| I thought "markdown → PDF" would be trivial in 2025. It hasn't been so far. I've been building a tool that generates AI-powered analysis reports in markdown (github.com/ansari-project/ragdiff - not a plug, just context). Getting high-quality, readable PDFs turned out way harder than expected. The problem: Markdown is underspecified, so tools have to make guesses. Most solutions produce mediocre output or are painful to work with: - Pandoc: Powerful but requires deep LaTeX knowledge to get good results. Template debugging is arcane, and the LaTeX intermediate step adds surprising complexity. - npm packages: Most produce poor typography, awkward page breaks, and inconsistent spacing. - wkhtmltopdf and similar: Limited styling control, quirky rendering behavior. What I actually need: proper margins, good fonts, readable code blocks, sensible page breaks, high quality diagrams from things like mermaid etc. My current solution: Markdown → HTML (with CSS) → Headless Chrome → PDF But this feels like reinventing the wheel. Is there a better way in 2025? What do you use for programmatic markdown → PDF when quality actually matters? Am I missing an obvious tool, or is "Chrome as PDF engine" actually the pragmatic solution? |