Using the Chrome driver | laravel-pdf | Spatie SPATIE Laravel PDF ============== spatie.be/open-source [Docs](https://spatie.be/docs) [Laravel-pdf](https://spatie.be/docs/laravel-pdf/v2) Drivers Using the Chrome driver Version v2 v1 Other versions for crawler [v2](https://spatie.be/docs/laravel-pdf/v2) [v1](https://spatie.be/docs/laravel-pdf/v1) Using the Chrome driver - [ Introduction ](https://spatie.be/docs/laravel-pdf/v2/introduction) - [ Support us ](https://spatie.be/docs/laravel-pdf/v2/support-us) - [ Requirements ](https://spatie.be/docs/laravel-pdf/v2/requirements) - [ Installation & setup ](https://spatie.be/docs/laravel-pdf/v2/installation-setup) - [ Questions and issues ](https://spatie.be/docs/laravel-pdf/v2/questions-issues) - [ Alternatives ](https://spatie.be/docs/laravel-pdf/v2/alternatives) - [ Changelog ](https://spatie.be/docs/laravel-pdf/v2/changelog) - [ About us ](https://spatie.be/docs/laravel-pdf/v2/about-us) Basic usage ----------- - [ Creating PDFs ](https://spatie.be/docs/laravel-pdf/v2/basic-usage/creating-pdfs) - [ Responding with PDFs ](https://spatie.be/docs/laravel-pdf/v2/basic-usage/responding-with-pdfs) - [ Formatting PDFs ](https://spatie.be/docs/laravel-pdf/v2/basic-usage/formatting-pdfs) - [ Saving PDFs to disks ](https://spatie.be/docs/laravel-pdf/v2/basic-usage/saving-pdfs-to-disks) - [ Attaching PDFs to mails ](https://spatie.be/docs/laravel-pdf/v2/basic-usage/attaching-pdfs-to-mails) - [ Queued PDF generation ](https://spatie.be/docs/laravel-pdf/v2/basic-usage/queued-pdf-generation) - [ Testing PDFs ](https://spatie.be/docs/laravel-pdf/v2/basic-usage/testing-pdfs) - [ Setting defaults ](https://spatie.be/docs/laravel-pdf/v2/basic-usage/setting-defaults) Drivers ------- - [ Configuration ](https://spatie.be/docs/laravel-pdf/v2/drivers/configuration) - [ Customizing Browsershot ](https://spatie.be/docs/laravel-pdf/v2/drivers/customizing-browsershot) - [ Using the Cloudflare driver ](https://spatie.be/docs/laravel-pdf/v2/drivers/using-the-cloudflare-driver) - [ Using the DOMPDF driver ](https://spatie.be/docs/laravel-pdf/v2/drivers/using-the-dompdf-driver) - [ Generating PDFs on AWS Lambda ](https://spatie.be/docs/laravel-pdf/v2/drivers/generating-pdfs-on-aws-lambda) - [ Using the Chrome driver ](https://spatie.be/docs/laravel-pdf/v2/drivers/using-the-chrome-driver) - [ Using the Gotenberg driver ](https://spatie.be/docs/laravel-pdf/v2/drivers/using-the-gotenberg-driver) - [ Using the WeasyPrint driver ](https://spatie.be/docs/laravel-pdf/v2/drivers/using-the-weasyprint-driver) - [ Custom drivers ](https://spatie.be/docs/laravel-pdf/v2/drivers/custom-drivers) Advanced usage -------------- - [ Creating PDFs with multiple pages ](https://spatie.be/docs/laravel-pdf/v2/advanced-usage/creating-pdfs-with-multiple-pages) - [ Using Tailwind ](https://spatie.be/docs/laravel-pdf/v2/advanced-usage/using-tailwind) - [ Extending with Macros ](https://spatie.be/docs/laravel-pdf/v2/advanced-usage/extending-with-macros) Using the Chrome driver ======================= ### On this page 1. [ Getting started ](#content-getting-started) 2. [ Supported options ](#content-supported-options) 3. [ Configuration ](#content-configuration) 4. [ Using Chrome for specific PDFs only ](#content-using-chrome-for-specific-pdfs-only) 5. [ Limitations ](#content-limitations) The Chrome driver uses [chrome-php/chrome](https://github.com/chrome-php/chrome) to generate PDFs directly from PHP. It is a good fit when you want a Chromium-based driver without bringing in Node.js or Puppeteer. Getting started ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Install the Chrome package: ``` composer require chrome-php/chrome ``` 2. Make sure Chrome or Chromium is installed on the machine that generates the PDFs. The upstream library requires a Chrome/Chromium 65+ executable. It can auto-discover the browser in common locations, but you can also configure the binary path explicitly. 