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/pdf - Render PDF

The /pdf endpoint instructs the browser to generate a PDF of a webpage or custom HTML using Cloudflare's headless browser rendering service.

Endpoint

https://api.cloudflare.com/client/v4/accounts/<accountId>/browser-rendering/pdf

Required fields

You must provide either url or html:

  • url (string)
  • html (string)

Common use cases

  • Capture a PDF of a webpage
  • Generate PDFs, such as invoices, licenses, reports, and certificates, directly from HTML

Basic usage

Convert a URL to PDF

Navigate to https://example.com/ and inject custom CSS and an external stylesheet. Then return the rendered page as a PDF.

Terminal window
curl -X POST 'https://api.cloudflare.com/client/v4/accounts/<accountId>/browser-rendering/pdf' \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer <apiToken>' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{
    "url": "https://example.com/",
    "addStyleTag": [
      { "content": "body { font-family: Arial; }" }
    ]
  }' \
  --output "output.pdf"

Convert custom HTML to PDF

If you have raw HTML you want to generate a PDF from, use the html option. You can still apply custom styles using the addStyleTag parameter.

Terminal window
curl -X POST https://api.cloudflare.com/client/v4/accounts/<acccountID>/browser-rendering/pdf \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer <apiToken>' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{
  "html": "<html><body>Advanced Snapshot</body></html>",
  "addStyleTag": [
      { "content": "body { font-family: Arial; }" },
      { "url": "https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/bootstrap@3.3.7/dist/css/bootstrap.min.css" }
    ]
}' \
  --output "invoice.pdf"

Advanced usage

Advanced page load with custom headers and viewport

Navigate to https://example.com, setting additional HTTP headers and configuring the page size (viewport). The PDF generation will wait until there are no more than two network connections for at least 500 ms, or until the maximum timeout of 4500 ms is reached, before rendering.

The goToOptions parameter exposes most of Puppeteer's API ↗.

Terminal window
curl -X POST 'https://api.cloudflare.com/client/v4/accounts/<accountId>/browser-rendering/pdf' \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer <apiToken>' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{
    "url": "https://example.com/",
    "setExtraHTTPHeaders": {
      "X-Custom-Header": "value"
    },
    "viewport": {
      "width": 1200,
      "height": 800
    },
    "gotoOptions": {
      "waitUntil": "networkidle2",
      "timeout": 45000
    }
  }' \
  --output "advanced-output.pdf"

Blocking images and styles when generating a PDF

The options rejectResourceTypes and rejectRequestPattern can be used to block requests during rendering. The opposite can also be done, only allow certain requests using allowResourceTypes and allowRequestPattern.

Terminal window
curl -X POST https://api.cloudflare.com/client/v4/accounts/<acccountID>/browser-rendering/pdf \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer <apiToken>' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{
  "url": "https://cloudflare.com/",
  "rejectResourceTypes": ["image"],
  "rejectRequestPattern": ["/^.*\\.(css)"]
}' \
  --output "cloudflare.pdf"

Customize page headers and footers

You can customize page headers and footers with HTML templates using the headerTemplate and footerTemplate options. Enable displayHeaderFooter to include them in your output. This example generates an A5 PDF with a branded header, a footer message, and page numbering.

Terminal window
curl -X POST 'https://api.cloudflare.com/client/v4/accounts/<accountId>/browser-rendering/pdf' \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer <apiToken>' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{
    "url": "https://example.com",
    "pdfOptions": {
      "format": "a5",
      "headerTemplate": "<div style=\"font-size: 10px; text-align: center; width: 100%; padding: 5px;\"><span>brand name</span></div>",
      "displayHeaderFooter": true,
      "footerTemplate": "<div style=\"color: lightgray; border-top: solid lightgray 1px; font-size: 10px; padding-top: 5px; text-align: center; width: 100%;\"><span>This is a test message</span> - <span class=\"pageNumber\"></span></div>",
      "margin": {
        "top": "70px",
        "bottom": "70px"
      }
    }
  }' \
  --output "header-footer.pdf"

Include dynamic placeholders from page metadata

You can include dynamic placeholders such as title, date, pageNumber, and totalPages in the header or footer to display metadata on each page. This example produces an A4 PDF with a company-branded header, current date and title, and page numbering in the footer.

Terminal window
curl -X POST 'https://api.cloudflare.com/client/v4/accounts/<accountId>/browser-rendering/pdf' \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer <apiToken>' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{
    "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com",
    "pdfOptions": {
      "format": "a4",
      "landscape": false,
      "printBackground": true,
      "preferCSSPageSize": true,
      "displayHeaderFooter": true,
      "scale": 1.0,
      "headerTemplate": "<div style=\"width: 100%; font-size: 10px; padding: 10px; text-align: center;\"><div style=\"border-bottom: 1px solid #ddd;\"><span style=\"color: #666;\">Company Name</span> | <span class=\"date\"></span> | <span class=\"title\"></span></div></div>",
      "footerTemplate": "<div style=\"width: 100%; font-size: 10px; padding: 10px; text-align: center;\"><div style=\"border-top: 1px solid #ddd;\">Page <span class=\"pageNumber\"></span> of <span class=\"totalPages\"></span></div></div>",
      "margin": {
        "top": "100px",
        "bottom": "80px",
        "right": "30px",
        "left": "30px"
      },
      "timeout": 30000
    }


<Render
  file="setting-custom-user-agent"
  product="browser-rendering"
/>
  }' \
  --output "paginated.pdf"