md-to-pdf

name

md-to-pdf

description

Convert Markdown files to well-formatted PDF with Chinese support, bookmarks, and page numbers. Uses PyMuPDF Story HTML rendering with DroidSansFallbackFull font for full CJK + Latin + special character coverage. Trigger on phrases like "markdown to pdf", "md转pdf", "生成pdf", "导出pdf", "markdown导出", or any request to convert .md files to PDF with proper Chinese rendering and bookmarks. Not for the reverse direction: to turn PDF/DOCX into Markdown, use doc-to-markdown instead.

Markdown to PDF Converter

Convert Markdown files to professional PDFs with full Chinese support, clickable bookmarks, and page numbers.

Features

• Full CJK + Latin + special character support (├── └── │ etc.)
• Auto-generated bookmarks from h1/h2/h3 headings with accurate page jumps
• Code blocks with background shading
• Tables, blockquotes, lists properly formatted
• Page numbers at bottom
• Auto font discovery (DroidSansFallbackFull, NotoSansCJK, WQY, etc.)

Workflow

1. Ensure dependencies

python3 -c "import fitz" 2>/dev/null || pip3 install pymupdf

2. Find a CJK font

The script auto-searches for fonts in these locations:

• User-specified --font path
• ~/.fonts/
• /usr/share/fonts/
• Android SDK fonts (DroidSansFallbackFull.ttf)

If no font is found automatically, locate one:

find / -name "DroidSansFallbackFull.ttf" -o -name "NotoSansCJK*" -o -name "wqy-zenhei*" 2>/dev/null | head -5

3. Run the converter

python3 <skill-dir>/scripts/md2pdf.py input.md output.pdf

With explicit font:

python3 <skill-dir>/scripts/md2pdf.py input.md output.pdf --font /path/to/DroidSansFallbackFull.ttf

4. Verify output

After generating, verify the PDF:

import fitz
doc = fitz.open("output.pdf")
print(f"Pages: {len(doc)}")
print(f"Bookmarks: {len(doc.get_toc())}")
# Check first page text renders correctly
print(doc[0].get_text()[:300])

Supported Markdown Elements

Element	Syntax	PDF Rendering
Headings	# ## ###	Sized text + bookmark entry
Code blocks	```	Gray background, monospace-style
Inline code	`code`	Red text with pink background
Tables	| col |	Bordered table with header shading
Blockquotes	> text	Gray text with left border
Lists	- item / 1. item	Bulleted / numbered
Bold	**text**	Bold text
Links	[text](url)	Text preserved, URL stripped
HR	---	Spacer

Font Recommendation

DroidSansFallbackFull.ttf is the recommended font. It produces ~7.7MB PDFs and covers:

• Latin characters (A-Z, a-z, 0-9)
• CJK Chinese characters
• Box-drawing characters (├── └── │)
• All common symbols

This font is bundled in Android SDK at frameworks/base/data/fonts/DroidSansFallbackFull.ttf.

Edge Cases

• No CJK font available: Script exits with error message. User must provide --font.
• Very long documents: PyMuPDF handles multi-page layout automatically.
• Complex nested lists: Only single-level lists are supported; nested items render as flat.
• Images in markdown: Not supported; only text content is converted.