README

Idiomatic PHP binding for the rust-pdf core over its C ABI (libpdf_ffi), using the built-in FFI extension (ext-ffi, PHP 8.1+) — no compilation needed. It covers the whole product surface: vector graphics, embedded/subsetted fonts and text, wrapping paragraphs, images, PDF/A (levels 1b–3a), tagged/accessible output, embedded-file attachments, AcroForm fields, manipulation (merge/split/rotate/optimize/incremental update), text extraction, encryption (RC4 / AES-128 / AES-256) and digital signatures (PKCS#7 / PAdES) — plus feature licensing.

Classes (namespace RustPdf, PSR-4 under src/):

• Pdf — static helpers (version, activateLicense, extractText, sign, timestamp, addDss);
• Document — fluent authoring API;
• EditableDoc — manipulation API;
• PdfaLevel, Align, AFRelationship, Encryption — enums;
• PdfException, Ffi (internal FFI loader).

Install

composer require rust-pdf/rustpdf

The package is pure PHP; the native libpdf_ffi is fetched per platform from the GitHub Release. Ffi::libPath() resolves it in this order:

1. RUSTPDF_LIB — an absolute path to a library you provide (always wins);
2. the bundled copy under lib/<os>-<arch>/, placed there by the installer;
3. the dev tree (target/{debug,release}, walking up from src/);
4. lazy download of the matching prebuilt library on first use.

Because Composer only runs scripts for the root package (never a dependency), the download can't fire automatically on composer require. The step-4 lazy fetch covers most setups with zero config, but if your production filesystem is read-only, fetch the library once at deploy/CI time instead:

php vendor/rust-pdf/rustpdf/bin/rustpdf-install-lib

Or wire it into your root composer.json:

"scripts": {
  "post-install-cmd": "@php vendor/rust-pdf/rustpdf/bin/rustpdf-install-lib",
  "post-update-cmd":  "@php vendor/rust-pdf/rustpdf/bin/rustpdf-install-lib"
}

Set RUSTPDF_NO_DOWNLOAD=1 to forbid the network fetch (you must then supply the library via RUSTPDF_LIB or a local cargo build -p pdf-ffi --release).

Enabling ext-ffi

FFI ships with PHP 8.1+ but is often disabled in production. In CLI it's enabled by default; for FPM/web set in php.ini:

extension=ffi
ffi.enable=true        ; or, hardened: ffi.enable=preload + ffi.preload=...

Without it, install succeeds but the first call throws.

Quick start

<?php
require 'vendor/autoload.php'; // or bindings/php/autoload.php

use RustPdf\{Pdf, Document, EditableDoc, PdfaLevel, Align, Encryption};

// A token in RUSTPDF_LICENSE is auto-activated; or:
Pdf::activateLicense($token);

$doc = new Document();
$doc->pdfa(PdfaLevel::A2a)->setInfo(title: 'Report');
$f = $doc->addFontFile('assets/fonts/Roboto-Regular.ttf');
$doc->addPage()
    ->showText($f, 20, 72, 760, 'Title', 1)               // heading level 1 = H1
    ->paragraph($f, 12, 72, 720, 450, 'A wrapping body…', Align::Justify);
$data = $doc->toBytes();

echo Pdf::extractText($data);

$ed = EditableDoc::load($data);
$ed->encrypt(Encryption::Aes256, owner: 'owner')->save('secured.pdf');

$signed = Pdf::sign($data, $keyDer, $certDer, pades: true);

Corporate features (PDF/A, signing, encryption, accessibility) require a license; without one they throw PdfException. See docs/LICENSING.md.

Test

cargo build -p pdf-ffi
php bindings/php/test/run.php      # or: make php-test