Authentication

PDFCanon uses two authentication schemes depending on the endpoint group.

API key (normalization endpoints)

All normalization and artifact retrieval endpoints require an API key passed via the X-Api-Key header.

curl https://api.pdfcanon.com/api/normalize \
  -H "X-Api-Key: pdfn_your_api_key_here" \
  ...

Obtaining an API key

1. Sign in to app.pdfcanon.com
2. Navigate to Settings → API Keys
3. Click Create Key and give it a descriptive name
4. Copy the key immediately — it is only shown once

API keys start with the prefix pdfn_.

Key rotation

You can create multiple API keys and rotate them without downtime:

1. Create a new key in the portal
2. Update your application to use the new key
3. Revoke the old key once traffic has migrated

Endpoints that require an API key

Endpoint	Method
/api/normalize	POST
/api/submissions/{id}	GET
/api/artifacts/{hash}	GET
/api/reports/{hash}	GET

JWT Bearer (portal endpoints)

Portal management endpoints (/api/portal/*) require a JWT Bearer token obtained by authenticating with your portal credentials.

# Obtain a token
curl -X POST https://api.pdfcanon.com/api/auth/login \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"email": "you@example.com", "password": "..."}'

# Use the token
curl https://api.pdfcanon.com/api/portal/usage \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer eyJ..."

JWT tokens expire after a short period. Use the refresh endpoint to obtain a new access token without re-authenticating.

Rate limits

Endpoint	Limit
POST /api/normalize	Tier-based monthly document quota
POST /api/auth/register	3 requests / hour / IP
POST /api/auth/login	5 requests / 15 min / IP
POST /api/auth/forgot-password	3 requests / hour / IP