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What is pdfsharpcore?

methuselah96/pdfsharpcore — explained in plain English

Analysis updated 2026-07-18 · repo last pushed 2023-04-05

C#Audience · developerComplexity · 2/5DormantLicenseSetup · easy

In one sentence

A .NET library that lets you generate PDF files programmatically, adding text, images, and formatting through code instead of design software.

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((repo))
    What it does
      Creates PDFs in code
      Draws text and images
      Formats documents
    Tech stack
      C#
      .NET Core
      ImageSharp
      MigraDoc
    Use cases
      Generate invoices
      Generate reports
      Generate certificates
    Audience
      .NET developers
    Setup
      Install NuGet package
      MIT licensed

Code map

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What do people build with it?

USE CASE 1

Generate a formatted PDF receipt or invoice on the fly for a .NET web application.

USE CASE 2

Create monthly compliance or statement documents automatically from a backend service.

USE CASE 3

Replace an expensive third-party PDF engine with a free, open-source .NET library.

What is it built with?

C#.NET CoreSixLabors.ImageSharpMigraDoc

How does it compare?

methuselah96/pdfsharpcoreanulman/docx-saxatrblizzard/vtmb-sbox-mounter
Stars00
LanguageC#C#C#
Last pushed2023-04-05
MaintenanceDormant
Setup difficultyeasymoderatemoderate
Complexity2/54/53/5
Audiencedeveloperdeveloperdeveloper

Figures from each repo's GitHub metadata at analysis time.

How do you get it running?

Difficulty · easy Time to first run · 30min
MIT License, free to use, modify, and distribute, including commercially, as long as you keep the copyright notice.

So what is it?

PdfSharpCore is a library that lets you create PDF files programmatically from .NET applications. Instead of manually designing PDFs or using expensive software, you can write code to generate them on the fly, adding text, images, formatting, and more, then save the result as a PDF file. The library works by giving you drawing tools similar to what you'd use in design software, but accessible through code. You create a document, add pages to it, then use simple commands to place text, set fonts, choose colors, and position elements wherever you want on the page. The example in the README shows how just a handful of lines of code can produce a complete PDF with formatted text. Under the hood, it uses established image and font libraries (SixLabors.ImageSharp and SixLabors.Fonts) to handle the details of rendering, so you don't have to reinvent that wheel. This project is valuable for developers who need to generate PDFs as part of their application, think invoices, reports, certificates, or any document that needs to be created dynamically. A web application might use it to let users download a formatted receipt, a business tool might generate monthly statements, a backend service might create compliance documents automatically. Anyone building software on .NET who wants to avoid manual PDF creation or expensive third-party PDF engines would find it useful. The project itself is a modernization effort: it takes the older PdfSharp library and updates it to work with modern .NET (specifically .NET Standard and .NET Core), removing dependencies on older Windows-only graphics libraries. It also ports a companion library called MigraDoc, which adds higher-level document formatting features on top of the core PDF generation. The code is open source under the MIT License, making it free to use and modify.

Copy-paste prompts

Prompt 1
Show me how to install PdfSharpCore in a .NET Core project and generate a simple PDF with a heading and body text.
Prompt 2
Write C# code using PdfSharpCore to create an invoice PDF with a table of line items and a total.
Prompt 3
Explain how MigraDoc builds on top of PdfSharpCore for higher-level document formatting.
Prompt 4
How do I add an image and custom fonts to a PDF generated with PdfSharpCore?

Frequently asked questions

What is pdfsharpcore?

A .NET library that lets you generate PDF files programmatically, adding text, images, and formatting through code instead of design software.

What language is pdfsharpcore written in?

Mainly C#. The stack also includes C#, .NET Core, SixLabors.ImageSharp.

Is pdfsharpcore actively maintained?

Dormant — no commits in 2+ years (last push 2023-04-05).

What license does pdfsharpcore use?

MIT License, free to use, modify, and distribute, including commercially, as long as you keep the copyright notice.

How hard is pdfsharpcore to set up?

Setup difficulty is rated easy, with roughly 30min to a first successful run.

Who is pdfsharpcore for?

Mainly developer.

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