pre-print

pre-print is a local SVG preflight and repair tool for artwork headed to paper, packaging, fabric, vinyl, signage, banners, vehicle wraps, laser engraving, CNC, plotters, and web output.

It is intentionally conservative. It catches risks that are visible in the SVG source, explains why they matter, and only applies automatic fixes when the change is narrow enough to trust. It does not replace a printer proof, RIP, cutter setup, or press-ready PDF workflow. It gives you the earlier, cheaper warning.

Why It Exists

SVGs move easily between design tools, web apps, storefronts, and print shops, but production workflows are not all looking for the same thing:

• A sticker cutter wants clean vector geometry, not hidden raster art.
• A paper or packaging job cares about bleed, safe area, flattening, RGB assumptions, and handoff risk.
• A banner or wrap may turn a tiny low-resolution image into a very visible problem.
• A browser can tolerate external references and scripts that a production workflow should reject.

pre-print gives those concerns names, severities, ranks, and stable issue codes so people and scripts can act on them.

Install

Build the native CLI from this repository:

make build
./pre-print check --target vinyl art.svg

Or use the WASM package from JavaScript:

npm install pre-print

import { promises as fs } from "node:fs";
import { check, fix } from "pre-print";

const svg = await fs.readFile("art.svg", "utf8");
const report = await check(svg, { target: "packaging" });

if (report.counts.errors > 0) {
  console.log(report.friendlySummary);
  console.table(report.issues.map(({ severity, code, message }) => ({ severity, code, message })));
}

const repaired = await fix(svg, {
  categories: ["metadata", "bleed"],
  target: "paper",
});

The npm package is a wrapper around the same Go engine compiled to WebAssembly. It runs locally in Node or the browser and does not upload SVG input.

Quick Start

Check one SVG:

./pre-print check --target paper art.svg

Write a Markdown or HTML report:

./pre-print check --target vinyl --format md art.svg > report.md
./pre-print check --target banner@20ft --format html art.svg > report.html

Generate a visual overlay for locatable production risks:

./pre-print check --target paper --overlay art.overlay.svg art.svg

Apply safe automatic fixes to a copy:

./pre-print fix --target paper -o art.fixed.svg art.svg

Apply selected fixes:

./pre-print fix --fix metadata,bleed -o art.fixed.svg art.svg

Allow destructive repairs only when you mean it:

./pre-print fix --fix safety,effects,raster --unsafe -o stripped.svg art.svg

Targets

Targets can describe an output material, a physical size, a resolution, or a material plus size.

./pre-print check --target screen art.svg
./pre-print check --target paper art.svg
./pre-print check --target vinyl art.svg
./pre-print check --target fabric@14in art.svg
./pre-print check --target banner@20ft art.svg
./pre-print check --target 90in art.svg
./pre-print check --target 1.2m art.svg
./pre-print check --target 4k art.svg
./pre-print check --target 8k art.svg

Supported material intents:

| Target | Aliases | Typical extra scrutiny | | --- | --- | --- | | screen | web, digital, display | unsafe content, references, basic SVG metadata | | paper | print, poster, flyer, card | RGB assumptions, bleed/safe area, effects, raster resolution | | fabric | textile, apparel, shirt, dtg | color count, small details, effects, raster content | | vinyl | sticker, decal, cut-vinyl | pure vector geometry, text, effects, raster content | | banner | mesh-banner | large-format raster/effect risks and scale-sensitive details | | signage | sign, signs | large-format output risks and safe-area review | | vehicle-wrap | wrap, car-wrap, truck-wrap | large physical scale, bleed/safe area, flattening risk | | packaging | package, label | print color assumptions, effects, safe area, handoff risk | | laser | engraving, laser-cut | vector-only geometry and cutter-style constraints | | cnc | router, mill | vector-only geometry and path health | | plotter | vinyl-cutter, cut-plotter | vector-only geometry and cuttable paths |

What It Checks

pre-print reports objective blockers when it can prove a problem from the SVG:

• missing viewBox, missing SVG namespace, and missing explicit size
• scripts and inline event handlers
• external references that may fail offline or during production handoff
• raster images, including inline base64 raster images
• filters, masks, clipping, opacity, blend modes, and shadow-like effects
• target-specific failures, such as raster art in cutter or engraver output

It also reports ranked review findings where human judgment still matters:

• approximate color count and production complexity
• thin strokes and tiny details at material scale
• near-disconnected stroked endpoints that may look joined but cut or print poorly
• background transparency, missing bleed, and safe-area risk
• rough effective-resolution concerns for size-based targets

Issue codes are lowercase and stable, such as missing-viewbox, raster-not-cuttable, thin-stroke, and missing-bleed. They are meant to be useful in CI, storefront upload checks, and design handoff tooling.

