gh-christianlouis-docuelevate/docs/API.md

API Documentation

DocuElevate provides a powerful REST API for programmatic access to all its features. This document serves as a reference for the available endpoints and their usage.

API Overview

• Base URL: http://<your-docuelevate-instance>/api
• Authentication: OAuth2 (when enabled)
• Response Format: JSON
• Rate Limiting: Enabled by default (see Rate Limiting section below)

Interactive API Documentation

The most up-to-date and interactive API documentation is available at:

http://<your-docuelevate-instance>/docs

This Swagger UI provides a complete reference with the ability to try out API calls directly from your browser.

Rate Limiting

DocuElevate implements rate limiting to protect against abuse and DoS attacks. Rate limits are enforced per IP address for unauthenticated requests and per user for authenticated requests.

Default Limits

• Default endpoints: 100 requests per minute
• File upload: 600 requests per minute
• Authentication: 10 requests per minute

Note: Document processing endpoints (OCR, metadata extraction) use built-in queue throttling to control processing rates and prevent upstream API overloads. No additional API-level rate limit is applied to processing endpoints.

Rate Limit Headers

When a rate limit is exceeded, the API returns a 429 Too Many Requests response:

{
  "detail": "Rate limit exceeded: 100 per 1 minute"
}

The response includes a Retry-After header indicating when the client can retry the request.

Configuration

Rate limits can be configured via environment variables:

RATE_LIMITING_ENABLED=true
RATE_LIMIT_DEFAULT=100/minute
RATE_LIMIT_UPLOAD=600/minute
RATE_LIMIT_AUTH=10/minute

See Configuration Guide for more details.

Best Practices

1. Respect rate limits: Monitor your request rates and implement backoff strategies
2. Cache responses: Reduce unnecessary API calls by caching responses when appropriate
3. Batch operations: Use bulk endpoints when available instead of making multiple individual requests
4. Handle 429 responses: Implement retry logic with exponential backoff when rate limits are exceeded

Example: Handling Rate Limits

import requests
import time

def make_api_request(url, max_retries=3):
    """Make API request with rate limit handling."""
    for attempt in range(max_retries):
        response = requests.get(url)

        if response.status_code == 429:
            # Rate limit exceeded
            retry_after = int(response.headers.get('Retry-After', 60))
            print(f"Rate limit exceeded. Retrying after {retry_after} seconds...")
            time.sleep(retry_after)
            continue

        return response

    raise Exception("Max retries exceeded")

Authentication

When authentication is enabled, you must include an authentication token in your requests:

curl -X GET "http://<your-docuelevate-instance>/api/files" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <your-token>"

Common Endpoints

Document Upload

Upload from Computer

Upload a file from your computer to DocuElevate for processing.

Endpoint: POST /api/upload

Request:

curl -X POST "http://<your-docuelevate-instance>/api/upload" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <your-token>" \
  -F "file=@/path/to/document.pdf"

Response (201 Created):

{
  "task_id": "abc-123-def",
  "status": "queued",
  "message": "File uploaded and queued for processing",
  "filename": "document.pdf"
}

Upload from URL

Download and process a file from a URL. This endpoint is used by the browser extension.

Endpoint: POST /api/process-url

Security Features:

• SSRF protection (blocks private IPs, localhost, cloud metadata endpoints)
• File type validation (only supported document/image types)
• File size limits (enforces maximum upload size)
• Timeout protection (prevents hanging on slow/malicious servers)

Request:

curl -X POST "http://<your-docuelevate-instance>/api/process-url" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <your-token>" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "url": "https://example.com/document.pdf",
    "filename": "custom-name.pdf"
  }'

Request Body:

{
  "url": "https://example.com/document.pdf",
  "filename": "optional-custom-name.pdf"
}

Response (200 OK):

{
  "task_id": "abc-123-def",
  "status": "queued",
  "message": "File downloaded from URL and queued for processing",
  "filename": "document.pdf",
  "size": 1048576
}

Error Responses:

// 400 Bad Request - Invalid URL or unsupported file type
{
  "detail": "Unsupported file type: text/html. Supported types: PDF, Office documents, images, plain text"
}

// 400 Bad Request - Private IP (SSRF protection)
{
  "detail": "Access to private/internal IP addresses is not allowed for security reasons"
}

// 408 Request Timeout
{
  "detail": "Request timeout: server took too long to respond"
}

// 413 Payload Too Large
{
  "detail": "File too large: 2097152 bytes (max 1048576 bytes)"
}

// 502 Bad Gateway
{
  "detail": "Failed to connect to URL: Connection refused"
}

Usage with Browser Extension:

The DocuElevate browser extension uses this endpoint to send files directly from your browser. See the Browser Extension Guide for installation and usage instructions.

