Fullbleed

Deterministic, self-contained HTML/CSS-to-PDF generation in Rust, with a Python-first CLI and Python engine bindings.

License: MIT.

• Install: pip install fullbleed
• Try: fullbleed init . && python report.py
• Outputs: output/report.pdf
• Deterministic + reproducible (--repro-record / --repro-check)
• Agent-safe JSON schemas (--json-only, --schema)

Positioning

Fullbleed is a deterministic, offline-first document rendering engine for transactional/VDP pipelines (not a browser, not a hosted web-to-print SaaS).

HTML and CSS are used as a familiar DSL for layout, styling, and data placement in transactional documents.

This README is the canonical usage guide for:

• fullbleed CLI (human workflows + machine/agent automation)
• fullbleed Python bindings (PdfEngine, AssetBundle, batch APIs)

Additional focused references are in docs/:

• docs/install-non-technical.md (step-by-step setup for non-technical users)
• docs/css-coverage.md (validated CSS coverage, parity status, and active gaps)
• docs/README.md
• docs/engine.md
• docs/python-api.md
• docs/ui-accessibility.md
• docs/cli.md
• docs/pdf-templates.md

What You Get

• No headless browser requirement for PDF generation.
• Deterministic render pipeline with optional SHA256 output hashing.
• Reproducibility workflow via --repro-record and --repro-check.
• PDF 1.7 as the production-stable default target.
• Rust-native PDF template composition for VDP/transactional overlays.
• Native Rust image emission for overlay and finalized compose outputs (--emit-image) without external PDF raster runtime dependencies.
• Feature-driven page-to-template binding with per-page deterministic compose plans.
• Structured JSON result schemas for CI and AI agents.
• Offline-first asset model with explicit remote opt-in.
• Remote project template registry workflows (new list, new search, new remote).
• Python-first extension surface for hackability and custom workflows.
• Python render calls release the GIL while Rust rendering executes.
• Ordered standard-library worker pools for batch rendering and selected internal workloads.
• No third-party Rust crate graph and no required third-party Python runtime or build packages.

Concurrency Model

• Python binding render methods release the GIL during Rust execution through the Stable ABI bridge.
• Parallel batch APIs use Fullbleed's ordered standard-library worker pool (render_pdf_batch_parallel(...) and parallel-to-file variants).
• The same bounded worker implementation serves selected internal hotspots such as table layout and JIT paint paths.
• Do not assume every single-document render path will fully saturate all cores end-to-end.

Install

New to Python or setting up on a fresh machine? Start with docs/install-non-technical.md.

python -m pip install fullbleed

From a local wheel:

python -m pip install C:\path\to\fullbleed-2.0.0-cp310-abi3-win_amd64.whl

From a source checkout with Rust installed, no Python build package is needed:

python -m pip install --no-build-isolation --no-deps --editable .

To create deterministic release artifacts directly:

python build_backend/fullbleed_build_backend.py wheel --out dist
python build_backend/fullbleed_build_backend.py sdist --out dist

Platform artifact policy:

• Linux wheels cover manylinux2014 on x86-64, x86, ARM64, ARMv7, s390x, and ppc64le, plus musllinux_1_2 on x86-64, x86, ARM64, and ARMv7.
• Windows wheels cover x86-64, x86, and ARM64; macOS wheels cover Intel and Apple silicon.
• The CPython stable ABI allows each platform wheel to support Python 3.10 through 3.14.
• CI installs and exercises every built wheel on its target architecture, using native runners or QEMU as appropriate. The x86-64 manylinux wheel is additionally tested on every supported Python version before publication.

Verify command surface:

fullbleed --help
fullbleed capabilities --json
fullbleed doctor --json

60-Second Quick Start (Project Happy Path)

Initialize project scaffold:

fullbleed init .

fullbleed init now vendors Bootstrap (5.0.0) into vendor/css/bootstrap.min.css, vendors Bootstrap Icons (1.11.3) into vendor/icons/bootstrap-icons.svg, vendors inter into vendor/fonts/Inter-Variable.ttf, writes license notices (vendor/css/LICENSE.bootstrap.txt, vendor/icons/LICENSE.bootstrap-icons.txt, vendor/fonts/LICENSE.inter.txt), and seeds assets.lock.json with pinned hashes. The scaffolded report.py also runs a component mount smoke validation before main render and writes output/component_mount_validation.json (fails fast on missing glyphs, placement overflow, or CSS miss signals parsed from debug logs). Scaffolded components now include components/primitives.py with reusable layout/content helpers (Stack, Row, Text, table/list helpers, key/value rows, etc.). Each scaffolded project also includes SCAFFOLDING.md, which should be your first read before restructuring components.

Install additional project assets (defaults to ./vendor/... in project context):

fullbleed assets install inter --json

Bootstrap baseline note:

• We target Bootstrap (5.0.0) as the default styling baseline for project workflows.
• Re-run fullbleed assets install bootstrap --json only if you want to explicitly refresh/bootstrap-manage outside init.

Render using the scaffolded component pipeline:

python report.py

Expected artifacts from scaffolded report.py:

• output/report.pdf
• output/report_page1.png (or equivalent page preview from engine image APIs)
• output/component_mount_validation.json
• output/css_layers.json

Canonical static PDF reference:

python examples/canonical_reference/report.py

examples/canonical_reference/ is the exhaustive scaffold-shaped reference for component composition, layered CSS, bundled fonts/SVG, inline SVG, raster data URIs, linked and standalone HTML artifacts, PDF output, PNG previews, and validation reports.

Project Bootstrap Templates (fullbleed new)

Use local starters:

fullbleed new local invoice ./my-invoice
fullbleed new local statement ./my-statement
fullbleed new local accessible ./my-accessible-doc
fullbleed new local reference ./my-reference-doc

Discover remote starters from registry:

fullbleed new list --json
fullbleed new search i9 --tag vdp --json
fullbleed new remote i9-stamped-vdp ./i9-job --json

fullbleed new local accessible is the verbose accessibility-first starter and demonstrates the fullbleed.accessibility runtime surface (engine verifier, PMR, PDF/UA-targeted seed checks, and non-visual trace artifacts). fullbleed new local reference vendors the canonical static PDF reference shape as a scaffolded project with component layers, assets, PDF/PNG outputs, page data, and validation reports.

