Core Concepts
Understanding SimplyFill's fundamental building blocks.
Core Concepts
SimplyFill's workflow is built on four core concepts. Understanding these will help you design robust PDF generation integrations.
The Workflow
- Templates — Upload a PDF, we extract the form fields
- Mappings — Create aliases that match your domain (your
user.name→ PDF'stopmostSubform[0].f1_02[0]) - Environments — Promote templates through dev → staging → production
- Generate — Send data, get a filled PDF
Quick Example
# 1. Upload template
curl -X POST /templates -F "file=@w4.pdf"
# → {"id": 123, "fields": ["firstName", "ssn", "address"]}
# 2. Create mapping (alias cryptic PDF field names)
curl -X POST /mappings -d '{"template_id": 123, "mapping": {"fullName": "firstName"}}'
# → {"id": 456}
# 3. Generate PDF (your data structure stays the same)
curl -X POST /generate -d '{"template_id": 123, "mapping_id": 456, "data": {"fullName": "Jane Doe"}}'
# → {"download_url": "/download/abc123"}