3. Set the driver in your `.env` file: ``` LARAVEL_PDF_DRIVER=chrome ``` If Chrome cannot be auto-discovered, also set the browser path: ``` LARAVEL_PDF_CHROME_BINARY=/usr/bin/google-chrome-stable ``` That's it. Your existing PDF code will now use the Chrome driver: ``` use Spatie\LaravelPdf\Facades\Pdf; Pdf::view('pdfs.invoice', ['invoice' => $invoice]) ->format('a4') ->save('invoice.pdf'); ``` Supported options ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Chrome driver supports the following PDF options: - `format()` — Paper format (a4, letter, legal, etc.) - `paperSize()` — Custom paper dimensions - `margins()` — Page margins - `landscape()` / `orientation()` — Page orientation - `scale()` — Page rendering scale - `pageRanges()` — Specific pages to include - `headerView()` / `headerHtml()` — Page headers - `footerView()` / `footerHtml()` — Page footers Configuration ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Chrome driver accepts these configuration options in `config/laravel-pdf.php`: ``` 'chrome' => [ 'chrome_binary' => env('LARAVEL_PDF_CHROME_BINARY'), 'no_sandbox' => env('LARAVEL_PDF_CHROME_NO_SANDBOX', false), 'startup_timeout' => env('LARAVEL_PDF_CHROME_STARTUP_TIMEOUT', 30), 'timeout' => env('LARAVEL_PDF_CHROME_TIMEOUT', 30000), 'operation_timeout' => env('LARAVEL_PDF_CHROME_OPERATION_TIMEOUT', 5000), 'user_data_dir' => env('LARAVEL_PDF_CHROME_USER_DATA_DIR'), 'custom_flags' => [], 'env_variables' => [], ], ``` - **chrome\_binary**: The path to the Chrome or Chromium executable. If omitted, the driver will try to auto-discover it. - **no\_sandbox**: Disables Chrome's sandbox. This is sometimes needed in Docker or restricted server environments. - **startup\_timeout**: Maximum time in seconds to wait for Chrome to start. - **timeout**: Maximum time in milliseconds to wait when setting the page HTML. - **operation\_timeout**: Maximum time in milliseconds to wait for Chrome PDF operations like binary output and file saves. - **user\_data\_dir**: Custom Chrome profile directory. - **custom\_flags**: Additional Chrome command-line flags. - **env\_variables**: Environment variables passed to the Chrome process. Using Chrome for specific PDFs only ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- If you want to use another driver as your default but switch to Chrome for specific PDFs, use the `driver` method: ``` use Spatie\LaravelPdf\Facades\Pdf; Pdf::view('pdfs.invoice', ['invoice' => $invoice]) ->driver('chrome') ->format('a4') ->save('invoice.pdf'); ``` Limitations ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - The Chrome driver requires both the `chrome-php/chrome` package and a local Chrome or Chromium executable. It does not download or bundle a browser for you. - In Docker or other locked-down environments, you may need to enable `no_sandbox`. - This driver only documents and exposes the options supported by Laravel PDF. If you need deeper Chromium customization, use the Browsershot driver instead. - The `tagged()`, `withBrowsershot()` and `onLambda()` methods have no effect when using the Chrome driver. A good match? ------------- ### What we do best - All things Laravel - Custom frontend components - Building APIs - AI-powered features - Simplifying things - Clean solutions - Integrating services ### Not our cup of tea - WordPress themes - Cutting corners - Free mockups to win a job - "Just execute the briefing" In short: we'd like to be a **substantial part** of your project. [ Get in touch via email ](mailto:info@spatie.be?subject=A%20good%20match%21&body=Tell%20us%20as%20much%20as%20you%20can%20about%0A-%20your%20online%20project%0A-%20your%20planning%0A-%20your%20budget%0A-%20%E2%80%A6%0A%0AAnything%20that%20helps%20us%20to%20start%20straightforward%21)