pdfnative-cli

Official CLI for the pdfnative library — render JSON to PDF, apply digital signatures, verify them, and inspect PDF conformance, directly from the terminal. Zero extra runtime dependencies.

What's new in v1.3.0 — built on pdfnative 1.6.0. Five new commands: extract-text (reading-order text as text / JSON / NDJSON for RAG & agents — no OCR), fill (fill, flatten & export AcroForms with an incremental save), encrypt / decrypt (AES-128/256), and a doctor environment/capability preflight. render gains native vector charts (bar, barH, line, pie, donut). merge / split / extract gain --password, --encrypt, and constant-memory --stream. Adds a machine-readable capability manifest (schema manifest + llms.txt), PowerShell completion, a grouped --help, and the stable E_PASSWORD code. Unifies the render encryption flags (--encrypt / --owner-password) with the page-tree commands. 100% backward-compatible. See release notes and AGENTS.md.

⭐ Star pdfnative — the zero-dependency PDF engine that powers this CLI.

Highlights

• render — pipe a JSON document into a production-ready PDF. Encryption (AES-128/256), watermarks (text + image), page templates, PDF/A archival, 22 Unicode scripts + COLRv1 colour emoji + a bundled math font (--font math), native vector charts (bar, barH, line, pie, donut — pdfnative 1.6.0), PDF bookmarks (--outline), layout introspection (--inspect-layout / --debug-layout), streaming (single-pass, page-by-page, or true constant-memory --stream-true), and a hybrid flags + --layout file.json model.
• extract-text / fill / encrypt / decrypt (v1.3.0, pdfnative 1.6.0) — extract reading-order text as text/JSON/NDJSON for RAG & agents (no OCR); fill, flatten & export AcroForms with an incremental save (signatures stay valid; fill --export gives a read→edit→fill round-trip); re-secure with AES-128/256 or remove encryption. merge / split / extract gain --password, --encrypt, and constant-memory --stream.
• doctor — an offline environment/capability preflight (CLI/Node/pdfnative versions, Web Crypto CSPRNG required by encrypt, command count). Text or --json; exit 0/1 — an ideal agent pre-flight.
• sign — CMS/PKCS#7 digital signatures with full metadata (--reason, --name, --location, --contact, --signing-time) and intermediate CA chains via --cert-chain (repeatable). Uses native node:crypto for constant-time signatures by default (--pure-crypto opts out). Keys loaded from env vars or files; never logged.
• inspect — PDF version, page count, encryption, PDF/A conformance, signature count, metadata, page labels, markup/link annotations (--annotations), and PDF/UA (ISO 14289-1) structural validation. --verbose, --pages, --pdfua, and --check pdfa|signed|encrypted|pdfua for CI assertions.
• verify — verify every CMS/PKCS#7 signature: byte-range integrity, RSA/ECDSA signature value, certificate chain, trust roots, RFC 3161 timestamp (PAdES-T), and OCSP + CRL revocation (embedded /DSS offline by default, opt-in SSRF-guarded online). JSON & text output, --strict, --revocation, --revocation-policy.
• merge / split / extract — page-tree operations (pdfnative 1.5.0): concatenate several PDFs, split one PDF into many (per-page or per-range), or pull selected pages into a new PDF. --drop-annotations and --max-output-size guards included.
• annotate — attach markup annotations (highlight, text note, square, line, …) to an existing PDF via a JSON spec, using an incremental save so the original bytes — and any existing signature — stay intact.
• govern — expose pdfnative's AI-governance / HITL contract: govern rules, govern policy, and govern verify-issue <draft.md> to gate an issue/PR draft (exit 1 / E_POLICY on violation) before a human reviews and submits it.
• batch — render every JSON file in a directory to PDF in parallel, reusing the full render pipeline, with a per-file summary and bounded --concurrency.
• completion — emit bash, zsh, fish, or powershell shell-completion scripts.
• schema — print a versioned JSON Schema (Draft 2020-12) for any CLI input/output shape, plus schema manifest (a machine-readable capability manifest) and llms.txt, so agents can self-validate and discover the CLI's tools.
• Agent-native — a global --json status/error envelope, stable E_* error codes, and a --dry-run validation mode let autonomous AI agents and CI drive the CLI deterministically. Token-economy levers — --summary (minimal verdict), --fields (dot-path projection), and compact JSON under --json — shrink agent output ~90 %. See AGENTS.md.
• AI-governance / HITL — the govern command surfaces pdfnative's Human-in-the-Loop contract to agents: they act as draftsmen, never autonomous submitters. govern verify-issue gates a local draft; a human always reviews and submits.
• .pdfnativerc.json — optional config file for default flags (global + per-command); precedence is CLI flags > env > config.
• Zero extra dependencies — pdfnative is the sole runtime dependency.
• Offline by default — no network access unless you explicitly opt in with verify --revocation online, and even then every request passes an SSRF guard.
• Stdin / stdout by default — every command is shell-pipeline friendly.
• Secret-safe — signing keys, certs, encryption passwords never appear in error output or stderr. PEM material redacted; layout-file attachments[].data injection blocked.
• ESM-first, TypeScript strict — built with tsup, typed declarations included.
• NPM provenance — signed builds via GitHub Actions OIDC.

