ejs-html-to-pdf-lite

ejs-html-to-pdf-lite

A fast, lightweight, and production-ready alternative to html-pdf and puppeteer for converting HTML or EJS templates into high-quality PDFs using playwright-core, with full design and CSS support.

✅ Why Use ejs-html-to-pdf-lite?

• 🔥 Minimal dependencies – only playwright-core + ejs
• 🎨 Full CSS support – Flexbox, Grid, custom fonts, inline styles
• 🖼️ Base64 image support – embed images directly in templates
• 📄 Supports both .ejs and .html – dynamic or static usage
• 🧾 Great for invoices, reports, and other document PDFs
• 📦 Tiny install size – no bundled browser
• 🛠️ Supports standard & custom paper sizes
• ⚙️ Headless and production-safe

✅ Features

• Converts full HTML and EJS templates into PDF
• Supports modern CSS (Flexbox, Grid, Google Fonts, etc.)
• Inline <style> and internal CSS fully supported
• Base64-encoded images for self-contained PDFs
• Fully styled PDF output
• Support for standard and custom paper sizes

📌 Use Cases

• Server-side PDF generation (e.g., invoices, receipts)
• Email-ready PDFs (attachments, download links)
• Exporting filled forms using EJS templates
• Printable reports or dashboards in backend apps

📦 Install

npm install ejs-html-to-pdf-lite
npx playwright install chromium

📄 Usage

const { generatePdf } = require('ejs-html-to-pdf-lite');

// Basic usage with default A4 size
await generatePdf({
  inputPath: './templates/example.ejs',
  outputPath: './output.pdf',
  data: { 
    name: 'John Doe',
    items: [
      { name: 'Product 1', quantity: 2, price: 10.99 },
      { name: 'Product 2', quantity: 1, price: 24.99 }
    ]
  },
  type: 'ejs' // or 'html'
});

// With custom paper size
await generatePdf({
  inputPath: './templates/example.ejs',
  outputPath: './output-letter.pdf',
  data: { 
    name: 'John Doe',
    items: [
      { name: 'Product 1', quantity: 2, price: 10.99 },
      { name: 'Product 2', quantity: 1, price: 24.99 }
    ]
  },
  type: 'ejs',
  paperSize: 'Letter' // Use standard paper size
});

// With custom dimensions
await generatePdf({
  inputPath: './templates/example.ejs',
  outputPath: './output-custom.pdf',
  data: { 
    name: 'John Doe',
    items: [
      { name: 'Product 1', quantity: 2, price: 10.99 },
      { name: 'Product 2', quantity: 1, price: 24.99 }
    ]
  },
  type: 'ejs',
  paperSize: { width: '8.5in', height: '11in' } // Custom dimensions
});

📏 Supported Paper Sizes

• Standard sizes: A0, A1, A2, A3, A4 (default), A5, A6, Letter, Legal, Tabloid, Ledger
• Custom dimensions: provide an object with width and height properties (e.g., { width: '8.5in', height: '11in' })

🛠 Requirements

• Node.js 14+
• Chromium (install with npx playwright install chromium)