getpdf

Posted on Nov 12

Generate a PDF from JSON in one API call (try it free, no signup)

#pdf #api #python #javascript

Most apps end up generating invoices, receipts, or certificates. You can run headless Chrome yourself, or you can send a template and some JSON and get a PDF back.

We built getpdf, a template-to-PDF REST API. You can try it in the browser with no account at getpdf.dev/#try. Pick invoice, receipt, or certificate, edit the fields, and download the PDF. That playground is rate-limited, doesn’t accept raw HTML or URLs, and adds a “Made with getpdf” footer. The API, once you have a free key, is less restricted.

There’s a short walkthrough on the same page at getpdf.dev/#demo.

What you get

Five starter templates: invoice, receipt, certificate, report, and letter
Or your own Handlebars / HTML template and JSON data
Sandboxed Chromium: fresh context per job, JavaScript off by default
Localhost, private IPs, link-local metadata addresses, and file:// URLs are blocked
The PDF is streamed back and is not stored
Failed renders don’t count toward your monthly quota
Free plan: 100 documents/month. Paid plans start at $12/month for 3,000 documents, with a 3-day free trial that auto-renews until you cancel

An MCP server for AI agents is coming, but the package is not on npm yet. Use the REST API from your app or agent for now. We’ll show the planned config at the end so you know what’s coming.

Try it in the browser first

Open https://getpdf.dev/#try, choose Invoice, and hit render. That’s the whole point of this post: you can play with a real PDF before you write any code.

When you’re ready to call the API, create a free key from the site and use Authorization: Bearer df_…. Base URL is https://getpdf.dev.

curl

curl -X POST https://getpdf.dev/v1/render \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $KEY" \
  -H "content-type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "template_id": "invoice",
    "data": {
      "number": "INV-1001",
      "currency": "$",
      "from": {"name": "Acme Studio LLC"},
      "to": {"name": "Globex Corp"},
      "items": [
        {"description": "Design work", "qty": 10, "price": 120},
        {"description": "Hosting", "qty": 1, "price": 49}
      ]
    },
    "options": {"format": "A4", "landscape": false}
  }' \
  -o invoice.pdf

You can also send an inline template instead of a starter id:

curl -X POST https://getpdf.dev/v1/render \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $KEY" \
  -H "content-type: application/json" \
  -d '{"template":"<h1>Hello {{name}}</h1>","data":{"name":"World"}}' \
  -o hello.pdf

Helpers on the starters include {{money v currency}}, {{mul a b}}, and {{sum items "qty" "price"}}. Custom templates are private to your key (up to 50 per key).

Node.js

import { writeFile } from "node:fs/promises";

const res = await fetch("https://getpdf.dev/v1/render", {
  method: "POST",
  headers: {
    Authorization: `Bearer ${process.env.GETPDF_KEY}`,
    "content-type": "application/json",
  },
  body: JSON.stringify({
    template_id: "invoice",
    data: {
      number: "INV-1001",
      currency: "$",
      items: [{ description: "Design work", qty: 10, price: 120 }],
    },
    options: { format: "Letter" },
  }),
});

if (!res.ok) {
  throw new Error(`${res.status} ${await res.text()}`);
}

await writeFile("invoice.pdf", Buffer.from(await res.arrayBuffer()));
console.log("usage", res.headers.get("x-docforge-usage"));

Python

import os
import requests

response = requests.post(
    "https://getpdf.dev/v1/render",
    headers={"Authorization": f"Bearer {os.environ['GETPDF_KEY']}"},
    json={
        "template_id": "invoice",
        "data": {
            "number": "INV-1001",
            "currency": "$",
            "items": [{"description": "Design work", "qty": 10, "price": 120}],
        },
        "options": {"format": "Letter"},
    },
    timeout=30,
)
response.raise_for_status()
open("invoice.pdf", "wb").write(response.content)
print("usage", response.headers.get("x-docforge-usage"))

You can also create a template once and reuse it:

curl -X POST https://getpdf.dev/v1/templates   -H "Authorization: Bearer $KEY"   -H "content-type: application/json"   -d '{"id":"quote","name":"Quote","source":"<h1>Quote for {{client}}</h1>","sample":{"client":"Initech"}}'

Then render with "template_id": "quote". Starter ids (invoice, receipt, and so on) are read-only. Other keys cannot see your templates.

Useful errors: 400 bad input, 401 bad key, 402 monthly quota reached, 504 render timeout. Input is capped at 2 MB, output at 20 MB, and each render at 20 seconds.

MCP setup (not published yet)

A stdio MCP server is planned with tools to list_templates, get_template, create_template, update_template, delete_template, and render_pdf. The getpdf-mcp package is not on npm, and there is no public GitHub repo yet, so npx -y getpdf-mcp will not work. If you want PDFs from an agent today, have the agent call POST /v1/render with your key.

When the package is published, the client config is expected to look like this (do not install it yet):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "getpdf": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "getpdf-mcp"],
      "env": { "DOCFORGE_API_KEY": "df_..." }
    }
  }
}

We’ll update the docs at getpdf.dev/docs.html when that ships.

Try it

Start in the playground, no signup: https://getpdf.dev/#try. If you want a key for your app, the free plan is 100 documents a month. Paid plans have a 3-day free trial, then $12, $39, or $79 a month until you cancel.

If you try it, we’d like to know whether the starter invoice is close enough to use as-is, or whether you immediately need your own template.

Disclosure: this post is from the getpdf team.

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