Concepts

Rivoli PDF is built around a small set of ideas. Once you understand them, the rest of the API tends to fall into place. These pages explain how the library thinks: the document model you build against, how that model becomes pages, how styling cascades, and how the document round-trips through JSON.

You do not need to read these in order, but if you are new to the library this is a reasonable path:

• The document model: the DOM: Document → Section → block → inline. The tree you build, and the objects you build it from.
• The layout engine: how the document tree is measured, arranged, and paginated into pages.
• The styling cascade: Style, StyleSheet, inheritance, and how formatting resolves.
• The JSON document model: canonical and compact serialization, stable node identity, and Git-friendly diffs.
• Change tracking: opt-in events for collaborative editing, undo/redo, and audit logging.
• How PDF works: a short primer on the PDF object model, just enough to demystify error messages.

Concepts vs. how-to

These pages explain the model. For step-by-step recipes (“how do I add a header?”), see the How-to guides. For an end-to-end walkthrough, start with the Tutorial.