PDF API
Pixel-perfect PDFs from URLs or HTML through real Chromium — invoices, reports, contracts, certificates. Your CSS just works.
POST /v1/pdf → Binary document (application/pdf)
Example
curl -X POST https://rasterkit.com/v1/pdf \
-H "x-api-key: $RASTERKIT_API_KEY" \
-H "content-type: application/json" \
-d '{"url": "https://example.com/invoice/42", "format": "A4", "print_background": true}' \
-o document.pdf import { writeFile } from 'node:fs/promises'
const res = await fetch('https://rasterkit.com/v1/pdf', {
method: 'POST',
headers: {
'x-api-key': process.env.RASTERKIT_API_KEY,
'content-type': 'application/json',
},
body: JSON.stringify({"url": "https://example.com/invoice/42", "format": "A4", "print_background": true}),
})
if (!res.ok) throw new Error(`Render failed: ${res.status} ${await res.text()}`)
await writeFile('document.pdf', Buffer.from(await res.arrayBuffer()))
console.log('Saved document.pdf') import os
import requests
res = requests.post(
"https://rasterkit.com/v1/pdf",
headers={"x-api-key": os.environ["RASTERKIT_API_KEY"]},
json={"url": "https://example.com/invoice/42", "format": "A4", "print_background": True},
timeout=60,
)
res.raise_for_status()
with open("document.pdf", "wb") as f:
f.write(res.content)
print("Saved document.pdf") <?php
$ch = curl_init('https://rasterkit.com/v1/pdf');
curl_setopt_array($ch, [
CURLOPT_POST => true,
CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,
CURLOPT_TIMEOUT => 60,
CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER => [
'x-api-key: ' . getenv('RASTERKIT_API_KEY'),
'content-type: application/json',
],
CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS => '{"url": "https://example.com/invoice/42", "format": "A4", "print_background": true}',
]);
$body = curl_exec($ch);
$status = curl_getinfo($ch, CURLINFO_RESPONSE_CODE);
curl_close($ch);
if ($status !== 200) {
throw new RuntimeException("Render failed: $status $body");
}
file_put_contents('document.pdf', $body);
echo "Saved document.pdf\n"; require "net/http"
require "json"
uri = URI("https://rasterkit.com/v1/pdf")
req = Net::HTTP::Post.new(uri)
req["x-api-key"] = ENV.fetch("RASTERKIT_API_KEY")
req["content-type"] = "application/json"
req.body = '{"url": "https://example.com/invoice/42", "format": "A4", "print_background": true}'
res = Net::HTTP.start(uri.hostname, uri.port, use_ssl: true, read_timeout: 60) { |http| http.request(req) }
raise "Render failed: #{res.code} #{res.body}" unless res.code == "200"
File.binwrite("document.pdf", res.body)
puts "Saved document.pdf" package main
import (
"bytes"
"fmt"
"io"
"net/http"
"os"
"time"
)
func main() {
body := []byte(`{"url": "https://example.com/invoice/42", "format": "A4", "print_background": true}`)
req, _ := http.NewRequest("POST", "https://rasterkit.com/v1/pdf", bytes.NewReader(body))
req.Header.Set("x-api-key", os.Getenv("RASTERKIT_API_KEY"))
req.Header.Set("content-type", "application/json")
client := &http.Client{Timeout: 60 * time.Second}
res, err := client.Do(req)
if err != nil {
panic(err)
}
defer res.Body.Close()
data, _ := io.ReadAll(res.Body)
if res.StatusCode != 200 {
panic(fmt.Sprintf("render failed: %d %s", res.StatusCode, data))
}
os.WriteFile("document.pdf", data, 0644)
fmt.Println("Saved document.pdf")
} import java.net.URI;
import java.net.http.*;
import java.nio.file.*;
import java.time.Duration;
public class Render {
public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
String body = """
{"url": "https://example.com/invoice/42", "format": "A4", "print_background": true}""";
HttpRequest request = HttpRequest.newBuilder()
