> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.hired.tools/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# PDF export

> What the renderer needs, which hosts already have it, and the fallback that produces the same document where they do not.

Server-side PDF rendering needs a **Chromium on the machine** and a Times-metric serif
font. Where both are present, the **PDF** button in the resume editor downloads the file
and `export_resume_pdf` returns a download link plus the page count it actually came out
to.

| Host               | One-click PDF                                       |
| ------------------ | --------------------------------------------------- |
| Docker / Compose   | **Yes.** The image ships the browser and the fonts. |
| Railway (Nixpacks) | No. Use the print-view fallback below.              |
| Your own machine   | Depends on whether a Chromium is installed.         |

## The fallback

Where the browser is missing, the **PDF** button says so rather than failing silently, and
`export_resume_pdf` reports the same thing. The fallback produces an identical document:

<Steps>
  <Step title="Open the print view">
    In the resume editor: **⋯ → Open print view**. It is a US-Letter page at
    `/print/<id>`, and it is auth-gated like the rest of the app.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Save as PDF">
    Your browser's print dialog → **Save as PDF**, with margins set to **None**. The page
    already carries the template's own half-inch margins.
  </Step>
</Steps>

Same document, one more step. The output is real selectable text either way, which is what
matters for an applicant tracking system reading it.

## Getting one-click export on a host without it

The renderer checks these paths in order, and uses the first one that exists:

1. `PDF_CHROMIUM_PATH`
2. `PLAYWRIGHT_CHROMIUM_EXECUTABLE_PATH`
3. `/usr/bin/chromium`
4. `/usr/bin/chromium-browser`
5. `/usr/bin/google-chrome`
6. `/usr/bin/google-chrome-stable`
7. `/opt/pw-browsers/chromium/chrome-linux/chrome`
8. `/root/.cache/ms-playwright/chromium/chrome-linux/chrome`

Then Playwright's own versioned layout under `PLAYWRIGHT_BROWSERS_PATH` or
`/root/.cache/ms-playwright`.

So on a host where you control the image, installing `chromium`, `fonts-croscore` and
`fonts-liberation` is usually enough, with `PDF_CHROMIUM_PATH` pointed at the browser if it
lands somewhere unusual.

<Note>
  On Railway specifically, a Dockerfile installing those three packages does produce a
  working renderer — but Railway's healthcheck did not come up on the resulting container,
  so it is not the shipped default. If you want one-click PDF and do not want to solve
  that, deploy with Compose instead.
</Note>

`PDF_CHROMIUM_PATH` is the narrow exception to the one-variable rule: it is a
machine-level fact about the host that the app cannot discover, it is never required, and
self-hosting still needs only `DATABASE_URL`.

## Why the output looks the same everywhere

No webfont is fetched. The serif stack is Tinos → Times New Roman → Liberation Serif,
which are metrically identical, so the document renders the same on macOS, Windows and
Linux with nothing to download and nothing to expire.

The page is exactly 8.5in × 11in with the template's own margins, and the renderer is the
same component the editor's live preview and the published page use — so what you see in
the editor is what comes out of the file.