Developer Quickstart

Get up and running with the DataParse API in minutes. This guide will walk you through extracting structured data from a document with a complete working example.

Step 1: Get Your API Key

Create API Key

Create an API key in the dashboard - you’ll need this to authenticate your requests.

Step 2: Make Your First Request

Here’s a complete example that extracts invoice data from a PDF:

cURL Example

curl -X POST https://api.datapar.se/v1/ \
  -H "x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "schema": {
      "type": "object",
      "properties": {
        "invoice_number": {
          "type": "string",
          "description": "The unique invoice number or reference ID, typically found at the top of the invoice"
        },
        "vendor_name": {
          "type": "string",
          "description": "The name of the company or individual who issued the invoice"
        },
        "total_amount": {
          "type": "number",
          "description": "The final amount due including all taxes and fees, usually shown as 'Total' or 'Amount Due'"
        },
        "date": {
          "type": "string",
          "description": "The invoice date in YYYY-MM-DD format"
        }
      },
      "required": ["invoice_number", "total_amount", "date"]
    },
    "contents": [{
      "filename": "invoice.pdf",
      "mimeType": "application/pdf",
      "data": "BASE64_ENCODED_PDF_DATA"
    }]
  }'

JavaScript Example

const fs = require("fs");

// Read and encode your PDF file
const pdfBuffer = fs.readFileSync("invoice.pdf");
const base64Data = pdfBuffer.toString("base64");

// Make the API request
const response = await fetch("https://api.datapar.se/v1/", {
  method: "POST",
  headers: {
    "x-api-key": "YOUR_API_KEY",
    "Content-Type": "application/json",
  },
  body: JSON.stringify({
    schema: {
      type: "object",
      properties: {
        invoice_number: {
          type: "string",
          description:
            "The unique invoice number or reference ID, typically found at the top of the invoice",
        },
        vendor_name: {
          type: "string",
          description:
            "The name of the company or individual who issued the invoice",
        },
        total_amount: {
          type: "number",
          description:
            "The final amount due including all taxes and fees, usually shown as 'Total' or 'Amount Due'",
        },
        date: {
          type: "string",
          description: "The invoice date in YYYY-MM-DD format",
        },
      },
      required: ["invoice_number", "total_amount", "date"],
    },
    contents: [
      {
        filename: "invoice.pdf",
        mimeType: "application/pdf",
        data: base64Data,
      },
    ],
  }),
});

const extractedData = await response.json();
console.log("Extracted data:", extractedData);

Python Example

import requests
import base64

# Read and encode your PDF file
with open('invoice.pdf', 'rb') as file:
    base64_data = base64.b64encode(file.read()).decode('utf-8')

# Make the API request
response = requests.post(
    'https://api.datapar.se/v1/',
    headers={
        'x-api-key': 'YOUR_API_KEY',
        'Content-Type': 'application/json'
    },
    json={
        'schema': {
            'type': 'object',
            'properties': {
                'invoice_number': {
                    'type': 'string',
                    'description': 'The unique invoice number or reference ID, typically found at the top of the invoice'
                },
                'vendor_name': {
                    'type': 'string',
                    'description': 'The name of the company or individual who issued the invoice'
                },
                'total_amount': {
                    'type': 'number',
                    'description': 'The final amount due including all taxes and fees, usually shown as \'Total\' or \'Amount Due\''
                },
                'date': {
                    'type': 'string',
                    'description': 'The invoice date in YYYY-MM-DD format'
                }
            },
            'required': ['invoice_number', 'total_amount', 'date']
        },
        'contents': [{
            'filename': 'invoice.pdf',
            'mimeType': 'application/pdf',
            'data': base64_data
        }]
    }
)

extracted_data = response.json()
print('Extracted data:', extracted_data)

Step 3: Expected Response

You’ll receive structured JSON data matching your schema:

{
  "invoice_number": "INV-2024-001",
  "vendor_name": "Acme Corporation",
  "total_amount": 1250.5,
  "date": "2024-01-15"
}

Next Steps

• Learn more: Check out the API Reference for detailed documentation
• Schema design: Learn best practices for schema design to improve parsing accuracy
• See examples: Browse practical examples for common use cases
• Pricing: View our simple pricing - start with 100 pages free

Common Use Cases

• Invoice Processing: Extract vendor, amount, date, line items
• Receipt Parsing: Get merchant, total, items, tax information
• Form Data: Extract structured data from filled forms
• Business Cards: Parse contact information from images
• Contracts: Extract key terms, dates, and parties

Ready to get started? Create your API key and try the examples above!