Supported Features

Feature	Status	Notes
Commands
render JSON → PDF	✅	Streaming, hybrid layout model, multilingual fonts, bookmarks, layout introspection
sign digital signatures	✅	RSA/ECDSA (CMS/PKCS#7), metadata fields, cert chains, native node:crypto
inspect PDF metadata	✅	--verbose, --pages, --pdfua, --annotations, --form-fields, --encryption, --password, page labels, --check …
verify signature verification	✅	Integrity + chain + trust + timestamp + revocation; --strict
extract-text reading-order text	✅	--format text|json|ndjson, --runs, --pages, --password; RAG/agent-native (no OCR)
fill fill / flatten / export AcroForms	✅	--data <values.json>, --flatten, --export (values → --data map); incremental save
encrypt / decrypt	✅	AES-128/256 re-encryption & transparent decryption (--password, --stream)
doctor preflight	✅	CLI/Node/pdfnative versions, Web Crypto (CSPRNG), command count; text or --json
merge concatenate PDFs	✅	Page-tree API; --password, --encrypt, --stream, --drop-annotations, --max-output-size
split one PDF → many	✅	Per-page (default) or per-range (--pages); --password, --encrypt, --stream
extract selected pages	✅	1-based --pages list/range; --password, --encrypt, --stream
annotate markup annotations	✅	Incremental save (signatures preserved); JSON spec via --annotations
govern AI-governance / HITL	✅	rules / policy / verify-issue; gates drafts with E_POLICY
batch parallel rendering	✅	Directory → PDFs, --concurrency, --fail-fast
completion shell scripts	✅	bash / zsh / fish / powershell
schema JSON Schema export	✅	Per-command schemas + summaries + status + manifest (capability manifest)
.pdfnativerc.json config file	✅	Global + per-command defaults; flags > env > config
Agent / automation
Global --json envelope	✅	Status on success, { ok, error: { code, message } } on failure
Stable error codes	✅	E_USAGE, E_INPUT, E_PARSE, E_SIGN, E_VERIFY_FAILED, E_POLICY, E_PASSWORD, …
Capability manifest	✅	schema manifest (JSON) + llms.txt — for agent tool discovery
--dry-run validation	✅	render / sign / batch / merge / split / extract / annotate / fill / encrypt / decrypt
Document Blocks
Headings, paragraphs, lists	✅	Full text styling support
Tables	✅	Headers, rows, multi-page
Barcodes	✅	QR, Code 128, EAN-13, Data Matrix, PDF417
Charts	✅	chart block: bar, barH, line, pie, donut (native PDF paths, pdfnative 1.6.0)
Hyperlinks	✅	URL validation, blue underlined text
Form fields	✅	Text, checkbox, radio, dropdown, listbox
Page breaks, spacers	✅	Explicit pagination control
Table of contents	✅	Auto-generated with /GoTo links
Advanced Layouts (v0.2.0)
PDF/A archival (1b, 2b, 2u, 3b)	✅	--tagged pdfa<level> (preferred) or --conformance (deprecated)
Streaming output	✅	--stream (single-pass) for large documents
Compression	✅	--compress flag
Encryption (AES-128/256)	✅	--encrypt-* flags + env-var precedence
Watermarks (text + image)	✅	--watermark-text, --watermark-image, --watermark-position
Headers / footers with placeholders	✅	--header-{l,c,r}, --footer-{l,c,r}, {page}/{pages}/{date}/{title}
Custom page sizes	✅	--page-size A4|Letter|… or WxH in points
Custom margins	✅	--margin <N> or --margin <t,r,b,l>
PDF/A-3 attachments	✅	--attachment <path>:<mime>:<rel>:<desc> (repeatable)
Multilingual fonts	✅	22 Unicode scripts via --font <code> --lang <code> (e.g. th, ja, ar, te, si, km); Latin built-in
Table-centric variant (PdfParams)	✅	--variant table
Full PdfLayoutOptions	✅	--layout <file.json>
Signing (v0.2.0)
RSA signatures (rsa-sha256)	✅	Default algorithm
ECDSA signatures (ecdsa-sha256)	✅	P-256 SEC1 / PKCS#8 keys (v0.3.0)
Auto signature-placeholder injection	✅	One-command sign of any rendered PDF (v0.3.0)
Signature metadata	✅	--reason, --name, --location, --contact, --signing-time
Cert chains (intermediate CAs)	✅	--cert-chain <pem> (repeatable) or PDFNATIVE_SIGN_CHAIN env
Verification (v0.2.0+)
Byte-range integrity (SHA-256)	✅	Recomputed and compared with CMS messageDigest attribute
CMS signature-value verification	✅	RSA-SHA256 + ECDSA-SHA256 (v0.3.0)
Certificate chain verification	✅	Via pdfnative verifyCertSignature
