PDF4ME

Comprehensive PDF processing API with 60+ operations: convert, merge, split, compress, OCR, watermark, form filling, digital signatures, and more.

Official docs: https://dev.pdf4me.com/apiv2/documentation/

When to Use

Use this skill when you need to:

Convert documents to/from PDF (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, HTML, images)
Merge multiple PDFs into one
Split PDF into multiple files
Compress PDF to reduce file size
Add watermarks, stamps, page numbers
Extract text, tables, or images from PDF
Fill PDF forms programmatically
OCR scanned documents
Protect/unlock PDF with password
Create barcodes and QR codes

Prerequisites

Create an account at https://dev.pdf4me.com/
Get your API key from https://dev.pdf4me.com/dashboard/#/api-keys/

Set environment variable:

export PDF4ME_API_KEY="your-api-key-here"

Important: When using $VAR in a command that pipes to another command, wrap the command containing $VAR in bash -c '...'. Due to a Claude Code bug, environment variables are silently cleared when pipes are used directly.
bash -c 'curl -s "https://api.example.com" -H "Authorization: Bearer $API_KEY"' | jq .

How to Use

1. Convert to PDF

Convert Word, Excel, PowerPoint, images to PDF:

# Convert a text file to PDF
echo "Hello, PDF4ME!" > /tmp/test.txt
BASE64_CONTENT=$(base64 < /tmp/test.txt)

curl -s -X POST "https://api.pdf4me.com/api/v2/ConvertToPdf" --header "Authorization: ${PDF4ME_API_KEY}" --header "Content-Type: application/json" -d "{
  \"docContent\": \"${BASE64_CONTENT}\",
  \"docName\": \"test.txt\"
  }" | jq -r '.docContent' | base64 -d > /tmp/output.pdf

2. HTML to PDF

Convert HTML content to PDF:

HTML_CONTENT=$(echo '<html><body><h1>Hello World</h1><p>This is a test.</p></body></html>' | base64)

curl -s -X POST "https://api.pdf4me.com/api/v2/ConvertHtmlToPdf" --header "Authorization: ${PDF4ME_API_KEY}" --header "Content-Type: application/json" -d "{
  \"docContent\": \"${HTML_CONTENT}\",
  \"docName\": \"test.html\",
  \"layout\": \"Portrait\",
  \"format\": \"A4\"
  }" --output /tmp/from-html.pdf

3. URL to PDF

Convert a webpage to PDF:

bash -c 'curl -s -X POST "https://api.pdf4me.com/api/v2/ConvertUrlToPdf" --header "Authorization: ${PDF4ME_API_KEY}" --header "Content-Type: application/json" -d '"'"'{
  "webUrl": "https://example.com"
  }'"'"'' > /tmp/webpage.pdf

4. Merge PDFs

Combine multiple PDFs into one:

PDF1_BASE64=$(base64 < file1.pdf)
PDF2_BASE64=$(base64 < file2.pdf)

curl -s -X POST "https://api.pdf4me.com/api/v2/Merge" --header "Authorization: ${PDF4ME_API_KEY}" --header "Content-Type: application/json" -d "{
  \"docContent\": [\"${PDF1_BASE64}\", \"${PDF2_BASE64}\"],
  \"docName\": \"merged.pdf\"
  }" | jq -r '.docContent' | base64 -d > merged.pdf

5. Split PDF

Split PDF by page ranges:

PDF_BASE64=$(base64 < input.pdf)

curl -s -X POST "https://api.pdf4me.com/api/v2/Split" --header "Authorization: ${PDF4ME_API_KEY}" --header "Content-Type: application/json" -d "{
  \"docContent\": \"${PDF_BASE64}\",
  \"docName\": \"input.pdf\",
  \"splitAction\": \"splitAfterPage\",
  \"splitAfterPage\": 2
  }"

6. Compress PDF

Reduce PDF file size:

PDF_BASE64=$(base64 < large.pdf)

curl -s -X POST "https://api.pdf4me.com/api/v2/Compress" --header "Authorization: ${PDF4ME_API_KEY}" --header "Content-Type: application/json" -d "{
  \"docContent\": \"${PDF_BASE64}\",
  \"docName\": \"large.pdf\"
  }" | jq -r '.docContent' | base64 -d > compressed.pdf

7. PDF to Word

Convert PDF to editable Word document:

PDF_BASE64=$(base64 < input.pdf)

curl -s -X POST "https://api.pdf4me.com/api/v2/PdfToWord" --header "Authorization: ${PDF4ME_API_KEY}" --header "Content-Type: application/json" -d "{
  \"docContent\": \"${PDF_BASE64}\",
  \"docName\": \"input.pdf\"
  }" | jq -r '.docContent' | base64 -d > output.docx

8. PDF to Images

Create thumbnails/images from PDF pages:

PDF_BASE64=$(base64 < input.pdf)

curl -s -X POST "https://api.pdf4me.com/api/v2/CreateThumbnail" --header "Authorization: ${PDF4ME_API_KEY}" --header "Content-Type: application/json" -d "{
  \"docContent\": \"${PDF_BASE64}\",
  \"docName\": \"input.pdf\",
  \"imageFormat\": \"png\",
  \"width\": 800
  }"

