PDF Print server

Run a simple HTTP server, that awaits requests with URL parameter, loades website from that URL and respondes with PDF file.

Requirements

This project depends on Node.js v12+.

It also depends on Chrome or Chromium browser. If you do not want to install additional Chrome with this module, make sure that there is a CHROME_BIN environmental variable set, pointing to browser executable.

You can also run it using Docker or Podman, in which case no installation will be necessary (skip the "Installation" step).

Installation

Since this is a private project (at least at the moment), clone it, go to its directory and install it:

git clone git@github.com:ahwayakchih/node-pdf-print-server.git
cd node-pdf-print-server
npm install --production

If you have Chrome or Chromium browser enabled, set CHROME_BIN environment variable pointing to its executable and install "thin" version of puppeteer module:

npm install --no-save puppeteer-core

Otherwise, install "full" version of puppeteer module (which will include local installation of Chrome browser):

npm install --no-save puppeteer

Starting server (native)

Start server from command line:

npm start 0.0.0.0:8080

That will start server listening for connections on any hostname, on port 8080.

If you want to hide it behind some reverse-proxy (that could also serve as SSL terminator), you can run server as localhost only instead:

npm start localhost:8080

Starting server (docker)

docker run --rm -v ~/www/pdf-printer:/app -p 8080:8080 -it ahwayakchih/nodeapp:puppeteer /bin/sh -c "npm install --production && npm start 0.0.0.0:8080"

Starting server (podman)

podman run --rm --userns=keep-id -v ./:/app -p 8080:8080 -it ahwayakchih/nodeapp:puppeteer /bin/sh -c "npm install --production && npm start 0.0.0.0:8080"

Usage

Simply request server by passign additional url query parameter:

curl -o test.pdf http://localhost:8080/?url=https://nodejs.org

or x-print-pdf-url HTTP header:

curl -o test.pdf -H 'x-print-pdf-url: https://nodejs.org' http://localhost:8080