pdf

What This Adds In Cloud Code

Server-side PDF rendering as base64 output.
Supports HTML or URL input.
Built-in URL/reference safety checks.

Quick Start

const PDF = require('pdf');
const pdfBase64 = PDF.render('<html><body><h1>Invoice</h1></body></html>');

API

Function	Params	Returns	Notes
`render(htmlOrUrl, options)`	string + optional rendering options	`string`	Returns base64 PDF content.

Practical Example

const PDF = require('pdf');
const Mail = require('mail');

const invoicePdf = PDF.render(`<html><body><h1>Invoice #${request.params.order_no}</h1></body></html>`);

Mail.send({
  to: request.params.email,
  subject: 'Your invoice',
  text: 'Attached invoice.',
  attachments: {
    'invoice.pdf': invoicePdf
  }
});

Downloading as a File

In a route or extension, combine with res.send() to trigger a browser download:

const PDF = require('pdf');

const pdfBase64 = PDF.render('<html><body><h1>Report</h1></body></html>');

res.send(pdfBase64, {
  filename: 'report.pdf',
  type: 'application/pdf'
});

Failure Modes & Gotchas

render throws an Error when it cannot produce a PDF. It never returns an empty string. Wrap calls in try/catch:

const PDF = require('pdf');

try {
  const pdfBase64 = PDF.render(html);
  res.send(pdfBase64, { filename: 'invoice.pdf', type: 'application/pdf' });
} catch (error) {
  console.error(error.message);
  res.status(503).json({ error: 'PDF not available, try again later' });
}

Cause	`error.message`
Unsafe URL or embedded reference	`invalid uri` or `invalid content`
Renderer error or timeout	`PDF rendering failed`
Too many renders started this minute	`PDF render throttled (… limit …/min); retry after Ns`
Too many renders running across the platform	`PDF renderer busy (…); retry after 5s`
Render loop (a request rendering itself, recursively)	`CloudCode self-request depth limit exceeded (max 3)`

Per-minute limits. Renders that run while handling a web request (routes, functions called over the API, and storefront PDF pages) are limited to 30 starts per minute per site and 10 per minute per client IP. Storefront PDF responses answer these with 429 and a Retry-After header; in Cloud Code you get the error above and decide the response yourself.
Concurrency cap. The platform also limits how many web-request renders run at the same time. When it is full, storefront PDF responses return 503 with Retry-After; in Cloud Code, render throws the "busy" error.
Background jobs are exempt from both limits. Generate PDFs in bulk (batch invoices, exports) from a job, not from a route or function.
URL sources. When you pass a site URL (or header_html/footer_html URLs), all fetches for one render share a 45-second budget, each response is capped at 10 MB, and at most 3 redirects are followed.
Render loops are blocked. A route that renders its own URL as a PDF, which renders it again, stops at the Cloud Code self-request depth limit instead of spawning renderers indefinitely.
Large or complex HTML increases render time.

html
mail

What This Adds In Cloud Code

Quick Start

API

Practical Example

Downloading as a File

Failure Modes & Gotchas

Related Modules

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