Optional registry override (for private/canary registries):

fullbleed new list --registry https://example.com/manifest.json --json

or:

set FULLBLEED_TEMPLATE_REGISTRY=https://example.com/manifest.json
fullbleed new search statement --json

Scaffold-First Workflow (Recommended)

fullbleed init is designed for component-first authoring rather than a single large HTML template.

Typical scaffold layout:

.
|-- SCAFFOLDING.md
|-- COMPLIANCE.md
|-- report.py
|-- components/
|   |-- fb_ui.py
|   |-- primitives.py
|   |-- header.py
|   |-- body.py
|   |-- footer.py
|   `-- styles/
|       |-- primitives.css
|       |-- header.css
|       |-- body.css
|       `-- footer.css
|-- styles/
|   |-- tokens.css
|   `-- report.css
|-- vendor/
|   |-- css/
|   |-- fonts/
|   `-- icons/
`-- output/

Best-practice authoring model:

1. Read SCAFFOLDING.md first for project conventions.
2. Keep composition and data loading in report.py.
3. Keep reusable component building blocks in components/primitives.py.
4. Keep section markup in components/header.py, components/body.py, components/footer.py.
5. Keep component-local styles in components/styles/*.css.
6. Keep page tokens/composition styles in styles/tokens.css and styles/report.css.

Recommended CSS layer order:

1. styles/tokens.css
2. components/styles/primitives.css
3. components/styles/header.css
4. components/styles/body.css
5. components/styles/footer.css
6. styles/report.css

Recommended iteration loop:

1. Edit data loading + component props in report.py.
2. Edit component markup in components/*.py.
3. Edit styles in components/styles/*.css and styles/*.css.
4. Run python report.py.
5. Review output/report_page1.png, output/component_mount_validation.json, and output/css_layers.json.

Optional scaffold diagnostics:

• FULLBLEED_DEBUG=1 to emit JIT traces.
• FULLBLEED_PERF=1 to emit perf traces.
• FULLBLEED_EMIT_PAGE_DATA=1 to persist page data JSON.
• FULLBLEED_IMAGE_DPI=144 (or higher) for preview resolution.
• FULLBLEED_VALIDATE_STRICT=1 for stricter validation gates in CI.

One-off Quick Render (No Project Scaffold)

Render inline HTML/CSS with reproducibility artifacts:

fullbleed --json render \
  --html-str "<html><body><h1>Hello</h1></body></html>" \
  --css-str "body{font-family:sans-serif}" \
  --emit-manifest build/render.manifest.json \
  --emit-jit build/render.jit.jsonl \
  --emit-perf build/render.perf.jsonl \
  --deterministic-hash build/render.sha256 \
  --repro-record build/render.repro.json \
  --out output/hello.pdf

--deterministic-hash writes the output PDF SHA-256 by default; when --emit-image is enabled, it writes an artifact-set digest (fullbleed.artifact_digest.v1) over PDF SHA-256 plus ordered page-image SHA-256 hashes. JSON outputs expose outputs.deterministic_hash_mode (pdf_only or artifact_set_v1), with outputs.artifact_sha256 and outputs.image_sha256 when images are emitted.

Re-run and enforce reproducibility against a stored record:

fullbleed --json render \
  --html templates/report.html \
  --css templates/report.css \
  --repro-check build/render.repro.json \
  --out output/report.rerun.pdf

Generate PNG page artifacts from an existing validation render:

fullbleed --json verify \
  --html templates/report.html \
  --css templates/report.css \
  --emit-pdf output/report.verify.pdf \
  --emit-image output/report_verify_pages \
  --image-dpi 200

Compile-only plan (no render):

fullbleed --json plan \
  --html templates/report.html \
  --css templates/report.css

Template compose planning (no finalize write):

fullbleed --json plan \
  --html templates/overlay.html \
  --css templates/overlay.css \
  --template-binding config/template_binding.json \
  --templates config/template_catalog.json \
  --emit-compose-plan output/compose_plan.json

PDF Template Composition (VDP / Transactional)

When overlaying variable data onto a source PDF, use the built-in Rust template compose path.

Minimal CLI auto-compose flow:

fullbleed --json render \
  --html templates/overlay.html \
  --css templates/overlay.css \
  --asset templates/source.pdf --asset-kind pdf --asset-name source-template \
  --template-binding config/template_binding.json \
  --templates config/template_catalog.json \
  --out output/composed.pdf

Compose image semantics:

• In template auto-compose mode, --emit-image PNGs are rasterized from finalized composed pages and report outputs.image_mode=composed_pdf.
• In non-compose render/verify runs, --emit-image reports outputs.image_mode=overlay_document.

Minimal template_binding example:

{
  "default_template_id": "source-template",
  "feature_prefix": "fb.feature.",
  "by_feature": {
    "front": "source-template",
    "back_blank": "source-template"
  }
}

Python API compose flow:

import fullbleed

engine = fullbleed.PdfEngine(template_binding=binding_spec)
overlay_bytes, _page_data, _bindings = engine.render_pdf_with_page_data_and_template_bindings(html, css)
open("output/overlay.pdf", "wb").write(overlay_bytes)
plan_result = engine.plan_template_compose(
    html,
    css,
    [("source-template", "templates/source.pdf")],
    0.0,
    0.0,
)
plan = [
    (
        row["template_id"],
        row["template_page"],
        row["overlay_page"],
        row["dx"],
        row["dy"],
    )
    for row in plan_result["plan"]
]
fullbleed.finalize_compose_pdf(
    [("source-template", "templates/source.pdf")],
    plan,
    "output/overlay.pdf",
    "output/composed.pdf",
    annotation_mode="link_only",  # optional: link_only | none | carry_widgets
)

See docs/pdf-templates.md and examples/template-flagging-smoke/ for full production examples.

