Split PDF

What it’s for

• Scanned batchesOne scan holding many documents becomes one file per page, ready to route or attach.
• Page-by-page reviewShow, sign or approve a single page without passing the whole document around.
• Attach one pagePull a page out of a statement to attach it to the transaction or ticket it belongs to.
• Tools that take one pageEach file carries its pageNumber, so order survives whatever comes next.

How it runs

1. DownloadStreams the PDF from your http(s):// or s3:// URL with a running size check. Over 150 MB stops early.
2. CheckRefuses encrypted, empty or unreadable PDFs, and anything over 500 pages.
3. SplitCopies each page into its own PDF. Pages are copied, not re-rendered, so memory stays low.
4. Storepage-1.pdf to page-N.pdf, in page order, plus pageCount.

Pages are written one after another. For documents with hundreds of pages, use the async route; the sync route answers 202 with the job id after 90 s anyway.

Input

Send these fields as input in the request body. Anything not listed is refused with 400.

The request body

What comes back

Example

curl https://api.servicelabs.dev/v1/utilities/split-pdf \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $DU_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "input": {
      "url": "https://example.com/statement.pdf"
    }
  }'

# 1. Start the job. Answers 202 straight away.
curl https://api.servicelabs.dev/v1/utilities/split-pdf/jobs \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $DU_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Idempotency-Key: split-pdf-0001" \
  -d '{
    "input": {
      "url": "https://example.com/statement.pdf"
    },
    "callbackUrl": "https://example.com/hooks/servicelabs"
  }'

# 2. Collect it by id. Long-polls for up to 60 s.
curl "https://api.servicelabs.dev/v1/jobs/job_01K7Z3Q4N5P6R7S8T9V0W1X2Y3?wait=60" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $DU_API_KEY"

const API = 'https://api.servicelabs.dev/v1'
const headers = {
  Authorization: `Bearer ${process.env.DU_API_KEY}`,
  'Content-Type': 'application/json',
}

// Sync: holds the connection for up to 90 s
const res = await fetch(`${API}/utilities/split-pdf`, {
  method: 'POST',
  headers,
  body: JSON.stringify({ input: { url: 'https://example.com/statement.pdf' } }),
})
if (res.status === 400) throw new Error((await res.json()).error.message)
let job = await res.json()

// Still running after 90 s? It carries on. Collect it by id.
while (job.status === 'queued' || job.status === 'running') {
  job = await (await fetch(`${API}/jobs/${job.id}?wait=60`, { headers })).json()
}

if (job.status === 'succeeded') console.log(job.result.files.map((f) => f.url))
else console.error(job.error.code, job.error.message)

{
  "id": "job_01K7Z3Q4N5P6R7S8T9V0W1X2Y3",
  "object": "job",
  "utility": "split-pdf",
  "mode": "sync",
  "status": "succeeded",
  "createdAt": "2026-09-10T17:30:06.650Z",
  "finishedAt": "2026-09-10T17:30:09.009Z",
  "timings": { "queueMs": 0, "upstreamMs": 2140, "storageMs": 196, "totalMs": 2359 },
  "result": {
    "files": [
      {
        "url": "https://…/page-1.pdf",
        "name": "page-1.pdf",
        "pageNumber": 1,
        "size": 48211,
        "contentType": "application/pdf"
      },
      {
        "url": "https://…/page-2.pdf",
        "name": "page-2.pdf",
        "pageNumber": 2,
        "size": 51377,
        "contentType": "application/pdf"
      },
      {
        "url": "https://…/page-3.pdf",
        "name": "page-3.pdf",
        "pageNumber": 3,
        "size": 39904,
        "contentType": "application/pdf"
      }
    ],
    "pageCount": 3
  },
  "error": null,
  "links": {
    "self": "/v1/jobs/job_01K7Z3Q4N5P6R7S8T9V0W1X2Y3"
  }
}

{
  "error": {
    "code": "invalid_request",
    "message": "input failed validation for split-pdf",
    "details": [
      {
        "path": "input.url",
        "message": "must be an http://, https:// or s3:// URL"
      }
    ]
  }
}

Limits

When it fails

A 400 means nothing ran. Everything else is a failed job with status: "failed", an error code and the utility’s own message.

Any call can also get 401 unauthorized, 403 forbidden (the key isn’t allowed this utility) or 429 rate_limited. The full list is in Conventions & errors.

Reference

• Split PDF guideEvery option, with worked examples.
• runSplitPdfPOST /v1/utilities/split-pdf
• createSplitPdfJobPOST /v1/utilities/split-pdf/jobs
• getJobGET /v1/jobs/{id}
• JobsStatuses, timings, retries and cancelling.
• CallbacksVerifying the signature on a finished job.

Also in service

• HTML to PDF
• Zip files
• Unzip archive
• XLS to XLSX