List Configuration

The configuration file (config.yml) holds carefully selected default values for various aspects of pdfcpu’s operations.

In automatic mode, pdfcpu creates the config file and configuration directory when a configuration-dependent command requires them. Configuration-free commands such as version do not initialize configuration.

This command prints the configuration file location followed by its content exactly as stored. Command-line overrides are not reflected. Use config inspect for selected paths and configured policy.

Before printing, it verifies that the selected file uses the schema required by this pdfcpu build. An older schema produces the standard configuration reset required message and a reset command; a newer schema asks for a newer pdfcpu version. The command does not modify an incompatible file.

See also inspect configuration , validate configuration and the configuration directory documentation.

Usage

pdfcpu config list

Output

$ pdfcpu config list
config: /Users/horstrutter/Library/Application Support/pdfcpu/config.yml

# configuration schema version, independent of the pdfcpu version.
schemaVersion: 1

# toggle for inFilename extension check (.pdf)
checkFileNameExt: true

reader15: true

decodeAllStreams: false

# validationMode:
# ValidationStrict,
# ValidationRelaxed,
validationMode: ValidationRelaxed

# validate cross reference table right before writing.
postProcessValidate: true

# eol for writing:
# EolLF
# EolCR
# EolCRLF
eol: EolLF

writeObjectStream: true
writeXRefStream: true
encryptUsingAES: true

# encryptKeyLength: max 256
encryptKeyLength: 256

# permissions for encrypted files:
# 0xF0C3 (PermissionsNone)
# 0xF8C7 (PermissionsPrint)
# 0xFFFF (PermissionsAll)
# See more at model.PermissionFlags and PDF spec table 22
permissions: 0xF0C3

# displayUnit:
# points
# inches
# cm
# mm
unit: points

# timestamp format: yyyy-mm-dd hh:mm
# Switch month and year by using: 2006-02-01 15:04
# See more at https://pkg.go.dev/time@go1.22#pkg-constants
timestampFormat: 2006-01-02 15:04

# date format: yyyy-mm-dd
dateFormat: 2006-01-02

# toggle optimization.
optimize: true

# optimize page resources via content stream analysis.
optimizeResourceDicts: true

# optimize duplicate content streams across pages.
optimizeDuplicateContentStreams: false

# merge creates bookmarks.
createBookmarks: true

# viewer is expected to supply appearance streams for form fields.
needAppearances: false

# internet availability.
offline: false

# http timeout in seconds.
timeout: 5

# http timeout in seconds for CRL revocation checking.
timeoutCRL: 10

# http timeout in seconds for OCSP revocation checking.
timeoutOCSP: 10

# private hosts explicitly trusted for CRL and OCSP requests.
# example: [ocsp.example.corp, crl.example.corp]
allowedRevocationHosts: []

# preferred certificate revocation checking mechanism:
# crl
# ocsp
preferredCertRevocationChecker: crl

# limit form field content for display purposes when using pdfcpu form list.
# if > 0 affects the columns AltName, Default and Value.
formFieldListMaxColWidth: 0

# encoded stream bytes read from a PDF.
maxStreamBytes: 512 MB

# decoded stream bytes produced by filters.
maxDecodeBytes: 512 MB

# decoded/rendered image dimensions and buffers.
maxImagePixels: 100 MP
maxImageBytes: 512 MB

Validation mode

validationMode sets the default validation policy used when reading PDFs:

• ValidationStrict rejects specification violations detected by pdfcpu’s implemented validation rules.
• ValidationRelaxed is the default. It applies the same validation baseline while permitting supported real-world PDF writer deviations and safe, unambiguous recovery.

Both modes use the same security and resource limits. The setting controls conformance decisions; it does not certify complete ISO 32000 compliance or disable all low-level reader recovery.

See Validate for the full mode definitions and current validation scope.