Fixes

By default, fix only performs conservative changes:

| Category | Default behavior | | --- | --- | | metadata | add missing SVG namespace, derive viewBox from numeric size, derive missing width or height from viewBox | | bleed | expand simple full-background rectangles when target geometry makes the missing bleed clear | | safety | skipped unless --unsafe is provided | | effects | skipped unless --unsafe is provided | | raster | skipped unless --unsafe is provided | | references, colors, strokes, geometry, typography, detail, sizing, cutter | advisory today because they usually need source assets, fonts, profiles, product templates, or design judgment |

--unsafe allows selected destructive transformations, including removing scripts, inline event handlers, raster image elements, and effect/transparency constructs. Those changes can alter artwork, so the flag is explicit on purpose.

JavaScript API

The npm package exposes async helpers and a cached runtime loader:

import { loadPrePrint, check, overlay, fix, fixCategories } from "pre-print";

const report = await check(svg, { target: "vinyl" });
const overlaySVG = await overlay(svg, { target: "vinyl" });
const fixed = await fix(svg, {
  target: "paper",
  categories: ["metadata", "bleed"],
});
const categories = await fixCategories();

const prePrint = await loadPrePrint();
const sameReport = prePrint.check(svg, { target: "paper" });

check() returns a structured report:

type PrePrintReport = {
  summary: string;
  friendlySummary: string;
  target?: string;
  targetDetails?: string;
  counts: { errors: number; warnings: number; info: number };
  meta: Record<string, string | number | undefined>;
  issues: Array<{
    severity: "error" | "warning" | "info" | string;
    code: string;
    message: string;
    rank?: "low" | "moderate" | "high" | string;
    fixCategory?: string;
    unsafeRequired?: boolean;
    automaticFix: boolean;
  }>;
  fixCategories: string[];
};

The default loader reads dist/pre-print.wasm and dist/wasm_exec.js from the installed package. Browser bundlers that need explicit asset URLs can pass them:

const prePrint = await loadPrePrint({
  wasmURL: new URL("./pre-print.wasm", import.meta.url),
  wasmExecURL: new URL("./wasm_exec.js", import.meta.url),
});

CommonJS works too:

const { check } = require("pre-print");
const report = await check(svg, { target: "paper" });

Browser Demo

Build the WASM runtime and serve the local demo:

make serve-web

Then open http://127.0.0.1:8765/docs/.

The demo loads SVGs locally, shows the original/overlay/source views, applies safe fixes, and can download the repaired SVG or issue overlay.

Development

make build      # native CLI
make test       # go test ./...
make vet        # go vet ./...
make wasm       # dist/pre-print.wasm plus Go wasm_exec.js
npm test        # build WASM and run the JS wrapper smoke test

Project layout:

• main.go boots the native command.
• internal/cli/ owns command parsing, user-facing output, exit codes, and file I/O.
• internal/svgcheck/ owns SVG inspection, target parsing, issues, overlays, and fixes.
• cmd/preprint-wasm/ exposes the checker to JavaScript through Go WASM.
• npm/ wraps the WASM runtime as the pre-print npm package.
• docs/ contains the local browser demo.

Run make test before opening a PR. Run make vet when changing parsing, file handling, or reporting.

Limits

SVG is a flexible interchange format, not a full production ticket. Some facts cannot be proven from an SVG alone:

• final CMYK, spot-color, ICC, overprint, knockout, white-ink, or underbase behavior
• printer-specific bleed, trim, fold, gutter, imposition, and safe-zone templates
• font licensing or font availability outside the SVG
• RIP-specific handling of transparency, filters, masks, clipping, shadows, and blend modes
• true output quality for unresolved external resources

For press output, use pre-print before exporting or reviewing the final press-ready PDF. Then confirm the printer's product template, bleed, trim, safe zone, color, font, image-resolution, flattening, and proofing requirements.

Roadmap

See docs/preflight-roadmap.md for planned production-preflight gaps, implementation handoffs, and suggested agent assignments.