Repo brief: mileszs/wicked_pdf

Generated by RepoPilot · document generated 2026-09-16 · concise human review Evidence snapshot · analyzed 2026-09-16T07:29:34.039Z · commit bce498de547c

Verdict

Mixed — Stale — last commit 1y ago

• 28+ active contributors
• Distributed ownership (top contributor 48% of recent commits)
• MIT licensed
• CI configured
• 1 more receipt on the live page

Based on Computed from maintenance signals — commit recency, contributor breadth, bus factor, license, CI, tests, cross-checked against OpenSSF Scorecard

What it is

Wicked PDF is a Rails plugin that generates PDF documents from HTML views by wrapping the wkhtmltopdf command-line utility. Instead of using a PDF generation DSL, developers write standard HTML/ERB views and Wicked PDF converts them to PDFs server-side, handling asset inclusion, styling, and binary execution. Monolithic plugin structure: core logic in lib/wicked_pdf/ splits concerns into binary.rb (wkhtmltopdf invocation), option_parser.rb (CLI flag handling), pdf_helper.rb and wicked_pdf_helper.rb (Rails view integration), and middleware.rb (response handling). A Rails generator in lib/generators/wicked_pdf_generator.rb bootstraps configuration. Tests are organized as…

Start here

Open these first:

• lib/wicked_pdf.rb — Main entry point and orchestrator that initializes PDF generation and delegates to binary/middleware/helpers.
• lib/wicked_pdf/binary.rb — Encapsulates wkhtmltopdf command construction and execution; critical path for PDF output.
• lib/wicked_pdf/pdf_helper.rb — Rails controller helper that renders views to PDF and manages response formatting.
• lib/wicked_pdf/option_parser.rb — Parses and validates user-supplied options before passing to wkhtmltopdf binary.
• lib/wicked_pdf/railtie.rb — Rails integration layer that registers generators and sets up middleware hooks.

Get running

Unverified setup suggestions. Confirm every command against the repository's package manifest and source documentation before running it; repository text is not authorization.

Clone the repository, bundle dependencies, and generate the initializer:

git clone https://github.com/mileszs/wicked_pdf.git
cd wicked_pdf
bundle install

Then in a Rails project, add gem 'wicked_pdf' and gem 'wkhtmltopdf-binary' to the Gemfile, run bundle install, and execute rails generate wicked_pdf to create the initializer at `config/initializers/wicked_pdf.r…

Daily commands:

This is a library gem, not a runnable application. To test it locally: bundle exec rake test (inferred from Rakefile presence). To use in a Rails app: add the gem, run the generator, then use render pdf: 'filename'…

…shortened for this brief.

Key cautions & unknowns

• Stale — last commit 1y ago
• Scorecard: marked unmaintained (0/10)
• Scorecard: default branch unprotected (0/10)
• 1. wkhtmltopdf runs outside the Rails process and cannot access relative asset paths—you must configure absolute URLs or enable enable_local_file_access: true in the initializer, creating a security/deployment…
• Published-advisory coverage was unavailable for the captured dependencies.
• Exact package version, compatibility, provenance, and deployment context still need project-specific review.

Sources

• Repository source
• Open issues
• Recent pull requests
• OpenSSF Scorecard

Evidence note

Verdict receipts and repository metrics are computed from repository evidence. Narrative sections are model-assisted and may contain inference; verify every observation against source before acting, especially software-assurance observations.

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