Supported File Types:

• Documents: PDF, DOC, DOCX, XLS, XLSX, PPT, PPTX, TXT, CSV, RTF
• Images: JPG, PNG, GIF, BMP, TIFF, WebP, SVG

POST /api/ui-upload

Upload one or more files from your computer for processing.

Request:

• Multipart form data with file(s)

Response:

{
  "success": true,
  "file_ids": [123, 124],
  "message": "Files uploaded and queued for processing"
}

Upload from URL

POST /api/process-url

Download a file from a URL and enqueue it for processing.

Security Features:

• SSRF protection: Blocks private IPs, localhost, and cloud metadata endpoints
• File type validation: Only allows supported document/image types
• File size limits: Enforces maximum upload size
• Timeout protection: Prevents hanging on slow/malicious servers

Request Body:

{
  "url": "https://example.com/document.pdf",
  "filename": "my-document.pdf"  // optional
}

Response:

{
  "task_id": "abc123",
  "status": "queued",
  "message": "File downloaded from URL and queued for processing",
  "filename": "document.pdf",
  "size": 1024000
}

Error Responses:

• 400: Invalid URL, unsupported file type, or SSRF protection triggered
• 408: Request timeout (server too slow)
• 413: File too large
• 502: Connection error
• 404: File not found at URL
• 500: Server error

Supported File Types:

• PDF documents
• Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint)
• Images (JPEG, PNG, GIF, BMP, TIFF, WebP, SVG)
• Plain text and CSV files

Example:

curl -X POST "http://localhost:8000/api/process-url" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "url": "https://example.com/invoice.pdf",
    "filename": "march-invoice.pdf"
  }'

SSRF Protection: The endpoint blocks access to:

• Private IP ranges (10.0.0.0/8, 172.16.0.0/12, 192.168.0.0/16)
• Localhost (127.0.0.1, ::1)
• Link-local addresses (169.254.0.0/16)
• Cloud metadata endpoints (169.254.169.254, metadata.google.internal)

Get Files

GET /api/files

Retrieve a paginated list of processed files with advanced filtering and sorting.

Query Parameters:

• page (optional, default: 1): Page number
• per_page (optional, default: 25, max: 200): Items per page
• sort_by (optional, default: created_at): Sort field (id, original_filename, file_size, mime_type, created_at)
• sort_order (optional, default: desc): Sort order (asc or desc)
• search (optional): Search in filename (partial match)
• mime_type (optional): Filter by exact MIME type (e.g. application/pdf)
• status (optional): Filter by processing status (pending, processing, completed, failed, duplicate)
• date_from (optional): Filter files created on or after this date (ISO 8601, e.g. 2026-01-01)
• date_to (optional): Filter files created on or before this date (ISO 8601, e.g. 2026-12-31)
• storage_provider (optional): Filter by storage provider (e.g. dropbox, s3, google_drive, onedrive, nextcloud)
• tags (optional): Filter by tags in AI metadata (comma-separated, AND logic, e.g. invoice,amazon)
• ocr_quality (optional): Filter by AI-assessed OCR quality score (poor = score below threshold, good = score at or above threshold, unchecked = not yet assessed). The threshold is configured via TEXT_QUALITY_THRESHOLD (default: 85).

All filters are combinable using AND logic.

Example:

GET /api/files?status=completed&mime_type=application/pdf&tags=invoice&date_from=2026-01-01&sort_by=created_at&sort_order=desc

Response:

{
  "files": [
    {
      "id": 123,
      "original_filename": "invoice.pdf",
      "file_size": 1024000,
      "mime_type": "application/pdf",
      "created_at": "2026-04-15T12:30:45Z",
      "processing_status": {
        "status": "completed",
        "last_step": "send_to_all_destinations",
        "has_errors": false,
        "total_steps": 8
      }
    }
  ],
  "pagination": {
    "page": 1,
    "per_page": 25,
    "total": 150,
    "pages": 6,
    "next": "http://host/api/files?page=2",
    "previous": null
  }
}

Tip

: Filter state is reflected in query parameters, making URLs shareable as bookmarks or direct links.

Full-Text Search

GET /api/search

Search documents by full text across OCR content, titles, filenames, tags, sender, and document type. Powered by Meilisearch.

