Mdpdf a 2k line C CLI to convert Markdown to tiny PDFs
I have always searched for a simple tool which can convert a MD document to a well styled small PDF, just like a GitHub Readme. This was inspired by TinyPDF https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46316968 I also used this project to get familiar with agentic coding, which I had dreaded before. mdpdf supports: - using the included PDF fonts to generate tiny valid PDFs - outputs as A4 or Letter depending on your locale - plenty of common MD syntax: code blocks, inline code, lists, tables, and jpg and png images That's it. It covers probably most of the use cases and can help to…
Mdpdf a 2k line C CLI to convert Markdown to tiny PDFs launched on April 9, 2026 with 15 votes, #1,070 of 21,248 launches that month and more than 90% of that year's launches.
In plain words
Mdpdf is a lightweight command-line tool that converts Markdown documents to compact PDFs formatted like GitHub Readmes. Built as a 2,000-line C program, it generates minimal file sizes using embedded PDF fonts and supports common Markdown syntax including code blocks, lists, tables, and images. Output automatically adjusts to A4 or Letter page size based on locale. Intended for developers who need a simple way to convert Markdown write-ups into shareable PDFs without external dependencies.
written from the facts on this page · September 2026
From the sources
CLI to convert Markdown to tiny beautiful PDFs. Contribute to schicho/mdpdf development by creating an account on GitHub.
mdpdf reads Markdown, parses it into an mdast syntax tree with the markdown crate, and renders that tree to PDF with genpdf . cargo run -- document.md cargo run -- document.md --output document.pdf cat document.md | cargo run -- - --output document.pdf When no output path is provided, file input uses the same name with a .pdf extension. Stdin input uses output.pdf . This is a paragraph with strong text , emphasized text , both even , deleted text , and inline code . fn main ( ) { println ! ( "Hello from a monospaced code block" ) ; } Thematic Break Local Images Images are resolved relative to this Markdown file: Remote images, raw HTML, MDX, and mathematical notation are not rendered yet.…from github.com
In the maker’s words, at launch
I have always searched for a simple tool which can convert a MD document to a well styled small PDF, just like a GitHub Readme. This was inspired by TinyPDF https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46316968 I also used this project to get familiar with agentic coding, which I had dreaded before. mdpdf…
Does a similar job
all alternatives →
TinyPDF – 3kb pdf library (70x smaller than jsPDF)Dec 2025 · github.com · ▲253I needed to generate invoices in a Node.js app. jsPDF is 229KB. I only needed text, rectangles, lines, and JPEG images. So I wrote tinypdf: <400 lines of TypeScript, zero dependencies, 3.3KB minified+gzipped. What it does: - Text (Helvetica, colors, alignment) - Rectangles and lines - JPEG images - Multiple pages, custom sizes What it doesn't do: - Custom fonts, PNG/SVG, forms, encryption, HTML-to-PDF That's it. The 95% use case for invoices, receipts, reports, tickets, and labels. GitHub: https://github.com/Lulzx/tinypdf npm: npm install tinypdf
PDF to MD by LLMs – Extract Text/Tables/Image Descriptives by GPT4o2024 · github.com · ▲191I've developed a Python API service that uses GPT-4o for OCR on PDFs. It features parallel processing and batch handling for improved performance. Not only does it convert PDF to markdown, but it also describes the images within the PDF using captions like `[Image: This picture shows 4 people waving]`. In testing with NASA's Apollo 17 flight documents, it successfully converted complex, multi-oriented pages into well-structured Markdown. The project is open-source and available on GitHub. Feedback is welcome.
MD To - Markdown ConverterMar 2026 · md-to.com · ▲7I needed a way to quickly turn my technical notes into DOCX files for non-tech colleagues, so I built MD To. Goal was simple: Clean UI, fast conversion, and reliable formatting. Would love to hear what features you'd like to see next (e.g., custom CSS templates or batch processing).
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