Trust roots	✅	--trust <root.pem> (repeatable) + self-signed acceptance
RFC 3161 timestamp recognition	✅	Reported as timestampPresent
RFC 3161 timestamp validation (PAdES-T)	✅	TSA signature, messageImprint binding, chain, genTime
OCSP revocation (RFC 6960)	✅	Embedded /DSS + opt-in online via AIA (SSRF-guarded)
CRL revocation (RFC 5280)	✅	Embedded /DSS + opt-in online via CDP (SSRF-guarded)
Revocation policy	✅	--revocation offline|online|disabled, --revocation-policy soft-fail|strict
Sign-side LTV (timestamp embedding / DSS)	⚠️	Upstream-blocked in pdfnative; sign --timestamp reserved
Render iteration
Smart tables	✅	--table-wrap, --repeat-header, --zebra, --cell-padding, --min-row-height
Page-by-page streaming	✅	--stream-page-by-page (TOC- and {pages}-compatible)
True constant-memory streaming	✅	--stream-true (parts freed as emitted; byte-identical output)
Configurable block cap	✅	--max-blocks <n> (default 100 000)
PDF/UA structural validation	✅	inspect --pdfua / --check pdfua (ISO 14289-1) — developer-time gate, not a substitute for veraPDF
--watch re-render on file change	✅	200 ms debounce, requires file --output
--template <file.json>	✅	Deep-merge base under input (caller wins)
--font bundled shortcuts	✅	Repeatable allow-list: latin, emoji, color-emoji, math, 22 script codes
Page-tree & annotations (v1.2.0)
Merge PDFs	✅	merge <a.pdf> <b.pdf> … (or repeatable --input) → --output
Split PDF	✅	split --output-dir <dir> per-page, or --pages 1-2,3-4 per-range
Extract pages	✅	extract --pages 4,1-2 (1-based; order preserved, repeats allowed)
Drop annotations on copy	✅	--drop-annotations on merge / split / extract
Output-size guard	✅	--max-output-size <bytes> on merge / split / extract
Markup annotations	✅	annotate --annotations <spec.json> — highlight, text, square, circle, line, freetext, …
Incremental save	✅	annotate preserves original bytes (existing signatures stay valid)
Inspect annotations	✅	inspect --annotations lists markup + link annotations
Page labels	✅	inspect reports /PageLabels when present
Bookmarks & layout (v1.2.0)
PDF bookmarks (outline)	✅	render --outline auto (from headings) or --outline <tree.json>
Math / technical symbols	✅	render --font math (Noto Sans Math; auto-routed code points)
Layout inspection report	✅	render --inspect-layout → LayoutInspection JSON (no PDF)
Layout debug overlay	✅	render --debug-layout [margins,content,cells]
Signing crypto (v1.2.0)
Native constant-time crypto	✅	sign uses node:crypto by default (side-channel-resistant)
Pure-JS crypto fallback	✅	sign --pure-crypto forces pdfnative's portable bignum path
AI-governance / HITL (v1.2.0)
Governance rules / policy	✅	govern rules (protocol) / govern policy (machine-readable JSON)
Draft verification gate	✅	govern verify-issue <draft.md> → exit 1 / E_POLICY on violation
Text, forms, encryption & charts (v1.3.0, pdfnative 1.6.0)
Text extraction	✅	extract-text --format text|json|ndjson (reading order, --runs, --password); no OCR
Fill AcroForms	✅	fill --data <values.json> (incremental save; encrypted PDFs via --password)
Flatten AcroForms	✅	fill --flatten (stamp appearances, remove interactive fields)
Export form values	✅	fill --export → --data-shaped JSON map (read → edit → fill round-trip)
Encrypt / decrypt	✅	encrypt --owner-password … (AES-128/256) / decrypt --password … (--stream)
Encrypted page-tree sources	✅	--password on merge / split / extract / inspect
Re-encrypt page-tree output	✅	--encrypt [aes-128|aes-256] on merge / split / extract
Constant-memory streaming	✅	--stream (+ --chunk-size) on merge / split / extract / encrypt / decrypt
Native vector charts	✅	chart document block: bar, barH, line, pie, donut (pure PDF paths, tagged /Figure)
List form fields / encryption	✅	inspect --form-fields / inspect --encryption
Unified render encryption flags	✅	render --encrypt [aes-128|aes-256] --owner-password … (same vocab as merge/split/extract)
Environment preflight	✅	doctor (versions, Web Crypto/CSPRNG, command count; text or --json)
Capability manifest	✅	schema manifest + llms.txt for agent tool discovery
PowerShell completion	✅	completion powershell

