Getting started with the API

Sign up and start your free trial

Create an account at versafile.app/signup. No credit card required. You get 100 trial credits valid for 7 days.

Create an API key

Go to your Dashboard → API Keys → "Create new key". Give it a name (e.g. "development"), copy the key (it starts with sk_ppdf_), and store it securely. You cannot view it again after creation.

Make your first request

Send a multipart/form-data POST request with your PDF and the Authorization header. The example below merges two PDFs and saves the result:

curl -X POST https://versafile.app/api/v1/pdf/merge \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer sk_ppdf_your_key_here" \
  -F "file=@document1.pdf" \
  -F "file=@document2.pdf" \
  --output merged.pdf

Check the response headers

Every successful response includes three headers that tell you your current state:

x-versafile-credits-remaining: 99
x-versafile-plan: trial
x-request-id: 01HXYZ...

Extract text for AI endpoints

The AI extraction endpoints (/invoice-extract, /receipt-extract, etc.) take a JSON body with documentText, not a file. First extract the text, then pass it to the AI endpoint:

import requests

API_KEY = "sk_ppdf_your_key_here"
BASE = "https://versafile.app"

# Step 1: extract text
with open("invoice.pdf", "rb") as f:
    text_resp = requests.post(
        f"{BASE}/api/v1/pdf/text",
        headers={"Authorization": f"Bearer {API_KEY}"},
        files={"file": f},
    )
    doc_text = text_resp.json()["text"]

# Step 2: extract structured data
extract_resp = requests.post(
    f"{BASE}/api/v1/invoice-extract",
    headers={
        "Authorization": f"Bearer {API_KEY}",
        "Content-Type": "application/json",
    },
    json={"documentText": doc_text},
)
print(extract_resp.json())

Handle errors gracefully

Check the HTTP status code. Common codes: 401 (bad API key), 402 (out of credits), 403 (plan inactive), and 413 (file too large for your plan). Each error response includes an error and code field:

{
  "error": "Insufficient credits.",
  "code": "insufficient_credits",
  "creditsRequired": 10
}

Go to production

When ready, upgrade from the dashboard billing tab. Store your API key in environment variables, use separate keys per environment, and monitor usage from the dashboard logs.