What I built
Forgelab is a developer API platform that handles the boring document and image work so you can ship faster.
Right now it does four things:
- PDF API — merge, split, compress, convert
- Image API — resize, compress, convert, watermark
- Invoice API — generate professional PDF invoices from JSON
- QR Code API — generate and decode QR codes
The problem it solves
Every SaaS app eventually needs to generate invoices, resize images, or process PDFs. You either spend a week building it yourself, or you pay $99/month for a service that does one thing.
Forgelab bundles all of it under one API key.
How it works
# Generate an invoice in one API call
curl -X POST https://api.forgelab.africa/api/invoice/generate \
-H "X-API-Key: YOUR_KEY" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{
"client": { "name": "Acme Corp", "email": "billing@acme.com" },
"items": [{ "description": "Web development", "quantity": 10, "unit_price": 150 }],
"currency": "USD",
"template": "modern"
}' \
--output invoice.pdf
Pricing
- Free: 5 calls/month, no card
- Starter: $5/month — 100 calls
- Pro: $15/month — 1,000 calls
- Business: $30/month — 10,000 calls
One subscription works across all APIs.
Try it
I built this to scratch my own itch. Would love feedback from anyone who has dealt with invoice generation or PDF handling in their apps.
Top comments (1)
pdf plus image plus invoice over one api with a free tier and no card is a generous developer offer - usually the card wall appears immediately. what limits did you set on the free tier to keep it sustainable?