POST /v1/generate

POST /v1/generate

Generates a PDF or PNG file from HTML content. This endpoint uses Playwright to render the document with full CSS support.

Request

Headers

Header	Required	Description
`Authorization`	Yes	`Bearer gk_your_api_key`
`Content-Type`	Yes	`application/json`
`Accept`	No	`application/json` for metadata, omit for raw file

Body

{
  "html": "<!DOCTYPE html><html>...</html>",
  "format": "pdf",
  "options": {
    "width": 816,
    "height": 1056,
    "scale": 1
  }
}

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
`html`	string	Yes	HTML content to render
`format`	string	Yes	Output format: `"pdf"` or `"png"`
`options`	object	No	Rendering options
`options.width`	number	No	Page width in pixels (default: 816 = 8.5in @ 96dpi)
`options.height`	number	No	Page height in pixels (default: 1056 = 11in @ 96dpi)
`options.scale`	number	No	Scale factor (0.1 to 3, default: 1)

Response

Raw File Response (Default)

When no Accept: application/json header is provided, the response is the raw file:

Headers:

Content-Type: application/pdf
Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="document-1705320000000.pdf"
Content-Length: 45678

Body: Binary PDF/PNG data

JSON Response

When Accept: application/json is provided:

{
  "url": "data:application/pdf;base64,JVBERi0xLjQK...",
  "format": "pdf",
  "size": 45678,
  "expiresAt": "2024-01-16T12:00:00.000Z"
}

Field	Type	Description
`url`	string	Base64 data URL of the generated file
`format`	string	Output format (`pdf` or `png`)
`size`	number	File size in bytes
`expiresAt`	string	Expiration timestamp (24 hours)

Error Responses

400 Bad Request - Invalid parameters

{
  "error": "Validation failed",
  "code": "VALIDATION_ERROR",
  "details": [
    {
      "path": ["format"],
      "message": "Invalid enum value. Expected 'pdf' | 'png'"
    }
  ]
}

429 Too Many Requests - Monthly limit exceeded

{
  "error": "Monthly PDF limit exceeded",
  "code": "MONTHLY_LIMIT_EXCEEDED",
  "limit": 100,
  "used": 100,
  "tier": "free",
  "upgrade": "https://glyph.you/pricing"
}

503 Service Unavailable - Playwright not available

{
  "error": "PDF generation not available. Playwright is not installed.",
  "code": "PLAYWRIGHT_NOT_INSTALLED",
  "details": {
    "install": "bun add playwright && npx playwright install chromium"
  }
}

Code Examples

cURL (Download PDF)

curl -X POST https://api.glyph.you/v1/generate \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer gk_your_api_key" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "html": "<!DOCTYPE html><html><body><h1>Hello World</h1></body></html>",
    "format": "pdf"
  }' \
  --output document.pdf

cURL (Get JSON metadata)

curl -X POST https://api.glyph.you/v1/generate \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer gk_your_api_key" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Accept: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "html": "<!DOCTYPE html><html><body><h1>Hello World</h1></body></html>",
    "format": "pdf"
  }'

JavaScript (Browser Download)

const response = await fetch('https://api.glyph.you/v1/generate', {
  method: 'POST',
  headers: {
    'Authorization': 'Bearer gk_your_api_key',
    'Content-Type': 'application/json'
  },
  body: JSON.stringify({
    html: document.querySelector('glyph-editor').getHtml(),
    format: 'pdf'
  })
});

// Create download link
const blob = await response.blob();
const url = URL.createObjectURL(blob);
const a = document.createElement('a');
a.href = url;
a.download = 'quote.pdf';
a.click();
URL.revokeObjectURL(url);

JavaScript (Node.js - Save to File)

import { writeFileSync } from 'fs';

const response = await fetch('https://api.glyph.you/v1/generate', {
  method: 'POST',
  headers: {
    'Authorization': 'Bearer gk_your_api_key',
    'Content-Type': 'application/json'
  },
  body: JSON.stringify({
    html: htmlContent,
    format: 'pdf'
  })
});

const buffer = Buffer.from(await response.arrayBuffer());
writeFileSync('document.pdf', buffer);

Python

import requests

response = requests.post(
    'https://api.glyph.you/v1/generate',
    headers={
        'Authorization': 'Bearer gk_your_api_key',
        'Content-Type': 'application/json'
    },
    json={
        'html': html_content,
        'format': 'pdf'
    }
)

# Save to file
with open('document.pdf', 'wb') as f:
    f.write(response.content)

Page Sizes

Common page sizes in pixels (at 96 DPI):

Size	Width	Height
Letter (8.5” x 11”)	816	1056
A4 (210mm x 297mm)	794	1123
Legal (8.5” x 14”)	816	1344
Tabloid (11” x 17”)	1056	1632

Custom Sizes

{
  "html": "...",
  "format": "pdf",
  "options": {
    "width": 794,
    "height": 1123
  }
}

PNG Generation

For image output:

{
  "html": "...",
  "format": "png",
  "options": {
    "scale": 2
  }
}

Best Practices

Use session-based workflow - Generate from a session to ensure you have the latest modifications
Handle large files - PDFs can be several MB; use streaming for large documents
Cache when possible - Store generated PDFs to avoid regenerating unchanged documents
Monitor usage - Check your monthly limit headers to avoid interruptions