How do I install the Make PDF skill?

Run npx skillmds@latest add faaz17/make-pdf in your terminal (requires Node.js), paste this page's agent-chat prompt into Claude, Cursor, or any MCP-connected agent, or download the SKILL.md file and copy it into your agent's skills directory.

Is Make PDF safe to use?

This skill has not completed SkillMD's automated safety review yet. SkillMD never runs a skill's scripts for you; review the SKILL.md before installing.

Which AI agents work with Make PDF?

This skill is tagged as working with Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex. SKILL.md is an open format, so most agents that read a skills directory can load it too.

Is Make PDF free to use?

Yes. Installing skills from SkillMD is free, and the skill stays under its author's original license.

Who published Make PDF?

Faaz17 (@faaz17) published this skill. Their other Agent Skills are listed on their SkillMD profile.

Make PDF by faaz17 — Agent Skill

Name: Make PDF
Author: Faaz17

Make PDF

Turn a Markdown report into a clean, branded A4 PDF the president can read or print. Use whenever the user asks for a report/summary/proposal "as a PDF" or "to read properly". Works fully offline on Windows using pandoc + headless Chrome/Edge — no LaTeX or extra installs needed.

Faaz17 f2fb754 2 files · 5.5 KB Updated Sep 17, 2026

File contents

Make a PDF

Renders Markdown → styled HTML (pandoc) → PDF (headless Chrome). Produces society-branded A4 output with a title page, table of contents, and per-section page breaks. No internet, no LaTeX required.

The two-step pipeline

Run from the society root (Scoiety Folders/). Give your report YAML metadata at the top so the title page renders:

---
title: "Report Title"
subtitle: "A subtitle in small-caps"
author: "For <Person Name>, President 2026/27"
date: "1 July 2026"
---
# First Heading
...

Step 1 — Markdown → standalone HTML (CSS embedded):

pandoc "MyReport.md" -o "MyReport.html" -s --toc --toc-depth=1 \
  -c ".claude/skills/make-pdf/report.css" --embed-resources --standalone

Step 2 — HTML → PDF via headless Chrome:

CHROME="/c/Program Files/Google/Chrome/Application/chrome.exe"   # or Edge (see below)
UDD="$TMPDIR/ea_chrome_pdf_$$"
"$CHROME" --headless=new --disable-gpu --no-first-run --no-pdf-header-footer \
  --user-data-dir="$UDD" --virtual-time-budget=15000 \
  --print-to-pdf="<project>/MyReport.pdf" \
  "file:///<project>/MyReport.html"
rm -rf "$UDD"

Edge works identically — swap the executable: /c/Program Files (x86)/Microsoft/Edge/Application/msedge.exe.

Gotchas (learned the hard way)

--print-to-pdf MUST be an absolute path. A relative path resolves against Chrome's own directory and fails with "Access is denied." Use the full C:/Users/.../file.pdf form (forward slashes are fine on Windows).
The input is a file:// URL with spaces percent-encoded (%20).
Use a throwaway --user-data-dir so it never collides with an open browser window (otherwise headless may attach to the running profile and skip printing).
--no-pdf-header-footer removes Chrome's default URL/date header/footer; page margins come from @page in report.css.
--toc-depth=1 lists only top-level sections; raise it for finer contents.

Verify

python -c "import re;d=open('MyReport.pdf','rb').read();print('pages~',len(re.findall(rb'/Type\s*/Page[^s]',d)),d[:8])"

Expect %PDF-1.4 and a sensible page count. Clean up the intermediate .html afterwards; keep the .md (editable source) and .pdf (deliverable).

Styling

report.css carries the society palette (ink #14202B, brass #A6803C, ECT-blue #11487E). Edit it to restyle every report at once. It targets pandoc's default HTML structure: header#title-block-header, nav#TOC, and h1/h2/h3.

---name: make-pdfdescription: Turn a Markdown report into a clean, branded A4 PDF the president can read or print. Use whenever the user asks for a report/summary/proposal "as a PDF" or "to read properly". Works fully offline on Windows using pandoc + headless Chrome/Edge — no LaTeX or extra installs needed.---# Make a PDFRenders Markdown → styled HTML (pandoc) → PDF (headless Chrome). Producessociety-branded A4 output with a title page, table of contents, and per-sectionpage breaks. No internet, no LaTeX required.## The two-step pipelineRun from the society root (`Scoiety Folders/`). Give your report YAML metadata atthe top so the title page renders:```markdown---title: "Report Title"subtitle: "A subtitle in small-caps"author: "For <Person Name>, President 2026/27"date: "1 July 2026"---# First Heading...```**Step 1 — Markdown → standalone HTML (CSS embedded):**```bashpandoc "MyReport.md" -o "MyReport.html" -s --toc --toc-depth=1 \ -c ".claude/skills/make-pdf/report.css" --embed-resources --standalone```**Step 2 — HTML → PDF via headless Chrome:**```bashCHROME="/c/Program Files/Google/Chrome/Application/chrome.exe" # or Edge (see below)UDD="$TMPDIR/ea_chrome_pdf_$$""$CHROME" --headless=new --disable-gpu --no-first-run --no-pdf-header-footer \ --user-data-dir="$UDD" --virtual-time-budget=15000 \ --print-to-pdf="<project>/MyReport.pdf" \ "file:///<project>/MyReport.html"rm -rf "$UDD"```Edge works identically — swap the executable:`/c/Program Files (x86)/Microsoft/Edge/Application/msedge.exe`.## Gotchas (learned the hard way)- **`--print-to-pdf` MUST be an absolute path.** A relative path resolves against Chrome's own directory and fails with "Access is denied." Use the full `C:/Users/.../file.pdf` form (forward slashes are fine on Windows).- **The input is a `file://` URL** with spaces percent-encoded (`%20`).- **Use a throwaway `--user-data-dir`** so it never collides with an open browser window (otherwise headless may attach to the running profile and skip printing).- `--no-pdf-header-footer` removes Chrome's default URL/date header/footer; page margins come from `@page` in `report.css`.- `--toc-depth=1` lists only top-level sections; raise it for finer contents.## Verify```bashpython -c "import re;d=open('MyReport.pdf','rb').read();print('pages~',len(re.findall(rb'/Type\s*/Page[^s]',d)),d[:8])"```Expect `%PDF-1.4` and a sensible page count. Clean up the intermediate `.html`afterwards; keep the `.md` (editable source) and `.pdf` (deliverable).## Styling`report.css` carries the society palette (ink `#14202B`, brass `#A6803C`, ECT-blue`#11487E`). Edit it to restyle every report at once. It targets pandoc's defaultHTML structure: `header#title-block-header`, `nav#TOC`, and `h1`/`h2`/`h3`.

Frequently asked questions