PrintPit - Virtual Print Server

PrintPit is a containerized CUPS print server that can replace the EC2-based CUPS servers in non-production and PREP environments. It accepts print jobs and renders them as PDFs instead of sending them to physical printers, providing a lightweight, scalable solution for testing print functionality.

Overview

PrintPit serves as a drop-in replacement for EC2 CUPS servers in testing environments, offering:

• Full CUPS Compatibility: Accepts print jobs via IPP protocol just like production CUPS servers. It actually IS running a CUPS server.
• PDF Rendering: All print jobs are saved as PDFs
• Web Interface: Devs and Testers can browse and download PDFs through FileBrowser UI
• REST API: Programmatic access for automated testing (VFT)
• Auto-cleanup: Configurable retention period for PDFs
• Cost Efficiency: Eliminates need for EC2 PRINT instances in non-production and PREP if desired

Architecture

PrintPit replaces the traditional EC2-based CUPS infrastructure:

Traditional Setup (Production)

VOL Application → EC2 CUPS Server → Physical Printers

PrintPit Setup (Non-Production/PREP)

VOL Application → PrintPit Container → PDF Files → FileBrowser UI/API

Deployment

PrintPit is deployed to ECS Fargate in non-production environments using a single hostname with different ports:

Environment	CUPS Endpoint	FileBrowser UI	Status
Dev	printpit.dev.olcs.dev-dvsacloud.uk:631	https://printpit.dev.olcs.dev-dvsacloud.uk:8631	Active
Int	printpit.int.olcs.dev-dvsacloud.uk:631	https://printpit.int.olcs.dev-dvsacloud.uk:8631	Active
QA	printpit.qa.olcs.dev-dvsacloud.uk:631	https://printpit.qa.olcs.dev-dvsacloud.uk:8631	Active

Local Development

PrintPit is integrated into the main VOL Docker Compose setup and allows local print testing.

# Start PrintPit
docker compose up -d printpit

# Access FileBrowser UI
http://localhost:8631

# CUPS endpoint (internal to Docker network)
printpit:631

Configuration

The API automatically connects to PrintPit in local development if using the local.php.dist suggested config.

FileBrowser API

FileBrowser provides a REST API for programmatic access to PDFs, enabling automated testing scenarios including VFT integration.

API Endpoints

All endpoints are unauthenticated when running with --noauth flag (this is test infrastructure. Auth is possible if desired).

List PDFs

GET https://printpit.{env}.olcs.dev-dvsacloud.uk:8631/api/resources/

Returns JSON array of all PDFs with metadata:

{
    "items": [
        {
            "path": "No-Auth_Test__enable-job_1.pdf",
            "name": "No-Auth_Test__enable-job_1.pdf",
            "size": 3814,
            "extension": ".pdf",
            "modified": "2025-08-31T16:17:47.638222911+01:00",
            "mode": 438,
            "isDir": false,
            "isSymlink": false,
            "type": "pdf"
        }
    ],
    "numFiles": 1,
    "sorting": {
        "by": "name",
        "asc": false
    }
}

Download PDF

GET https://printpit.{env}.olcs.dev-dvsacloud.uk:8631/api/raw/job_001_document.pdf

Returns the PDF file directly for download or processing.

Delete PDF

DELETE https://printpit.{env}.olcs.dev-dvsacloud.uk:8631/api/resources/job_001_document.pdf

Removes the specified PDF from storage.

Search PDFs

GET https://printpit.{env}.olcs.dev-dvsacloud.uk:8631/api/search?query=licence

Search for PDFs by filename.

Environment Variables

Variable	Default	Description
CLEANUP_HOURS	6	Hours before automatic PDF deletion
TZ	Europe/London	Container timezone

Building and Deployment

PrintPit uses a standalone GitHub Actions workflow for deployment:

# Manual trigger with version
workflow_dispatch:
    inputs:
        version:
            description: "Version tag (e.g., 1.0.0)"
        push_to_prod:
            description: "Push to production ECR"
            type: boolean

Build Process

1. Builds x86_64 architecture image
2. Tags with version and git SHA
3. Pushes to ECR and GHCR registries
4. Optionally promotes to production ECR

Trigger Deployment

# Via GitHub UI
Navigate to Actions → PrintPit Workflow → Run workflow

# Via GitHub CLI
gh workflow run printpit.yaml -f version=1.0.0 -f push_to_prod=false