Developer API

PDFtoLink API Documentation

Upload PDF files, update file metadata, and retrieve share links from your own application. All examples use the public API base URL below.

Base URL

https://pdftolink.app/api

Authentication

Send the token in the Authorization header for every API request.

Authorization: Bearer <token>

Upload file

POST /files/upload

Upload a PDF with multipart/form-data. The response contains the share URL.

Field	Required	Description
file	Yes	PDF file. The API validates the PDF signature and file type.
filename	No	Display filename. Defaults to the uploaded file name. Max 255 characters.
title	No	Public page title for the shared PDF. Max 160 characters.
desc	No	Public page description. You can also send `description`. Max 500 characters.
allowDownload	No	Boolean. Defaults to `true`.
searchEngineVisible	No	Boolean. Defaults to `false`. Use `true` to allow indexing.

curl -X POST https://pdftolink.app/api/files/upload \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <token>" \
  -F "[email protected]" \
  -F "filename=annual-report.pdf" \
  -F "title=Annual Report 2026" \
  -F "desc=Board-approved annual report for public distribution." \
  -F "allowDownload=true" \
  -F "searchEngineVisible=true"

{
  "success": true,
  "data": {
    "id": "clx123",
    "filename": "annual-report.pdf",
    "title": "Annual Report 2026",
    "desc": "Board-approved annual report for public distribution.",
    "description": "Board-approved annual report for public distribution.",
    "fileSize": 2481732,
    "contentType": "application/pdf",
    "allowDownload": true,
    "searchEngineVisible": true,
    "views": 0,
    "shareUrl": "https://pdftolink.app/view/clx123",
    "createdAt": "2026-06-29T15:00:00.000Z",
    "updatedAt": "2026-06-29T15:00:00.000Z"
  }
}

Get file

GET /files/:id

Retrieve metadata and the share URL for a file owned by the authenticated user.

curl https://pdftolink.app/api/files/<file-id> \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <token>"

Update file

PUT /files/:id

Update metadata with JSON, or send multipart/form-data to replace the PDF file at the same time. Empty title or desc values clear those fields.

curl -X PUT https://pdftolink.app/api/files/<file-id> \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <token>" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "title": "Updated title",
    "description": "Updated public description",
    "allowDownload": false,
    "searchEngineVisible": false
  }'

curl -X PUT https://pdftolink.app/api/files/<file-id> \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <token>" \
  -F "[email protected]" \
  -F "filename=replacement.pdf" \
  -F "title=Replacement PDF"

Response fields

Stable PDFtoLink file identifier. Use this value with GET or PUT requests.

filename

The display filename associated with the shared PDF.

title

The public page title. If omitted, the viewer falls back to the filename.

desc / description

The public page description. Both keys contain the same value for compatibility.

shareUrl

The public viewer URL that can be shared with readers.

allowDownload

Whether the viewer should expose a download action.

searchEngineVisible

When true, the viewer page allows search indexing. When false, the page stays noindex.

createdAt / updatedAt

ISO 8601 timestamps for file creation and the latest API update response.

Errors and limits

File type

Only PDF files are accepted. The API checks extension, content type, and PDF signature.

Upload size

The API rejects files over 100 MB. Account plan limits may apply before this hard cap.

Text fields

title accepts up to 160 characters. desc and description accept up to 500 characters.

Boolean values

Boolean fields accept true/false and common form values such as 1, 0, yes, no, on, and off.

Ownership

GET and PUT only return files owned by the authenticated user.

{
  "success": false,
  "error": "Invalid or missing API JWT token"
}