@json-render/react-pdf

React PDF renderer for @json-render/core. Generate PDF documents from JSON specs using @react-pdf/renderer.

Install

npm install @json-render/core @json-render/react-pdf

Quick Start

Render a spec to a PDF buffer

import { renderToBuffer } from "@json-render/react-pdf";
import type { Spec } from "@json-render/core";

const spec: Spec = {
  root: "doc",
  elements: {
    doc: { type: "Document", props: { title: "Invoice" }, children: ["page"] },
    page: {
      type: "Page",
      props: { size: "A4" },
      children: ["heading", "table"],
    },
    heading: {
      type: "Heading",
      props: { text: "Invoice #1234", level: "h1" },
      children: [],
    },
    table: {
      type: "Table",
      props: {
        columns: [
          { header: "Item", width: "60%" },
          { header: "Price", width: "40%", align: "right" },
        ],
        rows: [
          ["Widget A", "$10.00"],
          ["Widget B", "$25.00"],
        ],
      },
      children: [],
    },
  },
};

const buffer = await renderToBuffer(spec);

With a custom catalog

import { defineCatalog } from "@json-render/core";
import { schema, defineRegistry, renderToBuffer } from "@json-render/react-pdf";
import { standardComponentDefinitions } from "@json-render/react-pdf/catalog";
import { z } from "zod";

const catalog = defineCatalog(schema, {
  components: {
    ...standardComponentDefinitions,
    Badge: {
      props: z.object({
        label: z.string(),
        color: z.string().nullable(),
      }),
      slots: [],
      description: "A colored badge label",
    },
  },
  actions: {},
});

const { registry } = defineRegistry(catalog, {
  components: {
    Badge: ({ props }) => (
      <View style={{ backgroundColor: props.color ?? "#e5e7eb", padding: 4, borderRadius: 4 }}>
        <Text style={{ fontSize: 10 }}>{props.label}</Text>
      </View>
    ),
  },
});

const buffer = await renderToBuffer(spec, { registry });

Standard Components

Document Structure

| Component | Description | |-----------|-------------| | Document | Top-level PDF wrapper. Must be the root element. | | Page | A page with size (A4, LETTER, etc.), orientation, and margins. |

Layout

| Component | Description | |-----------|-------------| | View | Generic container with padding, margin, background, border. | | Row | Horizontal flex layout with gap, align, justify. | | Column | Vertical flex layout with gap, align, justify. |

Content

| Component | Description | |-----------|-------------| | Heading | h1-h4 heading text. | | Text | Body text with fontSize, color, weight, alignment. | | Image | Image from URL or base64. | | Link | Hyperlink with text and href. |

Data

| Component | Description | |-----------|-------------| | Table | Data table with typed columns and string rows. | | List | Ordered or unordered list. |

Decorative

| Component | Description | |-----------|-------------| | Divider | Horizontal line separator. | | Spacer | Empty vertical space. |

Page-Level

| Component | Description | |-----------|-------------| | PageNumber | Renders current page number and total pages. |

Server-Side APIs

import { renderToBuffer, renderToStream, renderToFile } from "@json-render/react-pdf";

// Render to an in-memory Buffer
const buffer = await renderToBuffer(spec);

// Render to a readable stream (pipe to HTTP response)
const stream = await renderToStream(spec);
stream.pipe(res);

// Render directly to a file
await renderToFile(spec, "./output.pdf");

All render functions accept an optional second argument with:

• registry - Custom component registry (merged with standard components)
• state - Initial state for $state / $cond dynamic prop resolution
• handlers - Action handlers

External Store (Controlled Mode)

For full control over state, pass a StateStore to StateProvider, JSONUIProvider, or createRenderer. When store is provided, initialState and onStateChange are ignored and the store is the single source of truth:

import { createStateStore, type StateStore } from "@json-render/react-pdf";

const store = createStateStore({ invoice: { total: 100 } });

// Mutate from anywhere — components re-render automatically:
store.set("/invoice/total", 200);

Server-Safe Import

Import schema and catalog definitions without pulling in React:

import { schema, standardComponentDefinitions } from "@json-render/react-pdf/server";

License

Apache-2.0