I built a free API to extract invoice data using Claude AI — no templates needed

#webdev #javascript #api #productivity

If you've ever had to parse invoices manually — or build a system that does — you know how painful it is.
Every vendor has a different format. Traditional OCR tools require custom templates per layout.
Enterprise solutions (Azure Document Intelligence, AWS Textract) work, but they're expensive and complex to set up.

I built InvoiceAI API to solve this: submit any invoice image URL or base64 image, get back structured JSON. No templates. No training. Powered by Claude AI.

What it does

Extracts vendor, customer, line items, totals, tax, dates
Works on invoices, receipts, and purchase orders
Accepts image URL or base64
Returns clean, structured JSON every time

Quick example (Node.js)

const response = await fetch('https://invoiceai-api.p.rapidapi.com/invoice', {
  method: 'POST',
  headers: {
    'Content-Type': 'application/json',
    'X-RapidAPI-Key': 'YOUR_API_KEY',
    'X-RapidAPI-Host': 'invoiceai-api.p.rapidapi.com'
  },
  body: JSON.stringify({
    url: 'https://example.com/invoice.jpg'
  })
});

const data = await response.json();
console.log(data);

Example output

{
  "vendor": {
    "name": "Acme Corp",
    "address": "123 Main St, New York, NY"
  },
  "invoice_number": "INV-2024-0042",
  "date": "2024-03-15",
  "due_date": "2024-04-15",
  "line_items": [
    { "description": "Web Development Services", "quantity": 1, "unit_price": 1500.00, "total": 1500.00 },
    { "description": "Hosting (Annual)", "quantity": 1, "unit_price": 200.00, "total": 200.00 }
  ],
  "subtotal": 1700.00,
  "tax": 153.00,
  "total": 1853.00,
  "currency": "USD"
}

Python example

import requests

url = "https://invoiceai-api.p.rapidapi.com/invoice"
payload = { "url": "https://example.com/invoice.jpg" }
headers = {
    "Content-Type": "application/json",
    "X-RapidAPI-Key": "YOUR_API_KEY",
    "X-RapidAPI-Host": "invoiceai-api.p.rapidapi.com"
}

response = requests.post(url, json=payload, headers=headers)
print(response.json())

Use cases

Accounting automation — auto-import invoices into your ERP or bookkeeping system
Expense management apps — let users snap a receipt and auto-fill expense reports
Procurement workflows — extract PO data without manual data entry
Freelance invoicing tools — parse client invoices for payment tracking