docx2pdf-cli

Part of the contract-operations CLI suite. draft-cli (fill placeholders) → nda-review-cli (draft, review, negotiate) → docx2pdf-cli (DOCX → PDF) → sign-cli (signing + audit). Showcase site.

Honest, batch-aware DOCX → PDF converter with hybrid backends. Strict-fidelity guarantees, machine-readable JSON output, and a --doctor probe so an agent can self-check what backends are usable before invoking. Six pluggable backends covering Linux, macOS, Windows, and Docker.

Run this

docx2pdf --doctor

Tells you which backends are usable on this machine and prints a recommendation field — the single best next step (Docker-Gotenberg in ~30 seconds if Docker is available, otherwise LibreOffice). Once at least one backend is available:

docx2pdf contract.docx contract.pdf

Where to go next

If you are…	Start here
A new user evaluating the tool	Quick start below, then Diagnostics
An operator setting up a backend	docs/setup/ — LibreOffice / Gotenberg / ConvertAPI / Pages / Word
An LLM agent driving the CLI	AGENTS.md → docx2pdf --capabilities → docs/reference/
A contributor	docs/reference/ (concept docs), the npm package, the CI workflows

Concept deep-dives live in docs/reference/; per-backend setup in docs/setup/.

Install

npm i -g docx2pdf-cli
docx2pdf --doctor

You'll also need at least one backend runtime. Easiest path: LibreOffice via brew install --cask libreoffice (macOS) or apt install libreoffice (Debian/Ubuntu). Or run Gotenberg in Docker for zero system mutation. The --doctor JSON's recommendation field picks the right one for your host.

From a clone:

git clone https://github.com/DrBaher/docx2pdf-cli.git
cd docx2pdf-cli && ./install.sh

Quick start

Single file

docx2pdf contract.docx contract.pdf

Batch mode (parallel, NDJSON output)

docx2pdf --concurrency 4 --json --out-dir ./pdfs ./drafts/*.docx

One bad file doesn't stop the rest. With --json, each file emits one NDJSON line plus a final summary. Exit code 0 only if every file succeeded.

Strict fidelity (refuse silent text-only fallback)

docx2pdf --strict-fidelity contract.docx contract.pdf

Pin a specific backend

docx2pdf --backend gotenberg contract.docx contract.pdf
docx2pdf --backend word contract.docx contract.pdf        # macOS only

Network retries

docx2pdf --backend gotenberg --retries 3 contract.docx contract.pdf

Non-busy backoff via Atomics.wait. Advertised via supports.retries in --capabilities.

Font preflight

docx2pdf --check-fonts contract.docx

Warns when fonts referenced by the document aren't installed, so you find out before LibreOffice silently substitutes them.

Backends

Six backends, auto-selected in this order:

Backend	Fidelity	Requires
libreoffice	high (local)	soffice or lowriter
gotenberg	high (server)	GOTENBERG_URL + curl
convertapi	high (cloud)	CONVERTAPI_SECRET + curl
pages	high (macOS)	Apple Pages + Automation permission
word	high (macOS)	Microsoft Word + Automation permission
textutil-cups	text-only	textutil + cupsfilter

--strict-fidelity refuses the text-only fallback. Per-backend setup in docs/setup/; decision guidance in docs/reference/backends.md.

Diagnostics

docx2pdf --doctor                  # full host-readiness JSON; locked by schemas/doctor.schema.json
docx2pdf --list-backends           # which backends are usable, in auto-selection order
docx2pdf --capabilities            # machine-readable feature contract; locked by schemas/capabilities.schema.json
docx2pdf --why input.docx          # print backend selection reasoning, then convert
docx2pdf --check-fonts input.docx  # report missing fonts (needs unzip + fc-list)

--check-fonts requires unzip and fc-list. On macOS: brew install fontconfig.

For LLM agents

Agent affordances are first-class. The full contract is in AGENTS.md; the schemas are in schemas/.

Capability discovery

docx2pdf --capabilities

Returns a stable machine-readable contract (locked by schemas/capabilities.schema.json) — capabilitySpecVersion, tool version, backend fidelity map, supported flags, exit-code semantics, retry support. Validate against the schema rather than parsing prose.

Recommended defaults

docx2pdf --strict-fidelity --json --out-dir ./pdfs *.docx

Canonical defaults manifest: examples/agent-defaults.json.

Fallback policy

Don't silently remove --strict-fidelity after a backend error — that can produce a text-only PDF and lose layout. Run --doctor, read the recommendation field, surface its command to the user with consent, then retry. Full failure → recovery table in AGENTS.md.

How it compares

	docx2pdf-cli	libreoffice-convert	AlJohri/docx2pdf	Gotenberg	dxpdf
Backend approach	hybrid (6)	LibreOffice	MS Word automation	LibreOffice (server)	native Skia renderer
Concurrency-safe LO	✅ per-call profile	❌ shared profile collision	n/a	✅	n/a
Batch CLI + NDJSON	✅	❌ (library API only)	❌	n/a (HTTP server)	❌
Backend transparency (--why)	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌
Font preflight	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌
Linux + macOS + Windows	✅	✅	macOS + Windows only	✅ (Docker)	✅
Install	npm i -g	npm i	pip install	Docker	cargo install / pip

Honest notes: libreoffice-convert is a leaner Node library API (we're a CLI). Gotenberg also handles HTML→PDF and scales as a server. dxpdf ships a custom renderer that avoids LibreOffice entirely (~100ms per doc) but is still feature-incomplete.

All flags

--backend <auto|libreoffice|gotenberg|convertapi|pages|word|textutil-cups>
--strict-fidelity         refuse to fall back to text-only backend
--out-dir <dir>           write outputs to <dir>/<basename>.pdf (enables batch mode)
--concurrency <n>         run up to N conversions in parallel in batch mode (default: 1)
--retries <n>             retry failed network backends n times (default: 0)
--timeout-seconds <n>     conversion timeout (default: 120)
--overwrite, --force      replace existing output file
--quiet, -q               suppress success output
--json                    emit machine-readable JSON (NDJSON in batch mode)
--why                     print backend selection reasoning to stderr
--check-fonts             report which fonts in the .docx are missing
--list-backends           show available backends and exit
--doctor                  print full diagnostics as JSON and exit
--capabilities            print machine-readable feature contract and exit
-h, --help
-v, --version

Exit codes

Code	Meaning
0	Success
2	Invalid input (missing arg, bad flag)
3	No acceptable backend available (error.kind: "NO_BACKEND")
4	Conversion failed

Full envelope and stable error kind table in docs/reference/exit-codes.md.

License

MIT — see LICENSE.

See also

• AGENTS.md — the agent quickstart (output contract, exit codes, discovery, failure recovery).
• docs/setup/ — per-backend install + configuration.
• docs/reference/ — backends, doctor JSON shape, exit codes, JSON/NDJSON output.
• llms.txt — compressed agent briefing.
• schemas/ — formal contracts for --capabilities and --doctor output.
• examples/agent-defaults.json — recommended defaults manifest.
• CHANGELOG.md — what landed and when.