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The POST /print endpoint is the core of the PDF Generator service. It accepts a JSON request body containing a complete HTML document, renders that document inside a headless Chromium browser using Puppeteer, and streams the resulting PDF back to the caller as a binary application/pdf response. An optional settings object lets you control paper size, margins, orientation, and other Puppeteer PDF options without changing any server-side configuration.

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Request

Method: POST
Path: /print
Content-Type: application/json
​
html
string
required
The complete HTML document to render as a PDF. This string is loaded directly into the headless Chromium page via Puppeteer’s page.setContent(). Inline styles and embedded scripts are supported; external resources must be reachable from the Lambda execution environment.
​
source
string
An optional identifier for the request, used in Lambda log output to help trace individual conversions. Has no effect on the generated PDF. Example: crude-oil-price-report.
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settings
object
An optional object of Puppeteer page.pdf() options passed directly to the PDF renderer. Use this to control paper format, page dimensions, margins, background printing, and more. Example: { "format": "A4", "printBackground": true }.

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Example Request

curl 'https://{api-identifier}.execute-api.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/prod/print' \
  -X 'POST' \
  --output document.pdf \
  --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --data-binary '{
    "source": "sales-report",
    "html": "<html><head><style>body { font-family: Arial; }</style></head><body><h1>Sales Report</h1><p>Q4 2024 results.</p></body></html>",
    "settings": {
      "format": "A4",
      "printBackground": true,
      "margin": { "top": "1cm", "bottom": "1cm", "left": "1cm", "right": "1cm" }
    }
  }'

​
Example Request Body

{
  "source": "sales-report",
  "html": "<html><head><style>body { font-family: Arial; }</style></head><body><h1>Sales Report</h1><p>Q4 2024 results.</p></body></html>",
  "settings": {
    "format": "A4",
    "printBackground": true,
    "margin": { "top": "1cm", "bottom": "1cm", "left": "1cm", "right": "1cm" }
  }
}

​
Responses

200 OK — application/pdf The request succeeded. The response body is the raw binary PDF file. When using curl, pass --output <filename>.pdf to write it to disk. In application code, read the response body as a byte stream or buffer.
400 Bad Request — application/json Returned when the required html field is absent from the request body. The error code is always PRINT_FAILED_HTML_MISSING. 
[
  {
    "value": {
      "code": "PRINT_FAILED_HTML_MISSING",
      "message": "Failed to print PDF, no HTML document provided."
    },
    "children": []
  }
]
500 Internal Server Error — application/json Returned when Puppeteer or Chromium encounters an unrecoverable error during rendering. The error code is REQUEST_GENERAL_FAILURE. 
[
  {
    "value": {
      "code": "REQUEST_GENERAL_FAILURE",
      "message": "An attempt to print html page failed for unspecified reason(s)."
    },
    "children": []
  }
]

​
Common settings Options

The settings object is passed directly to Puppeteer’s page.pdf() method. The following options cover the most common use cases:
OptionTypeDescription
formatstringPaper format: A4, Letter, Legal, Tabloid, etc.
widthstringPage width, e.g. "800px" or "21cm"
heightstringPage height, e.g. "600px" or "29.7cm"
printBackgroundbooleanPrint CSS backgrounds (default: false)
landscapebooleanPrint in landscape orientation (default: false)
marginobjectPage margins: { "top", "bottom", "left", "right" }
scalenumberScale factor between 0.1 and 2 (default: 1)
For the full list of available options, see the Puppeteer PdfOptions reference.
Puppeteer waits for networkidle0 — no network activity for at least 500 ms — before triggering the PDF print. Any external resources referenced in your HTML (fonts, images, stylesheets loaded from a remote URL) must be reachable from the Lambda execution environment. Resources that are slow or unreachable will delay the response and may cause the Lambda function to time out at the 30-second API Gateway limit.
See Request Body and Responses for full schema details.

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