CLI Command Map

Command	Purpose	JSON Schema
render	Render HTML/CSS to PDF with optional PNG page artifacts	fullbleed.render_result.v1
verify	Validation render path with optional PDF and PNG emits	fullbleed.verify_result.v1
plan	Compile/normalize inputs into manifest + warnings	fullbleed.plan_result.v1
run	Render using Python module/file engine factory	fullbleed.run_result.v1
inspect pdf	Inspect PDF metadata and composition compatibility	fullbleed.inspect_pdf.v1
inspect pdf-batch	Inspect multiple PDFs with per-file status	fullbleed.inspect_pdf_batch.v1
inspect templates	Inspect template catalog metadata/compatibility	fullbleed.inspect_templates.v1
compliance	License/compliance report for legal/procurement	fullbleed.compliance.v1
debug-perf	Summarize perf JSONL logs	fullbleed.debug_perf.v1
debug-jit	Filter/inspect JIT JSONL logs	fullbleed.debug_jit.v1
doctor	Runtime capability and health checks	fullbleed.doctor.v1
capabilities	Machine-readable command/engine capabilities	fullbleed.capabilities.v1
assets list	Installed and optional remote packages	fullbleed.assets_list.v1
assets info	Package details + hashes/sizes	fullbleed.assets_info.v1
assets install	Install builtin/remote package	fullbleed.assets_install.v1
assets verify	Validate package and optional lock constraints	fullbleed.assets_verify.v1
assets lock	Write/update assets.lock.json	fullbleed.assets_lock.v1
cache dir	Cache location	fullbleed.cache_dir.v1
cache prune	Remove old cached packages	fullbleed.cache_prune.v1
init	Initialize project scaffold	fullbleed.init.v1
new	Create starter template files or query/install remote templates	fullbleed.new_template.v1, fullbleed.new_list.v1, fullbleed.new_search.v1, fullbleed.new_remote.v1

Schema discovery for any command/subcommand:

fullbleed --schema render
fullbleed --schema assets verify
fullbleed --schema inspect pdf
fullbleed --schema inspect templates

CLI Flags That Matter Most

Global machine flags:

• --json: structured result payload to stdout
• --json-only: implies --json and --no-prompts
• --schema: emit schema definition and exit
• --no-prompts: disable interactive prompts
• --config: load defaults from a config file
• --log-level error|warn|info|debug: control CLI log verbosity
• --no-color: disable ANSI color output
• --version: print CLI version and exit

Render/verify/plan key flags:

• Inputs: --html, --html-str, --css, --css-str --html accepts .svg files for direct SVG-document rendering; --html-str accepts inline SVG markup.
• Page setup: --page-size, --page-width, --page-height, --margin, --page-margins
• Engine toggles: --reuse-xobjects, --svg-form-xobjects, --svg-raster-fallback, --shape-text, --unicode-support, --unicode-metrics
• PDF/compliance: --pdf-version, --pdf-profile, --color-space, --document-lang, --document-title Stable default is --pdf-version 1.7 for shipping workflows. Profile targets: none, pdfa1a, pdfa1b, pdfa2a, pdfa2b, pdfa2u, pdfa3a, pdfa3b, pdfa3u, pdfa4, pdfa4e, pdfa4f, pdfx4, pdfua1, pdfua2, pdfvt1, wtpdf1r, wtpdf1a, tagged. Aliases: a, ua, vt, wt1r, wt1a, pdf/a, pdf/ua, pdf/vt. Output intent metadata (--output-intent-identifier|--output-intent-info|--output-intent-components) requires --output-intent-icc. Run python tools/validate_pdf_profiles.py --download-verapdf --install-pdf-oxide --strict-external to regenerate profile specimens, capture inspect/JIT evidence, replay deterministic hashes, validate PDF/A and PDF/UA with veraPDF, and validate PDF/X-4 with pdf_oxide. WTPDF profiles are validated with veraPDF wt1r/wt1a and include PDF Declaration evidence. pdfa4f emits and checks an associated EmbeddedFiles name tree. pdfvt1 also emits and checks a parsed DPart graph (DPartRoot, DPartRootNode, one-level NodeNameList, leaf page range, and page /DPart references), including a supplemental multipage specimen for /Start and /End, reported as granular booleans plus pdfvt_dpart_graph_valid; use a dedicated PDF/VT preflight tool for third-party PDF/VT certification, or wire one into the same harness with --pdfvt-cmd "tool --input {pdf}" --require-dedicated-pdfvt.
• Watermarking: --watermark-text, --watermark-html, --watermark-image, --watermark-layer, --watermark-semantics, --watermark-opacity, --watermark-rotation
• Artifacts: --emit-jit, --emit-perf, --emit-glyph-report, --emit-page-data, --emit-compose-plan, --emit-image, --image-dpi, --deterministic-hash
• Assets: --asset, --asset-kind, --asset-name, --asset-trusted, --allow-remote-assets
• Profiles: --profile dev|preflight|prod
• Fail policy: --fail-on overflow|missing-glyphs|font-subst|budget
• Fallback policy: --allow-fallbacks (keeps fallback diagnostics, but does not fail missing-glyphs / font-subst gates)
• Reproducibility: --repro-record <path>, --repro-check <path>
• Budget thresholds: --budget-max-pages, --budget-max-bytes, --budget-max-ms
• Release gates: doctor --strict, compliance --strict --max-audit-age-days <n>

SVG Workflows

Fullbleed supports SVG in three practical CLI paths:

• Direct SVG document render via --html <file.svg>
• Inline SVG markup via --html-str "<svg ...>...</svg>"
• Referenced SVG assets via --asset <file.svg> (kind auto-infers to svg)

Standalone SVG file to PDF:

fullbleed --json render \
  --html artwork/badge.svg \
  --out output/badge.pdf

Inline SVG markup to PDF:

fullbleed --json render \
  --html-str "<svg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' width='200' height='80'><rect width='200' height='80' fill='#0d6efd'/><text x='16' y='48' fill='white'>Hello SVG</text></svg>" \
  --out output/inline-svg.pdf

HTML template with explicit SVG asset registration:

fullbleed --json render \
  --html templates/report.html \
  --css templates/report.css \
  --asset assets/logo.svg \
  --asset-kind svg \
  --out output/report.pdf

SVG render behavior flags:

• --svg-form-xobjects / --no-svg-form-xobjects
• --svg-raster-fallback / --no-svg-raster-fallback

Distributed Python wheels enable the svg_raster engine feature, so --svg-raster-fallback can rasterize unsupported SVG constructs such as SVG text, filters, masks, and foreignObject into deterministic image content. Custom source builds must include --features python,svg_raster to advertise and use that fallback path.

