DEV Community: Forgelab Africa

Forgelab Image API — Resize, Compress, Watermark via REST

Forgelab Africa — Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:00:02 +0000

Shipping image processing features in your app just got easier.

Forgelab Image API handles the heavy lifting:

Resize images to any dimension
Compress without killing quality
Watermark with custom text or logo
Convert between PNG, JPEG, WebP

No servers to manage. No Sharp config headaches. Just POST your image and get back a processed version.

Starting at $5/month. Try it at forgelab.africa

Forgelab Image API — Resize, Compress, Watermark via REST

Forgelab Africa — Mon, 13 Jul 2026 10:00:04 +0000

Shipping image processing features in your app just got easier.

Forgelab Image API handles the heavy lifting:

Resize images to any dimension
Compress without killing quality
Watermark with custom text or logo
Convert between PNG, JPEG, WebP

No servers to manage. No Sharp config headaches. Just POST your image and get back a processed version.

Starting at $5/month. Try it at forgelab.africa

Forgelab Build in Public — Week 2 Update

Forgelab Africa — Fri, 10 Jul 2026 10:00:02 +0000

What we shipped this week:

QR Code API: generate PNG/SVG/base64, decode from images
PDF to JSON API: extract structured data from PDFs
Blog: 7 SEO articles published
Security: UFW active, rate limiting on all endpoints
Backups: automated daily

Numbers:

APIs live: 4 (PDF, Image, PDF-to-JSON, QR Code)
Waitlist signups: 15
Paying customers: 2
MRR: $20/month
Revenue goal: $25,000 in 6 months

What's next:

Invoice Generator API
Free /qr-generator browser tool for SEO traffic
Unified developer dashboard
Docs section for QR API

Building a lean API platform that competes globally. Following along? Ask me anything.

forgelab.africa

PDF API is live on Forgelab

Forgelab Africa — Mon, 06 Jul 2026 10:00:02 +0000

We just shipped the Forgelab PDF API — a fast, affordable REST API for developers who need to handle PDF files without the hassle.

What it does:

Merge multiple PDFs into one
Split PDFs by page ranges
Compress PDFs to reduce file size
Convert PDFs to images (PNG/JPEG)

Pricing: Starts at $5/month for 100 calls/month. No hidden fees.

Quick start:

curl -X POST https://www.forgelab.africa/api/pdf/merge \
  -H "X-API-Key: your_key" \
  -F "files=@doc1.pdf" -F "files=@doc2.pdf"

Building a Developer API Business: Week 1 Recap

Forgelab Africa — Fri, 03 Jul 2026 10:00:02 +0000

Starting a developer API business in 2026. Here's week 1:

Shipped:

PDF API (merge, split, compress, convert)
Image API (resize, compress, watermark, convert)
Billing system (Stripe subscriptions)
Rate limiting per tier

Numbers:

APIs live: 2
API endpoints: 10+
Waitlist signups: growing
Revenue: early stage

Goal: $25k revenue in 6 months through API subscriptions

Tech decisions:

SQLite over PostgreSQL (no ops overhead until 10k users)
Node.js + Express (fast to ship)
Stripe (best developer experience for billing)

Following along? I'll post weekly. Ask me anything.

PDF API is live on Forgelab

Forgelab Africa — Mon, 29 Jun 2026 10:00:02 +0000

We just shipped the Forgelab PDF API — a fast, affordable REST API for developers who need to handle PDF files without the hassle.

What it does:

Merge multiple PDFs into one
Split PDFs by page ranges
Compress PDFs to reduce file size
Convert PDFs to images (PNG/JPEG)

Pricing: Starts at $5/month for 100 calls/month. No hidden fees.

