Your design editor for web-to-print

Print businesses either configure a hosted editor or embed an SDK they control. The Web-to-Print Design Editor SDK is the second: a fully-featured design editor you embed directly into your application so customers and teams can personalize print products in the browser. One creative engine powers smart templates, variable data, and print-ready output across web, mobile, desktop, and server.

Print businesses that already have a platform and want the design step inside it: commercial printers with online ordering portals, print-on-demand and personalization platforms, direct mail and variable data providers, photo and gift retailers, packaging and label producers, and brand portals. Customers include Swiss Post, Postbuddy, and The Print Bar. It is not a storefront. If you need catalog, pricing, and order management as a package, a full web-to-print platform fits better. CE.SDK is the creation and validation layer you embed, so customers design in your product and files reach your press ready to print.

Anything that goes to print: business cards, postcards, brochures, flyers, stickers, labels, packaging, signage, large format, calendars, photo books, and apparel. Smart templates with placeholders and lockable layouts let you offer a guided design experience for any print product.

Yes. Interactive demos run on this page and at img.ly/demos, covering the design editor, product configurator, placeholders, cutout lines, and print-ready PDF export. A free trial with full feature access is available, so you can try every feature before committing. Contact our team to get started.

Yes. The UI is fully customizable. Show or hide tools, reposition and rename controls, apply your brand theme, and translate every label. A headless API is available when you want to build a completely custom interface.

Dedicated importers convert IDML, PSD, PDF, and PPTX files into editable CE.SDK scenes, not flat media assets, so the layouts your studio already produces become smart templates with placeholders and lockable regions. The engine also imports PNG, JPEG, SVG, GIF, WebP, and BMP as media, and exports PNG, JPEG, TGA, and print-ready PDF/X. It is storage-agnostic and supports custom asset sources, so you can connect any CDN, DAM, or stock provider.

Print rules are enforced at design time, not caught at preflight. Bleed, trim, and safe areas are set per product in the template, so customers cannot place content outside them. Design validation flags low-resolution images and out-of-page elements while the customer is still designing. The web editor can also restrict the color picker to CMYK, with automatic conversion for new pages and asset library elements. Files export as print-ready PDF/X to your existing MIS or order management system. CE.SDK covers creation and validation; imposition, job routing, and fulfillment stay with the systems you already run.

CE.SDK's engine works in RGB and exports RGB PDF. The Print-Ready PDF plugin converts that to CMYK using an ICC output profile and adds PDF/X compliance markers, running client-side in the browser or in Node. It defaults to PDF/X-4, which preserves live transparency and vector text, with PDF/X-3 as an opt-in fallback for older prepress workflows. Profiles ship for European offset (FOGRA39 / ISO Coated v2), US commercial (GRACoL 2006), and sRGB, or you can supply your printer's own. Because conversion is profile-based, original CMYK values are not preserved and minor shifts are possible. Named spot colors are the exception: they pass through by name, are written as device CMYK, and overprint on text is preserved. Bleeds and cutout lines are configurable.

Yes. Cutout paths are created from SVG or from the contour of existing elements, as continuous or perforated cuts, with adjustable offset. Cut lines export in the PDF as named spot colors, CutContour for solid cuts and PerfCutContour for perforated ones, the naming convention cutting printers recognize, so stickers, shaped labels, packaging, and apparel print areas go straight to production.

Yes. PDF export can generate an underlayer beneath the design, typically white ink, specified by a named spot color and adjustable with a positive or negative offset. This is what makes output usable on non-white and specialty substrates such as fabric, glass, and dark materials.

Yes. The editor is a browser-based HTML5 canvas with hardware-accelerated rendering and no plugin dependency, on current Chrome, Edge, Firefox, and Safari, desktop and mobile. Editing runs client-side, so customer artwork never leaves the browser unless you upload it. The same engine runs natively on iOS and Android and headlessly via Node, rendering identically across all three.

Yes. Text variables and smart templates merge structured data into a fixed layout, and the same templates render server-side through the headless API for batch generation. Output is print-ready PDF/X with configurable bleed and cutout lines, so customized files go straight to production. The same engine produces web-resolution assets from the same scene, keeping print and digital consistent.

Design validation ships as an open starter kit you integrate and customize. The reference checks flag low-resolution images and elements outside or protruding beyond the page while customers design, and you can extend them with your own print requirements before a file is ever exported.

The SDK ships native AI plugins for image generation, background removal, style transfer, and text-to-graphics, all surfaced inside the editor so customers can create print-ready artwork from a simple prompt. The plugins are model-agnostic: connect commercial or open-source models through custom endpoints using the open plugin architecture.

Low-resolution customer uploads are the most common cause of reprints. CE.SDK ships the Perfectly Clear plugin, which corrects exposure, contrast, color, sharpness, and noise in one pass, running inside the editor. Tie it to your DPI validation, so when the editor flags an image below threshold it offers to fix it rather than just blocking export. Generation, background removal, style transfer, and text-to-graphics are model-agnostic plugins. AI plugins are included in the CE.SDK license; you pay the model provider for inference.

Variable data printing merges structured data (names, addresses, offers) into a fixed template for high-volume runs. Creative automation goes further, programmatically generating full design variants and AI-assisted artwork. The SDK supports both through text variables, smart templates, and a headless rendering API.

Pricing is based on monthly active users (MAU) who interact with the editor, with flexible plans from startups through enterprises. Enterprise licenses add custom terms, dedicated support, SLAs, and volume discounts. Contact sales to discuss your requirements.

Yes. Commercial licenses allow full white-labeling: remove all IMG.LY branding and present the web-to-print editor as a native part of your product, with your own theme, tool arrangement, labels, and translations.