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Create a template

AI assistant

The assistant uses Anthropic’s Claude. Your messages, attachments and the template are sent to Claude to do the work; attachments expire from Anthropic’s storage after 30 days. Using it needs permission to edit templates (organization owners and admins).

How layout works

Variables

API keys

Authorization: Bearer spdf_your_key_here
# — or —
x-api-key: spdf_your_key_here

Permissions

Each key has permissions, so it can do only what it’s for. New keys can render and read templates; turn on the others when a key needs them. A request a key isn’t allowed to make gets a 403 naming the missing permission.

To change a key’s name or permissions, use the pencil next to it on the API Keys page. Changes apply to the key’s very next request, and the key itself stays the same, so there’s nothing to roll out.

Keep keys server-side. Anyone holding a key can do whatever its permissions allow, including spending your render allowance.

AI clients (MCP)

Connect Claude Code

claude mcp add --transport http snappy-pdf https://snappypdf.co/api/mcp \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer spdf_your_key_here"

When you create a key with Edit templates, the API Keys page shows this command with your key already filled in.

Connect Cursor

Add the server to .cursor/mcp.json in your project (or ~/.cursor/mcp.json for every project):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "snappy-pdf": {
      "url": "https://snappypdf.co/api/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer spdf_your_key_here"
      }
    }
  }
}

Any MCP client that supports Streamable HTTP with a custom header works the same way. Claude.ai and Claude Desktop connectors need OAuth sign-in, which isn’t available yet.

Available tools

Discovery API

List your templates

GET /api/v1/templates returns every template with a published version — exactly the ones the render API will serve.

GET /api/v1/templates?search=invoice&page=1&pageSize=50
Authorization: Bearer spdf_your_key_here

→ 200 · application/json
{
  "data": [
    {
      "id": "6512f3a9c4d21b0f7e8a4c19",
      "name": "Invoice",
      "status": "active",
      "publishedVersion": 3,
      "lastPublishedAt": "2025-11-04T09:12:44.001Z",
      "pageSize": "A4",
      "orientation": "portrait"
    }
  ],
  "total": 1,
  "page": 1,
  "pageSize": 50
}

Templates you’ve never published don’t appear, since there’d be nothing to render. Archived ones do — they still render, and quietly hiding them would make this list disagree with the render API. Use status if you want to filter or grey them out.

Fetch a template’s data contract

GET /api/v1/templates/:id returns the variables a render payload should provide, plus the template’s sample data — a payload that’s guaranteed to render, so you can test the wiring before you have real data. Pass ?version= to read the contract of a specific published version; omit it for the latest.

GET /api/v1/templates/6512f3a9c4d21b0f7e8a4c19?version=3
Authorization: Bearer spdf_your_key_here

→ 200 · application/json
{
  "data": {
    "id": "6512f3a9c4d21b0f7e8a4c19",
    "name": "Invoice",
    "version": 3,
    "publishedAt": "2025-11-04T09:12:44.001Z",
    "pageSize": "A4",
    "orientation": "portrait",
    "variables": [
      { "name": "clientName", "label": "Client name", "type": "string" },
      { "name": "total", "type": "string" },
      {
        "name": "lineItems",
        "type": "list",
        "itemSchema": [
          { "name": "description", "type": "string" },
          { "name": "qty", "type": "number" },
          { "name": "price", "type": "string" }
        ]
      }
    ],
    "sampleData": {
      "clientName": "Acme Studio",
      "total": "$1,130.50",
      "lineItems": [
        { "description": "Design", "qty": 2, "price": "$400.00" }
      ]
    }
  }
}

If you pin a version when rendering, read the contract for that same version — a later publish can add or rename variables, and you want the contract that matches the document you’re actually producing.

The response describes your data contract, not the design. Block layout, styling and page setup stay internal to the editor, so we can keep improving them without breaking your integration.

The render API

POST /api/v1/render
Authorization: Bearer spdf_your_key_here
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "templateId": "6512f3a9c4d21b0f7e8a4c19",
  "version": 3,
  "data": {
    "clientName": "Acme Studio",
    "total": "$1,130.50",
    "lineItems": [
      { "description": "Design", "qty": 2, "price": "$400.00" }
    ]
  }
}

→ 200 · application/pdf

Markdown to PDF

POST /api/v1/render-markdown
Authorization: Bearer spdf_your_key_here
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "markdown": "# Release notes\n\nShipped **v2.4** today…",
  "theme": "technical",
  "pageSize": "A4",
  "margin": "normal",
  "pageNumbers": true,
  "accent": "#0284c7",
  "font": "Inter",
  "headingFont": "Space Grotesk"
}

→ 200 · application/pdf

Error states

Errors come back as standard HTTP status codes with a message. The common ones — 400, 401, 403 and 404 apply to every endpoint; the rest are specific to rendering:

401, 403, 404 and 429 mean fix the request (key, template, or back off). 500 and 503 are safe to retry — the template itself is fine.

Usage dashboard

A Beta allowance panel shows how much of your monthly and per-minute render budget is left and when each window resets, so you can see the ceiling before you hit it. Render history is retained for 90 days.