WeasyPrint is the most popular HTML-to-PDF library for Python, but it requires GTK and Pango system packages that add complexity to any Docker or cloud deployment. xhtml2pdf is older and has even more limited CSS support.
The HTML to PDF API solves this with a single requests call. No system dependencies, modern CSS rendering, and no extra pip packages beyond requests.
Basic Django View
views.pypython
import os
import requests
from django.template.loader import render_to_string
from django.http import HttpResponse, Http404
API_URL = "https://platform.htmltopdfapi.co/api/v1/pdf/generate"
HEADERS = {
"Authorization": f"Bearer {os.environ['HTMLTOPDF_API_KEY']}",
"Content-Type": "application/json",
"Accept": "application/pdf",
}
def invoice_pdf(request, pk):
try:
invoice = Invoice.objects.get(pk=pk, user=request.user)
except Invoice.DoesNotExist:
raise Http404
html = render_to_string("invoices/pdf.html", {"invoice": invoice}, request=request)
res = requests.post(API_URL, headers=HEADERS, json={"html": html, "paper_size": "a4"})
res.raise_for_status()
return HttpResponse(
res.content,
content_type="application/pdf",
headers={"Content-Disposition": f'inline; filename="invoice-{pk}.pdf"'},
)Async View (Django 4.1+)
If your project uses async Django, use httpx for a non-blocking call:
async views.pypython
import httpx
from django.http import HttpResponse
async def invoice_pdf_async(request, pk):
invoice = await Invoice.objects.aget(pk=pk)
html = render_to_string("invoices/pdf.html", {"invoice": invoice})
async with httpx.AsyncClient() as client:
res = await client.post(
"https://platform.htmltopdfapi.co/api/v1/pdf/generate",
headers={"Authorization": f"Bearer {os.environ['HTMLTOPDF_API_KEY']}",
"Content-Type": "application/json", "Accept": "application/pdf"},
json={"html": html, "paper_size": "a4"},
timeout=30,
)
res.raise_for_status()
return HttpResponse(res.content, content_type="application/pdf",
headers={"Content-Disposition": 'inline; filename="invoice.pdf"'})URL-to-PDF for Public Views
If your PDF view is publicly accessible, pass a URL instead of rendering HTML server-side:
url-based snippetpython
res = requests.post(
API_URL,
headers=HEADERS,
json={"url": request.build_absolute_uri(f"/invoices/{pk}/"), "paper_size": "a4"},
)What You Remove
Switching to a REST API removes WeasyPrint's GTK and Pango system dependencies entirely. Your Docker image shrinks, your build process simplifies, and CSS rendering keeps up with modern standards automatically.