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Quick Start Guide

Get up and running with Parselyze in just a few minutes. This guide walks you through your first document analysis.

Prerequisites​

  • A Parselyze account
  • An API key (generated from the web dashboard)
  • A template ID (created from the web dashboard)
  • A document to analyze (PDF, images, Zip)

Step 1: Create Your Template (Web Interface Only)​

Templates via Web Interface

Templates must be created through the Parselyze web dashboard. You cannot create templates via API.

See Template Creation Tutorial.

Template Testing

Premium users can test their templates without consuming quota using the template testing feature. Learn more in our Template Testing Guide.

Step 2: Generate API Key (Web Interface Only)​

  1. Log in to your Parselyze dashboard
  2. Navigate to "Account" > "API Keys"
  3. Provide a description
  4. Click "Generate Key"
  5. Copy and securely store the generated key
API Key Generation

More informations: Api key documentation.

Step 3: Analyze Your First Document​

Recommended: Asynchronous Processing

We recommend using asynchronous processing with webhooks for better reliability. The synchronous method shown below is deprecated.

See Asynchronous Processing Guide for the recommended approach.

Submit a job and receive results via webhook:

# Submit document for async processing
curl -X POST https://api.parselyze.com/v1/documents/parse/async \
  -H "x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -F "file=@invoice.pdf" \
  -F "templateId=YOUR_TEMPLATE_ID"

Response:

{
  "jobId": "550e8400-e29b-41d4-a716-446655440000",
  "status": "pending",
  "message": "Document submitted for processing",
  "createdAt": "2026-02-15T12:00:00Z"
}

Configure webhooks in your dashboard to receive results automatically, or poll the job status:

# Check job status
curl -X GET https://api.parselyze.com/v1/jobs/550e8400-e29b-41d4-a716-446655440000 \
  -H "x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY"

Benefits:

  • ✅ No timeout limitations
  • ✅ Automatic retries on failure
  • ✅ Results accessible for 7 days
  • ✅ Webhook notifications

Option 2: Synchronous Processing (Deprecated)​

Deprecated

This method is deprecated and will be removed. Please use asynchronous processing instead.

curl -X POST https://api.parselyze.com/documents/parse \
  -H "x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -F "files=@invoice.pdf" \
  -F "templateId=YOUR_TEMPLATE_ID"

Expected Response (Synchronous - Deprecated):

{
  "result": {
    "invoice": {
      "number": "INV-2025-001",
      "date": "26/05/2025",
      "total": 1250.75,
      "vendor": "Acme Corporation"
    }
  },
  "pageCount": 1,
  "pageUsed": 1,
  "pageRemaining": 999
}

Working with Different File Types​

Single file​

curl -X POST https://api.parselyze.com/documents/parse \
  -H "x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -F "files=@document.pdf" \
  -F "templateId=YOUR_TEMPLATE_ID"

Multiple Files (Premium Only)​

curl -X POST https://api.parselyze.com/documents/parse \
  -H "x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -F "files=@page1.jpg" \
  -F "files=@page2.jpg" \
  -F "templateId=YOUR_TEMPLATE_ID"

ZIP Archive (Premium Only)​

curl -X POST https://api.parselyze.com/documents/parse \
  -H "x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -F "files=@documents.zip" \
  -F "templateId=YOUR_TEMPLATE_ID"

Using JavaScript/Node.js​

Here's a complete example using JavaScript:

import { Parselyze } from "parselyze";

const parselyze = new Parselyze("plz_xxxxxxxx...xxxxxx");

(async function () {
  console.log("Start parsing document...");

  const result = await parselyze.documents.parse({
    files: ["./invoice.pdf"],
    templateId: "<YOUR_TEMPLATE_ID>",
  });

  console.log("Parsing complete:", result);
})();

Using Python​

import requests
import os

# You need to get template_id from your web dashboard
template_id = 'your-template-id-from-dashboard'

with open('invoice.pdf', 'rb') as file:
    files = {'files': file}
    data = {
        'templateId': template_id
    }
    
    analyze_response = requests.post(
        "https://api.parselyze.com/documents/parse",
        headers={"x-api-key": os.getenv('PARSELYZE_API_KEY')},
        files=files,
        data=data
    )

result = analyze_response.json()
print("Analysis result:", result)

Next Steps​

  1. Template Creation: Learn how to create templates with our Template Creation Tutorial
  2. Advanced Analysis: Explore the Document Analysis guide for more features
  3. Handle Errors: Learn about Error Handling
  4. Authentication: Read more about Authentication

Common Issues​

Template Not Working?​

  • Verify your template schema follows the correct format
  • Test your template with a sample document first
  • Check that field positions match your document layout

Getting 401 Errors?​

  • Ensure your API key is correct
  • Check that you're including the x-api-key header
  • Verify your API key hasn't expired

Files Not Processing?​

  • Confirm file format is supported (PDF, PNG, JPEG, ZIP)
  • Check file size is under the limit (50MB)
  • Ensure the file isn't corrupted

Need help? Check our Error Handling guide or contact support.