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This guide walks you through generating a PDF document end-to-end.

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Prerequisites

  • A Platendoc account (sign up free)
  • A published template with at least one version
  • An API key with generations:trigger and generations:read scopes

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1. Get your template ID

In the portal, open your template and copy the ID from the URL or the template settings. It looks like tpl_01j8z....

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2. Create a generation

curl -X POST https://api.platendoc.com/v1/generations \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer pdc_live_YOUR_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "templateId": "tpl_01j8z...",
    "format": "pdf",
    "variables": {
      "customerName": "Acme Corp",
      "invoiceNumber": "INV-0042",
      "amount": "1,250.00"
    }
  }'
The API responds immediately with a PENDING generation: 
{
  "id": "gen_01j8z...",
  "status": "PENDING",
  "format": "PDF",
  "outputUrl": null,
  ...
}

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3. Poll for completion

Fetch the generation by ID until status is COMPLETED: 
curl https://api.platendoc.com/v1/generations/gen_01j8z... \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer pdc_live_YOUR_KEY"

{
  "id": "gen_01j8z...",
  "status": "COMPLETED",
  "outputUrl": "https://...",
  ...
}
Most generations complete in 2–5 seconds. Poll with a 1-second interval and a 30-second timeout.

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4. Download the document

The outputUrl is a pre-signed URL valid for 1 hour. Download it directly: 
curl -L "https://..." -o invoice.pdf

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Full example (Node.js)

import fetch from 'node-fetch'

const API_KEY = process.env.PLATENDOC_API_KEY
const BASE = 'https://api.platendoc.com/v1'

async function generateDocument(templateId: string, variables: Record<string, unknown>) {
  // 1. Create generation
  const createRes = await fetch(`${BASE}/generations`, {
    method: 'POST',
    headers: {
      Authorization: `Bearer ${API_KEY}`,
      'Content-Type': 'application/json',
    },
    body: JSON.stringify({ templateId, format: 'pdf', variables }),
  })
  const { id } = await createRes.json()

  // 2. Poll until complete
  let generation
  for (let i = 0; i < 30; i++) {
    await new Promise((r) => setTimeout(r, 1000))
    const res = await fetch(`${BASE}/generations/${id}`, {
      headers: { Authorization: `Bearer ${API_KEY}` },
    })
    generation = await res.json()
    if (generation.status === 'COMPLETED' || generation.status === 'FAILED') break
  }

  if (generation.status !== 'COMPLETED') {
    throw new Error(`Generation failed: ${generation.error}`)
  }

  return generation.outputUrl
}

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Error handling

If the generation fails, status will be FAILED and the error field describes what went wrong: 
{
  "status": "FAILED",
  "error": "Template rendering failed: unknown variable 'customerNme'."
}
Common causes:
  • Typo in a variable name
  • Template has no published version
  • Template was archived after the generation was created