PDF Snake

A client sends finished artwork for a folded pamphlet on no particular schedule. The file lands in Dropbox and the agent picks it up, reads the byte balance to confirm the job can complete, and calls Impose Document with the steps file that was designed and approved for this client's standard pamphlet: trim size, bleed, fold pattern, cutter marks and a color bar all baked in. The result comes back as a ZIP with the page manifest, and the proof plus the manifest post to the production channel in Slack. What used to be a queue item behind one operator becomes a job that is ready for approval within minutes of arrival.

Business cards, postcards, labels and stickers are wasteful to print one design per sheet. A Grid or Gang steps file arranges multiple copies or multiple designs on a single press sheet with the correct gutters and cutter marks. The agent applies it to every artwork file from the week's orders, using the Split step where a job needs to come back as separate files and choosing the ZIP output format so the page manifest is included. Fulfillment records in Printful or the print partner's system get the imposed file attached, and the sheet count feeds the material order.

PDF Snake bills by bytes transferred, so a large overnight batch can exhaust the balance partway through and leave half a job imposed. On Low Byte Balance fires when the remaining balance drops below a threshold, once per crossing rather than repeatedly, and does not fire again until the balance recovers and falls back. The agent uses that event to post an alert to production and, where a top-up path exists, to raise the request before the next batch is scheduled. Get Byte Balance runs as a precondition on any large run, so a batch either starts with enough budget to finish or does not start.