API recipes: Create a document from a template and share it in real time
Availability: Enterprise*
* Additional volume charge will be applied for document generation via production API.
These instructions assume:
- You have authenticated via OAuth (see Authentication process) or have an API key (see API key authentication process)
- You have created a template (see Save time with templates)
Locate your template ID
In the PandaDoc app, navigate to the template you’d like to use for this particular document. When you’re viewing the template, the template ID is the section of the URL after the final slash (/). For example, in
https://app.pandadoc.com/a/#/templates/ustHNnVaPCD6MzuoNBbZ8L, the template ID is “ustHNnVaPCD6MzuoNBbZ8L”
Structure your document details
Use the “Create document endpoint” description at https://developers.pandadoc.com/reference/new-document to decide what metadata and details you’ll need to pass to your document. The simplest possible document schema consists of a name, template ID, and at least one recipient. Include your template ID under “template_uuid.”
Create the document
Using your authentication token or API key, and the content-type application/json, add the following:Create the document
POST https://api.pandadoc.com/public/v1/documents
The response will contain the document ID as the element “id.”
Wait for the document to enter draft status
See Listening for changes in document status. If you’re actively polling your document, the ID is “id” from the previous step.
Send the document
Once you’ve determined that the document has entered “document.draft” status, you can send it by adding the following ({id} is the document ID from above):
POST https://api.pandadoc.com/public/v1/documents/{id}/send
You can also include these optional parameters in your POST to set a subject line and body text:
Generate a shared session
After the document is updated to “Sent,” you can generate a shared session ID by adding the following ({id} is the document ID from above):
POST https://api.pandadoc.com/public/v1/documents/{id}/send
Where {id} is the document ID from above.
You must choose a recipient, even though this won’t be used in silent mode. Lifetime determines the number of seconds that the document link will live for and is optional. It will default to 3600 seconds.
This endpoint will respond with an ID and expiration timestamp:
Embed the shared session in your page or app
This process creates a page at https://app.pandadoc.com/s/{id}. {id} is QYCPtavst3DqqBK72ZRtbF from above. This page can be embedded in an iframe in your application, or you can send it to recipients to open directly.