Render any Rails view to PDF, exactly as the browser sees it.

A pooled headless Chrome instance instead of an abandoned wkhtmltopdf binary — real CSS, real layout, real fonts, no separate renderer to compile or package.

gem install htmlToPdf MIT licensed GitHub

Any controller action. The same view. A PDF instead of HTML. HtmlToPdf renders the exact view your app already has — the same ERB, the same CSS, the same layout — and converts it with real headless Chrome instead of wkhtmltopdf's years-out-of-date, unmaintained WebKit build. Flexbox, CSS Grid, and modern fonts render the way they actually look in a browser, because it is a browser.

gem install htmlToPdf

class ApplicationController < ActionController::Base
  include HtmlToPdf
  around_action :html_to_pdf
end

<%= link_to "Download PDF", invoice_path(@invoice, format: :pdf) %>

What it does

• Renders your real view — not a separate PDF template, the same `.html.erb` your app already serves, through the same layout (or a dedicated one via pdf_options[:layout]).
• One pooled Chrome process per Ruby process, not one spawned per request — each conversion gets its own isolated browser context, automatically restarted if Chrome crashes.
• A real around_action, not a before_action that quietly re-runs your action on a throwaway controller — every other callback, instance variable, and rescue_from works exactly like it does for an ordinary request.
• Chrome's full print-to-PDF surface — margins, paper size, landscape, scale, page ranges, header/footer templates, a configurable delay for async content.
• A narrow, validated options surface — every print option is a checked number/enum/boolean except header/footer templates (raw HTML), which are opt-in only, not request-controllable by default.

How it compares

Capability	HtmlToPdf	WickedPdf / PDFKit	Grover	Prawn
Renders your existing view	✓	✓	✓	— (own DSL)
Rendering engine	Chrome (current)	wkhtmltopdf (unmaintained)	Chrome via Puppeteer	n/a
Modern CSS (flexbox/Grid)	✓	—	✓	n/a
Extra runtime needed	Chrome/Chromium only	wkhtmltopdf binary	Chrome + Node.js + Puppeteer	none
Pooled browser (no per-request spawn)	✓	n/a	depends on setup	n/a
around_action-safe callback ordering	✓	varies	varies	n/a

Full breakdown in Choosing a Rails HTML-to-PDF gem.

Guides

• Headless Chrome vs. wkhtmltopdf for Rails PDF generation — why an unmaintained WebKit snapshot is the wrong foundation in 2026, and what actually changes when you switch.
• The DoubleRenderError trap: rendering a Rails view to PDF — the non-obvious Rails internals reason a before_action that re-renders a view crashes in a real app but not in a quick test, and why it has to be an around_action.
• Choosing a Rails HTML-to-PDF gem: HtmlToPdf vs. Grover vs. WickedPdf vs. Prawn — a straight, contender-by-contender comparison.

Links