pylopdf 0.4.1

PDF editing and rendering for Python, powered by Rust (lopdf + hayro). MIT, zero dependencies, lightweight wheels.

pylopdf

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PDF editing and rendering for Python, powered by Rust — lopdf for editing and hayro (the pure-Rust PDF renderer adopted by typst) for rendering.

MIT licensed, zero runtime dependencies, lightweight wheels. Covers the common pymupdf use cases without the AGPL.

Why pylopdf?

	pylopdf	pymupdf	pypdf	pypdfium2
License	MIT	AGPL / commercial	BSD	Apache/BSD
Wheel size	~3.5 MB	~40 MB+	small (pure Python)	~8 MB
Editing (merge / split / metadata)	✅	✅	✅	limited
Rendering (PNG / SVG)	✅	✅	❌	✅ (PNG)
Text extraction	✅ (basic)	✅ (advanced)	✅	✅
Implementation	pure Rust	C	Python	C++ (PDFium)

• Fits size-constrained environments such as AWS Lambda
• Safe for commercial projects that need to avoid the AGPL
• abi3: one wheel covers Python 3.10–3.14
• API modeled after pymupdf

Limitations: no precise layout analysis, no annotation/form editing, no encrypted PDFs. Use pymupdf if you need those.

Install

pip install pylopdf  # (after PyPI release)

Building from source (requires a Rust toolchain):

uv sync

Usage

import pylopdf

# Open from a path or bytes
doc = pylopdf.open("input.pdf")
doc = pylopdf.open(stream=pdf_bytes)

# Page count
print(doc.page_count)  # same as len(doc)

# Metadata
print(doc.metadata["title"])
doc.set_metadata({"title": "Monthly Report", "author": "Alice"})

# Text extraction (0-based page numbers)
text = doc.get_page_text(0)

# Rendering
png: bytes = doc.render_page(0)             # 72 dpi
png2x: bytes = doc.render_page(0, scale=2)  # 144 dpi
svg: str = doc.render_page_svg(0)

# Delete pages (split)
doc.delete_page(0)
doc.delete_pages([1, 2])

# Keep/reorder pages
doc.select([2, 0])

# Merge
merged = pylopdf.Document()
merged.insert_pdf(pylopdf.open("a.pdf"))
merged.insert_pdf(pylopdf.open("b.pdf"))

# Save
merged.save("merged.pdf")
data: bytes = merged.tobytes()

# Context manager
with pylopdf.open("input.pdf") as doc:
    print(doc.metadata)

API

pylopdf.Document (pylopdf.open() is an alias constructor):

Method / property	Description
Document(filename=None, stream=None)	Open from a path or bytes; empty document if both are None
page_count / len(doc)	Number of pages
metadata	Metadata dict (title, author, subject, keywords, creator, producer, creationDate, modDate, format)
set_metadata(dict)	Set metadata (empty string deletes the entry)
get_page_text(pno)	Extract text from a page
render_page(pno, scale=1.0)	Render a page to PNG bytes
render_page_svg(pno)	Render a page to an SVG string
select(page_numbers)	Keep only the given pages, in the given order
delete_page(pno) / delete_pages(iterable)	Delete pages
insert_pdf(other)	Append all pages of another document
save(filename) / tobytes()	Save
close()	Close (supports with)

For low-level access, use pylopdf.pylopdf_core._Document (a thin lopdf wrapper) directly.

Architecture

Follows the division of labor in the 2026 Rust PDF ecosystem:

pylopdf.Document (Python, pymupdf-style API)
   └─ _Document (PyO3)
        ├─ lopdf 0.44   … editing: open → modify → save
        └─ hayro 0.7    … rendering: PNG / SVG (standard fonts embedded)

rust/          # PyO3 bindings
src/pylopdf/   # Python high-level API
tests/         # pytest (Rust behavior is verified through Python tests)

uv sync                    # build + install dependencies
uv run pytest              # tests
uv run ruff check .        # lint
uv run mypy src tests      # type check
uv build --wheel           # build a wheel

uv sync detects Rust source changes and rebuilds automatically (via tool.uv.cache-keys).

License

MIT (lopdf is MIT; hayro is MIT/Apache-2.0)