# Markdown To Pdf

> >-

- **Type:** Skill
- **Install:** `agentstack add skill-kennethkhoocy-legal-scholarship-skills-markdown-to-pdf`
- **Verified:** Yes — security-reviewed for prompt injection and unsafe behavior
- **Seller:** [kennethkhoocy](https://agentstack.voostack.com/s/kennethkhoocy)
- **Installs:** 0
- **Category:** [Content & Media](https://agentstack.voostack.com/c/content-and-media)
- **Latest version:** 0.1.0
- **License:** MIT
- **Upstream author:** [kennethkhoocy](https://github.com/kennethkhoocy)
- **Source:** https://github.com/kennethkhoocy/legal-scholarship-skills/tree/main/plugins/legal-scholarship/skills/markdown-to-pdf

## Install

```sh
agentstack add skill-kennethkhoocy-legal-scholarship-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 → PDF (pandoc + headless Chrome)

## Problem

Converting Markdown to PDF through pandoc's default LaTeX route breaks on
real-world GitHub-flavored documents: Unicode box-drawing characters in code
blocks (`├──`) crash pdflatex, wide GFM tables overflow the page, remote
images need manual download, and the output looks nothing like the rendered
Markdown the author reviewed. Naive HTML routes drop images or paste them at
native resolution so they spill off the page.

## Context / Trigger Conditions

- User asks to save/convert/export a `.md` file as PDF.
- The document carries images (hosted PNGs, local figures), GFM tables,
  fenced code blocks, blockquotes, or `#`-anchor TOC links.
- Requirements like "all images must be preserved" or "scaled appropriately".

## Solution

Render the Markdown to HTML exactly as a browser would, then print it.

**One command (preferred):**

```
python ~/.claude/skills/markdown-to-pdf/scripts/md2pdf.py  [-o out.pdf]
```

The script: (1) runs pandoc `-f gfm -t html5 --standalone --embed-resources`
with `assets/print.css`, executed from the Markdown's own directory so
relative image paths resolve, and with remote images fetched and inlined as
data URIs; (2) prints with headless Chrome (Edge/Chromium fallback) using
`--no-pdf-header-footer --virtual-time-budget=30000`; (3) verifies with pypdf
that the embedded raster-image count is at least the number of image
references in the source, printing each image's page and dimensions. Exit
code 2 flags a missing-image warning.

**Manual equivalent** (what the script automates):

```bash
pandoc input.md -f gfm -t html5 -s --embed-resources -c print.css \
    --metadata pagetitle="input" -o /tmp/input.html
"/c/Program Files/Google/Chrome/Application/chrome.exe" --headless \
    --disable-gpu --no-pdf-header-footer --virtual-time-budget=30000 \
    --print-to-pdf="out.pdf" "file:///tmp/input.html"
```

**Why this works for images.** The stylesheet constrains every image with
`max-width: 100%; max-height: 240mm; width/height: auto; break-inside: avoid`,
so each image scales to the printable width, a very tall diagram still fits a
single page, aspect ratio is preserved, and no image is split across a page
break. `--virtual-time-budget` makes Chrome wait for image loading before
printing; `--embed-resources` makes the HTML self-contained so nothing
depends on the network at print time.

## Verification

1. The script's pypdf pass: page count, plus one line per embedded image with
   its page number and pixel dimensions; compare against the source's image
   count.
2. Visual spot-check: the Read tool renders PDF pages as images — read the
   pages the verifier listed and confirm each diagram is legible and fits the
   page.

## Example

`style-emulation/README.md` (~800 lines: 4 hosted PNG diagrams up to
1410×2998 px, two request/command tables, a box-drawing module map, a linked
TOC) → 19-page, 1.35 MB PDF; all 4 images embedded on pages 6/7/9/10, each
scaled to one page; tables bordered with zebra striping; code blocks styled;
TOC links live.

## Notes

- **Page-break trade-off:** `break-inside: avoid` keeps images whole, so an
  image that does not fit the space left on a page pushes to the next page,
  leaving white space behind. Acceptable for reports; mention it to the user.
- **TOC anchors:** pandoc's GFM reader auto-generates GitHub-style heading
  ids, so existing `(#section-name)` links keep working in the PDF.
- **SVG images** may be drawn as vector art rather than raster XObjects; the
  pypdf count then under-reports and the warning is a false positive — check
  visually.
- **Same image referenced twice** can be embedded once; the `embedded ` for a per-job override (e.g. letter,
  landscape).
- **`--no-embed`** reverts to link-only HTML with Chrome fetching images at
  print time — useful if pandoc cannot reach a host that Chrome can.
- If headless Chrome ever hangs on a remote-image page, raise `--budget`.
- **Locked targets (cloud sync / open viewers):** Chrome can fail to
  overwrite a PDF in a Dropbox/OneDrive-synced folder — or one open in
  Acrobat — while still exiting 0, silently leaving the stale file in place
  (the byte-identical output size is the tell). The script therefore prints
  to its temp dir and moves the result over the target with retries; if the
  target stays locked (e.g. the user has the old PDF open), it saves to
  `.new.pdf` and says so. The pypdf verification step is what catches
  this class of failure — keep it on.

## Related skills

- `pdf` — probing, extracting, manipulating existing PDFs (and reportlab
  generation from scratch). Markdown sources route here instead.
- `tex2docx`, `manuscript-editing-template-latex` — LaTeX/docx conversion
  pipelines; use those for `.tex`/`.docx`, not this skill.

## References

- pandoc manual, `--embed-resources` / GFM reader: https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html
- Chrome headless print-to-pdf flags: https://developer.chrome.com/docs/chromium/headless

## Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

- **Author:** [kennethkhoocy](https://github.com/kennethkhoocy)
- **Source:** [kennethkhoocy/legal-scholarship-skills](https://github.com/kennethkhoocy/legal-scholarship-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:** no
- **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-kennethkhoocy-legal-scholarship-skills-markdown-to-pdf
- Seller: https://agentstack.voostack.com/s/kennethkhoocy
- Browse the marketplace: https://agentstack.voostack.com/browse

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