PDF Export

Doom provides powerful PDF export capabilities that transform your documentation into professional, print-ready PDF files. The feature includes automatic table of contents generation, custom styling, multi-language support, and selective content export.

Quick Start

Export your entire documentation to PDF:

# Build the documentation first
doom build

# Export to PDF
doom export

This generates PDF files in your output directory (default: dist/).

How It Works

The export process:

Builds your documentation (if not already built)
Serves the built site locally
Crawls pages based on sidebar configuration
Renders each page using Puppeteer
Combines pages into PDF with outlines
Generates separate PDFs per language and scope

The export command uses the @alauda/doom-export package internally, which provides advanced PDF generation features.

Configuration

Configure PDF export in your doom.config.yml:

# Define what to export
export:
  # Export a specific section
  - name: user-guide
    scope: '*/usage/*'
  
  # Export multiple sections
  - name: api-reference
    scope: '*/apis/*'
  
  # Export specific paths
  - name: getting-started
    scope:
      - '*/guide/installation'
      - '*/guide/quickstart'
      - '*/guide/configuration'

Export Items

name

string

required

Name for the output PDF file (e.g., “user-guide” → “user-guide-en.pdf”)

scope

string | string[]

required

Glob patterns or paths to include in the export.Supports wildcards:

* matches the language directory (e.g., en, zh)
** matches any nested directories
Specific paths can be provided as an array

Scope Patterns

export:
  - name: usage-docs
    scope: '*/usage/**'

Command Options

The doom export command accepts several options:

doom export [root] [options]

root

string

Root directory of the documentation (default: current directory)

--host, -H

string

default:"localhost"

Server host name for the preview server

--port, -P

string

default:"4173"

Server port number for the preview server

--ignore, -i

boolean

default:false

Ignore internal routes during export

Example Commands

# Export with custom port
doom export --port 3000

# Export with custom host
doom export --host 0.0.0.0 --port 8080

# Ignore internal routes
doom export --ignore

# Export from specific directory
doom export ./my-docs

Automatic Exclusions

The export automatically excludes:

API routes: apis/** and */apis/** (unless explicitly included)
Internal routes: Routes defined in internalRoutes config
Hidden pages: Pages with hidden: true in frontmatter

To include API documentation in exports, add it to the export configuration with includeApisPages: true.

PDF Generation Options

The export uses sophisticated PDF generation with these built-in settings:

Page Margins

{
  margin: {
    top: 40,
    right: 40,
    bottom: 40,
    left: 40
  }
}

Headers & Footers

Custom HTML templates for headers and footers:

<!-- Header Template -->
<div style="
  margin-top: -0.4cm;
  height: 70%;
  width: 100%;
  display: flex;
  justify-content: center;
  align-items: center;
  color: lightgray;
  border-bottom: solid lightgray 1px;
  font-size: 10px;
">
  <span class="title"></span>
</div>

<!-- Footer Template -->
<div style="
  margin-bottom: -0.4cm;
  height: 70%;
  width: 100%;
  display: flex;
  justify-content: flex-start;
  align-items: center;
  color: lightgray;
  border-top: solid lightgray 1px;
  font-size: 10px;
"></div>

Printer Options

{
  ignoreHTTPSErrors: true,
  initScripts: [
    // Force light theme for printing
    async () => {
      localStorage.setItem('rspress-theme-appearance', 'light')
      localStorage.setItem('rspress-visited', '1')
    }
  ],
  outlineContainerSelector: '.rp-doc',
  outlineExcludeSelector: '.rp-toc-exclude *'
}

Multi-Language Export

Doom automatically generates separate PDFs for each language:

lang: en
themeConfig:
  locales:
    - lang: en
      label: English
    - lang: zh
      label: 中文
    - lang: ru
      label: Русский

With this configuration, running doom export produces:

Documentation-en.pdf
Documentation-zh.pdf
Documentation-ru.pdf

Custom Export Names

When using the export config, files are named based on the export item:

export:
  - name: installation-guide
    scope: '*/guide/installation'

Generates:

installation-guide-en.pdf
installation-guide-zh.pdf
installation-guide-ru.pdf

The export automatically generates a hierarchical table of contents based on:

Sidebar structure from _meta.json files
Page headings within each document
Nested sections and subsections

Custom Outlines

The export includes intelligent outline generation:

// Automatically creates PDF outlines matching sidebar structure
{
  title: 'Getting Started',
  to: 0,
  children: [
    {
      title: 'Installation',
      to: 3,
      children: []
    },
    {
      title: 'Configuration',
      to: 8,
      children: []
    }
  ]
}

Advanced Configuration

Including API Routes

By default, API routes are excluded. To include them:

export:
  - name: complete-api-reference
    scope:
      - '*/apis/references/**'
      - '*/apis/kubernetes_apis/**'

The export process detects API routes by pattern matching:

Routes starting with apis/
Routes matching */apis/** pattern

Version-Specific Exports

Export specific versions:

multiVersion:
  default: v2.0
  versions:
    - v1.0
    - v2.0

export:
  - name: v1-guide
    scope: 'v1.0/**'
  - name: v2-guide
    scope: 'v2.0/**'

Scoped Exports

Create targeted exports for different audiences:

export:
  # For end users
  - name: user-guide
    scope:
      - '*/getting-started'
      - '*/usage/**'
      - '*/tutorials/**'
  
  # For developers
  - name: developer-guide
    scope:
      - '*/api/**'
      - '*/development/**'
      - '*/contributing'
  
