Create Template

curl --request POST \
  --url https://api.pictify.io/templates \
  --header 'Authorization: Bearer <token>' \
  --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --data '
{
  "name": "OG Image",
  "engine": "html",
  "width": 1200,
  "height": 630,
  "html": "<div style=\"width:1200px;height:630px;padding:64px;font-family:Inter\">\n  <h1 style=\"font-size:72px\">{{title}}</h1>\n  <p style=\"font-size:32px;color:#6b7280\">{{subtitle}}</p>\n  {{#if showCta}}<button>{{ctaText}}</button>{{/if}}\n</div>\n",
  "variableDefinitions": [
    {
      "name": "title",
      "type": "text",
      "defaultValue": "Hello world"
    },
    {
      "name": "subtitle",
      "type": "text"
    },
    {
      "name": "showCta",
      "type": "boolean",
      "defaultValue": false
    },
    {
      "name": "ctaText",
      "type": "text",
      "defaultValue": "Learn more"
    }
  ],
  "strictVariables": false,
  "jsEnabled": false
}
'

{
  "template": {
    "uid": "<string>",
    "name": "<string>",
    "html": "<string>",
    "fabricJSData": {},
    "jsEnabled": false,
    "strictVariables": false,
    "type": "<string>",
    "category": "<string>",
    "tags": [
      "<string>"
    ],
    "width": 123,
    "height": 123,
    "thumbnail": "<string>",
    "outputFormat": "image",
    "pdfPreset": "A4",
    "variableDefinitions": [
      {
        "name": "<string>",
        "type": "text",
        "defaultValue": "<unknown>",
        "description": "<string>",
        "allowRawHtml": false,
        "validation": {
          "required": true,
          "minLength": 123,
          "maxLength": 123
        }
      }
    ],
    "pages": [
      {
        "pageNumber": 123,
        "name": "<string>",
        "fabricJSData": {}
      }
    ],
    "layouts": {},
    "createdAt": "2023-11-07T05:31:56Z",
    "updatedAt": "2023-11-07T05:31:56Z"
  },
  "addedVariables": [
    "<string>"
  ]
}

{
  "error": "<string>",
  "code": "<string>",
  "context": {}
}

POST

templates

curl --request POST \
  --url https://api.pictify.io/templates \
  --header 'Authorization: Bearer <token>' \
  --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --data '
{
  "name": "OG Image",
  "engine": "html",
  "width": 1200,
  "height": 630,
  "html": "<div style=\"width:1200px;height:630px;padding:64px;font-family:Inter\">\n  <h1 style=\"font-size:72px\">{{title}}</h1>\n  <p style=\"font-size:32px;color:#6b7280\">{{subtitle}}</p>\n  {{#if showCta}}<button>{{ctaText}}</button>{{/if}}\n</div>\n",
  "variableDefinitions": [
    {
      "name": "title",
      "type": "text",
      "defaultValue": "Hello world"
    },
    {
      "name": "subtitle",
      "type": "text"
    },
    {
      "name": "showCta",
      "type": "boolean",
      "defaultValue": false
    },
    {
      "name": "ctaText",
      "type": "text",
      "defaultValue": "Learn more"
    }
  ],
  "strictVariables": false,
  "jsEnabled": false
}
'

{
  "template": {
    "uid": "<string>",
    "name": "<string>",
    "html": "<string>",
    "fabricJSData": {},
    "jsEnabled": false,
    "strictVariables": false,
    "type": "<string>",
    "category": "<string>",
    "tags": [
      "<string>"
    ],
    "width": 123,
    "height": 123,
    "thumbnail": "<string>",
    "outputFormat": "image",
    "pdfPreset": "A4",
    "variableDefinitions": [
      {
        "name": "<string>",
        "type": "text",
        "defaultValue": "<unknown>",
        "description": "<string>",
        "allowRawHtml": false,
        "validation": {
          "required": true,
          "minLength": 123,
          "maxLength": 123
        }
      }
    ],
    "pages": [
      {
        "pageNumber": 123,
        "name": "<string>",
        "fabricJSData": {}
      }
    ],
    "layouts": {},
    "createdAt": "2023-11-07T05:31:56Z",
    "updatedAt": "2023-11-07T05:31:56Z"
  },
  "addedVariables": [
    "<string>"
  ]
}

{
  "error": "<string>",
  "code": "<string>",
  "context": {}
}

Pictify templates come in two flavours. Pick one with the engine field.

Engine	Authoring surface	Use it when
`html`	Raw HTML + Handlebars (`{{var}}`, `{{#each}}`, `{{#if}}`, helpers)	You want full control over markup, CSS, and copy-paste-able source.
`fabric` (default)	FabricJS canvas JSON	You’re exporting from the dashboard editor or automating canvas layouts.

