Certify - Certificate Generator

A flexible, reusable Python tool to generate personalized PDF certificates for course attendees using ReportLab.

Primarily designed for South Thames Paediatric Endocrine Group (STPEG), but built to be customizable for any organization.

Features

• ✨ Generate professional PDF certificates from command line
• 📝 Customizable organizer name and logo
• 🎨 Professional styling with organization branding
• 📆 Automatic folder organisation by year and event
• 🔧 Easy-to-use interactive mode
• 📦 Built with ReportLab for high-quality PDF output
• 🔄 Fully reusable - designed for any organization

Sample Certificate

Here's an example of a generated certificate for Dr Simon Chapman attending the STPEG Autumn Meeting 2025:

See the full PDF sample for the complete certificate.

Setup

This project uses uv as the Python package manager for fast, reliable dependency management.

Prerequisites

• Python 3.13+
• uv (install via: curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh)

Installation

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/eatyourpeas/Certify.git
   cd Certify

2. Activate the environment:

   source ~/.local/bin/env
   source .venv/bin/activate

3. Dependencies are already installed:

   • reportlab - PDF generation
   • pillow - Image processing

Usage

Interactive Mode (Recommended)

# Interactive (packaged)
uv run python -m certify.generate_certificate

You will be prompted to enter:

• Event name - Name of the course/conference
• Event year - Year (defaults to current year)
• Organiser name - Organization hosting the event (defaults to "South Thames Paediatric Endocrine Group")
• Organiser logo - Path to PNG logo file (defaults to "logo.png")
• Attendee's name - Name of the certificate recipient
• Course/event title - Title of the course attended
• Subtitle - Subtitle displayed below the course title (optional)
• Location - Where the event took place
• Date - Event date (e.g., "27th May 2024")
• Host hospital - Hospital name (optional, for institutional context)
• Host trust - NHS trust name (optional, for institutional context)
• Host name - Individual organizer (e.g., "Dr Charlotte Jackson") (optional)
• Output filename - Where to save the certificate (optional, auto-generated from attendee name)

Programmatic Mode

Use the create_certificate() function in your own scripts:

from certify import create_certificate

output_file = create_certificate(
    attendee_name="Jane Doe",
    course_title="Endocrinology Workshop",
   subtitle="Advanced Concepts in Paediatric Endocrinology",
    location="Royal Alexandra Children's Hospital",
    date="27th May 2024",
    organiser="Your Organization Name",
    organiser_logo="path/to/your/logo.png",
    host_hospital="Kingston Hospital",
    host_trust="NHS Trust",
    host_name="Dr John Smith",
    output_path="jane_doe_certificate.pdf"
)

print(f"Certificate saved to: {output_file}")

Batch Mode (CSV / TXT)

Generate certificates for many attendees at once using batch_generate.py.

CSV: By default the importer is optimised for EventBrite exports — it recognises the exact column names Attendee first name and Attendee Surname (including casing and spaces). It will also accept common single-column name headers such as name, full_name, or attendee_name.

Additional per-row override columns are supported: output_filename, host_name, organiser, organiser_logo, course_title, subtitle, location, date, host_hospital, host_trust.

TXT: a simple newline-separated list of attendee names.

Example (EventBrite CSV):

uv run python -m certify.batch_generate --input attendees.csv \
   --event-name "STPEG Autumn Meeting" \
   --course-title "STPEG Autumn Meeting 2025" \
   --location "Brighton" \
   --date "27th May 2025" \
   --zip

If your CSV uses different column names you can override the field mapping:

uv run python -m certify.batch_generate --input attendees.csv \
   --first-name-field "Given Name" --surname-field "Family Name" \
   --event-name "STPEG Autumn Meeting" --course-title "..." --location "..." --date "..."

The script creates a folder named <year>_<eventname> and writes one PDF per attendee. Use --zip to create a ZIP archive containing all generated certificates.

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Email preparation

batch_generate.py can also prepare email jobs for each attendee so an external service or web layer can send them. By default the importer recognises the EventBrite export columns Attendee first name, Attendee Surname and Attendee email and will map email addresses to generated certificate files.

CLI flags:

• --email-field (default: Attendee email) — CSV column to read recipient addresses from.
• --prepare-emails — prepare and print a list of email jobs mapping recipient -> certificate file (does not send).

