Platform Guide

Save Dev.to Articles as Clean, Code-Ready PDFs

Dev.to articles are packed with code snippets, embedded content, and developer tutorials. Pretty PDF preserves all of it in a beautiful, offline-ready PDF.

Free — 3 PDFs per month. No credit card required.

Why save Dev.to articles?

Dev.to is one of the largest developer communities on the web, home to thousands of tutorials, how-to guides, opinion pieces, and technical discussions written by developers for developers. The platform's open and accessible approach means that some of the best explanations of complex topics — from Kubernetes deployment patterns to React hook internals — live on Dev.to rather than in official documentation.

The problem is that online content is ephemeral. Authors delete posts, restructure their series, or move to a different platform. Dev.to articles can be edited or removed at any time. If you found a tutorial that perfectly explained a concept you struggled with, there is no guarantee it will be there next month. Saving the best articles as PDFs gives you a permanent, offline-ready reference you can return to regardless of what happens to the original post.

PDFs are also easier to share with your team. Sending a link to a Dev.to article means your colleagues need an internet connection, may encounter a different layout on mobile, and might be distracted by the comment section or recommended posts sidebar. A clean PDF strips all of that away and delivers just the content — the tutorial, the code, the explanation — in a consistent format that works on any device, prints cleanly on paper, and can be attached to a Confluence page or Slack thread without any ambiguity about what you are sharing.

For study and review, PDFs are simply more focused. You can annotate them, highlight key sections, and organize them into folders by topic. A collection of saved Dev.to articles on a specific technology stack becomes a personal reference library that is faster to search and easier to revisit than a browser bookmark folder full of links that may or may not still work.

Dev.to parser

How Pretty PDF handles Dev.to

A custom parser built for Dev.to's content structure, including liquid tag conversion for embedded content.

Liquid Tag Conversion

Dev.to uses liquid tags to embed external content — GitHub repositories, CodePen pens, YouTube videos, Twitter posts, and more. Pretty PDF's parser converts these into readable, static formats: repository names with descriptions, labeled links to interactive content, and video titles with URLs. Nothing breaks or disappears in the PDF.

Article Extraction

The parser strips Dev.to's UI shell — the top navigation bar, sidebar with tags and listings, reaction buttons, comment section, and footer — leaving only the article title, author byline, publication date, tags, and the full article body with all formatting intact.

Code Block Formatting

Dev.to articles are code-heavy by nature. Pretty PDF renders all code blocks with JetBrains Mono, preserving indentation, line breaks, and structure. Long lines wrap cleanly without truncation. Both inline code and fenced code blocks with language annotations are handled correctly.

Image Handling

Dev.to articles frequently include screenshots, diagrams, and illustrations uploaded directly to the platform or linked from external sources. Pretty PDF resolves these image URLs and embeds them in the PDF at their full resolution, preserving the visual context the author intended alongside their text and code.

Template Styling

All five Pretty PDF templates — Clean, Minimal, Corporate, Academic, and Dark Mode — work with Dev.to's content structure. Each template applies professional typography with embedded fonts, proper heading hierarchy, and spacing tuned for technical content with frequent code blocks.

Step by step

How to save a Dev.to article as PDF

From any Dev.to article to a clean PDF in under ten seconds.

1

Open any Dev.to article

Navigate to the tutorial, guide, or discussion you want to save. This works on any dev.to post, including articles that are part of a multi-part series.

2

Click the Pretty PDF extension

Click the extension icon in your browser toolbar. Pretty PDF automatically detects that the page is a Dev.to article and activates the dedicated Dev.to parser with liquid tag conversion.

3

Download a clean PDF with code blocks intact

Select your preferred template and click Generate PDF. The server extracts the article content, converts embedded liquid tags to readable format, styles code blocks with JetBrains Mono, and returns a clean PDF ready to read offline.

Developer-first formatting

Code block perfection

Dev.to articles are written by developers, for developers. Code is the heart of the content, and Pretty PDF treats it that way.

Syntax Structure Preserved

Code blocks retain their original structure and formatting. Indentation levels, blank lines, and the overall shape of the code are maintained exactly as the author wrote them, making the PDF as readable as the original article.

JetBrains Mono Font

All code blocks are rendered in JetBrains Mono, a monospace font designed specifically for reading code. Ligatures, clear character distinction, and consistent spacing make even dense code comfortable to read in printed or on-screen PDF format.

Proper Line Wrapping

Long lines of code wrap cleanly at the edge of the page rather than being truncated or overflowing into the margins. You see every character of every line, even in wide code snippets that would scroll horizontally on screen.

