Brevier

Website · Docs · Pricing · Code metrics

Point Brevier at a template, or at a PDF you already have. Get a document that is already correct.

Brevier is the full-stack PDF library. It generates PDF documents from the plainest web tools: HTML, CSS, JSON and Handlebars. It also supports Markdown, which is the preferred output format for AI.

Free to develop and test. Paid per production server.

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Built on what you already know

HTML, CSS, JSON and your own code. Nothing new to learn.

Part	Tool	What it does
Page structure	HTML	The template is an HTML page. Handlebars binds it with your data: values, loops and conditions.
Page styling	CSS	CSS sets fonts, colours, page dimensions, margins, headers, footers and page counters.
Data validation	JSON	Objects serialize as JSON. A JSON Schema validates every field before rendering.
Your application	Code	Pass existing objects in Java, Python, TypeScript and .NET. Brevier writes them to JSON the same way in every language.

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Code in your language

Brevier provides native client libraries with the same fluent API:

Java

import dev.brevier.Brevier;

public class RechnungService {
    public byte[] pdf(Firma firma, Rechnung rechnung, Kunde kunde) {
        return Brevier.template("rechnung")
                      .render(firma, rechnung, kunde);
    }
}

Python

import brevier


def pdf(firma, rechnung, kunde) -> bytes:
    return brevier.template("rechnung").render(firma, rechnung, kunde)

TypeScript

import { Brevier } from "@brevier/client";

export async function pdf(firma: Firma, rechnung: Rechnung, kunde: Kunde): Promise<Uint8Array> {
  return Brevier.template("rechnung").render({ firma, rechnung, kunde });
}

.NET / C#

using Brevier;

public class RechnungService
{
    public byte[] Pdf(Firma firma, Rechnung rechnung, Kunde kunde)
    {
        return BrevierClient.Template("rechnung").Render(firma, rechnung, kunde);
    }
}

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Everything a business document needs

Brevier handles print rules automatically so you focus on your data:

• 📊 Table mechanics & Übertrag: Repeating <thead> on every page, non-splitting rows, and running totals (Übertrag) at page breaks.
• 🇩🇪 Ranked German hyphenation: Compound-word boundary splitting (Duden rules) for German and English (Ur-instinkt instead of Urin-stinkt). Never more than 3 hyphens in a row.
• ✉️ DIN 5008 & Business correspondence: Exact German letter dimensions, fold marks, address field layouts for invoices (Rechnung), payment reminders (Mahnung) and delivery notes (Lieferschein).
• 📜 Contracts & fine print: Automatic CSS clause numbering (§ 1, § 2, 1.1), table of contents with target page counters, and .small-print legal legibility (7pt minimum).
• 🧾 Compliance & E-Invoicing: Every document conforms to PDF/A-3b (ISO 19005-3). Built-in support for ZUGFeRD / Factur-X electronic invoices (EN 16931).
• 🔍 The visible middle & Visual linter: --debug writes the exact HTML and CSS the engine received. Built-in visual linter catches overflows, orphan headings, missing font glyphs, and hyphen runs in CI.

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Take over what you already have

Replace legacy drawing code and proprietary design tools in two clean steps:

1. JasperReports (.jrxml): Parse JRXML templates into clean HTML and infer a JSON Schema from report fields and parameters.
2. Word (.docx): Convert Word documents directly into reusable HTML and CSS templates.
3. AcroForm PDFs: Extract fillable form fields and visual layout into HTML templates and schemas.

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Installation

Brevier runs on Linux, macOS, and Windows across three channels:

1. PyPI (pip)

pip install brevier

2. One-line script installer

# Linux / macOS
curl -fsSL https://get.brevier.dev | bash

# Windows (PowerShell)
irm https://get.brevier.dev/ps | iex

3. Docker container

docker pull brevier/brevier:latest
docker run -p 5151:5151 brevier/brevier

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Quickstart

1. Render a PDF from template and JSON data

brevier pdf rechnung.html --data sample.json -o rechnung.pdf

2. Inspect the visible middle

brevier pdf rechnung.html --data sample.json --debug

Writes the prepared HTML and CSS to disk before rendering.

3. Lint a document in CI

brevier lint rechnung.pdf --fail-on=overflow,orphan-heading,glyph-missing

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Code Metrics (Dynamic Analytics)

Brevier maintains a self-actualizing metrics report with continuous verification of git velocity, codebase volume, test suites, and ADRs.

👉 Open the complete report: 📊 Code Metrics Report

Key Metric	Value	Category
Git Commits	420+ commits	Velocity & traceability
Total Codebase	110,000+ LOC	Full-stack polyglot engine & SDKs
Automated Tests	1,900+ tests	100% green pytest, conformance & golden renders
Client SDKs	Java, Python, TypeScript, .NET	Uniform client binding across 4 languages
Architecture Decisions	35 ADRs documented	Formally recorded decisions in docs/architecture/adr/

To update the metrics report dynamically:

uv run python scripts/generate_project_stats.py

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Business Model & Licensing

Testing is free. Production is not.

• Development & CI: 100% Free. Test on developer laptops, CI build servers, and staging environments with synthetic data without restrictions or watermark.
• Production Use: Paid per production server with simple, published pricing on brevier.dev/pricing.
• Air-Gap Friendly: No phone-home checks, no license server, no AGPL supply chain risks.

Brevier is licensed under the Business Source License (BSL 1.1). See PRD Section 12 for details.

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Contributing & Development

We follow Scrum discipline as defined in AGENTS.md and docs/process/METHODOLOGY.md.

Please follow the Code of Conduct. Report security problems as described in SECURITY.

Pre-commit & Pre-push Setup

git config core.hooksPath .githooks

Running Tests & Quality Gates

# Run pytest test suite
uv run pytest --ignore=tests/packaging

# Run Golden Render Gate
uv run python tests/golden_render_gate.py

# Run Linters and Type Checks
uv run ruff check
uv run ruff format --check
uv run mypy brevier tests