I was bored of coding PDFs, I created a SaaS to solve this problem
hey hn, I have wasted too much time in my career creating PDF generation systems for invoices, quotes, activity summary, etc... I created this product so that I never waste my time on that again I hope I can help folks with this product, what do you think?
I was bored of coding PDFs, I created a SaaS to solve this problem launched on June 21, 2024 with 5 votes, #1,622 of 4,672 launches that month and more than 50% of that year's launches. The site was still online in September 2026, 2 years on.
What it does
Design HTML + Tailwind + Handlebars templates in a modern editor, then render branded transactional PDFs through a single API call or via MCP-aware AI agents.
Describe the document to an AI agent. It writes the HTML, picks the fonts, wires the variables. You call one endpoint, or your MCP-aware editor does it for you, and you get a PDF back. Write the HTML and Tailwind yourself, or let an AI agent design it for you — both modes share the same editor and any Google Font. Drop Handlebars placeholders, conditions and loops where the data should land. One template, infinite personalized PDFs. Your backend POSTs the document id and the variables it already has. No SDK to learn, no rendering code to maintain. We compile, render and host the PDF on our CDN — return the URL to your user or store it for later. Every call is logged in the dashboard. > Add…from transactional.dev
Does a similar job
all alternatives →- SPSide project passed $2.5k/mo revenue after 2 years (Phoenix and Vue)2021 · ▲381
Several years ago, I had a client whose salespeople were using Excel to generate sales proposals. This was inefficient and the resulting documents looked awful, so I developed a new process for them using a no-code platform. It featured a web form that was tied to a workflow engine, and a fancy PDF got emailed to the customer to sign. When the client loved the solution, I knew I was on to something. However, the no-code platform wasn't very customizable, so I decided to rebuild the process as a SaaS product. The client's CTO wanted in and we became cofounders. Today, we passed the…
I built a simple app to create PDF invoice2024 · invoicepdf.dev · ▲8Hey HN, I had to create many invoices recently, it was pretty annoying doing the same things over and over. So i created this small tool that work well to create invoice and save them as template for re-usage. the ui is very easy and simple. I hope this tool will be helpful to you as it it to me. ps: you can move around without account Dorian
Hundred DocsDec 2025 · hundredocs.com · ▲17Hey HN, I’m Carlos, dev & designer behind Hundred Docs. Here’s the deal: I’ve spent way too many days fighting PDFs in production. Two things drove me crazy: 1. Most doc tools give total freedom → anyone can make a layout disaster + UX is terrible. 2. PDF libraries are a nightmare to integrate So I hacked something that actually works: - You describe the doc in plain English - AI turns it into an editable template - Non-tech folks can tweak it visually - Devs just POST JSON to an API → get a professional PDF back Would love to hear what you think about the product idea and your experience…
I do nothing in my dayjob for 95% of the Time so I made this2024 · chromewebstore.google.com · ▲34I had the problem of having a boring office job, where im not busy at all, i sit in an office and my bosses keep walking around. And i also enjoy scrolling (twitter) . So to fix this i made a simple free Chrome Extension to make it look like a PDF file. And here i made a little landing page for it. (am proud btw) : https://xdisguise.com/ So i made this :)
OneNote Exporter2023 · github.com · ▲9Hey hey! This is a tool I've worked on for a while, and it's reached the point I'm quite happy with the results! Comments and suggestions are appreciated :) Enjoy your day!
More dev tools this month
the category →
Contribute to oosexgang/hackios-xnu-kernel development by creating an account on GitHub.
Dev tools · 2d ago · github.com
open-source IDE for thoughtful software design. Contribute to devdotfast/whiteboard development by creating an account on GitHub.
Dev tools · 29d ago · github.com
Contribute to reladraw/reladraw development by creating an account on GitHub.
Dev tools · 27d ago · github.com
OpenBot▲362Grok Bot alternative: free, local, open-source, multiplayer
Dev tools · 25d ago · openbot.run
Talanoa▲346Hi HN, I’m a fullstack developer, and honestly, I’ve lost count of how many side projects I’ve worked on over the years. But one idea kept coming back to me: a different kind of email client. It first came to me in 2014: “What if we could handle emails more like conversations?” Every year, I’d revisit this concept in my “Build Notes.” Ten years later, no one had built exactly what I had in mind — so I finally decided to do it myself. That’s how Talanoa was born. I wanted something focused on people, not timelines. I was tired of marking messages as unread just to remember to reply later, or…
Dev tools · 22d ago · talanoa.email
Source: Show HN post ↗
Launched alongside, June 2024
the whole month →
La Growth Machine▲1,216Create personalized, multi-channel conversations at scale
AI · 2024 · lagrowthmachine.com
PyjamaHR▲1,132Hiring on autopilot. The AI applicant tracking system (ATS).
Work · 2024 · pyjamahr.com