Machine discovery:

fullbleed capabilities --json

Inspect the svg object in fullbleed.capabilities.v1 for SVG support metadata. It reports the compiled svg_raster build feature plus a feature matrix for native-vector SVG, raster-fallback-required SVG, and unsupported/known-loss SVG features.

Image Support Matrix

Launch-safe image claims:

• Supported direct raster inputs: PNG and JPEG.
• SVG is handled by the SVG pipeline described above, with native-vector output where supported and raster fallback for fallback-only features when svg_raster is enabled.
• Supported references include filesystem paths, registered bundle assets, file/data URIs, <img>, CSS background-image: url(...), list-style images, and watermark images.
• Unsupported or not launch-claimed as direct inputs: WebP, GIF, TIFF, AVIF, BMP, animated images, <picture>, srcset, sizes, density descriptors, and browser-style responsive image selection.
• For deterministic builds, prefer vendored local assets or registered AssetBundle inputs; remote assets must be explicitly allowed.

Per-Page Templates (page_1, page_2, page_n)

Fullbleed uses ordered page templates internally. In docs, this is easiest to think of as:

• page_1: first page template
• page_2: second page template
• page_n: repeating template for later pages

Configuration mapping:

• CLI --page-margins keys: 1, 2, ... and optional "n" (or "each" alias).
• Python PdfEngine(page_margins=...): same key model.
• Missing numeric pages fall back to the base margin.
• The last configured template repeats for remaining pages.

Minimal CLI example:

{
  "1": {"top": "12mm", "right": "12mm", "bottom": "12mm", "left": "12mm"},
  "2": {"top": "24mm", "right": "12mm", "bottom": "12mm", "left": "12mm"},
  "n": {"top": "30mm", "right": "12mm", "bottom": "12mm", "left": "12mm"}
}

fullbleed --json render \
  --html templates/report.html \
  --css templates/report.css \
  --page-margins page_margins.json \
  --header-each "Statement continued - Page {page} of {pages}" \
  --out output/report.pdf

Minimal Python example:

import fullbleed

engine = fullbleed.PdfEngine(
    page_width="8.5in",
    page_height="11in",
    margin="12mm",
    page_margins={
        1: {"top": "12mm", "right": "12mm", "bottom": "12mm", "left": "12mm"},  # page_1
        2: {"top": "24mm", "right": "12mm", "bottom": "12mm", "left": "12mm"},  # page_2
        "n": {"top": "30mm", "right": "12mm", "bottom": "12mm", "left": "12mm"} # page_n
    },
    header_first="Account Statement",
    header_each="Statement continued - Page {page} of {pages}",
    footer_last="Final page",
)

Note:

• CLI currently exposes --header-each / --footer-each (and --header-html-each / --footer-html-each).
• For first/last header/footer variants (header_first, header_last, footer_first, footer_last), use the Python API.

Asset Workflow (CLI)

List installed + available packages:

fullbleed assets list --available --json

Install builtin assets:

fullbleed assets install bootstrap
fullbleed assets install bootstrap-icons
# `@bootstrap` / `@bootstrap-icons` are also supported aliases

PowerShell note:

• Quote @ aliases (for example "@bootstrap") to avoid shell parsing surprises.

Install remote asset package:

fullbleed assets install inter

Install broad Unicode fallback package (larger font payload):

fullbleed assets install noto-sans

Install to a custom vendor directory:

fullbleed assets install bootstrap --vendor ./vendor

Install to global cache:

fullbleed assets install inter --global

Install common barcode fonts (license-safe defaults):

fullbleed assets install libre-barcode-128
fullbleed assets install libre-barcode-39
fullbleed assets install libre-barcode-ean13-text

Verify against lock file with strict failure:

fullbleed assets verify inter --lock --strict --json

Preview cache cleanup without deleting files:

fullbleed cache prune --max-age-days 30 --dry-run --json

Notes:

• Builtin packages accept both plain and @ references (bootstrap == @bootstrap, bootstrap-icons == @bootstrap-icons, noto-sans == @noto-sans).
• noto-sans is available as a builtin fallback package, but it is intentionally larger than inter; use it when your document requires broader glyph coverage.
• Project installs default to ./vendor/ when project markers are present (assets.lock.json, report.py, or fullbleed.toml in CWD).
• If no project markers are found, assets install defaults to global cache unless --vendor is explicitly set.
• Do not hardcode cache paths like %LOCALAPPDATA%/fullbleed/cache/...; use assets install --json and consume installed_to.
• Installed assets include license files in typed vendor directories (for example vendor/fonts/, vendor/css/).
• assets lock --add is currently aimed at builtin package additions.
• Barcode packages in the remote registry are currently OFL-1.1 families from Google Fonts (Libre Barcode).
• USPS IMB fonts are not currently auto-installable via assets install; use local vetted font files and track licensing separately.

