Node.js · Handlebars · html-pdf

pdf-creator-node

Turn HTML templates into PDFs — write templates with Handlebars, get a file, buffer, or stream.

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View on npm Source on GitHub
npm i pdf-creator-node

Node 18+ · See full readme on GitHub for TypeScript, validation, and handlebarsHelpers.

Quick start

Minimal example: load a template, pass data, call create. 

var pdf = require("pdf-creator-node");
var fs = require("fs");

var html = fs.readFileSync("template.html", "utf8");

var options = {
  pdfChrome: {
    layout: { format: "A3", orientation: "portrait", border: "10mm" },
    header: { title: "My report" },
    footer: { copyright: "© 2026", showPageNumbers: true },
  },
};

var document = {
  html: html,
  data: { users: [ /* … */ ] },
  path: "./output.pdf",
  type: "", // "" = file | "buffer" | "stream"
};

pdf
  .create(document, options)
  .then((res) => console.log(res))
  .catch((err) => console.error(err));

Step-by-step

From install to your first PDF in six steps.

  1. Install
    npm i pdf-creator-node
  2. Load the package and read your template
    var pdf = require("pdf-creator-node");
var fs = require("fs");
var html = fs.readFileSync("template.html", "utf8");
  3. Author your HTML

    Use Handlebars (e.g. {{#each users}}). 

    <!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  <head><meta charset="utf-8" /><title>Hello</title></head>
  <body>
    <h1>User list</h1>
    <ul>
      {{#each users}}
      <li>Name: {{this.name}}</li>
      <li>Age: {{this.age}}</li>
      {{/each}}
    </ul>
  </body>
</html>
  4. Configure PDF options

    Size with height/width (e.g. 10.5in; units: mm, cm, in, px) or format (A3, A4, A5, Legal, Letter, Tabloid) and orientation. 

    var options = {
  format: "A3",
  orientation: "portrait",
  border: "10mm",
  header: {
    height: "45mm",
    contents: '<div style="text-align: center;">Author: …</div>',
  },
  footer: {
    height: "28mm",
    contents: {
      first: "Cover page",
      2: "Second page",
      default: '<span>{{page}}/{{pages}}</span>',
      last: "Last page",
    },
  },
};
  5. Build the document object

    Set type to "buffer" or "stream" to avoid writing a file.

  6. Call pdf.create

    pdf.create(document, options) returns a Promise.

Layout, header, footer, copyright

Use pdfChrome on the second argument for paper size, repeating header (title or html), and footer with optional copyright and page numbers ({{page}} / {{pages}}). Plain strings are HTML-escaped. Direct format / header / footer on the same object override pdfChrome. 

var options = {
  pdfChrome: {
    layout: {
      format: "A4",
      orientation: "portrait",
      border: "12mm",
    },
    header: { title: "Quarterly report" },
    footer: {
      copyright: "© 2026 My Company",
      showPageNumbers: true,
    },
  },
};

pdf.create(document, options);

For full control, pass header, footer, and format in the same options object as html-pdf expects (see readme).

ifCond helper

Compare two values inside templates — two operands only.

Operators: ==, ===, !=, !==, <, <=, >, >=, &&, ||. 

{{#ifCond inputData "===" toCheckValue}}
  …
{{/ifCond}}