cURL Examples

Example cURL commands for PDF API.

cURL Examples

cURL is perfect for testing the API from the command line or scripting PDF generation.

Basic Markdown to PDF

curl -X POST https://api.pdfapi.dev/v1/pdf/markdown \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer sk_live_your_key_here" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"markdown": "# Hello World\n\nThis is my first PDF!"}' \
  --output hello.pdf

With Theme and Options

curl -X POST https://api.pdfapi.dev/v1/pdf/markdown \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer sk_live_your_key_here" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "markdown": "# Monthly Report\n\n## Summary\n\n- Revenue: $45,678\n- Users: 1,234",
    "theme": "corporate",
    "options": {
      "format": "A4",
      "margin": {
        "top": "25mm",
        "bottom": "25mm",
        "left": "20mm",
        "right": "20mm"
      }
    }
  }' \
  --output report.pdf

HTML to PDF

curl -X POST https://api.pdfapi.dev/v1/pdf/html \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer sk_live_your_key_here" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "html": "<!DOCTYPE html><html><head><style>body { font-family: Arial; padding: 40px; } h1 { color: #2563eb; }</style></head><body><h1>Invoice #1234</h1><p>Thank you for your business!</p></body></html>",
    "options": {
      "format": "A4",
      "print_background": true
    }
  }' \
  --output invoice.pdf

URL to PDF

curl -X POST https://api.pdfapi.dev/v1/pdf/url \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer sk_live_your_key_here" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "url": "https://example.com",
    "options": {
      "format": "A4",
      "wait_for": 2000,
      "full_page": true
    }
  }' \
  --output webpage.pdf

Template to PDF

curl -X POST https://api.pdfapi.dev/v1/pdf/template \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer sk_live_your_key_here" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "template": "invoice",
    "data": {
      "invoice_number": "INV-2025-001",
      "date": "2025-01-18",
      "customer": {
        "name": "Acme Corp",
        "email": "billing@acme.com"
      },
      "items": [
        {"description": "Widget Pro", "quantity": 2, "unit_price": 29.99}
      ],
      "total": 59.98
    }
  }' \
  --output invoice.pdf

Using Environment Variables

Store your API key in an environment variable:

export PDFAPI_KEY="sk_live_your_key_here"

curl -X POST https://api.pdfapi.dev/v1/pdf/markdown \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $PDFAPI_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"markdown": "# Hello World"}' \
  --output hello.pdf

Reading Markdown from File

# Create a markdown file
cat > document.md << 'EOF'
# Project Proposal

## Overview

This proposal outlines our plan for...

## Timeline

| Phase | Duration | Deliverables |
|-------|----------|--------------|
| Planning | 2 weeks | Requirements doc |
| Development | 6 weeks | Working prototype |
| Testing | 2 weeks | QA report |

## Budget

Total: $50,000
EOF

# Convert to PDF using jq to properly escape
curl -X POST https://api.pdfapi.dev/v1/pdf/markdown \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $PDFAPI_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d "$(jq -n --rawfile md document.md '{markdown: $md, theme: "corporate"}')" \
  --output proposal.pdf

Error Handling

Check the HTTP status code and parse error responses:

response=$(curl -s -w "\n%{http_code}" -X POST https://api.pdfapi.dev/v1/pdf/markdown \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $PDFAPI_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"markdown": ""}')

status_code=$(echo "$response" | tail -n1)
body=$(echo "$response" | sed '$d')

if [ "$status_code" -eq 200 ]; then
  echo "$body" > document.pdf
  echo "PDF saved successfully"
else
  echo "Error: $body"
fi

Batch Processing

Process multiple files in a loop:

#!/bin/bash

for file in documents/*.md; do
  filename=$(basename "$file" .md)
  echo "Converting $file..."

  curl -s -X POST https://api.pdfapi.dev/v1/pdf/markdown \
    -H "Authorization: Bearer $PDFAPI_KEY" \
    -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
    -d "$(jq -n --rawfile md "$file" '{markdown: $md}')" \
    --output "output/${filename}.pdf"

  # Respect rate limits
  sleep 1
done

Check Usage

curl https://api.pdfapi.dev/v1/usage \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $PDFAPI_KEY" | jq

Output:

{
  "data": {
    "plan": "pro",
    "pdfs_generated": 156,
    "pdfs_limit": 3000,
    "pdfs_remaining": 2844
  }
}

List API Keys

curl https://api.pdfapi.dev/v1/keys \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $PDFAPI_KEY" | jq

Tips

Use -s for silent mode in scripts to suppress progress bars
Use jq for JSON parsing and construction
Respect rate limits with sleep between requests
Store output as binary with --output flag
Check status codes for error handling