The Tool Desk
Outbyte Driver Updater FREEScan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →Outbyte PC Repair FREERepair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →To generate a paginated PDF from a webpage with Browserless, send an authenticated POST request to its /pdf REST endpoint, provide the page URL as JSON, and save the response bytes as a .pdf file. The endpoint also accepts HTML instead of a URL and supports print settings such as paper size, margins, orientation, backgrounds, and headers or footers.
What you need and how the request works
You need a Browserless API token. Use the regional REST endpoint shown in the Browserless documentation or your account configuration; the documented example below uses the SFO production endpoint. The token is sent as the token query parameter, and the request body is JSON. A successful request returns raw PDF data with an application/pdf content type, not JSON or a base64-encoded value.
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Use one of url or html in the body, not both. Browserless describes /pdf as its preferred REST route; /chromium/pdf is documented as equivalent. See the Browserless PDF API documentation for current endpoint details.
Generate and save the PDF with cURL
Replace the token placeholder with a token from your Browserless account, and change the URL to the page you want to render:
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curl -X POST
"https://production-sfo.browserless.io/pdf?token=YOUR_API_TOKEN_HERE"
-H 'Content-Type: application/json'
-H 'Accept: application/pdf'
-d '{
"url": "https://example.com/",
"options": {
"format": "A4",
"printBackground": true,
"displayHeaderFooter": true
}
}'
-o result.pdf-o result.pdf writes the response body directly to a file. The Accept header is shown in the API reference example; the response is documented as PDF binary regardless. For a minimal request, the body can be just {"url":"https://example.com/"}. Browserless’s PDF API reference lists the request options and response behavior.
Use JavaScript or Python
JavaScript with Node.js
This example uses Node’s built-in fetch and writes the binary response. Save it as an .mjs file or run it in a Node environment that supports top-level await:
import { writeFile } from 'node:fs/promises';
const endpoint = 'https://production-sfo.browserless.io/pdf';
const token = process.env.BROWSERLESS_TOKEN;
if (!token) throw new Error('Set BROWSERLESS_TOKEN first');
const response = await fetch(`${endpoint}?token=${encodeURIComponent(token)}`, {
method: 'POST',
headers: {
'Content-Type': 'application/json',
'Accept': 'application/pdf'
},
body: JSON.stringify({
url: 'https://example.com/',
options: {
format: 'A4',
printBackground: true,
displayHeaderFooter: true
}
})
});
if (!response.ok) {
throw new Error(`Browserless returned HTTP ${response.status}: ${await response.text()}`);
}
await writeFile('result.pdf', Buffer.from(await response.arrayBuffer()));Reading the response as an ArrayBuffer and writing its bytes avoids treating the PDF as text. Browserless’s JavaScript example follows this binary-save pattern; consult Generate a PDF for its documented examples.
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Python with requests
import os
import requests
endpoint = "https://production-sfo.browserless.io/pdf"
token = os.environ.get("BROWSERLESS_TOKEN")
if not token:
raise RuntimeError("Set BROWSERLESS_TOKEN first")
response = requests.post(
endpoint,
params={"token": token},
headers={
"Content-Type": "application/json",
"Accept": "application/pdf",
},
json={
"url": "https://example.com/",
"options": {
"format": "A4",
"printBackground": True,
"displayHeaderFooter": True,
},
},
timeout=90,
)
response.raise_for_status()
with open("result.pdf", "wb") as pdf_file:
pdf_file.write(response.content)Binary mode ("wb") preserves the response bytes. Check response.raise_for_status() before writing so an HTTP error body is not accidentally saved with a PDF extension. Browserless documents Python and cURL generation patterns in its PDF quick start.
Choose print options for the document
Pass rendering settings in the request’s options object. The available controls let you adapt printed pages without changing the target site’s own styles:
- Page dimensions: choose a named format such as A4 or Letter, or set width and height.
- Orientation and scale: use landscape where the content is wider than it is tall, and adjust scale when needed.
- Margins: set margins to preserve room for annotations, binding, or printer limits.
