# GitHub README to PDF

Fetch a GitHub README and render it to a styled PDF

> Canonical page: https://elysiatools.com/en/tools/github-readme-to-pdf

- **Category:** Document Tools

- **Keywords:** github, readme, markdown, pdf, puppeteer

## Overview

Generate a PDF from a GitHub README.

**Source:**
- Repo URL or `owner/repo`
- Optional branch and README path

**Output:**
- GitHub-flavored styling with print-friendly settings

## Inputs

- **Repository** (text): https://github.com/org/repo or org/repo
- **Branch** (text): main
- **README Path** (text): README.md
- **Theme** (select)
- **Base Font Size (px)** (number)
- **Page Size** (select)
- **Landscape** (checkbox)
- **Print Background** (checkbox)
- **Margin Top (mm)** (number)
- **Margin Bottom (mm)** (number)
- **Margin Left (mm)** (number)
- **Margin Right (mm)** (number)
- **Wait Until** (select)
- **Extra Wait Time (ms)** (number)

## When to use

- Creating offline documentation for project repositories.
- Archiving project READMEs for compliance or reporting.
- Generating clean, readable PDFs for presentations or stakeholder reviews.

## How it works

- Enter the GitHub repository URL or the owner/repo identifier.
- Specify the branch and file path if your README is not in the default location.
- Adjust styling options like font size, page orientation, and margins.
- Click generate to render the repository content into a downloadable PDF.

## Use cases

- Compiling technical documentation for internal project handovers.
- Creating physical project manuals for offline team access.
- Exporting project summaries for non-technical stakeholders.

## Frequently asked questions

### Can I convert a README from a private repository?

This tool currently supports public GitHub repositories only.

### Does the PDF retain the original GitHub styling?

Yes, the tool applies GitHub-flavored markdown styling to ensure the PDF looks consistent with the web version.

### Can I change the page size of the output?

Yes, you can select from various page sizes including A4, Letter, Legal, and A5.

### What if my README is in a subfolder?

You can specify the exact file path in the 'README Path' field to target files other than the root README.md.

### Is it possible to print the background colors?

Yes, the 'Print Background' option is enabled by default to ensure all visual elements are captured in the PDF.

## Related tools

- [Markdown to PDF Theme Pack](https://elysiatools.com/en/tools/markdown-to-pdf-theme-pack): Convert Markdown to PDF with dark, light, or print-ready themes
- [PDF to Markdown Converter](https://elysiatools.com/en/tools/pdf-to-markdown): Convert PDF documents to Markdown format with text extraction and formatting preservation
- [Markdown Report Bundler](https://elysiatools.com/en/tools/markdown-report-bundler): Bundle multiple Markdown files into a single PDF report
- [Markdown to PDF Converter - Markdown转PDF转换器](https://elysiatools.com/en/tools/markdown-to-pdf-converter): Convert Markdown files to PDF documents with proper formatting, syntax highlighting, and styling
- [Markdown Slide Deck to PDF](https://elysiatools.com/en/tools/md-slide-deck-to-pdf): Convert a Markdown slide deck (Remark/Marp style) into a PDF
- [PDF Header/Footer Snippets](https://elysiatools.com/en/tools/pdf-header-footer-snippets): Convert HTML to PDF with reusable logo, title, and date snippets
- [Text File to PDF Converter - 文本文件转PDF转换器](https://elysiatools.com/en/tools/text-file-to-pdf-converter): Convert text files (.txt, .md, .csv, etc.) to PDF documents with customizable formatting and encoding support
- [PDF/A Convert](https://elysiatools.com/en/tools/pdf-a-convert): Convert PDF documents to a self-declared PDF/A archival profile with zero external dependencies

## Samples

- [PDF Samples](https://elysiatools.com/en/samples/pdf-samples): Generated PDF samples from tools dated 2026-02-01 to 2026-02-10
- [Markdown Slide Deck Samples](https://elysiatools.com/en/samples/md-slide-deck-to-pdf): Remark/Marp style Markdown slide decks for testing PDF export layouts
- [Markdown Samples](https://elysiatools.com/en/samples/markdown-samples): Markdown format examples from simple to complex document structures
- [Markdown Viewer Samples](https://elysiatools.com/en/samples/markdown-viewer-samples): Sample Markdown files for README preview, documentation rendering, and rich-text markup tests

## Related content

- [Print-Ready PDF Layout Workflows](https://elysiatools.com/en/hubs/print-pdf-layout-workflows): Convert HTML, Markdown, README, or plain text into polished PDFs with page templates, typography, headers, footers, numbering, TOC, columns, and direction checks.
- [Markdown Conversion, OCR, and Publishing Workflow](https://elysiatools.com/en/hubs/markdown-convert): Recover Markdown from PDFs or images, export Markdown to PDF, HTML, slides, reports, plain text, JSON, or CSV, and verify the result for the next channel.