Note: features marked ⚠️ are tracked in ROADMAP.md. Everything else works today.

Installation

npm install --global pdfnative-cli

Or run without installing:

npx pdfnative-cli render --input doc.json --output report.pdf

Requirements: Node.js ≥ 20 | Bun | Deno (node dist/cli.cjs)

Documentation

• 📘 Quick Start (below) — Get rendering in 5 minutes
• 🏛️ KNOWLEDGE_BASE.md — Full CLI reference, architecture, integration patterns
• 📚 samples/README.md — runnable samples organized by feature
• 🔧 pdfnative library — Underlying PDF engine docs
• ❓ FAQ — Common questions & troubleshooting

Quick Start

Render a PDF from JSON

# From a file
pdfnative render --input document.json --output report.pdf

# From stdin
cat document.json | pdfnative render --output report.pdf

# Streaming (large documents)
pdfnative render --input big-doc.json --output report.pdf --stream

# True constant-memory streaming (lowest peak memory; byte-identical)
pdfnative render --input big-doc.json --output report.pdf --stream-true

# PDF/A conformance
pdfnative render --input document.json --output archived.pdf --conformance 2b

document.json is a DocumentParams object:

{
  "title": "Monthly Report",
  "blocks": [
    { "type": "heading", "text": "Monthly Report", "level": 1 },
    { "type": "paragraph", "text": "Summary for April 2026." },
    { "type": "list", "style": "bullet", "items": ["Revenue: +18%", "NPS: 72"] }
  ],
  "footerText": "Confidential",
  "metadata": { "author": "Finance Team", "subject": "April 2026 Report" }
}

Sign a PDF

# Keys from environment variables (recommended for CI/CD)
export PDFNATIVE_SIGN_KEY="$(cat private.pem)"
export PDFNATIVE_SIGN_CERT="$(cat cert.pem)"
pdfnative sign --input document.pdf --output signed.pdf

# Keys from files
pdfnative sign --input document.pdf --output signed.pdf \
  --key private.pem --cert cert.pem

Inspect a PDF

# JSON output (default)
pdfnative inspect --input report.pdf

# Human-readable
pdfnative inspect --input report.pdf --format text

# PDF/UA (ISO 14289-1) structural validation report
pdfnative inspect --input report.pdf --pdfua

# CI accessibility gate (exit 1 if not PDF/UA-structurally-valid)
pdfnative inspect --input report.pdf --check pdfua

# From stdin
cat report.pdf | pdfnative inspect

Example output:

{
  "version": "1.7",
  "pageCount": 3,
  "encrypted": false,
  "pdfaConformance": "2b",
  "signatures": 1,
  "metadata": {
    "title": "Monthly Report",
    "author": "Nizoka",
    "creationDate": "2026-04-27T12:00:00+00:00"
  }
}

Merge, split & extract pages (v1.2.0)

# Concatenate several PDFs (sources as positional args or repeated --input)
pdfnative merge a.pdf b.pdf c.pdf --output combined.pdf

# Split one PDF into one file per page
pdfnative split --input report.pdf --output-dir pages/ --prefix page

# Split into ranges — one output per comma-separated segment
pdfnative split --input report.pdf --output-dir out/ --pages "1-2,3-4"

# Extract selected pages (1-based; order preserved, repeats allowed)
pdfnative extract --input report.pdf --output cover.pdf --pages "4,1-2"

Extract text, fill forms & encrypt (v1.3.0)

# Extract reading-order text as NDJSON (one object per page — ideal for RAG/agents)
pdfnative extract-text --input report.pdf --format ndjson > pages.ndjson

# Export a form's current values, edit, then fill (read → edit → fill)
pdfnative fill --input form.pdf --export > values.json
pdfnative fill --input form.pdf --data values.json --output filled.pdf
pdfnative fill --input filled.pdf --flatten --output flat.pdf

# Preflight the environment (agents: gate `encrypt` on this)
pdfnative doctor --format json

# Encrypt with AES-256, confirm the scheme, then decrypt
pdfnative encrypt --input report.pdf --output secure.pdf \
  --owner-password "$OWNER" --user-password "$USER" --algorithm aes-256
pdfnative inspect --input secure.pdf --encryption --password "$USER"
pdfnative decrypt --input secure.pdf --output plain.pdf --password "$USER"

# Render native vector charts from a document with a `chart` block
pdfnative render --input dashboard.json --output dashboard.pdf

Annotate a PDF (v1.2.0)

# Attach markup annotations from a JSON spec (incremental save — signatures stay intact)
pdfnative annotate --input report.pdf --output annotated.pdf \
  --annotations notes.json

# List them back out
pdfnative inspect --input annotated.pdf --annotations --format text

notes.json is a JSON array (or { "annotations": [...] }), each entry a markup annotation plus a 1-based page:

{
  "annotations": [
    { "page": 1, "type": "highlight", "rect": [72, 700, 320, 715], "color": "#FFD400", "contents": "Check this figure." },
    { "page": 1, "type": "text", "rect": [330, 700, 350, 720], "icon": "Comment", "contents": "Needs a citation." }
  ]
}

Render bookmarks & introspect layout (v1.2.0)

# Add a bookmark tree derived from the document's headings
pdfnative render --input doc.json --output book.pdf --outline auto

# …or supply an explicit OutlineItem[] tree
pdfnative render --input doc.json --output book.pdf --outline outline.json

# Register the bundled math font so ∑ ∫ √ π render as real glyphs
pdfnative render --input math.json --output math.pdf --font latin --font math

# Emit a LayoutInspection JSON report instead of a PDF
pdfnative render --input doc.json --output layout.json --inspect-layout

# Render a PDF with debug guides overlaid
pdfnative render --input doc.json --output debug.pdf --debug-layout margins,content,cells

AI-governance / Human-in-the-Loop (v1.2.0)

Agents act as draftsmen: they may draft an issue/PR locally, but a human must review and submit it. Nothing here touches the network.

