Pdfco

Troubleshooting

If requests fail, run zero doctor check-connector --env-name PDFCO_TOKEN or zero doctor check-connector --url https://api.pdf.co/v1/pdf/convert/to/text --method POST

How to Use

1. PDF to Text

Extract text from PDF with OCR support:

Write to /tmp/request.json:

{
  "url": "https://pdfco-test-files.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/pdf-to-text/sample.pdf",
  "inline": true
}

curl --location --request POST "https://api.pdf.co/v1/pdf/convert/to/text" --header "x-api-key: $PDFCO_TOKEN" --header "Content-Type: application/json" -d @/tmp/request.json

With specific pages (1-indexed):

Write to /tmp/request.json:

{
  "url": "https://pdfco-test-files.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/pdf-to-text/sample.pdf",
  "pages": "1-3",
  "inline": true
}

curl --location --request POST "https://api.pdf.co/v1/pdf/convert/to/text" --header "x-api-key: $PDFCO_TOKEN" --header "Content-Type: application/json" -d @/tmp/request.json

2. PDF to CSV

Convert PDF tables to CSV:

Write to /tmp/request.json:

{
  "url": "https://pdfco-test-files.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/pdf-to-csv/sample.pdf",
  "inline": true
}

curl --location --request POST "https://api.pdf.co/v1/pdf/convert/to/csv" --header "x-api-key: $PDFCO_TOKEN" --header "Content-Type: application/json" -d @/tmp/request.json

3. Merge PDFs

Combine multiple PDFs into one:

Write to /tmp/request.json:

{
  "url": "https://pdfco-test-files.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/pdf-merge/sample1.pdf,https://pdfco-test-files.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/pdf-merge/sample2.pdf",
  "name": "merged.pdf"
}

curl --location --request POST "https://api.pdf.co/v1/pdf/merge" --header "x-api-key: $PDFCO_TOKEN" --header "Content-Type: application/json" -d @/tmp/request.json

4. Split PDF

Split PDF by page ranges:

Write to /tmp/request.json:

{
  "url": "https://pdfco-test-files.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/pdf-split/sample.pdf",
  "pages": "1-2,3-"
}

curl --location --request POST "https://api.pdf.co/v1/pdf/split" --header "x-api-key: $PDFCO_TOKEN" --header "Content-Type: application/json" -d @/tmp/request.json

5. Compress PDF

Reduce PDF file size:

Write to /tmp/request.json:

{
  "url": "https://pdfco-test-files.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/pdf-optimize/sample.pdf",
  "name": "compressed.pdf"
}

curl --location --request POST "https://api.pdf.co/v1/pdf/optimize" --header "x-api-key: $PDFCO_TOKEN" --header "Content-Type: application/json" -d @/tmp/request.json

6. HTML to PDF

Convert HTML or URL to PDF:

Write to /tmp/request.json:

{
  "html": "<h1>Hello World</h1><p>This is a test.</p>",
  "name": "output.pdf"
}

curl --location --request POST "https://api.pdf.co/v1/pdf/convert/from/html" --header "x-api-key: $PDFCO_TOKEN" --header "Content-Type: application/json" -d @/tmp/request.json

From URL:

Write to /tmp/request.json:

{
  "url": "https://example.com",
  "name": "webpage.pdf"
}

curl --location --request POST "https://api.pdf.co/v1/pdf/convert/from/url" --header "x-api-key: $PDFCO_TOKEN" --header "Content-Type: application/json" -d @/tmp/request.json

7. AI Invoice Parser

Extract structured data from invoices:

Write to /tmp/request.json:

{
  "url": "https://pdfco-test-files.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/ai-invoice-parser/sample-invoice.pdf",
  "inline": true
}

curl --location --request POST "https://api.pdf.co/v1/ai-invoice-parser" --header "x-api-key: $PDFCO_TOKEN" --header "Content-Type: application/json" -d @/tmp/request.json

8. Upload Local File

Upload a local file first, then use the returned URL:

Step 1: Get presigned upload URL

curl -s "https://api.pdf.co/v1/file/upload/get-presigned-url?name=myfile.pdf&contenttype=application/pdf" --header "x-api-key: $PDFCO_TOKEN" | jq -r '.presignedUrl, .url'

Copy the presigned URL and file URL from the response.

Step 2: Upload file

Replace <presigned-url> with the URL from Step 1:

curl -X PUT "<presigned-url>" --header "Content-Type: application/pdf" --data-binary @/path/to/your/file.pdf

Step 3: Use file URL in subsequent API calls

Replace <file-url> with the file URL from Step 1:

Write to /tmp/request.json:

{
  "url": "<file-url>",
  "inline": true
}

curl --location --request POST "https://api.pdf.co/v1/pdf/convert/to/text" --header "x-api-key: $PDFCO_TOKEN" --header "Content-Type: application/json" -d @/tmp/request.json

9. Async Mode (Large Files)

For large files, use async mode to avoid timeouts:

Step 1: Start async job

Write to /tmp/request.json:

{
  "url": "https://example.com/large-file.pdf",
  "async": true
}

curl -s --location --request POST "https://api.pdf.co/v1/pdf/convert/to/text" --header "x-api-key: $PDFCO_TOKEN" --header "Content-Type: application/json" -d @/tmp/request.json | jq -r '.jobId'

Copy the job ID from the response.

Step 2: Check job status

Replace <job-id> with the job ID from Step 1:

Write to /tmp/request.json:

{
  "jobid": "<job-id>"
}

curl --location --request POST "https://api.pdf.co/v1/job/check" --header "x-api-key: $PDFCO_TOKEN" --header "Content-Type: application/json" -d @/tmp/request.json

Common Parameters

Response Format

{
  "url": "https://pdf-temp-files.s3.amazonaws.com/.../result.pdf",
  "pageCount": 5,
  "error": false,
  "status": 200,
  "name": "result.pdf",
  "credits": 10,
  "remainingCredits": 9990
}

With inline: true, the response includes body field with extracted content.

API Endpoints

Guidelines

1. File Sources: Use direct URLs or upload files first via presigned URL 2. Large Files: Use async: true for files over 40 pages or 10MB 3. OCR: Automatically enabled for scanned PDFs (set lang for non-English) 4. Rate Limits: Check your plan at https://pdf.co/pricing 5. Output Expiration: Download results within expiration time (default 60 min) 6. Credits: Each operation costs credits; check remainingCredits in response