Parse documents from an n8n workflow

How to set it up

1. Create an API key

   Nothing else works without one. Keys are created in the ParseForMe dashboard — under Settings → API keys, or from the inline form on any in-app integration guide. The key is shown once, starts with pfm_live_ and is 52 characters long; store it in your automation platform’s credential store, never in a step’s visible fields. Owners and admins can create keys, a workspace can hold up to 10 active keys, and revoking one takes effect immediately. Send it as a bearer token and check it with /v1/me before you build anything else.

   curl -s https://api.parseforme.com/v1/me \
     -H "Authorization: Bearer pfm_live_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"
   
   # {"workspaceId":"…","workspaceName":"Acme","keyName":"Zapier","balance":420}

2. Store the key as a Header Auth credential

   Create an n8n credential of type Header Auth with name Authorization and value "Bearer pfm_live_…", then point the HTTP Request node at it. The key stays in n8n’s credential store instead of sitting in a node parameter that anyone with workflow access can read, and every /v1 call reuses it.

   Credential  Header Auth
     Name   Authorization
     Value  Bearer pfm_live_…
   
   Test with: GET https://api.parseforme.com/v1/me

3. Upload with an HTTP Request node

   Method POST, URL https://api.parseforme.com/v1/documents, Send Body on, Body Content Type multipart-form-data. Add a parameter with Parameter Type "n8n Binary File", name file, and Input Data Field Name set to the binary property carrying the document (usually data). Add plain-text parameters for filename and kind only if you need them.

   Method              POST
   URL                 https://api.parseforme.com/v1/documents
   Authentication      Generic → Header Auth
   Send Body           on
   Body Content Type   multipart-form-data
     Parameter Type    n8n Binary File
     Name              file
     Input Data Field  data

4. Receive results on a Webhook node

   Add a Webhook node, set it to POST, copy the PRODUCTION URL (the test URL only listens while the editor is open), and register it with POST /v1/webhooks. Give the node Header Auth credentials and register the same header as authHeader on that POST — the form below has no authHeader field, so that one needs the curl — and n8n rejects anything that is not from ParseForMe before your workflow runs. Registering an endpoint emails the workspace owners and admins.

   curl -s -X POST https://api.parseforme.com/v1/webhooks \
     -H "Authorization: Bearer pfm_live_…" \
     -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
     -d '{
           "url": "https://n8n.example.com/webhook/parseforme",
           "events": ["document.parsed", "document.failed"],
           "includeResult": true,
           "authHeader": { "name": "X-N8N-Token", "value": "a-long-random-string" }
         }'

5. Verify the signature in a Code node

   Set the Webhook node’s response to include the raw body, then add a Code node that recomputes the HMAC over t + "." + the raw body and compares it with the v1 value from X-ParseForMe-Signature, rejecting anything more than 300 seconds old. Deliveries come from 46.62.162.196 if you would rather allowlist at the reverse proxy.

   const crypto = require('node:crypto');
   
   // Header: X-ParseForMe-Signature: t=<unix seconds>,v1=<hex hmac-sha256>
   // Signed payload is t + "." + the RAW request body (parse JSON afterwards).
   function verifyParseForMe(rawBody, header, secret) {
     const parts = header.split(',').map((p) => p.trim());
     const t = parts.find((p) => p.startsWith('t='))?.slice(2);
     // Two v1 entries appear while a secret is rotating — either may match.
     const sent = parts.filter((p) => p.startsWith('v1=')).map((p) => p.slice(3));
     if (!t || sent.length === 0) return false;
     if (Math.abs(Date.now() / 1000 - Number(t)) > 300) return false; // 5-minute tolerance
   
     const expected = crypto.createHmac('sha256', secret).update(t + '.' + rawBody).digest('hex');
     return sent.some(
       (sig) =>
         sig.length === expected.length &&
         crypto.timingSafeEqual(Buffer.from(sig), Buffer.from(expected)),
     );
   }

6. Send a test event

   POST /v1/webhooks/{id}/test posts a synthetic document.parsed to the production URL and returns what your node answered, so you can pin the workflow’s input shape before a real document arrives.

   curl -s -X POST https://api.parseforme.com/v1/webhooks/1f8c…/test \
     -H "Authorization: Bearer pfm_live_…"
   
   # {"delivered":true,"status":200}

7. Keep a polling backstop

   Webhooks are the fast path, not the only one. GET /v1/documents returns documents newest first by creation time, each with a stable id, so a scheduled run picks up anything a delivery missed — and two things only polling sees: an event lost before it was queued (delivery is at-most-once), and a document whose event you missed while an endpoint was disabled. since= filters that same creation time — not the parse time — so set it a little before your last successful check and keep the window wide enough to cover a slow parse: a document created before your watermark but parsed after it will not reappear. Ask for up to 100 with limit=; the response is items only, with no cursor to follow. Deduplicate on the document id.

   GET /v1/documents?status=parsed&since=2026-09-02T08:00:00Z&limit=50
   Host: api.parseforme.com
   Authorization: Bearer pfm_live_…
   
   # → { "items": [ { "id": "8f14e45f-…", "status": "parsed", "kind": "invoice" } ] }

8. Map the fields you care about

   GET /v1/document-types returns the nine document kinds and the fields each one extracts, so your mapping step can be built against the real field names instead of a guess. Parsed values arrive under result.fields, with a matching entry in result.confidence — route anything you want a human to check on that, rather than on a total.

   curl -s https://api.parseforme.com/v1/document-types \
     -H "Authorization: Bearer pfm_live_…"

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