Bootstrap Vendoring

Bootstrap builtin package details:

• Package: bootstrap (alias: @bootstrap)
• Bundled version: 5.0.0
• Asset kind: CSS (bootstrap.min.css)
• Default install location: vendor/css/bootstrap.min.css (project mode)
• License: MIT
• License source: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/twbs/bootstrap/v5.0.0/LICENSE

Bootstrap Icons builtin package details:

• Package: bootstrap-icons (alias: @bootstrap-icons)
• Bundled version: 1.11.3
• Asset kind: SVG sprite (bootstrap-icons.svg)
• Default install location: vendor/icons/bootstrap-icons.svg (project mode)
• License: MIT
• License source: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/twbs/icons/v1.11.3/LICENSE

Bootstrap notes:

• Bootstrap is vendored and installable through the asset pipeline.
• Bootstrap CSS is consumed as an explicit local asset (--asset @bootstrap or AssetBundle); external HTML <link rel="stylesheet"> is not an execution path.
• Bootstrap preflight examples remain useful smoke examples, but they are not the canonical source of CSS parity claims.

Validated CSS Coverage

For the full, maintained coverage statement, see docs/css-coverage.md.

Summary as of May 19, 2026:

• Tracked CSS modules: 22
• Module state: 22/22 in_progress
• Full CSS fixture lane: 86/86 fixtures passing with 603 assertion/paint checks
• Parity status check: green (tools/generate_css_parity_status.py --check --json)
• Canonical validation artifact: _css_working/css_parity_status.json
• Canonical validation artifact: _css_working/tmp/fixture_full_latest.json
• Canonical validation artifact: _css_working/css_broad_coverage_sprint_s14.md

Current validated behavior includes first-class parser -> evaluator -> calculator -> layout/paint coverage across broad static-document CSS domains (values math, layout primitives, pagination/fragmentation baselines, transforms phase-1, gradient/effects subsets including color-first and interleaved-color filter: drop-shadow(...) with computed lengths, modern rgb() shadow colors with mm lengths, duplicate drop-shadow(...) color rejection, empty optional filter-function defaults, explicit/currentColor backdrop-filter: drop-shadow(...) raster paint, strict box-shadow length/color grammar with modern rgb() plus mm paint coverage, softened blurred inset edge paint, and directional inset offset edge paint, overflow-gated text-overflow: ellipsis, physical min/max box constraints, horizontal-tb RTL direction inline inset/margin/padding/border mapping, vertical writing-mode direction: rtl inline inset remapping, vertical-rl logical sizing/insets/margin/padding/border/min-max constraints, vertical-lr logical sizing/min-max/insets/margin/padding/border remapping, basic vertical text columns with vertical-rl leftward and vertical-lr rightward line progression, and deterministic diagnostics).

Known gap categories are explicitly tracked for the final parity push:

• remaining filter/backdrop-filter function breadth beyond current subset, including SVG url() filters, advanced drop-shadow() forms beyond the current flexible-color-order foreground and baseline backdrop coverage, and PDF-native foreground filters
• advanced clip-path grammar beyond the current basic-shape subset, including SVG clip sources, SVG-specific geometry boxes, and deeper edge grammar
• plus-lighter PDF-native parity and deeper nested compositing/isolation breadth
• deeper blurred inset shadow edge fidelity
• remaining multi-layer background image edge semantics beyond the current sized gradient-layer repeat-x/space/round and PNG url(...) explicit-size/auto-auto-intrinsic/negative-size-invalid/contain/cover/auto-dimension-size/single-value-size/alpha-stack/default-repeat-repeat/repeat-y/repeat/repeat-no-repeat/no-repeat-repeat/space-space/round-round/round-space/space-round/round-repeat/round-no-repeat/no-repeat-round/no-repeat-space/space-no-repeat/repeat-space/repeat-round/space-repeat/logical-repeat-aliases/multi-layer-repeat-axis/background-list-repetition/percentage-position/edge-offset-position/logical-position-aliases/shorthand-position-size-repeat/content-box-origin-clip/multi-layer-origin-clip/background-blend-normal/background-blend-multiply/screen-mode/overlay-mode/exclusion-mode/hard-light-mode/darken-mode/lighten-mode/color-dodge-mode/color-burn-mode/soft-light-mode/hue-mode/saturation-mode/color-mode/luminosity-mode/plus-lighter-mode/list-repetition/truncation/raster-blend/raster-layer-mapping/mixed-raster-gradient-mapping/mixed-gradient-raster-mapping subset, including broader mixed raster stack combinations
• table layout edge semantics hardening beyond the current fixed-layout width-hint, auto-width, caption-side placement, and invalid caption-side inheritance lanes
• full vertical text/layout flow beyond the current vertical static-layout and basic wrapped text-column baseline

run Command (Python Factory Interop)

run lets the CLI use a Python-created engine instance.

report.py:

import fullbleed

def create_engine():
    return fullbleed.PdfEngine(page_width="8.5in", page_height="11in", margin="0.5in")

CLI invocation:

fullbleed --json run report:create_engine \
  --html-str "<h1>From run</h1>" \
  --css templates/report.css \
  --out output/report.pdf

Entrypoint formats:

• module_name:factory_or_engine
• path/to/file.py:factory_or_engine

Python API Quick Start

import fullbleed

engine = fullbleed.PdfEngine(
    page_width="8.5in",
    page_height="11in",
    margin="0.5in",
    pdf_version="1.7",
    pdf_profile="none",
    color_space="rgb",
)

html = "<html><body><h1>Invoice</h1><p>Hello.</p></body></html>"
css = "body { font-family: sans-serif; }"

bytes_written = engine.render_pdf_to_file(html, css, "output/invoice.pdf")
print(bytes_written)

Register local assets with AssetBundle:

import fullbleed

bundle = fullbleed.AssetBundle()
bundle.add_file("vendor/css/bootstrap.min.css", "css", name="bootstrap")
bundle.add_file("vendor/fonts/Inter-Variable.ttf", "font", name="inter")

engine = fullbleed.PdfEngine(page_width="8.5in", page_height="11in")
engine.register_bundle(bundle)
engine.render_pdf_to_file("<h1>Styled</h1>", "", "output/styled.pdf")

Python API Signatures (Runtime-Verified)

These signatures are verified from the installed package via inspect.signature(...).