# Print the human/agent protocol and the machine-readable policy
pdfnative govern rules
pdfnative govern policy --pretty

# Gate a locally-authored draft (exit 1 / E_POLICY on a violation)
pdfnative govern verify-issue ./draft.md

Examples

Ready-to-run examples are in samples/, organized by feature category:

Category	Examples	Description
render/document/	6 files	Minimal, report, all-blocks reference, invoice, technical spec, --max-blocks guard
render/table/	2 files	Project status, financial summary
render/barcode/	3 files	QR code, Code 128 shipping label, EAN-13 product
render/form/	2 files	Contact form, survey
render/toc/	1 file	Document with auto-generated table of contents
render/link/	1 file	Resource directory with hyperlinks
render/watermark/	2 files	Draft watermark, confidential watermark
render/layout/	3 files	US Letter, A5 portrait, A4 landscape
render/pdfa/	3 files	PDF/A-1b, PDF/A-2b, PDF/A-3b archival conformance
render/outline/	scripts	PDF bookmarks — --outline auto + explicit tree
render/math/	scripts	Math/technical symbols via --font math
render/inspect-layout/	scripts	--inspect-layout report + --debug-layout guides
render/chart/	2 files	Native vector charts (bar / line / pie / donut)
merge/	scripts	Concatenate PDFs (page-tree)
split/	scripts	Split one PDF per-page or per-range
extract/	scripts	Pull selected pages into a new PDF
extract-text/	scripts	Reading-order text (text / json / ndjson)
fill/	scripts	Fill, flatten & export AcroForms
encrypt/	scripts	Encrypt / decrypt round-trip (AES-256, --stream)
doctor/	scripts	Environment / capability preflight
annotate/	scripts	Attach markup annotations (incremental save)
govern/	scripts	AI-governance / HITL: rules, policy, verify-issue
sign/	7 scripts	Digital signature incl. native vs pure-JS crypto (Bash + PowerShell)
inspect/	7 scripts	JSON & text inspection incl. --annotations (Bash + PowerShell)
streaming/	3 scripts	Streaming render (single-pass, page-by-page, true constant-memory)

Render all samples at once:

node samples/run-all.js

See samples/README.md for full descriptions, block type reference, and integration patterns (GitHub Actions, Docker, TypeScript).

---

Command Reference

The 17 commands are grouped by purpose (the global pdfnative --help shows the same grouping):

Group	Commands
Create & edit	render, fill, annotate
Page tree	merge, split, extract
Security	sign, verify, encrypt, decrypt
Read & extract	inspect, extract-text
Automation & meta	batch, doctor, schema, completion, govern

pdfnative render

Flag	Default	Description
--input <file>	stdin	Path to a JSON file (DocumentParams or PdfParams if --variant table)
--output <file>	stdout	Output PDF path
--stream	false	Single-pass streaming output (AsyncGenerator); no TOC, no {pages}
--stream-page-by-page	false	Stream at PDF object boundaries (TOC- and {pages}-compatible)
--stream-true	false	True constant-memory streaming; parts freed as emitted; byte-identical; no TOC, no {pages}
--variant <kind>	document	document (default) or table (selects buildPDFBytes)
--layout <file.json>	—	Load a Partial<PdfLayoutOptions> (CLI flags override)
--page-size <size>	from layout file or pdfnative default	Named (a4, letter, legal, a3, tabloid, a5) or WxH in points
--margin <N> or --margin <t,r,b,l>	from layout / default	Page margins in points
--compress	false	Enable FlateDecode compression
--max-blocks <n>	100000	Maximum document blocks before pdfnative aborts (large-report guard)
--tagged <level>	none	PDF/A: none, pdfa1b, pdfa2b, pdfa2u, pdfa3b
--conformance <1b|2b|3b>	—	Deprecated — use --tagged pdfa<level>
--watermark-text <s> / --watermark-image <path>	—	Text or image watermark
--watermark-opacity <0-1> / --watermark-angle <deg> / --watermark-color <#hex> / --watermark-font-size <pt> / --watermark-position background|foreground	—	Watermark styling
--watermark-position background|foreground	background	Render order
--header-{left,center,right} <tpl>	—	Header template; placeholders {page}, {pages}, {date}, {title}
--footer-{left,center,right} <tpl>	—	Footer template; same placeholders
--encrypt [aes-128|aes-256]	—	Enable encryption (bare = aes-128). Same vocabulary as merge/split/extract
--owner-password <s>	$PDFNATIVE_ENCRYPT_OWNER_PASS	Owner password (required to encrypt)
--user-password <s>	$PDFNATIVE_ENCRYPT_USER_PASS	Optional user (open) password
--permissions <list>	all denied	Comma list: print,copy,modify,extract
(legacy aliases)	—	--encrypt-algorithm, --encrypt-owner-pass, --encrypt-user-pass, --encrypt-permissions still work
--attachment <path>[:mime[:rel[:desc]]] (repeatable)	—	PDF/A-3 file attachment
--lang <code,code>	—	Activate registered font loaders for non-Latin scripts (th, ja, ar, te, si, km, …); Latin is built-in
--font <name> (repeatable)	—	Register a bundled font shortcut. Allow-list: latin, emoji, color-emoji, math, and the 22 script codes ar hy bn ru hi am ka el he ja km ko my pl zh si ta te th bo tr vi. The name doubles as the --lang code.
--outline auto|<file.json>	—	Add a PDF bookmark tree: auto derives it from headings; a path loads an explicit OutlineItem[] tree
--inspect-layout	false	Emit a LayoutInspection JSON report instead of a PDF (document variant only)
--debug-layout [margins,content,cells]	—	Overlay layout debug guides on the rendered PDF (bare flag = all)

