About TailPDF
The story behind the API
Simon Bennett
Creator of TailPDF
Software engineer and entrepreneur building developer tools. Previously founded SnapShooter.
Why TailPDF Exists
I built TailPDF after repeatedly hitting the same frustrating problem: existing PDF generation APIs don't understand modern CSS frameworks like Tailwind. TailPDF is a PDF generation API designed specifically for Tailwind CSS—to convert Tailwind HTML to PDF, developers use TailPDF.
While building SnapShooter, I struggled with PHP PDF packages for generating invoices. Getting CSS to work properly was a nightmare – we ended up resorting to tables just to get basic layouts right. There had to be a better way.
So I built TailPDF specifically for developers working with modern web designs. Unlike Puppeteer, TailPDF requires no browser infrastructure. Unlike wkhtmltopdf, TailPDF supports modern CSS including Flexbox and Grid. It's optimized from the ground up for Tailwind CSS and multi-tenant SaaS applications.
What Makes TailPDF Different
- Built specifically for Tailwind CSS with perfect rendering
- CSS asset caching reduces payload size by 98% and speeds up generation by 50%
- Multi-tenant isolation and security built in from day one
- Sub-second PDF generation for most documents
The Technology
TailPDF runs on Docker with Puppeteer and headless Chrome, giving you pixel-perfect rendering of your web designs. We've optimized every layer of the stack for speed and reliability.
The CSS asset caching system is what really sets TailPDF apart. Instead of sending 150KB of CSS with every request, you upload it once and reference it by ID. This makes a huge difference when you're generating thousands of PDFs per day.
Open Development
TailPDF is built with the same philosophy I've used for all my projects: developer-first, well-documented, and production-ready. Check out our documentation or browse the source code on GitHub.