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 '.field'

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.

Write to /tmp/pdforge_request.json:

{ "templateId": "your-template-id", "data": { "name": "John Doe", "date": "2025-01-15", "items": [ {"description": "Item 1", "price": 100}, {"description": "Item 2", "price": 200} ] } }

Then run:

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 @/tmp/pdforge_request.json'

Response:

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

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

1. Generate PDF from Template (Async)

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

Write to /tmp/pdforge_request.json:

{ "templateId": "your-template-id", "webhook": "https://your-server.com/webhook", "data": { "name": "Jane Doe", "amount": 500 } }

Then run:

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 @/tmp/pdforge_request.json'

Response:

{ "requestId": "abc123" }

The webhook will receive the signedUrl when generation is complete.

1. Convert HTML to PDF (Sync)

Convert raw HTML directly to PDF without a template.

Write to /tmp/pdforge_request.json:

{ "html": "

Hello World

This is a PDF generated from HTML.

Then run:

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 @/tmp/pdforge_request.json'

1. Convert HTML to PDF with Styling

Include CSS for styled PDFs.

Write to /tmp/pdforge_request.json:

{ "html": "

Then run:

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 @/tmp/pdforge_request.json'

1. Generate PNG Instead of PDF

Set convertToImage to true to get a PNG.

Write to /tmp/pdforge_request.json:

{ "html": "

Image Export

Then run:

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 @/tmp/pdforge_request.json'

1. Download Generated PDF

After getting the signedUrl, download the PDF:

Replace with the actual signed URL from the previous response:

curl -s -o output.pdf "https://storage.googleapis.com/"

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