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

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

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....

2. Create a generation

The API responds immediately with a PENDING generation:

3. Poll for completion

Fetch the generation by ID until status is COMPLETED:
Most generations complete in 2–5 seconds. Poll with a 1-second interval and a 30-second timeout.

4. Download the document

The outputUrl is a pre-signed URL valid for 1 hour. Download it directly:

Full example (Node.js)

Error handling

If the generation fails, status will be FAILED and the error field describes what went wrong:
Common causes:
  • Typo in a variable name
  • Template has no published version
  • Template was archived after the generation was created