- Printed appearance: enable background graphics when colors or background images carry information; enable headers and footers when the document needs them.
- Page selection: specify page ranges when only part of a long result is needed.
- Rendering readiness and structure: configure font readiness and, where appropriate, tagged output.
- CSS page rules: CSS
@pagesizing can take precedence when configured to do so, so inspect the page’s print styles if the output dimensions differ from the requested format.
For dynamic pages, the API also documents navigation and waiting controls, cookies, HTTP authentication, extra headers, scripts, styles, and related request configuration. Choose a wait condition that matches how the page loads; a page that fills in after initial navigation may otherwise print before its content is ready. Option names and behavior are documented in the PDF API reference.
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Paginated PDF versus one continuous page
The REST /pdf endpoint creates a conventional paginated PDF; it does not make one extremely tall page containing an entire long webpage. Browserless explicitly notes this limitation in its PDF API documentation.
| Need | Browserless path | What to expect |
|---|---|---|
| Ordinary multipage PDF from a URL or HTML | /pdf REST endpoint |
Direct HTTP request; returns PDF binary. |
| One continuous page for a long webpage | /function with custom Puppeteer code |
Requires custom rendering logic, including calculating the page height. |
Use /function only when continuous-page output is a requirement and you are prepared to implement that custom logic. Browserless documents the approach in its PDF API guidance.
Text, accessibility, and document metadata
Browserless says Chrome’s print output contains selectable text. Its tagged: true option adds structural tags, but that does not certify the file as PDF/UA. Accessibility quality still depends on the source page’s markup, and formal compliance should be validated with an appropriate PDF accessibility checker.
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The documented /pdf route does not set common document metadata such as Title or Author during generation. If those fields matter, add them afterward with a PDF-processing library such as pdf-lib. These limitations are described in the Browserless PDF API documentation.
Handle failures and large documents
Browserless documents errors for malformed request data and status responses for authorization failures, forbidden destinations, not-found conditions, timeouts, rate limits, internal errors, and service unavailability. Check both the HTTP status and the response body before assuming a saved file is a valid PDF.
- Authorization error: verify the token value and that it is passed as the
tokenquery parameter. - Malformed request: send valid JSON with
Content-Type: application/json; use exactly one ofurlorhtml. - Forbidden destination or not found: confirm that the destination is reachable and permitted, and that the URL is correct.
- Timeout: the page may be slow or depend on delayed content. Select a suitable wait/navigation control and check whether the site requires cookies, authentication, or extra headers.
- Rate limit or service unavailable: check the returned status and retry according to your application’s retry policy rather than treating an error response as a PDF.
- Very long document fails: the PDF API guide advises splitting the work into
pageRangeschunks and merging the resulting PDFs afterward. - Wrong paper size: inspect the page’s CSS
@pagerules and the PDF options; CSS sizing may take precedence when configured to do so.
For very long documents, generating smaller page-range chunks can make a job easier to handle, but it adds a merge step and does not create a continuous page. Refer to the API’s status codes and pageRanges guidance in the PDF API reference.
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Or skip the browser setup
If your goal is a clean screenshot rather than a paginated PDF, ScreenshotNeo can return an image with one GET request. Its screenshot workflow accepts cookie or consent banners and removes more than 60 known consent platforms, newsletter popups, and chat widgets before capture; individual cleanup steps can be turned off. Bot checks, blank pages, timeouts, failed loads, and cache hits are not billed, and response headers indicate the page verdict and billing status. It also provides an MCP server for AI agents, with tools including take_screenshot, get_page_info, and capture_pdf.
Example cURL request (replace the URL and API key):
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Frequently Asked Questions
Can Browserless make a PDF directly from HTML instead of a public URL?
Yes. Send the HTML in the request body instead of the url field; do not include both.
Does Browserless add a PDF title or author automatically?
The documented /pdf route does not set common metadata fields such as Title or Author. Add them afterward with a PDF library if needed.
Does tagged: true guarantee PDF/UA compliance?
No. It adds structural tags, but Browserless does not certify the result as PDF/UA; validate the generated file separately.
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