No Truncation

Unlike browser print which can cut off code blocks at page boundaries, Pretty PDF handles pagination intelligently. Code blocks are kept together where possible, and when a block must span pages, the break occurs at a line boundary rather than mid-line.

Embedded content handling

Dev.to's liquid tag system lets authors embed rich external content directly in their articles. A single Dev.to tutorial might include an embedded GitHub repository showing the source code, a CodePen demonstrating the live result, and a YouTube video walking through the implementation. These embeds are rendered as interactive iframes in the browser, which means they do not translate to static PDF format without special handling.

Pretty PDF's Dev.to parser converts each type of liquid tag into a readable, static representation that makes sense in a PDF document. GitHub repository embeds are converted to display the repository name and description as a formatted reference block, giving readers enough context to find the repo later. CodePen embeds appear as a clearly labeled link to the pen, since interactive code playgrounds cannot be meaningfully represented in a static document. YouTube embeds are converted to show the video title alongside a link, so readers know what video was referenced and can watch it when they are back online.

This approach ensures that nothing disappears from the PDF. Every piece of content the author included is accounted for, even when the original format is inherently interactive. The PDF becomes a complete reference document — you can read the article's explanations, study the code blocks, and follow up on embedded resources using the preserved links when you have internet access again.

Best template for Dev.to articles

Choosing the right template depends on how you plan to use the PDF. Dev.to content is overwhelmingly technical — tutorials, code walkthroughs, architecture discussions — so the template needs to handle code blocks gracefully and maintain readability for mixed prose-and-code content.

The Dark template is a natural fit for developer content. Its dark background with light text mirrors the dark-mode editors and terminals that most developers work in daily. Code blocks feel at home in this aesthetic, and the visual contrast between prose text and code sections is immediately clear. If you are saving articles for personal reference and reading them on screen, Dark is the most comfortable choice.

The Academic template excels when you are using Dev.to articles as study material. Its clean serif headings, generous margins, and structured layout make it easy to annotate — whether digitally or on paper. If you are working through a tutorial series and taking notes alongside the code, Academic provides the visual structure to support that workflow.

The Clean template is the best option for sharing. Its neutral design, balanced typography, and professional appearance work in any context — attaching to a Slack message, including in a project wiki, or printing for a meeting. Clean does not impose a strong visual personality, which makes it versatile for team communication.

The Minimal and Corporate templates also work well with Dev.to content. Minimal strips the design down to essentials for distraction-free reading, while Corporate adds subtle branding touches that suit articles being shared in a business context. All five templates render code blocks with JetBrains Mono and proper formatting — the difference is in the surrounding typography and visual style.

Frequently asked questions

Yes. Pretty PDF's Dev.to parser identifies all code blocks in the article — both inline code and fenced code blocks with language annotations — and preserves them in the PDF with proper monospace formatting using JetBrains Mono. Indentation, line breaks, and structure are maintained exactly as the author wrote them. Long lines wrap cleanly without truncation, so even wide code snippets remain fully readable in the PDF.
Dev.to uses liquid tags to embed external content like GitHub repositories, CodePen pens, and YouTube videos. Pretty PDF's parser converts these gracefully: GitHub embeds display the repository name and description as a formatted reference block, CodePen embeds appear as a labeled link to the pen, and YouTube embeds show the video title with a link. Nothing breaks or disappears — embedded content is converted to a readable, static format appropriate for PDF.
For developer content from Dev.to, the Dark template provides a familiar IDE-like aesthetic that many developers prefer, with light text on a dark background that makes code blocks feel natural. The Academic template is excellent for study notes and reference material. The Clean template works well for articles you plan to share with non-technical colleagues or print on paper. All five templates render code blocks with JetBrains Mono and proper formatting — choose based on how you plan to use the PDF.
Pretty PDF saves one article at a time. If a Dev.to post is part of a series, Pretty PDF captures the current article in full, including the series navigation links at the top or bottom of the post. You can save each part of the series individually by navigating to each article and generating a PDF. The series metadata and links to other parts are preserved in the output so you can easily identify which part you have saved.
Pretty PDF captures the code block content and applies its own consistent styling using JetBrains Mono with proper indentation and line wrapping. Dev.to's browser-side syntax highlighting is CSS-based and does not transfer directly to PDF, but Pretty PDF's templates ensure code blocks are clearly distinguished from body text with appropriate background shading, monospace formatting, and visual separation that makes them easy to read in the final PDF.

Save your next Dev.to article as a clean PDF

Free tier, no credit card. 3 PDFs per month with all templates included.