Quickstart Guide

Generate your first PDF in 5 minutes

Create an Account

Generate an API Key

Navigate to the API Keys page in your dashboard and create a new key.

API Key Format

sk_free_A1b2C3d4E5f6G7h8I9j0K1l2M3n4O5p6

Important

Save your API key securely. It won't be shown again!

Make Your First API Call

Use cURL or your favorite HTTP client to generate a PDF:

cURL

curl -X POST https://api.speedstein.com/v1/pdf/generate \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "html": "<html><body><h1>My First PDF</h1><p>Generated with Speedstein!</p></body></html>",
    "format": "A4",
    "margin": "1cm"
  }' \
  --output my-first.pdf

Node.js

const fetch = require('node-fetch');
const fs = require('fs');

async function generatePDF() {
  const response = await fetch('https://api.speedstein.com/v1/pdf/generate', {
    method: 'POST',
    headers: {
      'Authorization': 'Bearer YOUR_API_KEY',
      'Content-Type': 'application/json'
    },
    body: JSON.stringify({
      html: '<html><body><h1>My First PDF</h1></body></html>',
      format: 'A4',
      margin: '1cm'
    })
  });

  const buffer = await response.buffer();
  fs.writeFileSync('my-first.pdf', buffer);
  console.log('PDF generated successfully!');
}

generatePDF();

Python

import requests

response = requests.post(
    'https://api.speedstein.com/v1/pdf/generate',
    headers={
        'Authorization': 'Bearer YOUR_API_KEY',
        'Content-Type': 'application/json'
    },
    json={
        'html': '<html><body><h1>My First PDF</h1></body></html>',
        'format': 'A4',
        'margin': '1cm'
    }
)

with open('my-first.pdf', 'wb') as f:
    f.write(response.content)

print('PDF generated successfully!')

Verify the Response

You should receive a successful response with metadata about your PDF:

Response (200 OK)

{
  "id": "pdf_1a2b3c4d5e6f",
  "url": "https://storage.speedstein.com/pdfs/1a2b3c4d5e6f.pdf",
  "size": 45234,
  "pages": 1,
  "generation_time_ms": 1847,
  "created_at": "2025-10-28T12:34:56Z",
  "expires_at": "2025-11-04T12:34:56Z"
}

Success!

Your PDF was generated in under 2 seconds. Download it from the url field.

Next Steps

Explore Advanced Features

Learn about custom headers, footers, page numbers, and watermarks

View API Reference

Try Batch Generation

Generate multiple PDFs in parallel with our batch API

View Batch API

View Code Examples

Complete examples in Node.js, Python, PHP, Ruby, and more

Browse Examples

Check Rate Limits

Understand rate limits and quotas for your subscription tier

View Rate Limits