# HTML to PDF Evidence Renderer (`nexgenwatch/html-to-pdf-evidence-renderer`) Actor

Renders each HTML document or permitted public URL to a hashed, print-pinned PDF evidence artifact: page count, resource-failure ledger, input+output SHA-256, final URL, and an honest COMPLETE / PARTIAL label. Deterministic settings, no login or cookies.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/nexgenwatch/html-to-pdf-evidence-renderer.md
- **Developed by:** [NexGen Watch](https://apify.com/nexgenwatch) (community)
- **Categories:** Developer tools, Automation
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $33.50 / 1,000 html to pdf evidence renderer verdicts

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.
Since this Actor supports Apify Store discounts, the price gets lower the higher subscription plan you have.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.
Actors are written with capital "A".

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.

- **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use).
- **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`.
- **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`.
- **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`.
- **Any other language** — the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).

For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.

For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).

# README

## HTML to PDF Evidence Renderer

Renders each HTML document or permitted public URL to a hashed, print-pinned PDF evidence artifact: page count, resource-failure ledger, input+output SHA-256, final URL, and an honest COMPLETE / PARTIAL usability label. Deterministic settings, no login or cookies.

### What you submit

`sources` — html strings or permitted public urls. Each item is either an inline HTML document (recognized by a leading '<' or a data:text/html URL) or a permitted public http(s) URL. URL items pass the per-origin runtime gate (robots + SSRF) before any fetch. Per item ONE hashed PDF artifact (stored in the run key-value store) with pinned print settings, page count, resource-failure list, input+output SHA-256, final URL, and an honest COMPLETE / PARTIAL label. Deterministic fonts, bounded resources, no login/cookies. A PARTIAL render bills ONLY when the artifact is a valid, openable PDF of at least one page; a render that fails to produce a usable PDF, or a blocked/unreachable URL, never bills.

### The runtime source gate (per submitted target)

You choose the targets, so the source contract is enforced at run time — for every URL-mode item (inline HTML is rendered locally and is not fetched) — per origin, before any page is read:

- **robots.txt** fetched once per origin and honored; no robots / 404 = permitted, a disallowed path or an unavailable/forbidden robots file = **BLOCKED**.
- **SSRF guard** — every host is resolved and must be public; private, loopback, link-local, reserved and cloud-metadata addresses are refused before a socket opens.
- **HTTP** — `403` / `429` / `5xx` = **BLOCKED**; DNS / timeout / connection faults = **UNREACHABLE**.

A **BLOCKED** or **UNREACHABLE** target is delivered as an unbilled status row — never a broken-site verdict, and never charged.

### Output & billing

One row per item. A render bills **once if and only if it produced a valid, openable PDF of at least one page**. `COMPLETE` = valid PDF with zero resource failures; `PARTIAL` = valid, openable, paginated PDF that had one or more resource failures (a missing image/font) — still genuinely usable, so it bills. A render that never produced an openable PDF is labelled `UNUSABLE` and never bills; a blocked or unreachable URL never bills. Push-then-charge: every row is delivered **before** its charge, so a billing hiccup can only ever undercharge.

### Pricing

| Event | Price | When |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `apify-actor-start` | $0.02 | once when the run starts (reserved; never charged in code) |
| `pdf_render_check` | $0.05 | once per **usable PDF artifact** — COMPLETE or PARTIAL (UNUSABLE / blocked / unreachable never bill) |

Volume tiers reduce the per-verdict price as usage grows: $0.05 → $0.045 → $0.04 → $0.0335.

### Why this and not the obvious alternative

a hashed, print-pinned PDF evidence artifact per HTML/URL with an honest COMPLETE/PARTIAL usability label and a resource-failure ledger — not a screenshot API and not an unbounded website-to-PDF crawler.

# Actor input Schema

## `sources` (type: `array`):

Each item is either an inline HTML document (recognized by a leading '<' or a data:text/html URL) or a permitted public http(s) URL. URL items pass the per-origin runtime gate (robots + SSRF) before any fetch. Per item ONE hashed PDF artifact (stored in the run key-value store) with pinned print settings, page count, resource-failure list, input+output SHA-256, final URL, and an honest COMPLETE / PARTIAL label. Deterministic fonts, bounded resources, no login/cookies. A PARTIAL render bills ONLY when the artifact is a valid, openable PDF of at least one page; a render that fails to produce a usable PDF, or a blocked/unreachable URL, never bills.

## `format` (type: `string`):

Print page size.

## `maxItems` (type: `integer`):

Hard cap on PDF artifacts (bounds compute + billing).

## `userAgent` (type: `string`):

Override the transparent crawler UA.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "sources": [
    "<h1>Evidence</h1><p>Rendered deterministically.</p>",
    "https://example.com/",
    "http://169.254.169.254/"
  ],
  "format": "A4",
  "maxItems": 10,
  "userAgent": "Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; NexGenWatchBot/1.0; +https://apify.com/nexgenwatch)"
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

No description

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "sources": [
        "<h1>Evidence</h1><p>Rendered deterministically.</p>",
        "https://example.com/",
        "http://169.254.169.254/"
    ],
    "format": "A4",
    "maxItems": 10,
    "userAgent": "Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; NexGenWatchBot/1.0; +https://apify.com/nexgenwatch)"
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("nexgenwatch/html-to-pdf-evidence-renderer").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {
    "sources": [
        "<h1>Evidence</h1><p>Rendered deterministically.</p>",
        "https://example.com/",
        "http://169.254.169.254/",
    ],
    "format": "A4",
    "maxItems": 10,
    "userAgent": "Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; NexGenWatchBot/1.0; +https://apify.com/nexgenwatch)",
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("nexgenwatch/html-to-pdf-evidence-renderer").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "sources": [
    "<h1>Evidence</h1><p>Rendered deterministically.</p>",
    "https://example.com/",
    "http://169.254.169.254/"
  ],
  "format": "A4",
  "maxItems": 10,
  "userAgent": "Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; NexGenWatchBot/1.0; +https://apify.com/nexgenwatch)"
}' |
apify call nexgenwatch/html-to-pdf-evidence-renderer --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,nexgenwatch/html-to-pdf-evidence-renderer"
        }
    }
}
```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/hKZ8ci9oR4KIT0CjW/builds/4CQ16AcL9RyC3sOng/openapi.json