Featured Projectv1.0.0Feature Complete

Print Color Preflight

Inspect PDF color risks, plan profile-aware RGB-to-CMYK conversions, postflight the result, and estimate total ink coverage.

Current release v1.0.0 View source

v1.0.0Current release

MITSource license

3Supported platform groups

Publishing & PrintCatalog category

The problem it solves

Print Color Preflight Print Color Preflight is a local, profile-aware PDF inspection and RGB-to-CMYK conversion tool. It identifies color spaces and print risks, requires an explicit destination CMYK ICC profile, performs conversion through Ghostscript, embeds the chosen output intent, postflights the result, and can estimate total area coverage (TAC).

Who Print Color Preflight is for

People who need a small, purpose-built utility instead of a broad platform.
Users working with PDF, CMYK, ICC profiles who want the documented v1.0.0 behavior.
People who prefer an open-source release with visible limitations, source, and license terms.

Intended result

Inspect PDF color risks, plan profile-aware RGB-to-CMYK conversions, postflight the result, and estimate total ink coverage.

This summary is reconciled from the current catalog and repository documentation.

Features in v1.0.0

Capabilities below come from the current project README and release documentation.

Inspect PDF page count, PDF version, device and ICC-based color spaces, output intents, spot colors, transparency, overprint, font embedding, and TrimBox coverage.

Emit stable JSON for automation and a self-contained HTML review report.

Inspect ICC headers and reject malformed or non-CMYK destination profiles.

Preview a conversion plan before modifying a file.

Convert through a separately installed Ghostscript executable using an explicit profile, rendering intent, black-point compensation, and black preservation policy.

Work through a temporary output, parse the result, embed the chosen profile as the output intent, and move the file into place only after postflight succeeds.

Verified examples

Screenshots are shown only when the current README references a local source image. Otherwise, repository example files are linked directly.

examples/make_sample_pdf.pyVerified example included in the current source repository.

Platforms and implementation

The public release claims only the cataloged platforms and technologies.

Supported platforms

Windows
macOS
Linux

Built with

Python
pikepdf
Pillow
Ghostscript

Quick start

The shortest documented path into the current release.

Requirements:

Python 3.10 or newer.
Ghostscript for conversion and ink analysis. Inspection and planning do not require Ghostscript.
A printer, paper, or print-standard CMYK ICC profile supplied by your printer or another authorized source.

python -m pip install "print-color-preflight @ https://github.com/loganpendragonmultiverse/print-color-preflight/releases/download/v1.0.0/print_color_preflight-1.0.0-py3-none-any.whl"
print-color-preflight inspect artwork.pdf --html preflight.html
print-color-preflight plan artwork.pdf --profile printer.icc --intent perceptual
print-color-preflight convert artwork.pdf artwork-cmyk.pdf --profile printer.icc --json conversion.json
print-color-preflight ink artwork-cmyk.pdf --limit 300 --json ink.json

The project is not currently published on PyPI; the command above installs the verified GitHub release wheel. When running from a repository checkout, use python -m pip install . instead. Set PRINT_COLOR_GHOSTSCRIPT when Ghostscript is not on PATH.

Current limitations

These boundaries are part of the product and prevent the page from implying unverified capability.

The tool does not choose a printer or paper profile for you.
Untagged DeviceRGB can be detected but its intended source space cannot be recovered with certainty.
Spot-color preservation is reported for manual review; 1.0.0 does not promise a spot-preserving process-color conversion.
The embedded output intent documents the selected target. It does not by itself make a file PDF/X compliant. Validate required PDF/X conformance with a dedicated validator.
Soft proofing depends on a calibrated display and controlled viewing conditions and is outside this CLI release.
SVG and EPS are not accepted directly in 1.0.0. Export them to PDF without flattening important print semantics, then inspect the PDF.
Physical correctness still requires a printer-approved profile and, for critical work, a contract or press proof.

Privacy and licensing

Review the actual data boundary before using a tool with sensitive inputs.

Privacy and safety

All processing is local. The tool contains no analytics, accounts, network uploads, or profile downloads. Ghostscript is started with safer mode enabled, but PDFs and ICC profiles remain untrusted inputs; use current patched dependencies and avoid processing files from unknown sources on sensitive machines. See [SECURITY.md](SECURITY.md).

License and release

Print Color Preflight is published under MIT. The current cataloged release is v1.0.0, published 2026-07-22.

Release and downloads Read the license

Related projects

Related projects are selected deterministically from shared catalog tags, category, and implementation technologies—not popularity or paid placement.

Current public release