Troubleshooting

Cache management

WASM engine binaries are cached at:

~/.cache/bentopdf/engines/<engine-name>/<version>/

List cached engines

bentopdf cache list

Output example:

[email protected]  83.2 MB  ~/.cache/bentopdf/engines/libreoffice/2.6.0/

Clear the cache

bentopdf cache clear

This deletes all cached binaries. They will be re-downloaded on next use. Use this if an engine is corrupted or you want to free up disk space.

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Common errors

Error: no engine registered for extension ".xyz"

The file extension is not in bentopdf’s format registry. Either the format is unsupported, or the file has the wrong extension.

Fix: Check Supported Formats. If the format is compatible with an existing engine, use --engine to force it:

bentopdf to-pdf notes.txt --engine pandoc

Error: engine download failed

The WASM binary could not be downloaded (network error, corporate proxy, or npm registry issue).

Fix:

1. Check your internet connection and proxy settings.
2. Try running with npm config set registry https://registry.npmjs.org if behind a custom registry.
3. Try npx bentopdf-sh instead of global install — npx handles resolution differently.

Exit code: 3

Error: Cannot use a single filename output for multiple inputs

You passed --output report.pdf with multiple input files. A filename output only works with a single input.

Fix: Pass a directory instead:

bentopdf to-pdf *.docx --output ./pdfs/

LibreOffice WASM crashes / runs out of memory

LibreOffice WASM requires significant memory (~500 MB) for large Office documents.

Fix:

• Increase Node.js memory limit: NODE_OPTIONS=--max-old-space-size=2048 bentopdf to-pdf large.docx
• Convert large files one at a time rather than in batch.

Tip

If you regularly convert large Office files, npm install -g bentopdf-sh (global install) is faster than npx because it avoids re-resolving the package on each run.

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Getting help

• GitHub Issues — bug reports and feature requests
• CLI Reference — full flag documentation