[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:

• Install -- Ensure required tools (pandoc + wkhtmltopdf or weasyprint) are available

• Convert -- Run conversion with syntax highlighting and optional CSS

• 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

Option Short Description Default

--input

-i

Input markdown file path (required)

--output

-o

Output PDF file path {input}.pdf

--css

-c

Custom CSS file path built-in

--no-highlight

Disable syntax highlighting false

--help

-h

Show help message

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 to prevent this.

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

Font issues: Embed fonts via CSS @font-face with base64-encoded fonts for consistent rendering.

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

• MUST ATTENTION apply critical thinking — every claim needs traced proof, confidence >80% to act. Anti-hallucination: never present guess as fact.

• MUST ATTENTION apply AI mistake prevention — holistic-first debugging, fix at responsible layer, surface ambiguity before coding, re-read files after compaction.

[TASK-PLANNING] Before acting, analyze task scope and systematically break it into small todo tasks and sub-tasks using TaskCreate.