Getting Started

Quickstart

Extract data from your first document in under 5 minutes

Prerequisites

Before you begin, you’ll need:

Step 1: Create an Extractor

1

Go to Extractors

Navigate to your project in the Automat Dashboard and click Create Extractor

2

Define Your Schema

Use the visual editor to define what fields you want to extract. For example, for an invoice:

1{
2  "invoice_number": "string",
3  "date": "string",
4  "total_amount": "number",
5  "vendor_name": "string",
6  "line_items": [{
7    "description": "string",
8    "quantity": "number",
9    "unit_price": "number"
10  }]
11}
3

Test in Playground

Upload a sample document to test your extractor before using the API

4

Copy Extractor ID

Once satisfied, copy the extractor ID (e.g., ext_abc123) for API use

Step 2: Make Your First API Request

File Size Limits

Binary, Base64, and Data URL inputs are limited to 4.5 MB on the Pay As You Go plan.

For larger files up to 35 MB, use the URL option instead.

Need higher limits? Contact our sales team to discuss enterprise options.

Using cURL

$curl -X POST https://inference.runautomat.com/api/extract \
>  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
>  -F "extractorId=YOUR_EXTRACTOR_ID" \
>  -F "file=@path/to/your/document.pdf"

Using the TypeScript SDK

$npm install @automat/sdk
1import { AutomatClient } from '@automat/sdk';
2import fs from 'fs';
3
4const client = new AutomatClient({
5  apiKey: process.env.AUTOMAT_API_KEY,
6});
7
8async function extractDocument() {
9  const result = await client.extract({
10    extractorId: 'ext_abc123',
11    file: fs.createReadStream('invoice.pdf'),
12  });
13
14  if (result.success) {
15    console.log('Extracted data:', result.data);
16  } else {
17    console.error('Extraction failed:', result.error);
18  }
19}
20
21extractDocument();

Using the Python SDK

$pip install automat-sdk
1from automat import AutomatClient
2import os
3
4client = AutomatClient(api_key=os.environ["AUTOMAT_API_KEY"])
5
6with open("invoice.pdf", "rb") as f:
7    result = client.extract(
8        extractor_id="ext_abc123",
9        file=f,
10    )
11
12if result.success:
13    print("Extracted data:", result.data)
14else:
15    print("Extraction failed:", result.error)

Step 3: Handle the Response

A successful response looks like:

1{
2  "success": true,
3  "data": {
4    "invoice_number": "INV-2024-001",
5    "date": "2024-01-15",
6    "total_amount": 1250.00,
7    "vendor_name": "Acme Corp",
8    "line_items": [
9      {
10        "description": "Widget A",
11        "quantity": 10,
12        "unit_price": 100.00
13      },
14      {
15        "description": "Widget B", 
16        "quantity": 5,
17        "unit_price": 50.00
18      }
19    ]
20  }
21}

The data field contains the extracted information matching your extractor’s schema.

Alternative Input Methods

Extract from URL

URL is the only method that supports files up to 35 MB — ideal for larger documents that exceed the 4.5 MB limit of binary, Base64, and Data URL uploads.

If your document is publicly accessible, you can pass a URL instead of uploading:

$curl -X POST https://inference.runautomat.com/api/extract \
>  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
>  -F "extractorId=ext_abc123" \
>  -F "file=https://example.com/invoice.pdf" \
>  -F "mimeType=application/pdf"

When using a URL, you must also provide the mimeType field.

Extract from Base64

For base64-encoded documents:

1const result = await client.extract({
2  extractorId: 'ext_abc123',
3  file: base64EncodedDocument,
4  mimeType: 'application/pdf',
5});

Error Handling

Always handle potential errors in your integration:

1try {
2  const result = await client.extract({
3    extractorId: 'ext_abc123',
4    file: fs.createReadStream('document.pdf'),
5  });
6  
7  if (!result.success) {
8    // Handle extraction error (e.g., invalid document)
9    console.error('Extraction error:', result.error);
10    return;
11  }
12  
13  // Process successful extraction
14  processData(result.data);
15  
16} catch (error) {
17  // Handle network/authentication errors
18  if (error.statusCode === 401) {
19    console.error('Invalid API key');
20  } else if (error.statusCode === 400) {
21    console.error('Bad request:', error.message);
22  } else {
23    console.error('Unexpected error:', error);
24  }
25}

Next Steps

Extractors

Learn more about creating and managing extractors

Schemas

Advanced schema configuration options

API Reference

Complete API documentation