qwiksi

qwiksi is a CLI tool for signing PDFs without opening a UI. Point it at a PDF and it signs it.

• Detects and lists fillable form fields
• Manual x/y coordinates for flat or scanned PDFs with no form fields
• Can generate a signature image from your name in a cursive font

Table of Contents

• Install
  • Download a prebuilt binary
  • Build from source
• Usage
  • Basic Operation
  • 1. Don't have a signature image? Generate one
  • 2. Check for existing form fields
  • 3. Find coordinates
  • 4. Sign
    • Singing using manual coordinate mode
• Notes

Install

Download a prebuilt binary

Download the archive for your platform from the latest release, extract it and put qwiksi in your $PATH.

# macOS (Apple Silicon)
curl -L https://github.com/krisraven/qwiksi/releases/latest/download/qwiksi_darwin_arm64.tar.gz | tar xz
sudo mv qwiksi /usr/local/bin/

# macOS (Intel)
curl -L https://github.com/krisraven/qwiksi/releases/latest/download/qwiksi_darwin_amd64.tar.gz | tar xz
sudo mv qwiksi /usr/local/bin/

# Linux (x86_64)
curl -L https://github.com/krisraven/qwiksi/releases/latest/download/qwiksi_linux_amd64.tar.gz | tar xz
sudo mv qwiksi /usr/local/bin/

arm64 archives are also published for Linux, and Windows builds (amd64/arm64) are available as .zip - see the releases page for the full list. Each release includes a checksums.txt to verify your download against.

Build from source

Requires Go 1.25+.

go build -o qwiksi .

Produces a single static binary with no runtime dependencies.

Usage

Basic Operation

Most modern PDF documents use AcroForm fields, and hopefully the fields are labelled sensibly (a box that needs a signature is named Signature, and so on).

If your PDF is using this format, it means that you can just type qwiksi and then follow the prompts.

If the boxes are not named sensibly, then you'll have to get the fields.

If the PDF doesn't have AcroFields (if is flat or a scanned document), then you can use manual mode. You'll first need to get the coordinates.

1. Don't have a signature image? Generate one

qwiksi addsig --text "Your Name" [--font 1|2] [--size 100] [--color 000000] [--out signature.png]

Renders your name in a cursive font as a transparent-background PNG, ready to feed into sign --signature below. Two bundled fonts are embedded in the binary, no external files needed. Or skip this step entirely - sign below accepts --text directly and renders the signature on the fly, no PNG file in between.

--color is a 6-digit hex RGB value (default 000000, black).

2. Check for existing form fields

If the PDF is already a fillable form, it may have a signature field you can target by name:

qwiksi fields input.pdf

Prints each field's name, type, page numer and rect (the field's bounding box on the page ).

If there are none, you should use the coordinate-based flow, out-lined below, instead.

3. Find coordinates

qwiksi preview input.pdf --page 1 [--grid 50] [--out preview.pdf]

Stamps a labeled coordinate grid onto a copy of the given page and writes it to preview.pdf (default: <input>_preview.pdf). Open it in any PDF viewer to read off where you want the signature. Coordinates are in PDF points, measured from the bottom-left corner of the page, matching what sign --x --y expects below.

4. Sign

If the PDF has AcroSign fields qwiksi will place the image into the named AcroForm field. The signature is scaled to fit and centered within it:

qwiksi sign input.pdf --signature sig.png --field "Signature" [--output signed.pdf]

Singing using manual coordinate mode

Using this the image can be placed at an absolute position:

qwiksi sign input.pdf --signature sig.png --page 1 --x 150 --y 100 [--width 150] [--height 100] [--output signed.pdf]

--width/--height are optional; default is 150pt wide with height derived from the signature image's aspect ratio. Output defaults to <input>_signed.pdf.

Notes

• --signature accepts PNG or JPEG. For best results, use a PNG signature image with a transparent background (or use addsig to create one)
• Coordinates and dimensions are all in PDF points (1/72 inch), origin at the page's bottom-left corner. The same convention is used in preview when the grid is drawn, so numbers in the preview PDF map directly onto sign flags,
• Built using pdfcpu,
• The bundled fonts (Sacramento, Great Vibes) are Google Fonts under the SIL Open Font License 1.1.