PDF Master Skill

Generate beautifully styled PDF documents from Markdown, text, or structured data.

Available Tools

1. md-to-pdf (Primary - Best for styled reports)

# Basic usage
md-to-pdf input.md

# With custom CSS styling
md-to-pdf input.md --stylesheet styles.css

# Custom output path
md-to-pdf input.md --dest output.pdf

2. Pandoc (Flexible - multiple formats)

# Markdown to PDF (requires LaTeX for direct PDF)
pandoc input.md -o output.pdf

# Markdown to styled HTML (then use browser for PDF)
pandoc input.md -o output.html --standalone --css=styles.css

# With table of contents
pandoc input.md -o output.pdf --toc

3. Browser PDF (Best visual control)

For maximum visual fidelity, create HTML and use browser:

1. Create styled HTML file
2. browser open profile=clawd targetUrl=file:///path/to/file.html
3. browser screenshot targetId=<id> to verify
4. browser pdf targetId=<id>

Templates

Professional Report Template

Location: /Users/mmcassistant/clawd/skills/pdf-master/templates/report.css

Brief Template

Location: /Users/mmcassistant/clawd/skills/pdf-master/templates/brief.css

Workflow for Beautiful PDFs

Option A: Quick Markdown → PDF

md-to-pdf document.md --stylesheet /Users/mmcassistant/clawd/skills/pdf-master/templates/report.css

Option B: Maximum Control (HTML → PDF)

1. Convert markdown to styled HTML:

   pandoc document.md -o document.html --standalone --css=/path/to/styles.css

2. Open in browser, verify with screenshot
3. Generate PDF from browser

Option C: Data → Report → PDF

1. Create report content in markdown
2. Apply template styling
3. Generate PDF

Style Guidelines

• Use headers for clear hierarchy (H1 for title, H2 for sections)
• Include executive summary at top
• Use tables for structured data
• Add color-coded status indicators (🟢 🟡 🔴)
• Keep margins generous for readability
• Include page breaks between major sections

Common Use Cases

1. QA Reports - Testing results with screenshots
2. Business Briefs - Executive summaries, recommendations
3. Product Roadmaps - Strategic planning documents
4. Analytics Reports - Data summaries with visualizations
5. Meeting Notes - Formatted meeting documentation

CRITICAL: Verification Process

ALWAYS verify before sending:

1. Generate PDF
2. Open/screenshot to verify content is correct
3. Only then send to recipient

This prevents sending wrong files (see TOOLS.md lesson learned).