PdfEngine constructor:

PdfEngine(
    page_width=None,
    page_height=None,
    margin=None,
    page_margins=None,
    font_dirs=None,
    font_files=None,
    reuse_xobjects=True,
    svg_form_xobjects=False,
    svg_raster_fallback=False,
    unicode_support=True,
    shape_text=True,
    unicode_metrics=True,
    pdf_version=None,
    pdf_profile=None,
    output_intent_icc=None,
    output_intent_identifier=None,
    output_intent_info=None,
    output_intent_components=None,
    color_space=None,
    document_lang=None,
    document_title=None,
    header_first=None,
    header_each=None,
    header_last=None,
    header_x=None,
    header_y_from_top=None,
    header_font_name=None,
    header_font_size=None,
    header_color=None,
    header_html_first=None,
    header_html_each=None,
    header_html_last=None,
    header_html_x=None,
    header_html_y_from_top=None,
    header_html_width=None,
    header_html_height=None,
    footer_first=None,
    footer_each=None,
    footer_last=None,
    footer_x=None,
    footer_y_from_bottom=None,
    footer_font_name=None,
    footer_font_size=None,
    footer_color=None,
    watermark=None,
    watermark_text=None,
    watermark_html=None,
    watermark_image=None,
    watermark_layer="overlay",
    watermark_semantics="artifact",
    watermark_opacity=0.15,
    watermark_rotation=0.0,
    watermark_font_name=None,
    watermark_font_size=None,
    watermark_color=None,
    paginated_context=None,
    jit_mode=None,
    debug=False,
    debug_out=None,
    perf=False,
    perf_out=None,
)

Module exports:

• PdfEngine
• AssetBundle
• Asset
• AssetKind
• WatermarkSpec(kind, value, layer='overlay', semantics=None, opacity=0.15, rotation_deg=0.0, font_name=None, font_size=None, color=None)
• concat_css(parts)
• vendored_asset(source, kind, name=None, trusted=False, remote=False)
• inspect_pdf(path)
• inspect_template_catalog(templates)
• finalize_stamp_pdf(template, overlay, out, page_map=None, dx=0.0, dy=0.0)
• finalize_compose_pdf(templates, plan, overlay, out, annotation_mode='link_only')
• fetch_asset(url)

PdfEngine methods:

Method	Return shape
register_bundle(bundle)	None
render_pdf(html, css, deterministic_hash=None)	bytes
render_pdf_to_file(html, css, path, deterministic_hash=None)	int (bytes written)
render_image_pages(html, css, dpi=150)	list[bytes]
render_image_pages_to_dir(html, css, out_dir, dpi=150, stem=None)	list[str]
render_finalized_pdf_image_pages(pdf_path, dpi=150)	list[bytes]
render_finalized_pdf_image_pages_to_dir(pdf_path, out_dir, dpi=150, stem=None)	list[str]
render_pdf_with_glyph_report(html, css)	(bytes, list)
render_pdf_with_page_data(html, css)	(bytes, page_data_or_none)
render_pdf_with_page_data_and_glyph_report(html, css)	(bytes, page_data_or_none, glyph_report_list)
render_pdf_with_page_data_and_template_bindings(html, css)	(bytes, page_data_or_none, template_bindings_or_none)
render_pdf_with_page_data_and_template_bindings_and_glyph_report(html, css)	(bytes, page_data_or_none, template_bindings_or_none, glyph_report_list)
plan_template_compose(html, css, templates, dx=0.0, dy=0.0)	dict
render_pdf_batch(html_list, css, deterministic_hash=None)	bytes
render_pdf_batch_parallel(html_list, css, deterministic_hash=None)	bytes
render_pdf_batch_to_file(html_list, css, path, deterministic_hash=None)	int
render_pdf_batch_to_file_parallel(html_list, css, path, deterministic_hash=None)	int
render_pdf_batch_to_file_parallel_with_page_data(html_list, css, path, deterministic_hash=None)	(bytes_written, page_data_list)
render_pdf_batch_with_css(jobs, deterministic_hash=None)	bytes
render_pdf_batch_with_css_to_file(jobs, path, deterministic_hash=None)	int

When deterministic_hash is set, engine writes PDF SHA-256 to the provided file path.

AssetBundle methods:

• add_file(path, kind, name=None, trusted=False, remote=False)
• add(asset)
• assets_info()
• css()

Python Examples (Smoke-Checked)

Canonical scaffold reference:

python examples/canonical_reference/report.py

Text watermark + diagnostics:

import fullbleed

engine = fullbleed.PdfEngine(
    page_width="8.5in",
    page_height="11in",
    margin="0.5in",
    pdf_version="1.7",
    watermark_text="INTERNAL",
    watermark_layer="overlay",
    watermark_semantics="artifact",
    watermark_opacity=0.12,
    watermark_rotation=-32.0,
    debug=True,
    debug_out="build/invoice.jit.jsonl",
    perf=True,
    perf_out="build/invoice.perf.jsonl",
)

html = "<h1>Invoice</h1><p>Status: Ready</p>"
css = "h1{margin:0 0 8px 0} p{margin:0}"

written = engine.render_pdf_to_file(html, css, "output/invoice_watermarked.pdf")
print("bytes:", written)

Batch render + glyph/page-data checks:

import fullbleed

engine = fullbleed.PdfEngine(page_width="8.5in", page_height="11in", margin="0.5in")

jobs = [
    ("<h1>Batch A</h1><p>Alpha</p>", "h1{color:#0d6efd}"),
    ("<h1>Batch B</h1><p>Beta</p>", "h1{color:#198754}"),
]

written = engine.render_pdf_batch_with_css_to_file(jobs, "output/batch.pdf")
print("batch bytes:", written)

pdf_bytes, glyph_report = engine.render_pdf_with_glyph_report("<p>Hello</p>", "")
print("glyph entries:", len(glyph_report))

pdf_bytes, page_data = engine.render_pdf_with_page_data("<p>Hello</p>", "")
print("page data available:", page_data is not None)

Transactional Header/Footer + Totals

Minimal, self-contained Python example (no external template files) showing:

