HTML to PDF

POST /render/html takes a JSON body with the HTML you want to render and returns a PDF/A-3a document with PDF/UA accessibility.

curl -X POST http://localhost:8080/render/html \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"html":"<html lang=\"en\"><head><title>Doc</title></head><body><h1>Hi</h1></body></html>"}' \
  --output out.pdf

Set a lang attribute and a <title> — both are required for accessible output. Bundled fonts are available by font-family (no system fonts needed), and wide tables paginate automatically.

If the document already lives at a public URL, use URL to PDF instead and let the API fetch the HTML for you.

Try it

Edit the HTML below and render it through POST /render/html to preview the accessible PDF. The editor is the embeddable HtmlEditor from the template builder package.

Request body

The JSON body accepts these fields:

Field	Default	Meaning
`html`	—	The complete HTML document to render (required)
`baseUrl`	—	Optional base URL used to resolve relative `<img>`, `<link>`, and `<script>` references inside the HTML
`attachments`	—	Optional PDF/A-3 file attachments to embed in the output
`embedColorProfile`	`true`	Embed the ICC output intent and produce PDF/A-3a + PDF/UA output. Set to `false` only when you explicitly need PDF/UA output without the PDF/A color profile, for example benchmark size comparisons.

Response format

By default, POST /render/html returns the PDF body as application/pdf. Send Accept: application/json to get { validation, pdf }, where validation is the veraPDF result and pdf is the base64-encoded PDF. JSON negotiation cannot be combined with X-Upload-Url.

HTML & CSS support

Rendering uses OpenHTMLToPDF, a static renderer. It supports:

CSS 2.1 (the box model, tables, floats) and a subset of CSS3 (colors, backgrounds, borders)
@page for page size/margins and page-break-before/after/inside
@font-face and the bundled font families
Inline SVG and raster images (JPEG, PNG, GIF, and WebP)

It does not support:

JavaScript (no scripts run)
CSS Flexbox or Grid
CSS transitions/animations and most modern dynamic layout

Design documents with classic block/table/float layout. See the openhtmltopdf docs for the authoritative feature list.

Use the sample request above to render a PDF from your own tooling.