Metis PDF Creator

This skill produces polished, on-brand PDFs for Metis Strategy using PDFKit (Node.js). It encodes hard-won lessons about Y-position tracking, graphic device usage, and brand application so that PDFs come out right the first time.

Toolchain

• Runtime: Node.js (C:\Program Files\nodejs\node.exe on the user's machine)
• Library: pdfkit npm package
• Working dir: C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Local\Temp\cdlc-pdf\ (already has pdfkit installed)
  • If that directory doesn't exist, create a new one: mkdir C:\temp\metis-pdf && cd C:\temp\metis-pdf && npm init -y && npm install pdfkit
• Graphic devices: G:/Shared drives/Knowledge Management/New Brand Assets/Graphic Devices/
• Logos: G:/Shared drives/Knowledge Management/New Brand Assets/Metis Strategy Logo/
• Output: Save directly to the path the user specifies, or to the Context as Code folder by default: G:/Shared drives/Knowledge Management/Capability Development/AI Working Group/Context as Code/

To run a script: "C:\Program Files\nodejs\node.exe" <script-name>.js

Brand Constants

Copy these verbatim into every PDF script:

const C = {
  darkBlue:  '#20216f',  // Primary — headings, bars, cover background
  green:     '#3cdbc0',  // Accent — eyebrows, bullets, BrandLine, badges
  medBlue:   '#256ba2',  // Secondary — callout bars, step badges
  gray:      '#7b8692',  // Body text supporting, page labels
  tealLight: '#e8f8f5',  // Callout box backgrounds
  white:     '#ffffff',
  black:     '#000000',
};

const W = 612, H = 792;   // US Letter in points
const ML = 52, MR = 52;   // Left / right margins
const CW = W - ML - MR;   // Content width: 508

// Logo paths — use Black-Mint on white/light pages, White on dark backgrounds (cover)
const LOGO      = 'G:/Shared drives/Knowledge Management/New Brand Assets/Metis Strategy Logo/';
const LOGO_BM   = LOGO + 'Metis Strategy Black-Mint RGB Logo.png';   // content pages
const LOGO_WHT  = LOGO + 'Metis Strategy White RGB logo.png';        // cover page

BrandLine (footer text, never italic, always exact): "Driving change. Elevating leaders."

Critical Y-Tracking Rules

Text-overlap bugs — the most common failure mode — all come from Y-position errors. Follow these rules and overlaps will not occur:

1. Every .text() call must use explicit x, y coordinates. Never let PDFKit flow from its internal cursor position without specifying where you want the text to start.

2. Read doc.y immediately after every text render to get the true bottom of that element, then add your gap: y = doc.y + 12;

3. Pre-measure boxes before drawing them. For any container (callout, panel, role card): call doc.heightOfString(text, { width, lineGap }) BEFORE drawing the rectangle, compute boxH, draw the rectangle at (x, y, w, boxH), then render text inside at absolute coordinates. Never guess heights.

4. Return y + boxH + padding from helper functions — a deterministic value — not doc.y + padding which can drift due to cursor state.

5. Avoid two-column layouts with independent y-variables. If you must have columns, pre-measure both columns, take the max height, draw both at fixed positions, then advance y by maxH + gap.

6. Check remaining page space before every block. Before rendering any element (step row, callout, role card, section header), estimate its height and check if it fits above the footer bar at H - 30. If it does not fit, call doc.addPage() + pageFurniture() and reset y = 30. Use the needsNewPage helper (see references/pdfkit-helpers.md) to make this automatic. This is the most common cause of content overrunning the page — all other Y-tracking rules are useless if content flows past the bottom margin.

Graphic Devices

Read references/graphic-devices.md for full placement guidance.

The most important rule: All Metis graphic device PNGs have opaque white backgrounds. They look great on white or light-colored pages. They do not work on the dark blue cover — placing them there produces a white rectangle. For dark backgrounds, simulate the device using PDFKit path primitives (the trajectory fan pattern — see references/graphic-devices.md).

Device file paths (use forward slashes — Node.js handles them on Windows):

Embed with: doc.image(GD + 'filename.png', x, y, { width: w }) Clip to page: wrap in doc.save(); doc.rect(0,0,W,H).clip(); doc.image(...); doc.restore();

Standard Helper Functions

Read references/pdfkit-helpers.md for complete, copy-paste-ready implementations of all helpers. Use these verbatim — they encode correct Y-tracking and have been validated.

Page Layout Pattern

// ── Page N ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
doc.addPage({ size: 'LETTER', margin: 0 });
pageFurniture('DOCUMENT TITLE — PAGE N OF M');

let y = 30;
y = sectionHeader('Section Eyebrow', 'Section Title', ML + 10, y);

doc.fillColor(C.gray).font('Helvetica').fontSize(9.5)
   .text('Intro sentence here.', ML + 10, y, { width: CW });
y = doc.y + 16;

// Before EVERY block, check if it fits. Use needsNewPage for this:
y = needsNewPage(y, 80, 'DOCUMENT TITLE — PAGE N OF M');
y = stepRow(1, 'Step Title', 'Step body text...', ML + 10, y);

y = needsNewPage(y, 60, 'DOCUMENT TITLE — PAGE N OF M');
y = callout(ML + 10, y, CW, 'Callout', 'Text here.', C.tealLight, C.green);

The needsNewPage call before every block is not optional. Omitting it is the single most common cause of content overrunning the page footer.

Cover Page Pattern

The cover uses a full dark-blue background with a drawn trajectory fan (not PNG devices). Read references/pdfkit-helpers.md → "Cover Page" section for the complete template.

Key elements: doc.rect(0,0,W,H).fill(C.darkBlue) → trajectory fan → White logo (top-left) → eyebrow → bold title → subtitle → green rule → "Who this is for" panel → bullet benefits → footer.

Common Pitfalls

• Content overrunning the page is the #1 formatting failure. Call needsNewPage(y, height, label) before every block — step rows, callouts, cards, images, section headers. If you skip the guard, the block will render over the footer bar or off the page entirely.
• fillOpacity chaining is fragile. Use doc.save().opacity(a)...doc.restore() for transparent fills instead of chaining .fillOpacity(0.1).fill(C.white).fillOpacity(1).
• require('pdf-parse') is broken (returns object, not function). Do not attempt to read back PDFs in Node.js scripts. Use Claude's native Read tool to inspect generated PDFs.
• Apostrophes in single-quoted JS strings cause SyntaxError. Use double-quoted strings for any text containing apostrophes, or escape them: 'Metis\'s approach'.
• heightOfString must use the same font/fontSize as the subsequent .text() call — set the font before measuring, not after.