Companion App

Introduction

The QuestPDF Companion application is a tool designed to simplify and speed up your development lifecycle. First, it shows a preview of your document. But the real magic starts with the hot-reload capability! It observes your code and updates the preview every time you change the implementation. Get real-time results without the need of code recompilation. Save time and enjoy the task!

INFO

Read more about features availble in the Companion App in the Features section.

Installation

The Companion App is available for download on Windows, MacOS, and Linux.

Operating System	Download link
Windows	Download
MacOS (64-bit Intel and Apple ARM)	Download
Linux	Download

INFO

To access older versions of the Companion App, visit the Download section.

Changes in your code

To preview your document, you need to slightly modify your code.

using QuestPDF.Fluent;
using QuestPDF.Helpers;
using QuestPDF.Infrastructure;
using QuestPDF.Previewer;

// code in your main method
var document = Document.Create(container =>
{
    container.Page(page =>
    {
        // page content
    });
});

// instead of the standard way of generating a PDF file
document.GeneratePdf("hello.pdf");

// use the following invocation
document.ShowInCompanion();

// optionally, you can specify an HTTP port to communicate with the previewer host (default is 12500)
document.ShowInCompanion(12345);

WARNING

The QuestPDF Companion integration requires the library version 2024.10 or newer.

If you cannot update, please use the legacy QuestPDF Previewer application.

How to use hot-reload

Visual Studio

Start your application in the DEBUG mode with the 'Hot Reload on Save' flag enabled. On every file save, the document will be refreshed.

JetBrains Rider

Start your application without debugger attached. To apply code changes, click on the Apply changes button displayed on the top bar, or use the Alt+F10 shortcut.

Terminal

Start your application using the following command:

dotnet watch
dotnet watch --project YourSampleProject

For unit tests:

dotnet watch --project YourProjectWithTests test --filter "YourClassWithTests.TestMethodName"