See samples/render/ for a working example of every category.

pdfnative sign

Flag	Default	Description
--input <file>	— (required)	Path to the input PDF
--output <file>	stdout	Output signed PDF path
--key <file>	$PDFNATIVE_SIGN_KEY	Path to PEM private key (env var takes precedence)
--cert <file>	$PDFNATIVE_SIGN_CERT	Path to PEM certificate (env var takes precedence)
--cert-chain <file> (repeatable)	$PDFNATIVE_SIGN_CHAIN	Intermediate CA PEMs
--algorithm rsa-sha256|ecdsa-sha256	rsa-sha256	Signature algorithm (RSA or P-256 ECDSA)
--reason <s>	—	Reason for signing (PDF metadata)
--name <s>	—	Signer name (PDF metadata)
--location <s>	—	Signing location (PDF metadata)
--contact <s>	—	Signer contact (PDF metadata)
--signing-time <ISO 8601>	now	Explicit signing timestamp
--pure-crypto	false	Force pdfnative's pure-JS RSA/ECDSA math instead of the default native node:crypto (constant-time) provider

pdfnative inspect

Flag	Default	Description
--input <file>	stdin	Path to the PDF to inspect
--output <file>	stdout	Output report path
--format json|text	json	Output format
--verbose	false	Add trailer keys, catalog keys, object count, XMP
--pages	false	Add per-page metadata array
--annotations	false	List markup + link annotations per page (page labels are reported automatically when present)
--form-fields	false	List AcroForm fields (name, type, value, required/read-only, options)
--encryption	false	Report the encryption scheme (algorithm, revision, authenticatedAs), or null
--password <s>	—	Password for an encrypted PDF (env: PDFNATIVE_PASSWORD)
--pdfua	false	Add a PDF/UA (ISO 14289-1) structural validation report (valid + errors + warnings)
--check pdfa|signed|encrypted|pdfua (repeatable)	—	CI-friendly assertion; sets exit code (0 = pass, 1 = fail)

pdfnative verify

Flag	Default	Description
--input <file>	stdin	Path to the (possibly signed) PDF
--format json|text	json	Output format
--strict	false	Exit 1 on any failure or zero signatures (CI-friendly)
--trust <root.pem> (repeatable)	self-signed only	Trusted root certificates (PEM)
--revocation offline|online|disabled	offline	Revocation source: embedded /DSS only, also fetch online (SSRF-guarded), or skip
--revocation-policy soft-fail|strict	soft-fail	strict fails the signature on any non-good status; soft-fail only fails on explicit revoked

Scope (v1.0.0): byte-range integrity (SHA-256), full CMS signature value (RSA-PKCS#1 v1.5 SHA-256 + ECDSA-SHA256 over P-256), certificate chain + trust, RFC 3161 timestamp validation (PAdES-T), and OCSP (RFC 6960) + CRL (RFC 5280) revocation — embedded from the PDF /DSS offline by default, with opt-in online fetching through an SSRF-guarded HTTP client. Sign-side LTV (embedding timestamps / DSS at signing time) is upstream-blocked in pdfnative — see ROADMAP.md and SECURITY.md.

pdfnative batch

Flag	Default	Description
--input-dir <dir>	required	Directory of *.json document definitions
--output-dir <dir>	required	Output directory for the rendered *.pdf (created if absent)
--concurrency <n>	4	Maximum parallel renders
--fail-fast	false	Stop at the first failure (default: render all, then report)
--format json|text	text	Summary format

All other flags are forwarded to each render. Exit code 1 if any file fails.

pdfnative merge

Concatenate several PDFs into one (pdfnative 1.5.0 page-tree API).

Flag	Default	Description
positional paths	—	Source PDFs, in order (2–50). May be combined with --input
--input <file> (repeatable)	—	Additional source PDF (appended after positionals)
--output <file>	stdout	Output combined PDF
--drop-annotations	false	Strip annotations from the merged output
--max-output-size <bytes>	256 MiB	Fail if the merged PDF would exceed this size (0/none = unlimited)
--password <s>	—	Password for encrypted source PDFs (env: PDFNATIVE_PASSWORD)
--encrypt [aes-128|aes-256]	—	Re-encrypt the output (bare = aes-128); needs --owner-password
--owner-password / --user-password	—	Passwords for --encrypt (env: PDFNATIVE_ENCRYPT_OWNER_PASS / _USER_PASS)
--permissions <list>	—	print,copy,modify,extract for --encrypt
--stream	false	Constant-memory streaming output (--chunk-size <bytes>)

Multiple encrypted sources: a single --password is applied to every source. Merging encrypted sources that use different passwords is not supported and fails with E_PASSWORD. Decrypt the outliers first (pdfnative decrypt), then merge.

The same --password / --encrypt / --owner-password / --user-password / --permissions / --stream flags apply to split and extract (which take a single input, so their --password is unambiguous).

pdfnative split

Split one PDF into several (pdfnative 1.5.0 page-tree API).