.uri(URI.create("https://rasterkit.com/v1/pdf"))
.timeout(Duration.ofSeconds(60))
.header("x-api-key", System.getenv("RASTERKIT_API_KEY"))
.header("content-type", "application/json")
.POST(HttpRequest.BodyPublishers.ofString(body))
.build();
HttpResponse<byte[]> res = HttpClient.newHttpClient()
.send(request, HttpResponse.BodyHandlers.ofByteArray());
if (res.statusCode() != 200) {
throw new RuntimeException("Render failed: " + res.statusCode() + " " + new String(res.body()));
}
Files.write(Path.of("document.pdf"), res.body());
System.out.println("Saved document.pdf");
}
} using System.Text;
var client = new HttpClient { Timeout = TimeSpan.FromSeconds(60) };
client.DefaultRequestHeaders.Add("x-api-key",
Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("RASTERKIT_API_KEY"));
var body = new StringContent(
"""{"url": "https://example.com/invoice/42", "format": "A4", "print_background": true}""",
Encoding.UTF8, "application/json");
var res = await client.PostAsync("https://rasterkit.com/v1/pdf", body);
var bytes = await res.Content.ReadAsByteArrayAsync();
if (!res.IsSuccessStatusCode)
throw new Exception($"Render failed: {(int)res.StatusCode} {Encoding.UTF8.GetString(bytes)}");
await File.WriteAllBytesAsync("document.pdf", bytes);
Console.WriteLine("Saved document.pdf"); Parameters
Send as a JSON body. Exactly the same fields work as query parameters on the signed GET variant.
| Parameter | Type | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
url | url | — | Page to print. Exactly one of url or html. |
html | string ≤2MB | — | Raw HTML (invoices, reports, certificates). |
format | A4 | A3 | A5 | Letter | Legal | Tabloid | A4 | Paper size. |
landscape | bool | false | Landscape orientation. |
margin_top/right/bottom/left | css size | 10mm | Page margins, any CSS unit. |
header_template | html | — | Repeating header. Supports <span class="pageNumber"> etc. |
footer_template | html | — | Repeating footer. |
page_ranges | string | all | e.g. "1-3, 5". |
print_background | bool | true | Include CSS backgrounds. |
prefer_css_page_size | bool | false | Let @page CSS rules win over format. |
scale | number 0.1–2 | 1 | Zoom factor. |
delay_ms | int 0–10000 | 0 | Extra wait after load, for animations or late JS. |
wait_until | load | domcontentloaded | networkidle | load | Navigation settled condition before capture. |
wait_for_selector | string | — | Block until this CSS selector is visible. |
timeout_ms | int 1000–60000 | 30000 | Hard cap for navigation + capture. |
cache_ttl | int 0–604800 (s) | 0 | Cache the result; identical requests within the TTL are served free and instantly. |
async | bool | false | Return 202 + job id immediately instead of waiting. |
webhook_url | url | — | POSTed (signed) when an async job finishes. |
Responses
- 200 — the binary result. Headers include
x-rasterkit-cache: HIT|MISSandx-rasterkit-render-ms. - 202 — when
async: true; body is{ "id", "status", "status_url" }. See async jobs. - 4xx/5xx — JSON envelope
{ "error": { "code", "message", "docs" } }. Full catalog: errors.
Headers, footers & page numbers
{
"html": "<h1>Report</h1> …",
"footer_template": "<div style='font-size:9px;margin:0 auto'>Page <span class='pageNumber'></span> of <span class='totalPages'></span></div>",
"margin_bottom": "18mm"
} Chromium injects pageNumber, totalPages, date, title, and url via those CSS classes. Header/footer templates need inline styles and an explicit small font-size.
Page breaks
Standard CSS works: break-inside: avoid on cards/rows, break-after: page to force a new page, and @page rules with prefer_css_page_size: true.