# Markdown To Pdf > Convert one or more Markdown files to clean, print-styled PDFs. Use when the user asks for "a PDF version of .md", "export this markdown to PDF", "make a PDF of this doc", "turn these notes into a PDF", or wants to share a local .md as a PDF. Handles the macOS wkhtmltopdf 0-page trap and preserves monospace/aligned blocks. - **Type:** Skill - **Install:** `agentstack add skill-bendyworks-claude-skills-markdown-to-pdf` - **Verified:** Yes — security-reviewed for prompt injection and unsafe behavior - **Seller:** [bendyworks](https://agentstack.voostack.com/s/bendyworks) - **Installs:** 0 - **Category:** [Content & Media](https://agentstack.voostack.com/c/content-and-media) - **Latest version:** 0.1.0 - **License:** MIT - **Upstream author:** [bendyworks](https://github.com/bendyworks) - **Source:** https://github.com/bendyworks/claude-skills/tree/main/skills/markdown-to-pdf ## Install ```sh agentstack add skill-bendyworks-claude-skills-markdown-to-pdf ``` Requires the [AgentStack CLI](https://agentstack.voostack.com/docs/cli). Works with Claude Code, Cursor, and any MCP-compatible agent. ## About # Markdown to PDF Turn a local Markdown file into a shareable, print-styled PDF. The pipeline is **md -> self-contained styled HTML -> PDF**, because going through HTML gives consistent typography and keeps aligned/monospace blocks intact, and because the reliable PDF engine (a Chromium-family browser's headless print) takes HTML, not Markdown. ## Fast path Run the bundled driver; it does everything and verifies the result: ``` bash SKILL_DIR/md2pdf.sh INPUT.md [OUTPUT.pdf] [WORKDIR] ``` - `OUTPUT.pdf` defaults to the source path with a `.pdf` extension (PDF lands next to the source, which is what "give me a PDF of X.md" almost always means -- do NOT drop it in a temp dir). - Pass your session **scratchpad** as `WORKDIR` so the intermediate HTML is kept out of the user's project; otherwise a temp dir is used. - For several files, loop over the driver; add a short `sleep 1` between Chrome invocations (headless Chrome can trip over rapid back-to-back runs). The driver converts md->HTML (kramdown, else pandoc, else python-markdown), then tries PDF engines in order (Chrome/Chromium headless, then wkhtmltopdf **with page-count verification**, then weasyprint), and **exits non-zero if the final PDF has 0 pages**. `SKILL_DIR` is this skill's own directory. ## Hard-won gotchas (the reason this skill exists) 1. **wkhtmltopdf silently emits 0-page PDFs on macOS (patched-Qt builds).** It returns success and writes a ~50KB file that opens blank -- `file x.pdf` says `PDF document, version 1.4, 0 pages`. ALWAYS verify page count; never trust a zero exit. The driver does this and discards a 0-page result. Prefer a Chromium-family browser's headless print, which is reliable here. 2. **kramdown: use the default parser, not GFM.** `Kramdown::Document.new(src, input: "GFM")` raises `no parser to handle GFM` unless `kramdown-parser-gfm` is installed (it usually is not). The default parser handles headings, bold, lists, indented code blocks, and tables -- which covers ordinary docs. The bundled `md2html.rb` already does this (and falls back to redcarpet). 3. **Keep the HTML self-contained.** Inline all CSS; no web fonts, no remote images. An external reference makes the PDF step attempt a network fetch (wkhtmltopdf throws `HostNotFoundError`; Chrome stalls). `md2html.rb` inlines everything. 4. **Preserve aligned/monospace blocks.** Space-aligned column blocks and code fences must render as `` with `white-space: pre` and a monospace font, or the alignment collapses. The bundled CSS does this; it's the thing most sensitive to breakage, so eyeball those blocks after rendering. ## Chrome headless invocation (manual fallback) If you skip the driver: ``` "/Applications/Google Chrome.app/Contents/MacOS/Google Chrome" \ --headless=new --disable-gpu --no-pdf-header-footer \ --print-to-pdf="OUT.pdf" "file://ABSOLUTE/PATH/TO/page.html" ``` Use an **absolute** `file://` path. `--headless=new` is for modern Chrome; old builds want plain `--headless`. `--no-pdf-header-footer` drops the default date/URL chrome. On Linux use `google-chrome`/`chromium`; `weasyprint` or `pandoc --pdf-engine=weasyprint` are good non-browser alternatives there. ## Verify before reporting done - `file OUT.pdf` -> must say `N pages` with N > 0 (0 pages = failed render). Some Linux builds of `file(1)` omit the page count entirely -- fall back to `pdfinfo OUT.pdf`, or at minimum a non-zero-size check. - A real multi-page PDF is tens of KB+; a couple-KB file is suspect. - If `pdftoppm`/poppler is installed you can rasterize a page to eyeball it; if not, confirm the corrected/critical sections made it in by grepping the intermediate HTML for a distinctive phrase, and tell the user you verified structurally (not visually) so they give the layout a glance -- monospace column alignment is the one thing worth a human look. ## Styling / tweaks Edit `md2html.rb`'s `CSS` block: page size and margins are set on the PDF-engine side (driver uses Letter + 16mm; Chrome uses the HTML's `@page` if present). Common asks: force a page break before a section (`page-break-before: always`), shrink a wide `` (drop its font-size), or add a title/date header (prepend to the body). Keep everything inline and offline. ## Source & license This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code. - **Author:** [bendyworks](https://github.com/bendyworks) - **Source:** [bendyworks/claude-skills](https://github.com/bendyworks/claude-skills) - **License:** MIT Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above. ## Pricing - **Free** — Free ## Security capabilities Automated source analysis of v0.1.0 — what this tool can access: - **Network access:** yes - **Filesystem access:** no - **Shell / process execution:** no - **Environment & secrets:** no - **Dynamic code execution:** no *"Yes" means the capability is present in the source — more access means more to trust, not that it is unsafe.* ## Versions - **0.1.0** — security scan: passed — Imported from the upstream source. ## Links - Listing page: https://agentstack.voostack.com/l/skill-bendyworks-claude-skills-markdown-to-pdf - Seller: https://agentstack.voostack.com/s/bendyworks - Browse the marketplace: https://agentstack.voostack.com/browse --- Listed on AgentStack — the marketplace for AI agent skills and MCP servers. Every listing is security-reviewed. Creators keep 70%.