Flag	Default	Description
--input <file>	stdin	Source PDF
--output-dir <dir>	— (required)	Directory for the output parts (created if absent)
--pages <ranges>	one per page	1-based ranges; each comma-separated segment (e.g. 1-2,3-4) becomes one output
--prefix <name>	input stem or part	Filename prefix; outputs are <prefix>-<n>.pdf (zero-padded)
--drop-annotations	false	Strip annotations from each part
--max-output-size <bytes>	256 MiB	Per-part size cap (0/none = unlimited)

pdfnative extract

Pull selected pages into a new PDF (pdfnative 1.5.0 page-tree API).

Flag	Default	Description
--input <file>	stdin	Source PDF
--output <file>	stdout	Output PDF
--pages <list>	— (required)	1-based page list/range (e.g. 4,1-2); order preserved, repeats allowed
--drop-annotations	false	Strip annotations from the output
--max-output-size <bytes>	256 MiB	Output size cap (0/none = unlimited)

(also supports --password / --encrypt / --stream — see merge above.)

pdfnative extract-text

Extract reading-order Unicode text (pdfnative 1.6.0 extractText). No OCR — image-only pages yield empty text.

Flag	Default	Description
--input <file>	stdin	Source PDF
--format text|json|ndjson	text	Plain text (form-feed between pages), a JSON array, or NDJSON (one object per page)
--pages <list>	all	1-based selector to limit pages
--runs	false	Include positioned runs { text, x, y, fontSize, fontName }
--password <s>	—	Password for an encrypted PDF (env: PDFNATIVE_PASSWORD)
--max-length <n>	16000000	Hard cap on total characters (0/none disables)
--summary / --fields / --pretty	—	Token-economy controls (json format)

pdfnative fill

Fill, flatten, and/or export an existing AcroForm using an incremental save (existing signatures stay valid for their revision). Discover field names with inspect --form-fields, or dump the current values with --export for a read → edit → fill round-trip.

Flag	Default	Description
--input <file>	stdin	Source form PDF
--output <file>	stdout	Filled PDF / exported values
--data <file>	—	JSON object name → string|boolean|string[] (or { "values": {…} })
--flatten	false	Also flatten (or flatten existing values when --data is omitted)
--export	false	Read-only: emit current values as a --data-shaped JSON map (unset choice fields omitted); ignores --data/--flatten
--force	false	Flatten even if a signed signature field is present
--on-unknown throw|ignore	throw	Behaviour for value keys that match no field
--need-appearances	false	Allow non-WinAnsi values by setting /NeedAppearances
--password <s>	—	Password for an encrypted PDF (env: PDFNATIVE_PASSWORD)

pdfnative encrypt

Re-secure a PDF with AES-128/256 (page-tree re-encryption). Rebuilds the page tree like merge, so signatures and form fields are dropped. Requires a Web Crypto CSPRNG; RC4 is never emitted.

Flag	Default	Description
--input <file>	stdin	Source PDF
--output <file>	stdout	Encrypted PDF
--owner-password <s>	— (required)	Owner password (env: PDFNATIVE_ENCRYPT_OWNER_PASS)
--user-password <s>	—	User (open) password (env: PDFNATIVE_ENCRYPT_USER_PASS)
--algorithm aes-128|aes-256	aes-128	Encryption algorithm
--permissions <list>	defaults	print,copy,modify,extract
--password <s>	—	Open an already-encrypted source (password rotation)
--stream	false	Constant-memory streaming output (--chunk-size <bytes>)

pdfnative decrypt

Remove encryption, emitting a plaintext copy. Rebuilds the page tree like merge (signatures/forms dropped).

Flag	Default	Description
--input <file>	stdin	Encrypted source PDF
--output <file>	stdout	Decrypted PDF
--password <s>	—	Document password (env: PDFNATIVE_PASSWORD)
--stream	false	Constant-memory streaming output (--chunk-size <bytes>)

pdfnative doctor

Environment / capability preflight — for humans (onboarding) and agents (pre-flight before encrypt). Fully offline. Exit code 0 when all checks pass, 1 otherwise.

Flag	Default	Description
--format json|text	text	Output format (global --json also selects JSON)
--pretty	—	Force indented JSON even under --json

Checks: CLI version, Node version (≥ 20), Web Crypto (CSPRNG) availability, resolved pdfnative version, registered command count.

pdfnative annotate

Attach markup annotations to an existing PDF using an incremental save (the original bytes — and any existing signature — are preserved).

Flag	Default	Description
--input <file>	stdin	Source PDF
--output <file>	stdout	Annotated PDF
--annotations <file>	— (required)	JSON array (or { "annotations": [...] }); each entry is a markup annotation plus a 1-based page

Annotation types: text, highlight, underline, strikeout, squiggly, square, circle, line, freetext. Every entry needs a page and a rect [x1,y1,x2,y2]; line also needs start and end. Only known fields are forwarded — unknown keys are dropped, so nothing can leak into the emitted dictionary.

pdfnative govern

Expose pdfnative's AI-governance / Human-in-the-Loop (HITL) contract. Agents act as draftsmen: a human must always review and submit.

