Document Routing

Delivery Modes

PDFKong supports multiple ways to deliver the generated PDF. You can stream it back directly, receive a base64 string, upload it directly to your AWS S3 bucket, or receive it asynchronously via webhook.

curl -X POST "https://api.pdfkong.com/v1/convert" \ -H "Content-Type: application/json" \ -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \ -d '{ "html": "<h1>Hello PDF</h1>", "delivery_mode": "webhook", "webhook_endpoint": "https://api.example.com/hooks/pdf" }'

<?php $response = Http::withToken('YOUR_API_KEY') ->post('https://api.pdfkong.com/v1/convert', [ 'html' => '<h1>Hello PDF</h1>', 'delivery_mode' => 'webhook', 'webhook_endpoint' => 'https://api.example.com/hooks/pdf' ]); echo $response->body();

const fetch = require('node-fetch'); fetch('https://api.pdfkong.com/v1/convert', { method: 'POST', headers: { 'Content-Type': 'application/json', 'Authorization': 'Bearer YOUR_API_KEY' }, body: JSON.stringify({ html: '<h1>Hello PDF</h1>', delivery_mode: 'webhook', webhook_endpoint: 'https://api.example.com/hooks/pdf' }) }) .then(res => res.json()) .then(data => console.log(data));

import requests response = requests.post( 'https://api.pdfkong.com/v1/convert', headers={ 'Authorization': 'Bearer YOUR_API_KEY' }, json={ 'html': '<h1>Hello PDF</h1>', 'delivery_mode': 'webhook', 'webhook_endpoint': 'https://api.example.com/hooks/pdf' } ) print(response.json())

Understanding Delivery Modes

inline

Generated in RAM and streamed directly for browser preview. Never saved on our servers.

attachment

Generated in RAM and forces a "Save As" file download. Never saved on our servers.

base64

Generated in RAM and returned as a Base64 string in JSON. Never saved on our servers.

json

Returns file as Base64. If store_file: true, it is stored temporarily to return a secure download URL. Zero-retention by default.

webhook

Sent as an async file attachment via Webhook. Zero-retention by default.

s3 / gcp

Generated in RAM and uploaded directly to your cloud bucket. Never saved on our servers.

Main Configuration

delivery_mode select

Default: json

Specifies the response output flow mechanism: inline, attachment, json, base64, s3, webhook, jsonp. Note: Zero-retention is strictly enforced by default. Files are processed in-memory and deleted immediately.

Accepted Values:inlineattachmentjsonbase64s3webhookjsonpgoogle_storage

store_file boolean

Default: false

If true, the generated PDF is stored temporarily for 24 hours (useful to get a public URL in JSON mode). If false, zero-retention is enforced and no files are stored.

Webhook Configuration

Required when delivery_mode is set to webhook.

webhook_endpoint text

Default: null

Webhook URL callback endpoint.

Amazon S3 Configuration

Required when delivery_mode is set to s3.

s3_bucket_name text

Default: null

Amazon S3 target bucket name.

s3_bucket_key text

Default: null

AccessKeyID of your S3 bucket.

s3_bucket_secret text

Default: null

Secret of your S3 bucket.

s3_region text

Default: us-east-1

Amazon S3 bucket service region.

s3_path text

Default: documents

Custom folder upload sub-path key.

Google Cloud Storage Configuration

Required when delivery_mode is set to google_storage.

gcp_project_id text

Default: null

Your Google Cloud Platform Project ID.

gcp_user_email text

Default: null

The email address of your GCP service account.

gcp_private_key text

Default: null

The private key associated with your GCP service account.

gcp_bucket_name text

Default: null

The name of your target Google Cloud Storage bucket.

JSONP Configuration

Required when delivery_mode is set to jsonp.

callback text

Default: null

Function name for the jsonp delivery mode.