, transitions, and browser-only effects are ignored or reported as unsupported.

• Tailwind preflight resets are mostly harmless. Diagnostics intentionally focus on utility selectors instead of noisy base selectors.

• If text layout matters, use the same fonts in Tailwind design review and PDF rendering.

Images

The API uses resolveImage because pdf-lib images must be embedded before rendering:

const images = new Map([
  ["logo.png", await loadImage(pdf, await readFile("logo.png"))]
]);

htmlToBoxpdf(html, {
  font,
  resolveImage: ({ url }) => images.get(url),
  baseUrl: process.cwd()
});

The CLI preloads local, http(s), and data: image URLs referenced by <img src> and CSS url(...). Missing images preserve their layout box when width/height can be inferred.

CSS And HTML Surface

Supported:

• HTML fragments and full documents via parse5.

• Stylesheets and inline styles via css-tree.

• Selectors: tag, class, id, attributes, descendants, child/sibling combinators, common structural pseudos, and escaped Tailwind selectors.

• Cascade basics: stylesheet rules, inline style, !important, inheritance, custom properties, var(), and common calc().

• Layout: block, inline, inline-block, inline-flex, inline-grid, flex, grid fallback, tables, floats, absolute/relative positioning, z-index, overflow hidden, and replaced images.

• Text: rich inline runs, hard breaks, normal/no-wrap/pre-like whitespace, transforms, decoration, alignment, vertical-align, list hanging indents, and wrapping.

• Sizing/styling: CSS px to points, pt, em/rem, vw/vh, percentages in common places, min/max widths, box-sizing, margin/padding/gap, backgrounds, background images, borders, per-side borders, border collapse, radius, object-fit.

Not a browser:

• No JavaScript execution.

• No interactive or dynamic layout.

• No full browser paint model.

• No system font discovery.

• CSS support is intentionally expanded around static document output. Use diagnostics to find unsupported declarations in real templates.

Diagnostics

const result = htmlToBoxpdf(html, {
  font,
  width: 532,
  diagnostics: { unsupportedCss: true, sampleLimit: 3 },
  profile: (event) => console.log(event.phase, event.elapsedMs)
});

console.log(result.diagnostics?.unsupportedCss);

Unsupported CSS diagnostics are aggregated by property/value pair and include selector samples. Profile events cover parsing, CSS, style computation, render-tree construction, and output node counts.

Useful commands:

pnpm run typecheck
pnpm run test
pnpm run build
pnpm run tailwind:fixture
pnpm run visual:check
pnpm run pack:release
BOXPDF_DEP_VERSION=^1.7.0 pnpm run publish:release