lotl — Markdown to PDF (with Axolotl Power!)

lotl is a fast, simple CLI tool to convert your Markdown files into beautiful PDFs — with themes, margins, headers, footers, and even recursive directory conversion. Powered by Puppeteer, marked, and a little axolotl magic.

Installation

Install from npm:

npm install -g lotl

Local development/Contributions:

# clone the repo
git clone https://github.com/poran-dip/lotl.git
cd lotl

# install dependencies
npm install

# link the CLI globally for dev
npm link

Usage

lotl <input> [options]

Examples:

lotl README.md                     # Convert single file
lotl .                             # Convert all .md files in current directory
lotl docs/                         # Convert all .md files in docs/ folder
lotl . -r                          # Recursively convert all .md files
lotl docs.md -o output.pdf         # Custom output file
lotl . -o pdfs/                    # Batch convert to pdfs/ directory
lotl file.md --theme dark --format Letter
lotl doc.md --no-header --margin 30mm

Options

| Option | Description | Default | | ----------------- | --------------------------------------------- | ------- | | -o, --output | Output PDF file (single) or directory (batch) | auto | | -t, --theme | Theme (github, dark, minimal) | github | | -m, --margin | Page margins (e.g., "20mm") | 20mm | | -f, --format | Page format (A4, Letter, Legal) | A4 | | --no-header | Disable header | enabled | | --no-footer | Disable footer | enabled | | -r, --recursive | Process subdirectories recursively | false |

Themes

• github – clean and familiar GitHub-style
• dark – dark mode for night owls
• minimal – clean, serif-based look

You can also import the theme list in JavaScript:

import { themes } from 'lotl';
console.log(Object.keys(themes)); // ['github', 'dark', 'minimal']

Programmatic API

You can also use lotl directly in your Node.js code:

import { convertMdToPdf, themes } from 'lotl';

await convertMdToPdf('README.md', 'output.pdf', {
  theme: 'dark',
  format: 'Letter',
  margin: '25mm',
  header: false
});

Development

npm install       # install dependencies
npm link          # link CLI locally
npm start         # run CLI from source

License

MIT © 2025 Poran Dip

“Because every PDF deserves a little axolotl love.”

Transparency Note: Most of this project was created using AI assistance. I (Poran Dip) wanted a MD to PDF converter CLI, and I wanted it yesterday, so AI was used to achieve that. I'm including this both for transparency and as a little flex in prompt engineering skills. 😎 However, that also means to expect bugs and things to break, and I'd love if you could open issues about them! I'll maintain this for a while and actually make proper changes myself, as needed.