Generate PDF — API Reference | Document Stack Docs

Overview

The Generate API is the core of Document Stack. Send a template ID and your data, get back a PDF. It's a single endpoint you call from your server whenever you need to create a document.

Endpoint

text

POST https://api.documentstack.dev/api/v1/generate

Request Format

Header	Value
`Authorization`	`Bearer YOUR_API_KEY`
`Content-Type`	`application/json`

JSON

{
  "templateId": "tmpl_abc123",
  "data": {
    "customer_name": "Acme Corporation",
    "invoice_number": "INV-2026-042",
    "due_date": "March 1, 2026",
    "line_items": [
      { "description": "Design Services", "amount": "$2,000" },
      { "description": "Development", "amount": "$6,000" }
    ],
    "total": "$8,000.00"
  }
}

Field	Type	Required	Description
`templateId`	string	Yes	The ID of the template to generate from (find it in the dashboard)
`data`	object	No	Key-value pairs that fill in your template's data-bound fields

You can find your template ID in the template settings or in the dashboard URL when viewing a template.

Response

On success, the API returns the generated PDF as a binary file:

text

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: application/pdf
Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="document.pdf"

<binary PDF content>

Error Handling

Errors return a JSON body with a descriptive message:

JSON

{
  "success": false,
  "error": "Template not found"
}

Status	Meaning	What To Do
`400`	Invalid request	Check your request body format and required fields
`401`	Unauthorized	Check your API key is correct and active
`404`	Template not found	Verify the template ID and that the key has access to its project
`429`	Rate limited	Slow down your requests or upgrade your plan
`500`	Server error	Contact support if this persists

Full Examples

cURL

Bash

curl -X POST https://api.documentstack.dev/api/v1/generate \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer ds_live_abc123" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "templateId": "tmpl_xyz",
    "data": {
      "customer_name": "John Doe",
      "amount": "$1,250.00"
    }
  }' \
  --output invoice.pdf

JavaScript (fetch)

JavaScript

const response = await fetch("https://api.documentstack.dev/api/v1/generate", {
  method: "POST",
  headers: {
    "Authorization": "Bearer " + process.env.DOCUMENTSTACK_API_KEY,
    "Content-Type": "application/json",
  },
  body: JSON.stringify({
    templateId: "tmpl_xyz",
    data: { customer_name: "John Doe", amount: "$1,250.00" },
  }),
});

// Save the PDF
const pdfBuffer = await response.arrayBuffer();
fs.writeFileSync("invoice.pdf", Buffer.from(pdfBuffer));

Python (requests)

Python

import requests

response = requests.post(
    "https://api.documentstack.dev/api/v1/generate",
    headers={"Authorization": "Bearer " + API_KEY},
    json={
        "templateId": "tmpl_xyz",
        "data": {"customer_name": "John Doe", "amount": "$1,250.00"},
    },
)

with open("invoice.pdf", "wb") as f:
    f.write(response.content)

For production use with retry handling and type safety, use our official Node.js, Python, or Go SDK instead of raw HTTP calls.