Generate PDF

API reference for generating PDF documents from HTML content.

Generate a PDF document by sending pre-rendered HTML to PlatformXe.

Endpoint

POST /api/v1/pdf/generate

Request body

Field	Type	Required	Description
html	string	Yes	HTML content to render as PDF
options	object	No	Page rendering options (see below)
options.margins	object	No	Page margins in CSS units (e.g. "20mm")
options.margins.top	string	No	Top margin. Default: "10mm"
options.margins.right	string	No	Right margin. Default: "10mm"
options.margins.bottom	string	No	Bottom margin. Default: "10mm"
options.margins.left	string	No	Left margin. Default: "10mm"
options.orientation	string	No	portrait or landscape. Default: portrait
options.size	string	No	Paper size: A4, A3, Letter, Legal. Default: A4
options.returnBase64	boolean	No	If true, return base64 content instead of a URL. Default: false

Response (URL mode)

{
  "success": true,
  "data": {
    "pdfUrl": "https://cdn.platformxe.com/org_123/pdfs/doc_abc123.pdf",
    "size": 45230,
    "pages": 2,
    "generatedAt": "2026-04-05T14:30:00.000Z"
  }
}

Response (base64 mode)

{
  "success": true,
  "data": {
    "content": "JVBERi0xLjcKCj...",
    "contentType": "application/pdf",
    "size": 45230,
    "pages": 2,
    "generatedAt": "2026-04-05T14:30:00.000Z"
  }
}

Field	Type	Description
pdfUrl	string	URL to download the generated PDF (URL mode only)
content	string	Base64-encoded PDF content (base64 mode only)
size	number	File size in bytes
pages	number	Number of pages in the generated PDF
generatedAt	string	ISO 8601 timestamp of generation

Examples

curl

curl -X POST https://api.platformxe.com/api/v1/pdf/generate \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "x-api-key: pxk_live_your_api_key_here" \
  -d '{
    "html": "<h1>Invoice #1234</h1><table><tr><td>Widget</td><td>5</td><td>$50.00</td></tr></table><p><strong>Total: $250.00</strong></p>",
    "options": {
      "margins": {
        "top": "20mm",
        "bottom": "20mm",
        "left": "15mm",
        "right": "15mm"
      },
      "orientation": "portrait",
      "size": "A4"
    }
  }'

SDK

import { PlatformXe } from '@caldera/platformxe-sdk';

const px = new PlatformXe({ apiKey: 'pxk_live_your_api_key_here' });

// Generate with URL output
const result = await px.pdf.generate({
  html: '<h1>Invoice #1234</h1><p>Total: $250.00</p>',
  options: {
    margins: { top: '20mm', bottom: '20mm', left: '15mm', right: '15mm' },
    orientation: 'portrait',
    size: 'A4',
  },
});

console.log(result.data.pdfUrl);
// "https://cdn.platformxe.com/org_123/pdfs/doc_abc123.pdf"

Generate with base64 output

const result = await px.pdf.generate({
  html: '<h1>Receipt</h1><p>Payment received. Thank you.</p>',
  options: {
    returnBase64: true,
    size: 'Letter',
  },
});

// Decode and save locally
const buffer = Buffer.from(result.data.content, 'base64');
writeFileSync('receipt.pdf', buffer);

Error responses

Code	Description
BAD_REQUEST	Missing html field or invalid options
PAYLOAD_TOO_LARGE	HTML content exceeds the 2 MB limit
FORBIDDEN	Invalid API key
RATE_LIMITED	Rate limit exceeded for this API key