PdfEngine.Cli 1.0.260519.2

PdfEngine CLI

Command-line interface for the PdfEngine library — inspect, parse, convert and merge PDF files from your terminal.

Distributed as a global .NET tool.

Requirements

• .NET 8 runtime (or SDK)
• A PdfEngine license key (Demo, Starter, Business or Pro). Get one here.

Installation

dotnet tool install --global PdfEngine.Cli

To upgrade later:

dotnet tool update --global PdfEngine.Cli

To uninstall:

dotnet tool uninstall --global PdfEngine.Cli

After installation, the command pdfengine is available on your PATH.

From a private feed

dotnet tool install --global PdfEngine.Cli --add-source https://your-feed/index.json

Providing the license key

The CLI requires a valid PdfEngine license. You can supply it in two ways:

Option A — environment variable (recommended)

# Windows (PowerShell)
$env:PDFENGINE_LICENSE_KEY = "PE-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX"

# macOS / Linux
export PDFENGINE_LICENSE_KEY="PE-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX"

Persist it across sessions with setx PDFENGINE_LICENSE_KEY "..." (Windows) or by adding the export line to your ~/.bashrc / ~/.zshrc.

Option B — --license option per call

pdfengine --license PE-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX info invoice.pdf

The --license flag overrides the environment variable for that single call.

If neither is provided, the CLI exits with code 1 and an error message.

Commands

Use pdfengine <command> --help for the full set of options for any command.

Common options

Examples

# Quick info
pdfengine info ./invoice.pdf

# Extract all text
pdfengine text ./invoice.pdf > invoice.txt

# Detect tables and pipe to jq
pdfengine tables ./report.pdf | jq '.[] | .rows | length'

# Merge a folder of PDFs
pdfengine merge ./merged.pdf ./folder/*.pdf

# Split a multi-page invoice into per-page files
pdfengine split-pages ./invoice.pdf ./pages

# Batch info on a directory
pdfengine batch ./incoming

Exit codes

License & quotas

The CLI honors the same monthly quotas as the lib:

• Demo — 100 generations + 100 parsings per month, 30-day trial
• Starter — 5 000 / 5 000 per month
• Business — 20 000 / 20 000 per month
• Pro — unlimited

When a quota is reached, the CLI returns an error and the next call resumes once the new month starts (or after upgrading the plan).

See https://www.pdf-engine.fr/pricing for plan details.

Troubleshooting

pdfengine: command not found

Make sure ~/.dotnet/tools (Linux/macOS) or %USERPROFILE%\.dotnet\tools (Windows) is on your PATH. The .NET SDK installer normally adds it automatically; if not, add it manually and restart your shell.

Error: a PdfEngine license key is required

Set PDFENGINE_LICENSE_KEY or pass --license <key>.

Error: failed to register PdfEngine license: license_invalid

The key is rejected by the licensing server. Verify it is active in your customer dashboard.

Network or proxy issues

If your machine sits behind a corporate proxy, ensure the .NET HttpClient picks up your proxy settings (usually via HTTP_PROXY / HTTPS_PROXY environment variables).

Project links

• Library: PdfEngine
• Documentation: https://www.pdf-engine.fr
• Pricing: https://www.pdf-engine.fr/pricing
• Support: contact@pdf-engine.fr

License

Commercial — see your subscription terms.