  # For administrators
  - name: admin-guide
    scope:
      - '*/installation'
      - '*/configuration/**'
      - '*/maintenance/**'

Page Collection

The export collects pages by:

Reading the sidebar configuration
Extracting all page links
Filtering based on scope patterns
Removing duplicates
Ordering based on sidebar structure

Example Collection Process

Scan Sidebar

Read the sidebar structure for the specified language/version

Extract Links

Collect all page links from sidebar items and nested groups

Apply Scope Filter

Match links against the configured scope patterns

Generate PDF

Render each page and combine into final PDF with table of contents

Customization

Custom Naming

The default PDF naming uses:

{title}-{lang}.pdf

With export items:

{export-name}-{lang}.pdf

The naming is handled by the getPdfName utility from ~/workspace/source/packages/doom/src/cli/export.ts:23.

Print Styling

Add print-specific styles to your documentation:

@media print {
  /* Hide navigation in PDF */
  .nav-bar,
  .sidebar {
    display: none !important;
  }
  
  /* Optimize for print */
  body {
    font-size: 10pt;
    line-height: 1.4;
  }
  
  /* Page breaks */
  h1, h2 {
    page-break-after: avoid;
  }
  
  pre, code {
    page-break-inside: avoid;
  }
}

Query Parameters

Pages are loaded with ?print query parameter for print-specific rendering:

{
  path: base + link + '.html?print'
}

This allows you to customize rendering for PDF export in your components:

const isPrintMode = new URLSearchParams(window.location.search).get('print')

if (isPrintMode) {
  // Render print-optimized version
}

Troubleshooting

Build Required

Error: “Please build the documentation first”

Solution

Run doom build before doom export:

doom build
doom export

Or use a npm script to chain commands:

{
  "scripts": {
    "docs:export": "doom build && doom export"
  }
}

No Pages Found

Warning: “Cannot find matched scope”

Solution

Check that your scope patterns match actual routes
Verify the sidebar configuration includes the pages
Ensure the language directory exists
Use glob pattern testing to validate your patterns

# Test pattern matching
ls -R docs/en/usage/

Memory Issues

For very large documentation:

Solution

Increase Node.js memory limit:

NODE_OPTIONS="--max-old-space-size=4096" doom export

Or export in smaller chunks:

export:
  - name: part-1
    scope: '*/guide/**'
  - name: part-2
    scope: '*/reference/**'

Timeout Errors

If pages timeout during rendering:

Solution

Check for JavaScript errors in the built documentation
Ensure all resources (images, scripts) load correctly
Test the built site locally: doom preview
Look for infinite loops or heavy computations

Best Practices

Test Build First

Always test doom preview before exporting to catch rendering issues early.

Use Descriptive Names

Choose clear export names that describe the content (e.g., “api-reference”, “user-guide”).

Optimize Images

Compress images to reduce PDF file size without sacrificing quality.

Test PDF Output

Review generated PDFs to ensure formatting, links, and layout are correct.

Integration Examples

CI/CD Pipeline

# .github/workflows/docs.yml
name: Build and Export Docs

on:
  push:
    branches: [main]

jobs:
  export:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v3
      
      - name: Setup Node.js
        uses: actions/setup-node@v3
        with:
          node-version: '20'
      
      - name: Install dependencies
        run: yarn install
      
      - name: Build documentation
        run: yarn doom build
      
      - name: Export to PDF
        run: yarn doom export
      
      - name: Upload PDFs
        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v3
        with:
          name: documentation-pdfs
          path: dist/*.pdf

NPM Scripts

{
  "scripts": {
    "docs": "doom dev",
    "docs:build": "doom build",
    "docs:export": "doom build && doom export",
    "docs:preview": "doom preview"
  }
}

Auto Sidebar

Configure sidebar structure that controls PDF export organization

Translation

Export documentation PDFs for multiple languages automatically

Get Started

Core Concepts

Features

Guides

​PDF Export

​Quick Start

​How It Works

​Configuration

​Export Items

​Scope Patterns

​Command Options

​Example Commands

​Automatic Exclusions

​PDF Generation Options

​Page Margins

​Headers & Footers

​Printer Options

​Multi-Language Export

​Custom Export Names

​Table of Contents

​Custom Outlines

​Advanced Configuration

​Including API Routes

​Version-Specific Exports

​Scoped Exports

​Page Collection

​Example Collection Process

​Customization

​Custom Naming

​Print Styling

​Query Parameters

​Troubleshooting

​Build Required

​No Pages Found

​Memory Issues

​Timeout Errors

​Best Practices

Test Build First

Use Descriptive Names

Optimize Images

Test PDF Output

​Integration Examples

​CI/CD Pipeline

​NPM Scripts

​Related Features

Auto Sidebar

Translation

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

PDF Export

Quick Start

How It Works

Configuration

Export Items

Scope Patterns

Command Options

Example Commands

Automatic Exclusions

PDF Generation Options

Page Margins

Headers & Footers

Printer Options

Multi-Language Export

Custom Export Names

Table of Contents

Custom Outlines

Advanced Configuration

Including API Routes

Version-Specific Exports

Scoped Exports

Page Collection

Example Collection Process

Customization

Custom Naming

Print Styling

Query Parameters

Troubleshooting

Build Required

No Pages Found

Memory Issues

Timeout Errors

Best Practices

Integration Examples

CI/CD Pipeline

NPM Scripts

Related Features