Convert URL to PDF

The URL-to-PDF endpoint converts any publicly accessible webpage into a high-quality PDF document. The process is asynchronous to support rendering complex, media-heavy sites without timing out.

Endpoint

POST https://api.pdfik.net/url-to-pdf

Request Body

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
`url`	string	Yes	The public URL of the page to convert. Local/internal IPs are blocked.
`webhook_url`	string	No	Optional HTTP callback URL where the job outcome payload will be POSTed. Credentials must not be embedded in the URL (`https://user:pass@host` is rejected) — configure delivery headers in the dashboard instead.
`options`	object	No	Custom styling, margin, and watermark options. See PDF Options.
`render`	object	No	Timeout and wait selectors for browser load states. See Browser Options.
`auth`	object	No	Authorization settings for pages requiring login credentials (Pro+ plans only).
`test`	boolean	No	Run the job in test mode: full pipeline, no real render, a sample PDF is returned. Quotas are not debited. Defaults to `false`.

Authentication Settings (`auth`)

If the target URL requires credentials, supply an auth object containing:

type (string, required): The authorization type. Must be either 'basic' or 'bearer'.
value (string, required): The credentials to send.
- For basic: Provide the string format 'username:password'.
- For bearer: Provide the raw authorization token string (e.g. 'eyJhbGci...').

Request Headers

Header	Required	Description
`X-API-Key`	Yes	Your API key (`sk_live_...`).
`Idempotency-Key`	No	1-255 characters from `A-Z a-z 0-9 _ - . :`. Retrying a request with the same key returns the original job instead of creating (and billing) a duplicate. Recommended for retry-after-timeout logic.

The Asynchronous Flow

Submit Job: Post the URL to /url-to-pdf. You'll receive a job_id and a status of queued.
Poll Status: Send GET requests to /jobs/{job_id} until status is done (or failed).
Download File: Send a request to /jobs/{job_id}/download to stream the PDF binary directly. The file is available for 24 hours after generation (the exact moment is the expires_at field in the status response); at most 3 download attempts and 1 active stream are allowed per file. See File Retention & Downloads.

Integration Examples

1. Simple Polling Loop (Bash)

This script submits a job, polls every 2 seconds, and downloads the PDF when ready:

#!/bin/bash
API_KEY="sk_test_YOUR_KEY"
URL="https://example.com"

# Step 1: Submit job
RESPONSE=$(curl -s -X POST https://api.pdfik.net/url-to-pdf \
  -H "X-API-Key: $API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d "{\"url\": \"$URL\"}")

JOB_ID=$(echo $RESPONSE | jq -r '.job_id')
echo "Job submitted: $JOB_ID"

# Step 2: Poll status
while true; do
  STATUS_RESP=$(curl -s -H "X-API-Key: $API_KEY" https://api.pdfik.net/jobs/$JOB_ID)
  STATUS=$(echo $STATUS_RESP | jq -r '.status')
  echo "Current status: $STATUS"
  
  if [ "$STATUS" = "done" ]; then
    break
  elif [ "$STATUS" = "failed" ]; then
    echo "Job failed!"
    exit 1
  fi
  sleep 2
done

# Step 3: Download
curl -H "X-API-Key: $API_KEY" https://api.pdfik.net/jobs/$JOB_ID/download -o output.pdf
echo "Saved output.pdf"

2. Node.js Integration

const axios = require('axios');
const fs = require('fs');

const API_KEY = 'sk_test_YOUR_KEY';

async function generatePdf(url) {
  // 1. Submit
  const submitRes = await axios.post('https://api.pdfik.net/url-to-pdf', 
    { url }, 
    { headers: { 'X-API-Key': API_KEY } }
  );
  const { job_id } = submitRes.data;

  // 2. Poll
  let status = 'queued';
  while (status !== 'done' && status !== 'failed') {
    await new Promise(r => setTimeout(r, 2000));
    const statusRes = await axios.get(`https://api.pdfik.net/jobs/${job_id}`, {
      headers: { 'X-API-Key': API_KEY }
    });
    status = statusRes.data.status;
  }

  if (status === 'failed') throw new Error('PDF Generation failed');

  // 3. Download
  const writer = fs.createWriteStream('output.pdf');
  const downloadRes = await axios.get(`https://api.pdfik.net/jobs/${job_id}/download`, {
    headers: { 'X-API-Key': API_KEY },
    responseType: 'stream'
  });

  downloadRes.data.pipe(writer);
  return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
    writer.on('finish', resolve);
    writer.on('error', reject);
  });
}