• Continued headers on page 2+.
• Per-page subtotal footer expansion via {sum:items.amount}.
• Final-page grand total footer expansion via {total:items.amount}.
• Structured page_data totals for automation and reconciliation checks.

from pathlib import Path
import fullbleed

rows = []
for i in range(1, 121):  # enough rows to force multiple pages
    amount = 10.00 + ((i * 7) % 23) + 0.25
    rows.append(
        f'<tr data-fb="items.amount={amount:.2f}">'
        f"<td>2026-01-{(i % 28) + 1:02d}</td>"
        f"<td>Txn {i:03d}</td>"
        f'<td class="num">${amount:.2f}</td>'
        "</tr>"
    )

html = f"""<!doctype html>
<html>
<body>
  <h1>Monthly Statement</h1>
  <table>
    <thead>
      <tr><th>Date</th><th>Description</th><th class="num">Amount</th></tr>
    </thead>
    <tbody>
      {''.join(rows)}
    </tbody>
  </table>
</body>
</html>
"""

css = """
body { font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; color: #111; }
h1 { margin: 0 0 8pt 0; }
table { width: 100%; border-collapse: collapse; }
th, td { padding: 4pt; border-bottom: 1pt solid #e1e1e1; }
thead th { background: #f3f6fa; text-transform: uppercase; font-size: 9pt; }
.num { text-align: right; }
"""

engine = fullbleed.PdfEngine(
    page_width="8.5in",
    page_height="11in",
    margin="12mm",
    page_margins={
        1: {"top": "12mm", "right": "12mm", "bottom": "12mm", "left": "12mm"},
        2: {"top": "28mm", "right": "12mm", "bottom": "12mm", "left": "12mm"},
        "n": {"top": "28mm", "right": "12mm", "bottom": "12mm", "left": "12mm"},
    },
    header_html_each=(
        '<div style="display:flex;justify-content:space-between;border-bottom:1pt solid #d9d9d9;">'
        '<div style="font-weight:bold;">Acme Ledger</div>'
        '<div style="font-size:9pt;color:#444;">Statement Continued - Page {page} of {pages}</div>'
        "</div>"
    ),
    header_html_x="12mm",
    header_html_y_from_top="6mm",
    header_html_width="186mm",
    header_html_height="10mm",
    paginated_context={"items.amount": "sum"},
    footer_each="Subtotal (Page {page}): ${sum:items.amount}",
    footer_last="Grand Total: ${total:items.amount}",
    footer_x="12mm",
    footer_y_from_bottom="8mm",
)

pdf_bytes, page_data = engine.render_pdf_with_page_data(html, css)
Path("output_transactional_minimal.pdf").write_bytes(pdf_bytes)

assert page_data["page_count"] >= 2
assert page_data["totals"]["items.amount"]["value"] == sum(
    p["items.amount"]["value"] for p in page_data["pages"]
)
print("Wrote output_transactional_minimal.pdf")
print("Page count:", page_data["page_count"])
print("Grand total:", page_data["totals"]["items.amount"]["formatted"])

API note:

• For transactional running totals (paginated_context) and HTML header/footer placement (header_html_*, footer_html_*), use the Python PdfEngine API path.
• The CLI currently exposes direct text header/footer flags (--header-each, --footer-each) for simpler cases.

CLI watermark parity example:

fullbleed --json render \
  --html-str "<h1>Watermark probe</h1><p>hello</p>" \
  --css-str "body{font-family:sans-serif}" \
  --watermark-text "INTERNAL" \
  --watermark-layer overlay \
  --watermark-opacity 0.12 \
  --watermark-rotation -32 \
  --out output/watermark_probe.pdf

Reference-Image Parity Workflow (Practical)

When targeting a design reference image (for example reference image exports), this loop has worked well:

1. Start from fullbleed init so CSS/font/icon baselines are vendored and pinned.
2. For scaffolded projects, run python report.py and set FULLBLEED_IMAGE_DPI as needed for sharper previews.
3. For direct CLI template rendering, register assets through the CLI (--asset ...) or AssetBundle.
4. Iterate with image artifacts enabled:

fullbleed --json render \
  --profile preflight \
  --html templates/invoice.html \
  --css templates/invoice.css \
  --asset vendor/css/bootstrap.min.css --asset-kind css --asset-name bootstrap \
  --asset vendor/icons/bootstrap-icons.svg --asset-kind svg --asset-name bootstrap-icons \
  --asset vendor/fonts/Inter-Variable.ttf --asset-kind font --asset-name inter \
  --emit-image output/pages_png \
  --emit-jit output/render.jit.jsonl \
  --emit-perf output/render.perf.jsonl \
  --out output/render.pdf

5. Use --repro-record / --repro-check once your layout stabilizes.

Practical tips:

• Compare against full-page exports when available.
• Keep a fixed preview DPI (for example 144 or 200) across iterations.
• Commit PNG baselines for repeatable visual checks.

Public Golden Regression Suite

Launch-grade render regression coverage is available under goldens/ with three fixtures:

• invoice
• statement
• menu

Golden contract assets:

• Expected hashes: goldens/expected/golden_suite.expected.json
• Expected PNG baselines: goldens/expected/png/<case>/<case>_page1.png

Run against committed expectations:

python goldens/run_golden_suite.py verify

Refresh baselines intentionally:

python goldens/run_golden_suite.py generate

Human + AI Operating Mode

Recommended automation defaults:

fullbleed --json-only render ...

Why this is agent-safe:

• For command-execution JSON payloads, schema is always present.
• Parser usage errors (exit=2) are emitted by argparse as usage text, not JSON payloads.
• ok indicates success/failure without parsing text.
• Optional artifacts are explicitly named in outputs.
• Schema introspection is available at runtime (--schema).