Query Parameters:

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
q	string	Yes	Full-text search query (1–512 chars)
mime_type	string	No	Filter by MIME type (e.g. application/pdf)
document_type	string	No	Filter by document type (e.g. Invoice)
language	string	No	Filter by language code (e.g. de, en)
tags	string	No	Filter by tag (exact match on a single tag)
sender	string	No	Filter by sender/absender (exact match)
text_quality	string	No	Filter by OCR text quality: no_text, low, medium, high
date_from	int	No	Filter results created after this Unix timestamp
date_to	int	No	Filter results created before this Unix timestamp
page	int	No	Page number, default: 1
per_page	int	No	Results per page (1–100), default: 20

Example:

GET /api/search?q=invoice&document_type=Invoice&tags=amazon&text_quality=high&page=1

Response:

{
  "results": [
    {
      "file_id": 42,
      "original_filename": "2026-01-15_Invoice_Amazon.pdf",
      "document_title": "Amazon Invoice January 2026",
      "document_type": "Invoice",
      "tags": ["amazon", "invoice"],
      "_formatted": {
        "document_title": "Amazon <mark>Invoice</mark> January 2026",
        "ocr_text": "...total amount of the <mark>invoice</mark> is..."
      }
    }
  ],
  "total": 42,
  "page": 1,
  "pages": 3,
  "query": "invoice"
}

Saved Searches

Saved searches allow users to save and reuse filter combinations. Each user can store up to 50 saved searches.

Saved searches are used on both the Files page (for file management filters) and the Search page (for content-finding filters including full-text queries).

List Saved Searches

GET /api/saved-searches

Returns all saved searches for the current user.

Response:

[
  {
    "id": 1,
    "name": "Recent Invoices",
    "filters": {
      "q": "invoice total",
      "tags": "invoice",
      "document_type": "Invoice",
      "date_from": "2026-01-01"
    },
    "created_at": "2026-03-01T10:00:00Z",
    "updated_at": "2026-03-01T10:00:00Z"
  }
]

Create Saved Search

POST /api/saved-searches

Request Body:

{
  "name": "Recent Invoices",
  "filters": {
    "q": "invoice total",
    "tags": "invoice",
    "document_type": "Invoice",
    "date_from": "2026-01-01"
  }
}

Allowed filter keys:

Files-view keys: search, mime_type, status, storage_provider, sort_by, sort_order

Search-view keys: q, document_type, language, sender, text_quality

Shared keys: tags, date_from, date_to

Response (201 Created): The created saved search object.

Update Saved Search

PUT /api/saved-searches/{id}

Request Body (all fields optional):

{
  "name": "Updated Name",
  "filters": {
    "tags": "invoice,amazon"
  }
}

Response: The updated saved search object.

Delete Saved Search

DELETE /api/saved-searches/{id}

Response: 204 No Content

File Metadata

GET /api/files/{file_id}/metadata

Retrieve metadata for a specific file.

Response:

{
  "document_type": "invoice",
  "date": "2023-04-10",
  "vendor": "Acme Corp",
  "amount": "$1,234.56",
  "extracted_text": "..."
}

Process Control

POST /api/files/{file_id}/reprocess

Reprocess a specific file. This queues the file for complete reprocessing through the entire pipeline.

Response:

{
  "status": "success",
  "message": "File queued for reprocessing",
  "file_id": 123,
  "filename": "invoice.pdf",
  "task_id": "a1b2c3d4-e5f6-7g8h-9i0j-k1l2m3n4o5p6"
}

Error Responses:

• 404: File not found
• 400: Local file not found on disk (cannot reprocess)

POST /api/files/{file_id}/reprocess-with-cloud-ocr

Reprocess a specific file with forced Cloud OCR, regardless of embedded text quality. This is useful for documents with low-quality embedded text or when higher quality OCR is needed.

Response:

{
  "status": "success",
  "message": "File queued for Cloud OCR reprocessing",
  "file_id": 123,
  "filename": "invoice.pdf",
  "task_id": "a1b2c3d4-e5f6-7g8h-9i0j-k1l2m3n4o5p6",
  "force_cloud_ocr": true
}

Error Responses:

• 404: File not found
• 400: Neither original nor local file found on disk (cannot reprocess)

Note: This endpoint forces Azure Document Intelligence OCR processing even if the PDF contains embedded text. The original file (if available) is used for reprocessing to ensure the highest quality result.

Bulk Operations

POST /api/files/bulk-delete

Delete multiple file records in a single request.

Request body: JSON array of file IDs

curl -X POST "http://<your-instance>/api/files/bulk-delete" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '[1, 2, 3]'

Response:

{
  "status": "success",
  "message": "Successfully deleted 3 file records",
  "deleted_ids": [1, 2, 3]
}

Error Responses:

• 403: File deletion is disabled in configuration
• 404: No files found with the provided IDs

---

POST /api/files/bulk-reprocess

Queue multiple files for full reprocessing.

Request body: JSON array of file IDs

Response:

{
  "status": "success",
  "message": "Successfully queued 2 files for reprocessing",
  "processed_files": [
    {"file_id": 1, "filename": "a.pdf", "task_id": "abc123"},
    {"file_id": 2, "filename": "b.pdf", "task_id": "def456"}
  ],
  "errors": [],
  "task_ids": ["abc123", "def456"]
}

---

POST /api/files/bulk-reprocess-cloud-ocr

Queue multiple files for reprocessing with forced Cloud OCR (Azure Document Intelligence). Useful for files that have missing or low-quality OCR text.

