How to generate PDF files in Node.js
Łukasz Holeczek
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Generating PDF files is essential for Node.js applications that create invoices, reports, certificates, and downloadable documents. As the creator of CoreUI with over 11 years of Node.js development experience since 2014, I’ve built PDF generation features in countless enterprise applications. The most effective solution is to use PDFKit for programmatic PDF creation or Puppeteer for HTML-to-PDF conversion. This approach provides full control over document layout and formatting.
Use PDFKit to generate PDF files programmatically in Node.js.
const express = require('express')
const PDFDocument = require('pdfkit')
const fs = require('fs')
const app = express()
app.get('/generate-pdf', (req, res) => {
const doc = new PDFDocument()
// Set response headers
res.setHeader('Content-Type', 'application/pdf')
res.setHeader('Content-Disposition', 'attachment; filename=report.pdf')
// Pipe PDF to response
doc.pipe(res)
// Add content
doc
.fontSize(25)
.text('Monthly Report', 100, 100)
doc
.fontSize(12)
.text('Generated on: ' + new Date().toLocaleDateString(), 100, 150)
// Add table data
doc.fontSize(14).text('Sales Summary', 100, 200)
const data = [
{ product: 'Product A', sales: '$1,250' },
{ product: 'Product B', sales: '$2,340' },
{ product: 'Product C', sales: '$1,890' }
]
let y = 230
data.forEach(item => {
doc.fontSize(12).text(`${item.product}: ${item.sales}`, 100, y)
y += 20
})
// Add image
doc.image('logo.png', 450, 100, { width: 100 })
// Add page break
doc.addPage()
doc.fontSize(20).text('Page 2', 100, 100)
// Finalize PDF
doc.end()
})
First, install PDFKit with npm install pdfkit. Create a new PDFDocument instance and pipe it to the response stream. Use methods like text(), fontSize(), and image() to add content. The document builds incrementally as you call methods. Call end() to finalize the PDF. PDFKit supports advanced features like tables, forms, and vector graphics.
Best Practice Note
This is the same PDF generation approach we use in CoreUI backend systems for invoices and reports. For HTML-to-PDF conversion, use Puppeteer which renders HTML in a headless browser and exports to PDF, useful for complex layouts. Always stream PDFs directly to responses for large files rather than saving to disk first.
