ReportLab PDF Library Skill

Expert guidance for generating PDFs using Python's ReportLab library. This skill covers everything from pixel-perfect canvas drawing to high-level automated document layout.

1. Low-Level Graphics (pdfgen)

The canvas is the base for all PDF generation. Coordinate system: (0,0) is bottom-left, X goes right, Y goes up.

Basic Canvas setup

from reportlab.pdfgen import canvas
from reportlab.lib.pagesizes import letter, A4

c = canvas.Canvas("hello.pdf", pagesize=letter)
width, height = letter # 612, 792 points

c.drawString(100, 750, "Hello World")
c.showPage() # Saves current page, moves to next
c.save() # Finalizes and saves the file