markdown2pdf converts Markdown to PDF using a lexical analyzer and PDF rendering engine. The library tokenizes Markdown into semantic elements, applies styling rules from TOML configuration, and generates styled PDF output.

Both binary and library are provided. The binary offers CLI conversion from files, URLs, or strings. The library enables programmatic PDF generation with full control over styling and fonts. Configuration can be loaded at runtime or embedded at compile time for containerized deployments.

Built in Rust for performance and memory safety. Handles standard Markdown syntax including headings, lists, code blocks, links, and images. Supports multiple input sources and outputs to files or bytes for in-memory processing.

Install binary

Homebrew

brew install theiskaa/tap/markdown2pdf

Cargo

Install the binary globally using cargo:

cargo install markdown2pdf

For the latest git version:

cargo install --git https://github.com/theiskaa/markdown2pdf

Prebuilt binaries

Prebuilt versions are available in our GitHub releases:

File	Platform	Checksum
markdown2pdf-aarch64-apple-darwin.tar.xz	Apple Silicon macOS	checksum
markdown2pdf-x86_64-apple-darwin.tar.xz	Intel macOS	checksum
markdown2pdf-x86_64-pc-windows-msvc.zip	x64 Windows	checksum
markdown2pdf-aarch64-unknown-linux-gnu.tar.xz	ARM64 Linux	checksum
markdown2pdf-x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu.tar.xz	x64 Linux	checksum

Install as library

Add to your project:

cargo add markdown2pdf

Or add to your Cargo.toml:

markdown2pdf = "0.1.9"

Feature Flags

The library provides optional feature flags to control dependencies:

• Default (no features): Core PDF generation from files and strings. No network dependencies.
• fetch: Enables URL fetching support (requires one of the TLS features below).
• native-tls: Enables URL fetching with native TLS/OpenSSL (recommended for most users).
• rustls-tls: Enables URL fetching with pure-Rust TLS implementation (useful for static linking or avoiding OpenSSL).

# Minimal installation (no network dependencies)
markdown2pdf = "0.1.9"

# With URL fetching support (native TLS)
markdown2pdf = { version = "0.1.9", features = ["native-tls"] }

# With URL fetching support (rustls)
markdown2pdf = { version = "0.1.9", features = ["rustls-tls"] }

Note: Binary installations via cargo or prebuilt downloads do not include URL fetching by default. To build the binary with URL support:

# Install with URL fetching support
cargo install markdown2pdf --features native-tls

# Or build from source
cargo build --release --features native-tls

Usage

The tool accepts file paths (-p), string content (-s), or URLs (-u) as input. Output path is specified with -o. Input precedence: path > url > string. Defaults to 'output.pdf'.

Convert a Markdown file:

markdown2pdf -p "docs/resume.md" -o "resume.pdf"

Convert string content:

markdown2pdf -s "**bold text** *italic text*." -o "output.pdf"

Convert from URL (requires native-tls or rustls-tls feature):

markdown2pdf -u "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/user/repo/main/README.md" -o "readme.pdf"

Use --verbose for detailed font selection output, --quiet for CI/CD pipelines, or --dry-run to validate syntax without generating PDF.

Font Handling and Unicode Support

The library automatically detects Unicode characters and selects system fonts with good coverage. Font subsetting reduces PDF size by 98% by including only used glyphs. A document with Noto Sans embeds ~31 KB instead of 1.2 MB.

Fallback font chains specify multiple fonts tried in sequence for missing characters. Useful for mixed-script documents with Latin, Cyrillic, Greek, or CJK. The system analyzes each character and selects the best font from the chain.

When non-ASCII characters are detected, the library prioritizes Noto Sans, DejaVu Sans, and Liberation Sans. Coverage percentages are reported with suggestions if fonts lack support.

The system loads actual Bold, Italic, and Bold-Italic font files rather than synthetic rendering. Font name resolution includes fuzzy matching and aliasing for cross-platform compatibility. "Arial" automatically maps to Helvetica on macOS.

Custom fonts load from directories via --font-path with recursive search for TrueType and OpenType fonts.

# Unicode with fallback chain
markdown2pdf -p international.md --default-font "Noto Sans" \
  --fallback-font "Arial Unicode MS" -o output.pdf

# Custom fonts with subsetting
markdown2pdf -p document.md --font-path "./fonts" \
  --default-font "Roboto" --code-font "Fira Code" -o output.pdf

Library Usage

Two main functions: parse_into_file() saves PDF to disk, parse_into_bytes() returns bytes for web services. Both parse Markdown, apply styling, and render output.

Configuration uses ConfigSource: Default for built-in styling, File("path") for runtime loading, or Embedded(content) for compile-time embedding.

use markdown2pdf::{parse_into_file, config::ConfigSource};

// Default styling
parse_into_file(markdown, "output.pdf", ConfigSource::Default, None)?;

// File-based configuration
parse_into_file(markdown, "output.pdf", ConfigSource::File("config.toml"), None)?;

// Embedded configuration
const CONFIG: &str = include_str!("../config.toml");
parse_into_file(markdown, "output.pdf", ConfigSource::Embedded(CONFIG), None)?;

Embedded configuration uses include_str!() at compile time, eliminating runtime file dependencies.

Font configuration uses FontConfig for programmatic control over fonts, fallback chains, and subsetting.

use markdown2pdf::{parse_into_file, config::ConfigSource, fonts::FontConfig};
use std::path::PathBuf;

// Configure fonts for international document
let font_config = FontConfig {
    custom_paths: vec![PathBuf::from("./fonts")],
    default_font: Some("Noto Sans".to_string()),
    code_font: Some("Fira Code".to_string()),
    fallback_fonts: vec![
        "Arial Unicode MS".to_string(),
        "DejaVu Sans".to_string(),
    ],
    enable_subsetting: true,
};

parse_into_file(
    markdown,
    "output.pdf",
    ConfigSource::Default,
    Some(&font_config),
)?;

Font subsetting is enabled by default, analyzing text to create minimal subsets while maintaining full fidelity.

For advanced usage, work directly with the lexer and PDF components via load_config_from_source().

Configuration

TOML configuration customizes fonts, colors, spacing, and visual properties. Configuration translates to a StyleMatch instance. Three loading methods: default styles, runtime files, or compile-time embedding.

Embedded configuration creates self-contained binaries for Docker and containers with compile-time validation. Error handling falls back to default styling if files are missing or invalid.

For binary usage, create a config file at ~/markdown2pdfrc.toml and copy the example configuration from markdown2pdfrc.example.toml. For library usage with embedded config, create your configuration file and embed it using include_str!() or define it as a string literal, then use it with ConfigSource::Embedded(content).

Contributing

For information regarding contributions, please refer to CONTRIBUTING.md file.

Donations

For information regarding donations please refer to DONATE.md