Quick start:

curl -X POST https://www.forgelab.africa/api/pdf/merge \
  -H "X-API-Key: your_key" \
  -F "files=@doc1.pdf" -F "files=@doc2.pdf"

Forgelab Build in Public — Week 2 Update

Forgelab Africa — Fri, 26 Jun 2026 10:00:02 +0000

What we shipped this week:

QR Code API: generate PNG/SVG/base64, decode from images
PDF to JSON API: extract structured data from PDFs
Blog: 7 SEO articles published
Security: UFW active, rate limiting on all endpoints
Backups: automated daily

Numbers:

APIs live: 4 (PDF, Image, PDF-to-JSON, QR Code)
Waitlist signups: 15
Paying customers: 2
MRR: $20/month
Revenue goal: $25,000 in 6 months

What's next:

Invoice Generator API
Free /qr-generator browser tool for SEO traffic
Unified developer dashboard
Docs section for QR API

Building a lean API platform that competes globally. Following along? Ask me anything.

forgelab.africa

PDF API is live on Forgelab

Forgelab Africa — Mon, 22 Jun 2026 10:00:02 +0000

We just shipped the Forgelab PDF API — a fast, affordable REST API for developers who need to handle PDF files without the hassle.

What it does:

Merge multiple PDFs into one
Split PDFs by page ranges
Compress PDFs to reduce file size
Convert PDFs to images (PNG/JPEG)

Pricing: Starts at $5/month for 100 calls/month. No hidden fees.

Quick start:

curl -X POST https://www.forgelab.africa/api/pdf/merge \
  -H "X-API-Key: your_key" \
  -F "files=@doc1.pdf" -F "files=@doc2.pdf"

How to Generate QR Codes via REST API — No Library Needed

Forgelab Africa — Wed, 17 Jun 2026 10:00:02 +0000

We just shipped the Forgelab QR Code API.

Generate a QR code in any language, any environment, with one HTTP request:

curl -X POST https://www.forgelab.africa/api/qr/generate \
  -H 'X-Api-Key: YOUR_KEY' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"text":"https://your-site.com","format":"png","size":400}' \
  --output qr-code.png

Supports:

PNG (for email/web)
SVG (for print — resolution-independent)
Base64 data URL (embed directly in JSON or HTML)
Custom colors for branded QR codes
QR decoding from uploaded images

Free tier: 5 calls/month. No card required.

Full guide: forgelab.africa/blog/qr-code-api-generate-decode

Forgelab Build in Public — Week 2 Update

Forgelab Africa — Fri, 12 Jun 2026 10:00:01 +0000

What we shipped this week:

QR Code API: generate PNG/SVG/base64, decode from images
PDF to JSON API: extract structured data from PDFs
Blog: 7 SEO articles published
Security: UFW active, rate limiting on all endpoints
Backups: automated daily

Numbers:

APIs live: 4 (PDF, Image, PDF-to-JSON, QR Code)
Waitlist signups: 15
Paying customers: 2
MRR: $20/month
Revenue goal: $25,000 in 6 months

What's next:

Invoice Generator API
Free /qr-generator browser tool for SEO traffic
Unified developer dashboard
Docs section for QR API

Building a lean API platform that competes globally. Following along? Ask me anything.

forgelab.africa

PDF API is live on Forgelab

Forgelab Africa — Mon, 08 Jun 2026 10:00:02 +0000

We just shipped the Forgelab PDF API — a fast, affordable REST API for developers who need to handle PDF files without the hassle.

What it does:

Merge multiple PDFs into one
Split PDFs by page ranges
Compress PDFs to reduce file size
Convert PDFs to images (PNG/JPEG)

Pricing: Starts at $5/month for 100 calls/month. No hidden fees.

Quick start:

curl -X POST https://www.forgelab.africa/api/pdf/merge \
  -H "X-API-Key: your_key" \
  -F "files=@doc1.pdf" -F "files=@doc2.pdf"

Why your app shouldn't handle image processing directly

Forgelab Africa — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 10:00:02 +0000

Every time you add Sharp, Jimp, or ImageMagick to your app, you're adding:

Binary dependencies that break in CI
Memory spikes from large file processing
Blocked event loops on CPU-heavy operations
Complex temp file management

A better pattern: offload to a dedicated microservice or API.

Benefits:

Your main app stays lightweight
Image processing scales independently
No dependency headaches
Pay only for what you use

Forgelab Image API handles resize, compress, watermark, and convert — starting at $5/month.

forgelab.africa