9. Add Text Stamp/Watermark

Add text watermark to PDF:

PDF_BASE64=$(base64 < input.pdf)

curl -s -X POST "https://api.pdf4me.com/api/v2/TextStamp" --header "Authorization: ${PDF4ME_API_KEY}" --header "Content-Type: application/json" -d "{
  \"docContent\": \"${PDF_BASE64}\",
  \"docName\": \"input.pdf\",
  \"stampText\": \"CONFIDENTIAL\",
  \"pages\": \"all\",
  \"alignX\": \"center\",
  \"alignY\": \"middle\",
  \"alpha\": 0.3
  }" | jq -r '.docContent' | base64 -d > stamped.pdf

10. OCR - Extract Text from Scanned PDF

Make scanned PDFs searchable:

PDF_BASE64=$(base64 < scanned.pdf)

curl -s -X POST "https://api.pdf4me.com/api/v2/PdfOcr" --header "Authorization: ${PDF4ME_API_KEY}" --header "Content-Type: application/json" -d "{
  \"docContent\": \"${PDF_BASE64}\",
  \"docName\": \"scanned.pdf\",
  \"ocrLanguage\": \"eng\"
  }" | jq -r '.docContent' | base64 -d > searchable.pdf

11. Protect PDF with Password

PDF_BASE64=$(base64 < input.pdf)

curl -s -X POST "https://api.pdf4me.com/api/v2/ProtectDocument" --header "Authorization: ${PDF4ME_API_KEY}" --header "Content-Type: application/json" -d "{
  \"docContent\": \"${PDF_BASE64}\",
  \"docName\": \"input.pdf\",
  \"password\": \"secret123\"
  }" | jq -r '.docContent' | base64 -d > protected.pdf

12. Extract Pages

Extract specific pages from PDF:

PDF_BASE64=$(base64 < input.pdf)

curl -s -X POST "https://api.pdf4me.com/api/v2/ExtractPages" --header "Authorization: ${PDF4ME_API_KEY}" --header "Content-Type: application/json" -d "{
  \"docContent\": \"${PDF_BASE64}\",
  \"docName\": \"input.pdf\",
  \"pageNrs\": [1, 3, 5]
  }" | jq -r '.docContent' | base64 -d > extracted.pdf

API Endpoints

Category	Endpoint	Description
Convert	`/api/v2/ConvertToPdf`	Word/Excel/PPT/Image → PDF
	`/api/v2/ConvertHtmlToPdf`	HTML → PDF
	`/api/v2/UrlToPdf`	URL → PDF
	`/api/v2/MarkdownToPdf`	Markdown → PDF
	`/api/v2/PdfToWord`	PDF → Word
	`/api/v2/PdfToExcel`	PDF → Excel
	`/api/v2/PdfToPowerpoint`	PDF → PowerPoint
Merge/Split	`/api/v2/Merge`	Merge multiple PDFs
	`/api/v2/Split`	Split PDF
	`/api/v2/ExtractPages`	Extract specific pages
Optimize	`/api/v2/Compress`	Compress PDF
	`/api/v2/Linearize`	Optimize for web
Edit	`/api/v2/TextStamp`	Add text watermark
	`/api/v2/ImageStamp`	Add image watermark
	`/api/v2/AddPageNumber`	Add page numbers
	`/api/v2/Rotate`	Rotate pages
Extract	`/api/v2/CreateThumbnail`	PDF → Images
	`/api/v2/ExtractResources`	Extract images/fonts
	`/api/v2/ExtractTable`	Extract tables
OCR	`/api/v2/PdfOcr`	OCR scanned PDFs
Security	`/api/v2/ProtectDocument`	Password protect
	`/api/v2/UnlockPdf`	Remove password
Forms	`/api/v2/FillPdfForm`	Fill form fields
	`/api/v2/ExtractFormData`	Extract form data
Barcode	`/api/v2/CreateBarcode`	Generate barcode
	`/api/v2/AddBarcodeToPdf`	Add barcode to PDF
	`/api/v2/ReadBarcodeFromPdf`	Read barcode from PDF

Request Format

All endpoints use POST with JSON body:

curl -X POST "https://api.pdf4me.com/api/v2/{endpoint}" --header "Authorization: ${PDF4ME_API_KEY}" --header "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{
  "docContent": "base64-encoded-file",
  "docName": "filename.ext",
  ...other parameters
  }'

Response Format

{
  "docContent": "base64-encoded-result",
  "docName": "output.pdf",
  "pageCount": 5
}

Guidelines

File Size: Max 20MB per file (varies by plan)
Base64: All file content must be base64 encoded
Formats: Supports PDF, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, HTML, images
OCR Languages: eng, deu, fra, spa, ita, por, etc.
Rate Limits: Check your plan at https://dev.pdf4me.com/pricing/
Free Tier: 50 API calls/month
Postman: Import from https://dev.pdf4me.com/apiv2/documentation/postman/

Resources

API Docs: https://dev.pdf4me.com/apiv2/documentation/
Code Samples: https://github.com/pdf4me/pdf4me-api-samples
Postman Collection: https://dev.pdf4me.com/apiv2/documentation/postman/
Dashboard: https://dev.pdf4me.com/dashboard/

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