Request body: JSON array of file IDs

Response:

{
  "status": "success",
  "message": "Successfully queued 2 files for Cloud OCR reprocessing",
  "processed_files": [
    {"file_id": 1, "filename": "a.pdf", "task_id": "abc123"}
  ],
  "errors": [],
  "task_ids": ["abc123"]
}

---

POST /api/files/bulk-download

Download multiple files as a single ZIP archive. For each file, the processed version is preferred; falls back to the original. Files not found on disk are silently skipped.

Request body: JSON array of file IDs

Response: application/zip stream with Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="docuelevate_bulk_<timestamp>.zip"

curl -X POST "http://<your-instance>/api/files/bulk-download" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '[1, 2, 3]' \
  --output bulk_download.zip

Error Responses:

• 404: No files found with the provided IDs, or none of the selected files exist on disk

File Preview

GET /api/files/{file_id}/preview

Retrieve the file content for preview purposes.

Parameters:

• version (required): Either original or processed
  • original: Returns the immutable original file from the original directory
  • processed: Returns the file after metadata embedding from the processed directory

Response: Returns the file content with appropriate MIME type for browser display.

Example:

# Preview original file
curl "http://<your-instance>/api/files/123/preview?version=original"

# Preview processed file
curl "http://<your-instance>/api/files/123/preview?version=processed"

Error Responses:

• 404: File not found in database or on disk
• 400: Invalid version parameter

File Download

GET /api/files/{file_id}/download

Download a file as an attachment. The Content-Disposition header is set to attachment with the original filename so the browser prompts a save dialog.

Parameters:

• version (optional, default: processed): Either processed or original
  • processed (default): Downloads the post-processing file (with embedded metadata)
  • original: Downloads the raw file as originally uploaded

Response: File content with Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="<original_filename>".

Example:

# Download processed file (default)
curl -OJ "http://<your-instance>/api/files/123/download"

# Download original upload
curl -OJ "http://<your-instance>/api/files/123/download?version=original"

Error Responses:

• 404: File not found in database or on disk
• 400: Invalid version parameter (must be processed or original)

Batch Processing

POST /api/processall

Process all PDF files in the configured workdir directory.

Throttling: For large batches (>20 files by default), tasks are automatically staggered to prevent overwhelming downstream APIs. The throttling behavior can be configured via environment variables:

• PROCESSALL_THROTTLE_THRESHOLD: Number of files above which throttling is applied (default: 20)
• PROCESSALL_THROTTLE_DELAY: Delay in seconds between each task submission when throttling (default: 3)

Example: When processing 25 files with default settings, the first file is queued immediately, the second after 3 seconds, the third after 6 seconds, etc., spreading the load over 72 seconds total.

Response:

{
  "message": "Enqueued 25 PDFs for processing (throttled over 72 seconds)",
  "pdf_files": ["file1.pdf", "file2.pdf", ...],
  "task_ids": ["a1b2c3...", "d4e5f6...", ...],
  "throttled": true
}

POST /send_to_google_drive/

Send a processed file to Google Drive.

Parameters:

• file_path: Path to the file to upload

Response:

{
  "task_id": "a1b2c3d4-e5f6-7g8h-9i0j-k1l2m3n4o5p6",
  "status": "queued"
}

Error Handling

Errors follow standard HTTP status codes with descriptive messages:

{
  "detail": "File not found",
  "status_code": 404
}

Queue Monitoring

GET /api/queue/stats

Get comprehensive queue and processing statistics, including Redis queue lengths, Celery worker inspection data, and database-level processing summaries.

Authentication: Required

Response (200 OK):

{
  "queues": {
    "document_processor": 12,
    "default": 0,
    "celery": 0
  },
  "total_queued": 12,
  "celery": {
    "active": [
      {"id": "abc123", "name": "process_document", "args": "[42]", "started": 1700000000}
    ],
    "reserved": [],
    "scheduled": [],
    "workers_online": 1
  },
  "db_summary": {
    "total_files": 5000,
    "processing": 3,
    "failed": 1,
    "completed": 4900,
    "pending": 96,
    "recent_processing": [
      {"file_id": 42, "filename": "invoice.pdf", "current_step": "extract_metadata_with_gpt"}
    ]
  }
}

GET /api/queue/pending-count

Lightweight endpoint returning the total number of queued + in-progress items. Designed for the files page banner indicator.

Authentication: Required

Response (200 OK):

{
  "total_pending": 15
}

Rate Limiting

The API implements rate limiting to ensure system stability. If you exceed the limits, you'll receive a 429 Too Many Requests response.

Further Assistance

For additional help with the API, please contact our support team or refer to the Development Guide.