The latest articles on DEV Community by cimigoo (@cimigoo). https://dev.to/cimigoo https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=90,height=90,fit=cover,gravity=auto,format=auto/https:%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Fuser%2Fprofile_image%2F3923414%2F15816cf2-7fb1-4ae0-bae5-f527775d7b93.png https://dev.to/cimigoo en cimigoo Sun, 10 May 2026 14:47:26 +0000 https://dev.to/cimigoo/i-built-a-pdf-api-that-doesnt-use-chrome-heres-why-4715 https://dev.to/cimigoo/i-built-a-pdf-api-that-doesnt-use-chrome-heres-why-4715 <h1> I Built a PDF API That Doesn't Use Chrome </h1> <p>Most PDF generation APIs spin up a headless browser (Puppeteer, Playwright) to render HTML into a PDF. It works, but it's slow, expensive, and unpredictable.</p> <p>So I built <strong>DocForge</strong> – a PDF generation API that uses <strong>PDFKit directly</strong> for deterministic, fast output.</p> <h2> How It Works </h2> <div class="highlight js-code-highlight"> <pre class="highlight http"><code><span class="err">POST /api/generate { "template": "invoice", "data": { "invoice_number": "INV-001", "from": { "name": "Acme Corp" }, "to": { "name": "Client Corp" }, "items": [...], "total": 49.99 } } → Returns a PDF in ~3 seconds </span></code></pre> </div> <h2> Why Not Chrome? </h2> <div class="table-wrapper-paragraph"><table> <thead> <tr> <th></th> <th>Headless Chrome</th> <th>PDFKit (DocForge)</th> </tr> </thead> <tbody> <tr> <td>Speed</td> <td>5-15 seconds</td> <td>~3 seconds</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Memory</td> <td>500MB+ per instance</td> <td>~50MB</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Deterministic</td> <td>❌ Different renders possible</td> <td>✅ Same input = same output</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Cost</td> <td>Expensive at scale</td> <td>Cheap at scale</td> </tr> </tbody> </table></div> <h2> 5 Templates Available Now </h2> <ul> <li> <strong>Invoice</strong> – Professional billing with line items</li> <li> <strong>Receipt</strong> – Payment confirmation</li> <li> <strong>Certificate</strong> – Achievement/completion certificates</li> <li> <strong>Report</strong> – Data-driven reports</li> <li> <strong>Contract</strong> – Legal document templates</li> </ul> <h2> Free to Try </h2> <p>DocForge is currently free to try. Just grab an API key and start generating PDFs.</p> <p>👉 <a href="https://docforge-landing.vercel.app" rel="noopener noreferrer">Try DocForge</a></p> <h2> What's Next? </h2> <p>I'm adding more templates based on developer feedback. What PDF templates do you need most? Drop a comment below!</p> <p><em>Built with PDFKit + Vercel Serverless Functions. No Chrome harmed in the making of these PDFs.</em></p> pdf api webdev saas