[IMPORTANT] Use

TaskCreate

to break ALL work into small tasks BEFORE starting — including tasks for each file read. This prevents context loss from long files. For simple tasks, AI MUST ATTENTION ask user whether to skip.

Critical Thinking Mindset — Apply critical thinking, sequential thinking. Every claim needs traced proof, confidence >80% to act. Anti-hallucination: Never present guess as fact — cite sources for every claim, admit uncertainty freely, self-check output for errors, cross-reference independently, stay skeptical of own confidence — certainty without evidence root of all hallucination.

AI Mistake Prevention — Failure modes to avoid on every task:

• Check downstream references before deleting. Deleting components causes documentation and code staleness cascades. Map all referencing files before removal.
• Verify AI-generated content against actual code. AI hallucinates APIs, class names, and method signatures. Always grep to confirm existence before documenting or referencing.
• Trace full dependency chain after edits. Changing a definition misses downstream variables and consumers derived from it. Always trace the full chain.
• Trace ALL code paths when verifying correctness. Confirming code exists is not confirming it executes. Always trace early exits, error branches, and conditional skips — not just happy path.
• When debugging, ask "whose responsibility?" before fixing. Trace whether bug is in caller (wrong data) or callee (wrong handling). Fix at responsible layer — never patch symptom site.
• Assume existing values are intentional — ask WHY before changing. Before changing any constant, limit, flag, or pattern: read comments, check git blame, examine surrounding code.
• Verify ALL affected outputs, not just the first. Changes touching multiple stacks require verifying EVERY output. One green check is not all green checks.
• Holistic-first debugging — resist nearest-attention trap. When investigating any failure, list EVERY precondition first (config, env vars, DB names, endpoints, DI registrations, data preconditions), then verify each against evidence before forming any code-layer hypothesis.
• Surgical changes — apply the diff test. Bug fix: every changed line must trace directly to the bug. Don't restyle or improve adjacent code. Enhancement task: implement improvements AND announce them explicitly.
• Surface ambiguity before coding — don't pick silently. If request has multiple interpretations, present each with effort estimate and ask. Never assume all-records, file-based, or more complex path.

Quick Summary

Goal: Convert Markdown files to PDF with syntax highlighting and custom CSS support.

Workflow:

1. Install -- Ensure required tools (pandoc + wkhtmltopdf or weasyprint) are available
2. Convert -- Run conversion with syntax highlighting and optional CSS
3. Verify -- Check PDF output for formatting and completeness

Key Rules:

• Requires pandoc + a PDF engine (wkhtmltopdf or weasyprint)
• Supports syntax highlighting for code blocks
• Custom CSS can be applied for styling

Be skeptical. Apply critical thinking, sequential thinking. Every claim needs traced proof, confidence percentages (Idea should be more than 80%).

markdown-to-pdf

Convert markdown files to high-quality PDF documents with code syntax highlighting and custom CSS support.

Installation Required

This skill requires npm dependencies. Run one of the following:

# Option 1: Install via ClaudeKit CLI (recommended)
ck init  # Runs install.sh which handles all skills

# Option 2: Manual installation
cd .claude/skills/markdown-to-pdf
npm install

Dependencies:

md-to-pdf

gray-matter

Note: First run may download Chromium (~150MB) unless system Chrome is detected.

Quick Start

# Basic conversion
node .claude/skills/markdown-to-pdf/scripts/convert.cjs --input ./README.md

# Specify output path
node .claude/skills/markdown-to-pdf/scripts/convert.cjs --input ./doc.md --output ./output.pdf

# With custom CSS
node .claude/skills/markdown-to-pdf/scripts/convert.cjs --input ./doc.md --css ./my-style.css

CLI Options

--input

-i

--output

-o

{input}.pdf

--css

-c

--no-highlight

--help

-h

Features

• Syntax Highlighting: Code blocks rendered with highlight.js
• Custom CSS: Override default styles with your own CSS
• Cross-Platform: Works on Windows, macOS, Linux
• System Chrome: Uses installed Chrome/Chromium when available
• Frontmatter Support: YAML frontmatter extracted for title/metadata

Default Styling

The default PDF style includes:

• Serif font (Georgia) for body text
• Monospace font (Consolas/Monaco) for code
• Proper page margins (2cm)
• Code block background highlighting
• Table borders and alternating row colors

Output

Returns JSON on success:

{
    "success": true,
    "input": "/path/to/input.md",
    "output": "/path/to/output.pdf",
    "pages": 3
}

Troubleshooting

Chrome not found: The skill will automatically download Chromium. Set

PUPPETEER_SKIP_DOWNLOAD=1

Memory issues: Large documents may require more memory. Consider splitting into multiple files.

Font issues: Embed fonts via CSS

@font-face

Closing Reminders

• IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION break work into small todo tasks using

  TaskCreate

  BEFORE starting
• IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION search codebase for 3+ similar patterns before creating new code
• IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION cite

  file:line

  evidence for every claim (confidence >80% to act)
• IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION add a final review todo task to verify work quality <!-- SYNC:critical-thinking-mindset:reminder -->
• MUST ATTENTION apply critical thinking — every claim needs traced proof, confidence >80% to act. Anti-hallucination: never present guess as fact. <!-- /SYNC:critical-thinking-mindset:reminder --> <!-- SYNC:ai-mistake-prevention:reminder -->
• MUST ATTENTION apply AI mistake prevention — holistic-first debugging, fix at responsible layer, surface ambiguity before coding, re-read files after compaction. <!-- /SYNC:ai-mistake-prevention:reminder -->