html2pdf4doc_python

html2pdf4doc_python is the Python wrapper/CLI for the html2pdf4doc JavaScript library that prints HTML pages into PDFs using Chrome/Chromedriver.

This repository focuses strictly on the Python-side automation layer. The rendering logic remains in the JS core.

Installation

1. Install Google Chrome (or Chrome for Testing) on the machine that will run the CLI.

2. Install the package from PyPI:

pip install html2pdf4doc

Python 3.8+ is required.

See also: the Ubuntu-based container Dockerfile and the GitHub CI files found in the .github/workflows folder.

Usage

Download or reuse ChromeDriver with SSL verification enabled by default:

python -m html2pdf4doc.main get_driver
python -m html2pdf4doc.main print input.html output.pdf

Disable SSL (corporate environments)

Disable SSL certificate verification only when needed, for example in a restricted corporate environment with custom TLS interception:

python -m html2pdf4doc.main get_driver --disable-ssl-check
python -m html2pdf4doc.main print --disable-ssl-check input.html output.pdf

Pin a specific Chrome binary

Pin a specific Chrome/Chromium binary with --chrome-binary, for example to use Chrome for Testing or a binary in a non-standard location. Without this flag, html2pdf4doc auto-detects the Chrome/Chromium binary on the machine.

python -m html2pdf4doc.main get_driver --chrome-binary /path/to/chrome
python -m html2pdf4doc.main print --chrome-binary /path/to/chrome input.html output.pdf

Set the HTML2PDF4DOC_CHROME_BINARY environment variable instead of the flag, for example in CI or Docker environments:

export HTML2PDF4DOC_CHROME_BINARY=/path/to/chrome
python -m html2pdf4doc.main print input.html output.pdf

html2pdf4doc resolves the Chrome binary in this order:

• --chrome-binary
• HTML2PDF4DOC_CHROME_BINARY
• auto-detection.

Developer guide

Getting started

1. (Optional) Create and activate a virtual environment

python -m venv .venv && source .venv/bin/activate

2. Install the dependencies

git clone https://github.com/strictdoc-project/html2pdf4doc_python.git
cd html2pdf4doc_python

# Bootstrap minimal Python dependencies: Invoke and TOML.
pip install invoke toml

# Install all Python dependencies and update the submodule with the html2pdf4doc.js.
invoke bootstrap

3. The JS library is maintained in a Git submodule submodules/html2pdf.

When the submodule is updated after a release or during the development, rebuild the JS library, i.e., regenerate the html2pdf4doc.min.js:

invoke build

4. To validate changes, use the following commands:

invoke lint
invoke test  # Normal tests.
invoke test-fuzz  # More robust testing.

License

The project is distributed under the Apache License 2.0 (see LICENSE).