Example parse loop:

import json, subprocess

proc = subprocess.run(
    [
        "fullbleed", "--json-only", "render",
        "--html", "templates/report.html",
        "--css", "templates/report.css",
        "--out", "output/report.pdf",
    ],
    capture_output=True,
    text=True,
    check=False,
)

payload = json.loads(proc.stdout)
assert payload["schema"] == "fullbleed.render_result.v1"
assert payload["ok"] is True
print(payload["outputs"]["pdf"])

MACHINE_CONTRACT.v1

{
  "schema": "fullbleed.readme_contract.v1",
  "package": "fullbleed",
  "cli_entrypoint": "fullbleed",
  "dev_cli_entrypoint": "python -m fullbleed_cli.cli",
  "python_module": "fullbleed",
  "json_discriminator": "schema",
  "core_commands": [
    "render",
    "verify",
    "plan",
    "debug-perf",
    "debug-jit",
    "run",
    "finalize",
    "inspect",
    "compliance",
    "doctor",
    "capabilities",
    "assets",
    "cache",
    "init",
    "new"
  ],
  "result_schemas": [
    "fullbleed.render_result.v1",
    "fullbleed.verify_result.v1",
    "fullbleed.plan_result.v1",
    "fullbleed.run_result.v1",
    "fullbleed.inspect_pdf.v1",
    "fullbleed.inspect_pdf_batch.v1",
    "fullbleed.inspect_templates.v1",
    "fullbleed.compose_plan.v1",
    "fullbleed.compliance.v1",
    "fullbleed.capabilities.v1",
    "fullbleed.doctor.v1",
    "fullbleed.assets_list.v1",
    "fullbleed.assets_info.v1",
    "fullbleed.assets_install.v1",
    "fullbleed.assets_verify.v1",
    "fullbleed.assets_lock.v1",
    "fullbleed.cache_dir.v1",
    "fullbleed.cache_prune.v1",
    "fullbleed.init.v1",
    "fullbleed.new_template.v1",
    "fullbleed.new_list.v1",
    "fullbleed.new_search.v1",
    "fullbleed.new_remote.v1",
    "fullbleed.debug_perf.v1",
    "fullbleed.debug_jit.v1",
    "fullbleed.repro_record.v1",
    "fullbleed.error.v1"
  ],
  "artifact_flags": [
    "--emit-manifest",
    "--emit-jit",
    "--emit-perf",
    "--emit-glyph-report",
    "--emit-page-data",
    "--emit-compose-plan",
    "--emit-image",
    "--image-dpi",
    "--deterministic-hash",
    "--repro-record",
    "--repro-check"
  ],
  "fail_on": ["overflow", "missing-glyphs", "font-subst", "budget"],
  "budget_flags": ["--budget-max-pages", "--budget-max-bytes", "--budget-max-ms"],
  "profiles": ["dev", "preflight", "prod"],
  "pdf_version_default": "1.7",
  "known_exit_codes": {
    "0": "success",
    "1": "command-level validation/operational failure",
    "2": "argparse usage error",
    "3": "CLI runtime/input error wrapper"
  }
}

Important Behavior Notes

• render --json cannot be combined with --out - (stdout PDF bytes).
• verify defaults to stdout PDF unless --emit-pdf is provided; for machine mode, use --emit-pdf <path>.
• --emit-image <dir> writes per-page PNGs as <stem>_pageN.png (stem comes from --out/--emit-pdf, or render when streaming PDF to stdout).
• In template auto-compose runs, --emit-image artifacts are rasterized from finalized composed pages and report outputs.image_mode=composed_pdf; otherwise image_mode=overlay_document.
• outputs.deterministic_hash_mode is pdf_only by default and artifact_set_v1 when image artifacts are emitted.
• If both --emit-page-data and --emit-glyph-report are set, current engines use a combined API and render once; older engines without that API fall back to a double render.
• Production target is PDF 1.7.
• run accepts --html-str without requiring --html.
• init now scaffolds COMPLIANCE.md for project-level release review.
• compliance --json emits machine-readable legal/procurement diagnostics.
• --watermark-layer underlay is accepted as a legacy alias and normalized to background.
• --emit-manifest includes a watermark object with text|html|image|layer|semantics|opacity|rotation|enabled.
• --fail-on overflow is enforced from placement data and may auto-enable internal JIT planning.
• --fail-on font-subst is enforced using missing glyph and fallback diagnostics.
• --allow-fallbacks allows fallback diagnostics to remain informational for missing-glyphs / font-subst gates while still reporting them in JSON output.
• --fail-on budget requires at least one budget threshold flag.
• --repro-check fails on input/hash drift and lock hash mismatches when lock data is available.
• PDF/A and PDF/X/VT profiles require output intent metadata; pdfa4, pdfa4e, and pdfa4f emit PDF 2.0 automatically. PDF/A, PDF/X/VT, PDF/UA, and WTPDF text output enforces embedded-font constraints, and CLI errors include an actionable hint to add an embeddable font asset.
• --pdf-profile pdfua1 enables tagged output and PDF/UA-1 identification metadata. Treat verifier/seed traces as machine evidence before making external conformance claims.
• argparse usage errors exit with code 2 and emit usage text (not JSON), even when --json is present.

Related Docs

• Agent workflow guide: llm.txt
• CLI JSON contract quick reference: cli_schema.md
• CLI epoch/spec: CLI_EPOCH.md
• PDF template/XObject composition guide: docs/pdf-templates.md
• Licensing guide: LICENSING.md
• Third-party notices: THIRD_PARTY_LICENSES.md
• Living docs example project: examples/living_docs_atlas/README.md
• Roofing invoice parity example: examples/roofing_invoice/README.md
• Iconography smoke example: examples/iconography_test/README.md
• Public golden regression suite: goldens/README.md

License

Fullbleed is licensed under the MIT License (MIT). Commercial use, modification, distribution, and use in proprietary software are permitted subject to the notice-preservation requirement in LICENSE.

Cargo and PyPI metadata both declare MIT.

• Copyright notice: COPYRIGHT
• Third-party notices: THIRD_PARTY_LICENSES.md
• Practical licensing guide: LICENSING.md

For license information, please visit fullbleed.dev or email info@fullbleed.dev.

License integrity gate (CI-friendly, no build required):

python tools/check_license_integrity.py --json