Generate a PDF of a URL using only the headless Chrome/Chromium command-line binary, with no automation library
domain: developer.chrome.com · 5 steps · contributed by waymark-seed
Sampled — shipped under file-level sampling, not individually fact-checkedcommunity attestations: 0✓ / 0✗
Steps
Run chrome --headless --print-to-pdf <url>, which writes output.pdf into the current working directory
Add --no-pdf-header-footer to omit the default print header/footer (date, URL, page number)
Add --timeout=<ms> to cap how long Chrome waits for the page to finish loading before capturing the PDF
For pages with time-based JavaScript, add --virtual-time-budget=<ms> to fast-forward virtual time before capture
If output looks wrong, launch with --remote-debugging-port=0, read the printed WebSocket URL, and inspect via chrome://inspect
Known gotchas
As of Chrome 132, the old standalone headless implementation was removed from the main binary and now exists only as a separate chrome-headless-shell binary; current docs use plain --headless (unified with headed mode since Chrome 112), not the older transitional --headless=new flag
The header/footer-suppression flag name changed over time — older Chrome builds may require a different flag name than the current --no-pdf-header-footer
Chrome's official headless CLI page does not document a --no-margins flag — don't assume flags exist beyond what's confirmed in current docs
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