KnpLabs/snappy
PHP library allowing thumbnail, snapshot or PDF generation from a url or a html page. Wrapper for wkhtmltopdf/wkhtmltoimage
About KnpLabs/snappy
KnpLabs/snappy is an open-source project on GitHub, mainly written in PHP. PHP library allowing thumbnail, snapshot or PDF generation from a url or a html page. Wrapper for wkhtmltopdf/wkhtmltoimage It currently holds 4,475 stars and 439 forks with 18 open issues, and was last pushed on 2026-07-29 (repository created 2010-06-16).
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GitHub Repository Details
README
Snappy
Snappy is a PHP library allowing thumbnail, snapshot or PDF generation from a url or a html page. It uses the excellent webkit-based wkhtmltopdf and wkhtmltoimage available on OSX, linux, windows.
You will have to download wkhtmltopdf 0.12.x in order to use Snappy.
Please, check FAQ before opening a new issue. Snappy is a tiny wrapper around wkhtmltox, so lots of issues are already answered, resolved or wkhtmltox ones.
Following integrations are available:
knplabs/knp-snappy-bundle, for Symfonybarryvdh/laravel-snappy, for Laravelmvlabs/mvlabs-snappy, for Zend Framework
Installation using Composer
composer require knplabs/knp-snappy
Usage
⚠️ Security Warning
> The--enable-local-file-accessoption inwkhtmltopdfcan be risky if used with untrusted HTML or JavaScript.
This may expose local files or lead to remote code execution.
> To stay safe:
- Avoid enabling --enable-local-file-access unless necessary.
- Always sanitize user input before processing.
- Run wkhtmltopdf in a sandbox like AppArmor or SELinux.
- For untrusted content, consider alternatives like WeasyPrint, Prince, or Puppeteer.
> This risk was responsibly reported by
Nikita Sveshnikov (Positive Technologies).
> 🔗 Official recommendations
Initialization
<?php
require __DIR__ . '/vendor/autoload.php';
use Knp\Snappy\Pdf;
$snappy = new Pdf('/usr/local/bin/wkhtmltopdf');
// or you can do it in two steps
$snappy = new Pdf();
$snappy->setBinary('/usr/local/bin/wkhtmltopdf');
Display the pdf in the browser
$snappy = new Pdf('/usr/local/bin/wkhtmltopdf');
header('Content-Type: application/pdf');
echo $snappy->getOutput('http://www.github.com');
Download the pdf from the browser
$snappy = new Pdf('/usr/local/bin/wkhtmltopdf');
header('Content-Type: application/pdf');
header('Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="file.pdf"');
echo $snappy->getOutput('http://www.github.com');
Merge multiple urls into one pdf
$snappy = new Pdf('/usr/local/bin/wkhtmltopdf');
header('Content-Type: application/pdf');
header('Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="file.pdf"');
echo $snappy->getOutput(array('http://www.github.com','http://www.knplabs.com','http://www.php.net'));
Generate local pdf file
$snappy = new Pdf('/usr/local/bin/wkhtmltopdf');
$snappy->generateFromHtml('Bill
You owe me money, dude.
', '/tmp/bill-123.pdf');
Pass options to snappy
// Type wkhtmltopdf -H to see the list of options
$snappy = new Pdf('/usr/local/bin/wkhtmltopdf');
$snappy->setOption('disable-javascript', true);
$snappy->setOption('no-background', true);
$snappy->setOption('allow', array('/path1', '/path2'));
$snappy->setOption('cookie', array('key' => 'value', 'key2' => 'value2'));
$snappy->setOption('post', array('key' => 'value'));
$snappy->setOption('cover', 'pathToCover.html');
// .. or pass a cover as html
$snappy->setOption('cover', 'Bill cover
');
$snappy->setOption('toc', true);
$snappy->setOption('cache-dir', '/path/to/cache/dir');
Reset options
Options can be reset to their initial values withresetOptions() method.
$snappy = new Pdf('/usr/local/bin/wkhtmltopdf');
// Set some options
$snappy->setOption('copies' => 4);
// ..
// Reset options
$snappy->resetOptions();
wkhtmltopdf binary as composer dependencies
If you want to download wkhtmltopdf and wkhtmltoimage with composer you add to composer.json:
composer require h4cc/wkhtmltopdf-i386 0.12.x
composer require h4cc/wkhtmltoimage-i386 0.12.x
or this if you are in 64 bit based system:
composer require h4cc/wkhtmltopdf-amd64 0.12.x
composer require h4cc/wkhtmltoimage-amd64 0.12.x
And then you can use it
<?php
use Knp\Snappy\Pdf;
$myProjectDirectory = '/path/to/my/project';
$snappy = new Pdf($myProjectDirectory . '/vendor/h4cc/wkhtmltopdf-i386/bin/wkhtmltopdf-i386');
// or
$snappy = new Pdf($myProjectDirectory . '/vendor/h4cc/wkhtmltopdf-amd64/bin/wkhtmltopdf-amd64');
N.B. These static binaries are extracted from Debian7 packages, so it might not be compatible with non-debian based linux distros
Some use cases
If you want to generate table of contents and you want to use custom XSL stylesheet, do the following:
<?php
$snappy = new Pdf('/path/to/binary');
$snappy->setOption('toc', true);
$snappy->setOption('xsl-style-sheet', 'http://path/to/stylesheet.xsl') //or local file;
$snappy->generateFromHtml('
Some content
', 'test.pdf');
Bugs & Support
If you found a bug please fill a detailed issue with all the following points. If you need some help, please at least provide a complete reproducer so we could help you based on facts rather than assumptions.
- OS and its version
- Wkhtmltopdf, its version and how you installed it
- A complete reproducer with relevant php and html/css/js code
Maintainers
KNPLabs is looking for maintainers (see why).
If you are interested, feel free to open a PR to ask to be added as a maintainer.
We’ll be glad to hear from you :)
Credits
Snappy has been originally developed by the KnpLabs team.