Browserless — pdf — BizFirstAI

When to Use

Invoice and receipt generation: Render an HTML invoice template at a dynamic URL to PDF and attach it to a customer email or store it in document management.
Report archiving: Convert analytics dashboards, financial summaries, or compliance reports to PDF on a schedule for long-term archiving.
Contract generation: Render a populated contract template to PDF as part of an e-signature or HR workflow.
Regulatory document capture: Save the rendered state of a web-based regulatory filing or submission as a PDF proof of record.
Client-facing deliverables: Convert data-driven proposal pages to PDF and deliver them automatically via email or a client portal upload.

Print CSS matters: Browserless uses Chrome's print engine. Pages with a @media print stylesheet will render differently from the screen view. Test your target page's print CSS before relying on this node in production.

Configuration

Connection

Field	Required	Description
`BaseUrl`	Required	Browserless instance URL.
`Token`	Optional	API token for cloud Browserless.

Operation

Field	Required	Description
`url`	Required	The page URL to print. Supports BizFirst expressions.
`options`	Optional	PDF options JSON object. Key fields: `format` (`"A4"`, `"Letter"`, `"Legal"`, etc.), `landscape` (bool), `printBackground` (bool, default `false`), `margin` (object with `top`, `bottom`, `left`, `right` as CSS strings), `scale` (number, default `1`), `displayHeaderFooter` (bool), `headerTemplate` and `footerTemplate` (HTML strings).
`gotoOptions`	Optional	Navigation options JSON: `waitUntil` and `timeout`.
`waitForSelector`	Optional	Wait for a CSS selector before printing.
`waitForTimeout`	Optional	Fixed delay in milliseconds before printing.
`emulateMediaType`	Optional	Set to `"print"` to apply print CSS rules, or `"screen"` to capture the screen rendering as PDF.
`authenticate`	Optional	HTTP Basic auth credentials: `{ "username": "...", "password": "..." }`.
`setExtraHTTPHeaders`	Optional	Additional request headers, e.g. auth bearer tokens.
`cookies`	Optional	Cookies to set before navigation.
`blockAds`	Optional	Default `true`.
`bestAttempt`	Optional	Default `true`. Return a PDF even if some sub-resources failed to load.
`useCustomBody`	Optional	Send `customBodyJson` verbatim as the request body.
`customBodyJson`	Optional	Raw JSON body when `useCustomBody` is `true`.

Sample Configuration

{
  "operation": "pdf",
  "baseUrl": "https://chrome.browserless.io",
  "token": "{{ $env.BROWSERLESS_TOKEN }}",
  "url": "https://app.example.com/invoices/{{ $input.invoiceId }}",
  "options": {
    "format": "A4",
    "landscape": false,
    "printBackground": true,
    "margin": {
      "top": "20mm",
      "bottom": "20mm",
      "left": "15mm",
      "right": "15mm"
    },
    "displayHeaderFooter": true,
    "footerTemplate": "<div style='font-size:10px;text-align:center;width:100%;'>Invoice #{{ $input.invoiceId }} — Page <span class='pageNumber'></span> of <span class='totalPages'></span></div>"
  },
  "emulateMediaType": "print",
  "gotoOptions": { "waitUntil": "networkidle2", "timeout": 30000 },
  "waitForSelector": { "selector": ".invoice-total", "timeout": 10000 }
}

Validation Errors

Error Code	Cause
`VAL_MISSING_URL`	`url` is empty and no `html` source was provided.
`CFG_INVALID`	Node settings could not be resolved to a PDF configuration.
`BROWSERLESS_BAD_REQUEST`	`customBodyJson` is not valid JSON or does not match the PDF request shape.

Output

Success Port

Field	Type	Description
`status`	string	Always `"success"`.
`errorCode`	string	Always empty on success.
`operation`	string	Always `"pdf"`.
`url`	string	URL that was rendered.
`mimeType`	string	Always `"application/pdf"`.
`fileName`	string	Suggested file name, e.g. `"document.pdf"`.
`sizeBytes`	int	PDF size in bytes.
`data`	bytes	Raw PDF bytes. Pass to an S3 upload, email attachment, or file-write node.

Error Port

Field	Type	Description
`status`	string	Always `"error"`.
`errorCode`	string	Machine-readable error code.
`errorMessage`	string	Human-readable failure description.
`operation`	string	Always `"pdf"`.
`httpStatusCode`	int	HTTP status code from Browserless, if available.

Sample Output

{
  "status": "success",
  "errorCode": "",
  "operation": "pdf",
  "url": "https://app.example.com/invoices/INV-2026-0042",
  "mimeType": "application/pdf",
  "fileName": "document.pdf",
  "sizeBytes": 143360,
  "data": "<binary PDF bytes>"
}

Expression Reference

Expression	Value
`{{ $output.BrowserlessNode.mimeType }}`	Always `"application/pdf"`.
`{{ $output.BrowserlessNode.fileName }}`	Suggested file name for storage.
`{{ $output.BrowserlessNode.sizeBytes }}`	PDF size in bytes.
`{{ $output.BrowserlessNode.data }}`	Raw PDF bytes.
`{{ $output.BrowserlessNode.url }}`	URL that was rendered.

Node Policies & GuardRails

Policy	Recommendation	Severity
URL validation	Validate and allowlist target domains before passing user-supplied URLs to prevent SSRF.	High
Token storage	Store the API token in a workflow secret — never hardcode in configuration JSON.	Critical
PDF file size	PDFs with many images or charts can be large. Set a workflow file size limit and use `rejectResourceTypes: ["image"]` if images are not needed in the PDF.	Medium
Timeout for complex pages	Pages with charts, fonts, or heavy JS can take longer to render. Set `gotoOptions.timeout` to at least 30 s for such pages.	Medium
printBackground default	Backgrounds and colors are off by default in Chrome's PDF print engine. Set `options.printBackground: true` to match the visual design of your template.	Low

Examples

Example 1 — A4 invoice PDF with background and footer

{
  "operation": "pdf",
  "baseUrl": "https://chrome.browserless.io",
  "token": "{{ $env.BROWSERLESS_TOKEN }}",
  "url": "https://billing.example.com/invoice/{{ $input.invoiceId }}?token={{ $env.BILLING_PREVIEW_TOKEN }}",
  "options": {
    "format": "A4",
    "printBackground": true,
    "margin": { "top": "15mm", "bottom": "15mm", "left": "12mm", "right": "12mm" }
  },
  "emulateMediaType": "print",
  "gotoOptions": { "waitUntil": "networkidle0", "timeout": 30000 }
}

Example 2 — Landscape Letter report PDF

{
  "operation": "pdf",
  "baseUrl": "https://chrome.browserless.io",
  "token": "{{ $env.BROWSERLESS_TOKEN }}",
  "url": "https://reports.example.com/monthly/{{ $input.month }}",
  "options": {
    "format": "Letter",
    "landscape": true,
    "printBackground": true
  },
  "gotoOptions": { "waitUntil": "networkidle2", "timeout": 40000 },
  "waitForSelector": { "selector": ".report-chart", "timeout": 15000 }
}

Example 3 — PDF from HTML string (no URL)

{
  "operation": "pdf",
  "baseUrl": "https://chrome.browserless.io",
  "token": "{{ $env.BROWSERLESS_TOKEN }}",
  "useCustomBody": true,
  "customBodyJson": "{{ $json.encode({ 'html': $input.htmlContent, 'options': { 'format': 'A4', 'printBackground': true } }) }}"
}