Generate PDFs from n8n

To generate a PDF from n8n, add an HTTP Request node that sends a POST to the Docweave API with your template (or HTML/URL) and data as a JSON body — n8n makes the call, and the response is your rendered PDF. No separate rendering service or headless browser to run yourself.

Wire the HTTP Request node

In your n8n workflow, add an HTTP Request node after whatever step produces the data you want in the PDF (a webhook trigger, a database node, a form submission, etc.), and configure it:

1. Method: POST
2. URL: https://docweave.dev/api/v1/pdf
3. Authentication: under "Header Auth" (or a generic header), add Authorization with value Bearer dw_live_your_key
4. Body Content Type: JSON
5. Body: a source (template + data, HTML, or a URL) plus an idempotencyKey, using n8n expressions to pull in values from the previous node

Example JSON body

Paste this into the HTTP Request node's JSON body field, then swap the {{ $json.* }} expressions for the fields coming from your workflow's previous node:

{
  "source": {
    "type": "template",
    "template": "<h1>Order {{ order_id }}</h1><p>Customer: {{ customer_name }}</p><p>Total: {{ total }}</p>",
    "data": {
      "order_id": "{{ $json.order_id }}",
      "customer_name": "{{ $json.customer_name }}",
      "total": "{{ $json.total }}"
    }
  },
  "options": { "format": "A4" },
  "idempotencyKey": "{{ $json.order_id }}"
}

What n8n is actually doing

Under the hood, the HTTP Request node makes the same call you'd make with curl — n8n just handles the request/response plumbing and lets you template the body with data from earlier nodes:

curl https://docweave.dev/api/v1/pdf \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer dw_live_your_key" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Accept: application/pdf" \
  -d '{
    "source": {
      "type": "template",
      "template": "<h1>Order {{ order_id }}</h1><p>Customer: {{ customer_name }}</p><p>Total: {{ total }}</p>",
      "data": { "order_id": "1042", "customer_name": "Acme Inc.", "total": "$412.00" }
    },
    "idempotencyKey": "1042"
  }' \
  --output order-1042.pdf

Where to go from here

Rendering is Chromium under the hood, sources can be a template + JSON, raw HTML, or a URL, and billing is per document (not per page), so a longer report costs the same as a one-page receipt. If you'd rather skip HTTP configuration entirely, the open-source @docweave/mcp server exposes the same rendering as a generate_pdf tool — run it with npx @docweave/mcp for MCP-based automation clients, or stick with the HTTP Request node for n8n itself. Other automation tools (like Make or Zapier) can call the same endpoint the same way — check the provider's current docs for the equivalent of an "HTTP" or "webhook" module.

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