PDForge API (PDF Noodle)

Use the PDForge API via direct curl calls to generate PDFs from templates or raw HTML.

Official docs: https://docs.pdforge.com/

Note: PDForge has been rebranded to PDF Noodle. Both api.pdforge.com and api.pdfnoodle.com work.

When to Use

Use this skill when you need to:

Generate PDFs from reusable templates with dynamic data
Convert HTML to PDF directly
Create invoices, reports, or documents programmatically
Export PNG images instead of PDFs
Batch generate documents using async endpoints with webhooks

Prerequisites

Sign up at PDF Noodle (formerly PDForge)
Go to the API Keys menu in the dashboard
Copy your API key (format: pdfnoodle_api_xxxxx)
Store it in the environment variable PDFORGE_API_KEY

export PDFORGE_API_KEY="pdfnoodle_api_your-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

All examples below assume you have PDFORGE_API_KEY set.

Base URL: https://api.pdfnoodle.com/v1

1. Generate PDF from Template (Sync)

Generate a PDF using a pre-built template with dynamic data:

bash -c 'curl -s -X POST "https://api.pdfnoodle.com/v1/pdf/sync" --header "Authorization: Bearer ${PDFORGE_API_KEY}" --header "Content-Type: application/json" -d '"'"'{
  "templateId": "your-template-id",
  "data": {
  "name": "John Doe",
  "date": "2025-01-15",
  "items": [
  {"description": "Item 1", "price": 100},
  {"description": "Item 2", "price": 200}
  ]
  }
  }'"'"' | jq .'

Response:

{
  "signedUrl": "https://storage.googleapis.com/...",
  "executionTime": 1234
}

The signedUrl is a temporary URL (expires in 1 hour) to download the generated PDF.

2. Generate PDF from Template (Async)

For batch processing, use the async endpoint with a webhook:

bash -c 'curl -s -X POST "https://api.pdfnoodle.com/v1/pdf/async" --header "Authorization: Bearer ${PDFORGE_API_KEY}" --header "Content-Type: application/json" -d '"'"'{
  "templateId": "your-template-id",
  "webhook": "https://your-server.com/webhook",
  "data": {
  "name": "Jane Doe",
  "amount": 500
  }
  }'"'"' | jq .'

Response:

{
  "requestId": "abc123"
}

The webhook will receive the signedUrl when generation is complete.

3. Convert HTML to PDF (Sync)

Convert raw HTML directly to PDF without a template:

bash -c 'curl -s -X POST "https://api.pdfnoodle.com/v1/html-to-pdf/sync" --header "Authorization: Bearer ${PDFORGE_API_KEY}" --header "Content-Type: application/json" -d '"'"'{
  "html": "<html><body><h1>Hello World</h1><p>This is a PDF generated from HTML.</p></body></html>"
  }'"'"' | jq .'

4. Convert HTML to PDF with Styling

Include CSS for styled PDFs:

bash -c 'curl -s -X POST "https://api.pdfnoodle.com/v1/html-to-pdf/sync" --header "Authorization: Bearer ${PDFORGE_API_KEY}" --header "Content-Type: application/json" -d '"'"'{
  "html": "<html><head><style>body { font-family: Arial; } h1 { color: #333; } .invoice { border: 1px solid #ddd; padding: 20px; }</style></head><body><div class=\"invoice\"><h1>Invoice #001</h1><p>Amount: $500</p></div></body></html>"
  }'"'"' | jq .'

5. Generate PNG Instead of PDF

Set convertToImage to true to get a PNG:

bash -c 'curl -s -X POST "https://api.pdfnoodle.com/v1/html-to-pdf/sync" --header "Authorization: Bearer ${PDFORGE_API_KEY}" --header "Content-Type: application/json" -d '"'"'{
  "html": "<html><body><h1>Image Export</h1></body></html>",
  "convertToImage": true
  }'"'"' | jq .'

6. Download Generated PDF

After getting the signedUrl, download the PDF:

SIGNED_URL="https://storage.googleapis.com/..."

curl -s -o output.pdf "${SIGNED_URL}"

Request Parameters

Template Endpoint Parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
`templateId`	string	Yes	Template ID from dashboard
`data`	object	Yes	Variables for the template
`webhook`	string	Async only	Webhook URL for delivery
`convertToImage`	boolean	No	Return PNG instead of PDF
`metadata`	object	No	PDF metadata (title, author, etc.)
`hasCover`	boolean	No	Hide header/footer on first page
`debug`	boolean	No	Enable debug mode

HTML Endpoint Parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
`html`	string	Yes	HTML content to convert
`convertToImage`	boolean	No	Return PNG instead of PDF
`metadata`	object	No	PDF metadata settings
`pdfParams`	object	No	PDF generation options

Metadata Object

{
  "metadata": {
  "title": "Invoice #001",
  "author": "Company Name",
  "subject": "Monthly Invoice",
  "keywords": ["invoice", "payment"]
  }
}

Guidelines

Use templates for reusable documents: Create templates in the dashboard for invoices, reports, etc.
Use HTML endpoint for one-off documents: When you don't need a reusable template
Use async for batch processing: Async endpoint is better for generating many PDFs
Download promptly: Signed URLs expire in 1 hour
Include CSS inline: For HTML to PDF, include all styles in the HTML

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