Behaviour notes:

• generate_batch() returns a dict including email_jobs, an array of simple objects with the keys: recipient, name, filepath, subject, body, and meta. This is intended to be consumed by a service layer (FastAPI/Flask) responsible for sending.
• Duplicate attendees are deduplicated (one certificate generated) and the run summary logs duplicates and skipped rows.
• Sending emails is intentionally left to the consuming service. Implementations can use SMTP, Microsoft Graph, or platform-specific adapters to send or create drafts.

Example: prepare email jobs (no send)

uv run python -m certify.batch_generate --input attendees.csv \
   --event-name "STPEG Autumn Meeting" \
   --course-title "STPEG Autumn Meeting 2025" \
   --location "Brighton" \
   --date "27th May 2025" \
   --prepare-emails

Quick Test

To test with default STPEG values:

# Quick test (packaged entry points)
uv run python -m certify.generate_certificate

This generates certificate_sample.pdf with example data.

Customization

For Different Organizations

1. Logo Setup:

   • Place your organization's logo as a PNG file in the project directory
   • Use any filename (pass the path to organiser_logo parameter)
   • Recommended size: At least 500×500 pixels for best quality

2. Default Values:

   • Change the defaults in main.py function parameters
   • Or specify custom values every time via interactive mode

3. Certificate Appearance: Edit certify/generate_certificate.py to customize:

   • Colors: Line 35 (org_color = colors.HexColor("#003366"))
   • Fonts: Lines 34-35
   • Layout/positioning: Adjust the inch values in draw functions
   • Border style: Lines 41-44

Example: Using a Different Logo

uv run python -m certify.generate_certificate
# When prompted:
# Organiser logo: /path/to/my_logo.png

Example: Using for a Different Organization

uv run python -m certify.generate_certificate
# When prompted:
# Event name: AI Workshop 2024
# Organiser name: TechCorp Training Institute
# Organiser logo: techcorp_logo.png
# ... continue with other details

File Organization

Certificates are automatically organized into folders by year and event name:

Certify/
├── 2024_STPEG_Training_Conference/
│   ├── michael_rogers.pdf
│   ├── sarah_mitchell.pdf
│   └── ...
├── 2024_Advanced_Workshop/
│   ├── jane_doe.pdf
│   └── ...
└── main.py

Project Structure

Certify/
├── certify/                   # Main package
│   ├── __init__.py           # Package exports (create_certificate, generate_batch)
│   ├── generate_certificate.py # Core certificate generation function
│   └── batch_generate.py      # Batch processing and email job preparation
├── tests/                     # Unit tests
├── pyproject.toml             # Project configuration & dependencies
├── uv.lock                    # Locked dependency versions
├── logo.png                   # Default STPEG logo (customize for your organization)
├── LICENSE                    # MIT License
├── README.md                  # This file
└── [year_eventname]/          # Auto-generated folders for organized certificates
   └── certificates.pdf

Project Management with uv

Install a New Dependency

uv add package_name

Run a Script

uv run python script.py

Sync Environment

uv sync

Troubleshooting

uv command not found

Ensure uv is in your PATH:

source ~/.local/bin/env

Add to your shell profile (~/.zshrc or ~/.bashrc):

export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"

Logo not displaying

• Ensure the PNG file exists at the specified path
• Check file permissions (should be readable)
• Verify the file is a valid PNG image
• Use absolute paths if relative paths don't work

Module not found errors

Make sure you're using uv run:

uv run python -m certify.generate_certificate

Or activate the virtual environment and use the module syntax:

source .venv/bin/activate
python -m certify.generate_certificate

Next Steps

• ✅ Customize the organiser and organiser_logo for your organization
• 🌐 Build a web interface with Flask or FastAPI
• 💾 Integrate with a database for auto-generating certificates on course completion
• 📧 Add email functionality to automatically send certificates to attendees

Defaults (STPEG Configuration)

This tool is optimized for South Thames Paediatric Endocrine Group with the following defaults:

• Organiser: South Thames Paediatric Endocrine Group
• Logo: logo.png
• Host Hospital: Royal Alexandra Children's Hospital
• Host Trust: Brighton & Sussex University Hospitals

All parameters can be overridden for use with other organizations.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

Support

For issues, feature requests, or to adapt this for your organization, please reach out through GitHub.

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Made with ❤️ for STPEG and shared for the community