3. JavaScript (ES6 Fetch)

const API_KEY = 'sk_test_YOUR_KEY';

async function generatePdf(url) {
  // 1. Submit the URL to start the PDF conversion job
  const submitRes = await fetch('https://api.pdfik.net/url-to-pdf', {
    method: 'POST',
    headers: {
      'X-API-Key': API_KEY,
      'Content-Type': 'application/json'
    },
    body: JSON.stringify({ url })
  });
  
  if (!submitRes.ok) throw new Error(`Failed to submit job: ${submitRes.statusText}`);
  const { job_id } = await submitRes.json();
  
  // 2. Poll the job status endpoint until it completes or fails
  let status = 'queued';
  while (status !== 'done' && status !== 'failed') {
    await new Promise(resolve => setTimeout(resolve, 2000));
    
    const statusRes = await fetch(`https://api.pdfik.net/jobs/${job_id}`, {
      headers: { 'X-API-Key': API_KEY }
    });
    
    if (statusRes.ok) {
      const data = await statusRes.json();
      status = data.status;
    }
  }
  
  if (status === 'failed') throw new Error('PDF generation job failed');
  
  // 3. Download the PDF file
  const downloadRes = await fetch(`https://api.pdfik.net/jobs/${job_id}/download`, {
    headers: { 'X-API-Key': API_KEY }
  });
  return await downloadRes.arrayBuffer(); // returns PDF binary buffer
}

4. Java (HttpClient)

import java.io.IOException;
import java.net.URI;
import java.net.http.HttpClient;
import java.net.http.HttpRequest;
import java.net.http.HttpResponse;
import java.nio.file.Paths;
import java.time.Duration;

public class PdfikClient {
    private static final String API_KEY = "sk_test_YOUR_KEY";
    private static final HttpClient httpClient = HttpClient.newBuilder()
            .connectTimeout(Duration.ofSeconds(10))
            .build();

    public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
        String targetUrl = "https://example.com";
        
        // 1. Submit Job
        String submitJson = "{\"url\":\"" + targetUrl + "\"}";
        HttpRequest submitRequest = HttpRequest.newBuilder()
                .uri(URI.create("https://api.pdfik.net/url-to-pdf"))
                .header("X-API-Key", API_KEY)
                .header("Content-Type", "application/json")
                .POST(HttpRequest.BodyPublishers.ofString(submitJson))
                .build();

        HttpResponse<String> submitResponse = httpClient.send(submitRequest, HttpResponse.BodyHandlers.ofString());
        if (submitResponse.statusCode() != 202) {
            throw new RuntimeException("Job submission failed: " + submitResponse.body());
        }

        // Extract job_id
        String body = submitResponse.body();
        String jobId = body.split("\"job_id\":\"")[1].split("\"")[0];
        System.out.println("Job submitted successfully. ID: " + jobId);

        // 2. Poll Status
        String status = "queued";
        while (!status.equals("done") && !status.equals("failed")) {
            Thread.sleep(2000);
            
            HttpRequest statusRequest = HttpRequest.newBuilder()
                    .uri(URI.create("https://api.pdfik.net/jobs/" + jobId))
                    .header("X-API-Key", API_KEY)
                    .GET()
                    .build();

            HttpResponse<String> statusResponse = httpClient.send(statusRequest, HttpResponse.BodyHandlers.ofString());
            String statusBody = statusResponse.body();
            status = statusBody.split("\"status\":\"")[1].split("\"")[0];
            System.out.println("Current status: " + status);
        }

        if (status.equals("failed")) {
            throw new RuntimeException("PDF generation failed.");
        }

        // 3. Download File
        HttpRequest downloadRequest = HttpRequest.newBuilder()
                .uri(URI.create("https://api.pdfik.net/jobs/" + jobId + "/download"))
                .header("X-API-Key", API_KEY)
                .GET()
                .build();

        HttpResponse<java.nio.file.Path> downloadResponse = httpClient.send(
                downloadRequest, 
                HttpResponse.BodyHandlers.ofFile(Paths.get("output.pdf"))
        );
        System.out.println("PDF saved to: " + downloadResponse.body().toAbsolutePath());
    }
}