PDF.co API Essential Guide

What type of API does PDF.co provide?

PDF.co uses a REST-based API. Specifically:

Type of API

• The PDF.co Web API is described as "REST-based, making it intuitive and easy to use".

Key Characteristics

• Uses HTTPS for secure transmission of requests
• Requires authentication via an API key passed in the "x-api-key" header
• Uses standard HTTP response codes like 200 for success and 400 for errors

Does the PDF.co API have webhooks?

Based on the search results provided, it appears that the official PDF.co API does not have built-in webhook functionality. However, here's some general information about webhooks and how they are typically implemented in APIs:

What are webhooks?

Webhooks are a way for applications to receive real-time notifications or data updates when certain events occur, without having to constantly poll an API for changes. They are sometimes referred to as "reverse APIs" because the communication is initiated by the application sending the data rather than the one receiving it.

Key points about webhooks:

• Webhooks are event-driven, meaning they send data when specific events occur rather than in response to requests.
• They allow for real-time notifications and data updates without the need for continuous API polling.
• Webhooks are typically implemented as HTTP POST requests sent to a specified URL when triggered by an event.

Typical webhook implementation:

While PDF.co doesn't appear to offer webhooks, here's how webhooks are typically implemented in APIs that do support them:

1. The API user registers a webhook URL with the service.
2. The service verifies the webhook URL to ensure it's valid and intended to receive notifications.
3. When relevant events occur, the service sends HTTP POST requests to the registered webhook URL with event data.
4. The receiving application processes the webhook payload and responds appropriately.

Best practices for webhook implementation:

• Subscribe only to specific, needed events to limit the number of requests.
• Ensure your application can handle duplicate events.
• Respond to webhook requests quickly (typically within a few seconds).
• Manage concurrency to handle multiple notifications arriving simultaneously.

While PDF.co doesn't seem to offer native webhook support, you may be able to achieve similar functionality by periodically polling their API for updates or changes. Alternatively, you could explore if PDF.co offers any integration options with platforms that do support webhooks, which might allow you to set up event-driven notifications indirectly.

Rate Limits and other limitations

Here are the key points about the API Rate Limits for PDF.co API:

Rate Limits

The API request limits depend on your current plan and subscription:

• Pay as you Go plan (no purchases): 2 requests per second
• Pay as you Go plan (with paid orders): 5 requests per second
• Users with monthly/annual subscription: 25 requests per second [1][3]

Rate Limit Error

When you exceed the limit, you will get a 429 error (Too Many Requests). The error message will be:

429 Too Many Requests

{
"error": true,
"message": "Too many requests (limit by your current plan). Please try again later"
}

This error is not logged in your API Logs. [1][3]

Higher Limits

A 50+ request per second rate is available on custom Enterprise plans (starting at $999/month). You need to contact PDF.co to activate this on your account. [1][3]

Workarounds for Higher Volume

If the higher rate limit doesn't work for your project, PDF.co suggests these workarounds:

1. Create HTML containing multiple orders (use page breaks to separate pages explicitly)
2. Use pdf/split (or Split PDF in Zapier/Make) with pages parameter set to * to split every page into a separate PDF [3]

Key Considerations

• The rate limits are applied across all api.data.gov API requests for each API key.
• Exceeding limits will temporarily block your API key from making further requests.
• The block is automatically lifted after an hour. [4]

Checking Usage

You can check your current rate limit and usage by inspecting the X-RateLimit-Limit and X-RateLimit-Remaining HTTP headers returned on every API response. [4]

By understanding and working within these rate limits, you can effectively use the PDF.co API for your projects while avoiding disruptions due to exceeding request thresholds.

Latest API Version

Unfortunately I don't have enough information to determine the most recent version of the PDF.co API. The search results don't provide any specific version numbers or release dates for the API. Here are a few key points to consider:

1. PDF.co offers a REST-based Web API for PDF processing and automation [1].

2. The API allows integration with various online platforms and apps through plugins for services like Zapier and Make [1].

3. PDF.co provides documentation, source code samples, and tutorials for developers to implement the API [1][2].

4. The service offers features like PDF conversion, editing, extraction, and more [1].

5. PDF.co markets itself as a low-code/no-code solution as well as supporting full-stack development [2].

To get the most up-to-date version information, I would recommend:

• Checking the official PDF.co documentation or developer portal for release notes or version history
• Contacting PDF.co support directly to inquire about the latest API version
• Looking for any "changelog" or "what's new" sections on their website

Without more specific version details in the search results, I can't definitively state the most recent API version. The API appears to be actively maintained, but you'll need to consult official PDF.co sources for the latest version number.

How to get a PDF.co developer account and API Keys?

To get a developer account for PDF.co and create an API integration, you can follow these steps:

Sign Up for a PDF.co Account

1. Go to the PDF.co website and sign up for an account if you don't already have one.
2. Once logged in, you'll have access to your PDF.co dashboard.

Obtain Your API Key

1. In your PDF.co dashboard, locate the section for "Your API Key".
2. Copy the API key provided. This key will be used to authenticate your API requests.

Set Up API Authentication

When making API requests to PDF.co, you'll need to include your API key in the request headers:

1. Add a header named "x-api-key" to your API requests.
2. Set the value of this header to your API key.

For example:

"x-api-key": "your_api_key_here"

Make API Requests

Once you have your API key, you can start making requests to the PDF.co API:

1. The PDF.co API is REST-based and uses HTTPS for all requests.
2. Refer to the PDF.co API documentation for specific endpoints and parameters for different operations.

What can you do with the PDF.co API?

Based on the search results provided, here are the key data models you can interact with using the PDF.co API, along with bullet points highlighting what is possible for each:

PDF Security and Encryption

• Add or remove password protection to PDF files
• Set security permissions (e.g. disable printing, copying, etc.)
• Add digital signatures to PDFs
• Use AES encryption (128-bit, 192-bit, 256-bit) for input/output files
• Decrypt encrypted input files and encrypt output files

PDF Editing and Manipulation

• Add text, images, and signatures to existing PDFs
• Search and replace text within PDFs
• Search and delete text from PDFs
• Merge multiple PDFs into a single document
• Split PDFs into multiple documents
• Rotate PDF pages
• Delete pages from PDFs
• Compress and optimize PDFs

PDF Conversion

• Convert various formats to PDF (CSV, XLS, XLSX, DOC, DOCX, RTF, TXT, XPS, JPG, PNG, TIFF, URL, EMAIL)
• Convert PDF to other formats:
  • CSV
  • JSON
  • Text
  • Excel (XLS/XLSX)
  • XML
  • HTML
  • Images (JPG, PNG, WEBP, TIFF)

Data Extraction

• Extract text from PDFs
• Extract tables from PDFs
• Extract form data from PDFs
• Use OCR to extract text from images within PDFs
• Read barcodes from PDFs and images

Document Parsing and AI

• Use AI-powered invoice parsing
• Utilize built-in document parser templates
• Classify documents before parsing

Barcode Operations

• Generate barcodes (supports various types like QR Code, DataMatrix, Code 39, Code 128, PDF417)
• Read barcodes from images and PDFs

Miscellaneous

• Get PDF information (metadata, page count, etc.)
• Read PDF form information
• Create fillable PDF forms
• Send and decode emails
• Upload files to PDF.co storage
• Perform background job checks
• Retrieve account information

File Storage and Security

• Use built-in secure PDF.co file storage for templates and input files
• Access files via secure file tokens

This list covers the main data models and operations available through the PDF.co API. Each of these capabilities can be leveraged to create powerful document processing and manipulation workflows.