print-dog 0.1.6

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Print Dog

Print Dog watches a download directory and automatically sends finished PDF files to your printer. It is built with cross-platform support in mind: macOS and Linux use CUPS (lp/lpr), while Windows can rely on either the default shell printer verb or SumatraPDF for robust silent printing.

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Highlights

• Watches a folder for new PDFs and prints them as soon as the download completes (with stability checks for .crdownload, .part, etc.).
• Optional filename prefix allow-list (--allow-prefix) to restrict which documents are printed.
• Flexible printing backends: system default, custom command (--print-command), or SumatraPDF auto-discovery (--use-sumatra).
• Download handling controls (--download-timeout, --stable-checks, --poll-interval) tuned for slow or unstable networks.
• Dry-run mode for testing (--dry-run).
• Packaged as an installable CLI (print-dog) with helper scripts for Windows and macOS.

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Requirements

• Python 3.12 or newer.
• watchdog (installed automatically via the package).
• A configured system printer:
  • macOS / Linux: CUPS (lp or lpr).
  • Windows: Either a default PDF handler that supports the print verb or SumatraPDF (recommended for silent printing).

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Installation

Via pip

pip install print-dog

For local development:

pip install -e .

Via uv

uv pip install print-dog
# or for development
uv pip install -e .

uv respects the UV_PYTHON environment variable if you want to pin the interpreter (e.g. export UV_PYTHON=3.14).

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Quick Start

print-dog /path/to/watch --log-level INFO

• The folder argument is optional and defaults to ~/Downloads.
• Output is logged to stdout; use --log-level DEBUG for verbose diagnostics.
• Without extra flags the system default printer is used.

Common Options

• --printer NAME – target a specific printer queue (macOS/Linux).
• --print-command "command {file}" – run a custom command; {file} is replaced with the PDF path. Environment variables and ~ are expanded.
• --use-sumatra – on Windows, auto-detect SumatraPDF.exe (searches %LOCALAPPDATA%, %PROGRAMFILES%, SUMATRAPDF_PATH, and the PATH). Combine with:
  • --sumatra-path PATH to point to a specific executable.
  • --sumatra-args "-print-to \"Printer\" -silent" to override default flags.
• --allow-prefix PREFIX – require filenames to start with one or more prefixes (repeatable).
• --dry-run – log matched PDFs without printing.
• --download-timeout, --stable-checks, --poll-interval – tune how long Print Dog waits for downloads to stabilise before printing.

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Windows Printing Tips

• To avoid per-user path issues, let Print Dog discover SumatraPDF:

  print-dog "C:\Users\%USERNAME%\Downloads" --use-sumatra
  

• Set SUMATRAPDF_PATH if SumatraPDF is installed in a non-standard location, or pass --sumatra-path on the command line.

• When relying on --print-command, wrap paths with quotes and include {file}. Example:

  print-dog --print-command "\"%LOCALAPPDATA%\SumatraPDF\SumatraPDF.exe\" -print-to-default -silent {file}"
  

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macOS / Linux Printing Tips

• By default, Print Dog shells out to lp/lpr. Ensure CUPS is running and the desired printer is set as default (lpoptions -d <printer>).
• Use --printer to choose a specific printer without changing the system default.
• All CLI arguments accept ~ expansion; --print-command "echo {file}" is handy for smoke-testing on macOS.

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Helper Scripts

Located in the scripts directory:

• scripts/run-print-dog-py.bat – Windows bootstrap using py -3.14 to manage Python and Print Dog.
• scripts/run-print-dog.bat – Windows bootstrap when python on PATH already points at Python 3.14.
• scripts/run-print-dog-uv.bat – Windows bootstrap powered entirely by uv (installs/upgrades and runs the watcher in an isolated environment).
• scripts/run-print-dog-macos.sh – macOS helper using the system Python; override PYTHON_BIN, WATCH_DIR, or PRINT_ARGS as needed.
• scripts/run-print-dog-uv-macos.sh – macOS helper backed by uv for isolated installs.
• scripts/build-macos-executable.sh – Builds a standalone macOS binary using PyInstaller (via uv); output lands in dist/.
• scripts/release.sh – Maintainer script that bumps the version, builds distributions, runs twine check, uploads to PyPI, and tags the release. Run from a clean git tree with TWINE_USERNAME=__token__ and TWINE_PASSWORD=<pypi-token>.

All scripts are meant to be copied to target machines, edited to taste (e.g. printer names, prefixes), and launched via shortcut/Automator/Task Scheduler.

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Testing

Install the development extras once:

pip install -e .[dev]
# or with uv
uv pip install -e .[dev]

Then run the suite:

python -m pytest

Alternatively, without installing extras permanently:

uv run --with pytest --with pytest-mock pytest

The tests cover CLI argument parsing, download stabilisation, Sumatra detection, print command construction, and handler behaviours.

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Building & Releasing

Manual build:

python -m build            # or: uv run --with build python -m build
python -m twine upload dist/*

Automated release:

./scripts/release.sh 0.1.x

The release script updates pyproject.toml, builds artefacts, checks them with twine, uploads to PyPI, creates a Git tag, and pushes. Ensure uv is installed and the working tree is clean before running.

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Troubleshooting

• Access denied on Windows – increase --download-timeout/--stable-checks so the watcher waits longer for the browser to close the file handle.
• No printers detected – use --print-command or --use-sumatra with explicit paths.
• Need to observe without printing – run with --dry-run to verify detection logic.
• Want verbose insight – use --log-level DEBUG to see every event processed by the watcher.

Happy printing!