pdfnative govern rules                 # human/agent protocol (AGENT_RULES) on stdout
pdfnative govern policy                # machine-readable policy JSON on stdout
pdfnative govern verify-issue draft.md # validate a draft; exit 1 / E_POLICY on violation

verify-issue fails a draft that proposes an external runtime dependency or omits a reproduction code block; missing recommended fields (environment, expected behaviour) are surfaced as warnings. Add --json for a machine-readable { ok, errors, warnings } report. A passing check is necessary but not sufficient — the human review gate always applies.

pdfnative completion

pdfnative completion bash > /etc/bash_completion.d/pdfnative
pdfnative completion zsh  > "${fpath[1]}/_pdfnative"
pdfnative completion fish > ~/.config/fish/completions/pdfnative.fish
pdfnative completion powershell >> $PROFILE   # Register-ArgumentCompleter

pdfnative schema

Print a versioned JSON Schema (Draft 2020-12) for a CLI input/output shape, so an agent can self-validate before invoking a command.

pdfnative schema            # render input schema (default)
pdfnative schema render     # render input (document | table variant)
pdfnative schema inspect    # inspect --format json output
pdfnative schema verify     # verify  --format json output
pdfnative schema batch      # batch   --format json output
pdfnative schema annotate       # annotate --annotations input
pdfnative schema extract-text   # extract-text --format json output
pdfnative schema fill           # fill --data values input
pdfnative schema form-export    # fill --export output
pdfnative schema govern-verify  # govern verify-issue --json output
pdfnative schema status         # the --json success envelope (write commands)
pdfnative schema manifest       # capability manifest: commands, flags, error codes
pdfnative schema doctor         # doctor --format json output
pdfnative schema list       # list the available subjects

The manifest (schema manifest) is a machine-readable capability document — every command, its flags, the global flags, and the stable error codes — for AI-agent tool discovery. A prose/LLM-facing version ships as llms.txt at the package root.

Global options

Flag	Description
--config <file>	Use a specific .pdfnativerc.json (default: nearest upward from cwd)
--no-config	Ignore any .pdfnativerc.json
--quiet, -q	Suppress progress output on stderr
--no-color	Disable ANSI colour (also respects the NO_COLOR env var)
--json	Agent mode: emit a JSON status/error envelope on stderr (data stays on stdout)
--dry-run	Validate inputs and exit without writing output (render / sign / batch / merge / split / extract / annotate / fill / encrypt / decrypt)
--version --json	Machine-readable version output

Driving from AI agents

pdfnative-cli is designed so an autonomous agent (or any program) can drive it deterministically — no MCP server, no daemon, just the process contract:

• stdout = the artifact (PDF, JSON report, schema, completion script); stderr = diagnostics.
• Pass --json to get a single machine-readable envelope on stderr. On failure: { "ok": false, "command": "...", "error": { "code": "E_*", "message": "..." } }. On success for the write commands (render / sign / batch / merge / split / extract / annotate / fill / encrypt / decrypt): a { "ok": true, ... } status line.
• Branch on the stable error code (E_USAGE, E_INPUT, E_PARSE, E_IO, E_SIGN, E_VERIFY_FAILED, E_CHECK_FAILED, E_POLICY, E_UNSUPPORTED, E_PASSWORD, E_RUNTIME) rather than the message text. Numeric exit codes stay 0 (success), 1 (runtime), 2 (usage).
• Use --dry-run to validate input without producing output.
• Fetch a schema (or schema manifest / llms.txt) to discover and validate before calling, and run doctor --format json as a capability pre-flight.

See AGENTS.md and the samples/agent/ scripts.

Security

• Offline by default — no network access unless you pass verify --revocation online. Online revocation requests pass an SSRF guard (scheme allow-list, private/loopback/ link-local/CGNAT address blocking, no redirects, timeout + size caps).
• Signing keys are never logged — not in error messages, not in debug output.
• Path traversal protection — all file path arguments are validated against ../ sequences.
• JSON size cap — input is capped at 50 MB before parsing to prevent memory exhaustion.
• Signed builds with NPM provenance — verify at npmjs.com or with npm audit signatures.

See SECURITY.md for the full security policy and vulnerability disclosure procedure.

Getting Help

Have a question?

• 📖 Check the FAQ first
• 🔍 Search the samples: grep -r "your-keyword" samples/
• 📚 Read KNOWLEDGE_BASE.md for technical details
• 💬 Open a discussion: GitHub Discussions

Found a bug?

• 🐛 Open an issue: GitHub Issues
• 🔐 Security issue? See SECURITY.md for responsible disclosure

Want to contribute?

• 🤝 See CONTRIBUTING.md
• 📝 All PRs add value — tests, docs, translations, samples

Related Projects

• pdfnative — the core PDF generation library
• pdfnative-mcp — Model Context Protocol server for AI clients
• pdfnative.dev — documentation, live demos, benchmarks

Citation

If you use pdfnative-cli in research or academic pipelines, please cite it:

@software{pdfnative_cli_2026,
  title  = {pdfnative-cli: Official CLI for the pdfnative PDF generation library},
  author = {Nizoka},
  year   = {2026},
  url    = {https://github.com/Nizoka/pdfnative-cli},
  license = {MIT}
}

See CITATION.cff for the full metadata (auto-detected by GitHub and Zenodo).

License

MIT — see LICENSE.