If you omit engine, the API defaults to fabric for backwards compatibility. New HTML templates should set engine: "html" explicitly.

Handlebars HTML templates

Set engine: "html" and pass your template source in html. Pictify compile-validates it on save and fails with HTTP 422 if a block is unclosed or a helper is unknown.

cURL

curl -X POST https://api.pictify.io/templates \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "name": "OG Image",
    "engine": "html",
    "width": 1200,
    "height": 630,
    "html": "<div style=\"width:1200px;height:630px;padding:64px;font-family:Inter\"><h1 style=\"font-size:72px\">{{title}}</h1><p style=\"font-size:32px;color:#6b7280\">{{subtitle}}</p>{{#if showCta}}<button>{{ctaText}}</button>{{/if}}</div>",
    "variableDefinitions": [
      { "name": "title", "type": "text", "defaultValue": "Hello world" },
      { "name": "subtitle", "type": "text" },
      { "name": "ctaLabel", "type": "text", "defaultValue": "Learn more" },
      { "name": "ctaText", "type": "text", "defaultValue": "Learn more" }
    ]
  }'

Auto-added variables

Any {{identifier}} referenced in the template body that is not declared in variableDefinitions is automatically added as a text variable on save. The response echoes the added names under addedVariables so your client can surface them:

{
  "template": {
    "uid": "tmpl_...",
    "engine": "html",
    "variableDefinitions": [
      { "name": "title", "type": "text" },
      { "name": "price", "type": "text" }
    ]
  },
  "addedVariables": ["price"]
}

This is what makes the engine=html authoring loop feel “just work” — you can type {{price}} into your template and save; the variable appears on the next read without a separate declaration step.

`strictVariables` and `jsEnabled`

Two HTML-only toggles affect render behaviour:

strictVariables

When true, rendering fails with HTTP 422 if a root-level variable referenced in the template was not supplied. Leave off if you rely on {{#if optional}} guards.

jsEnabled

When true, scripts inside the template execute during render (Chart.js, KaTeX, animated SVG). Off by default to prevent runaway loops. A 30s hard timeout always applies.

Both default to false and can be flipped with PUT /templates/{uid}.

Helpers and expressions

HTML templates have access to the full Pictify helper library — string casing, number and currency formatting, date formatting, array helpers, and JSON inspection. See Expressions for the complete reference.

<p>{{titleCase title}}</p>
<p>{{currency price 'USD'}}</p>
<p>{{date publishedAt 'MMM D, YYYY'}}</p>

{{#each items}}
  <li>{{@index}}. {{this.name}} — {{currency this.price 'USD'}}</li>
{{/each}}

FabricJS canvas templates

Set engine: "fabric" (or omit — it’s the default) and pass a FabricJS canvas JSON object in fabricJSData. Multi-page canvases are supported via pages.

cURL

curl -X POST https://api.pictify.io/templates \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "name": "Quote card",
    "engine": "fabric",
    "width": 1080,
    "height": 1080,
    "fabricJSData": { "version": "5.3.0", "objects": [] }
  }'

Base64 data:image/... sources inside fabricJSData are uploaded to Pictify storage during save and replaced with CDN URLs. No extra step needed.

Rendering

Once saved, render with POST /templates/{uid}/render and pass variable values in the variables object.

cURL

curl -X POST https://api.pictify.io/templates/tmpl_abc123/render \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "variables": { "title": "Launch day", "subtitle": "Ship it" },
    "format": "png"
  }'

Authorizations

Authorization

string

header

required

API key obtained from the Pictify dashboard

Body

application/json

name

string

required

Human-readable template name. Shown in the dashboard.

engine

enum<string>

default:fabric

Template engine. Set html to author with Handlebars + HTML.

Available options:

fabric,

html

html

string

Required for engine=html. Handlebars source. Must compile. Undeclared {{identifier}} references are auto-added as text variables.

fabricJSData

object

Required for engine=fabric. FabricJS canvas JSON.

width

integer

Render width in px.

height

integer

Render height in px.

type

string

Template type tag (e.g. og-image, twitter-card). Free-form.

Response

Template created

template

object

Show child attributes

addedVariables

string[]

engine=html only. Names of identifiers referenced in the template body that were auto-added to variableDefinitions during save. Omitted when the array would be empty.

Overview

Images

GIFs

PDFs

Templates

Batch

URL Rendering

Video

Workflows

Webhooks

Bindings

Create Template

Handlebars HTML templates

Auto-added variables

`strictVariables` and `jsEnabled`

strictVariables

jsEnabled

Helpers and expressions

FabricJS canvas templates

Rendering

Authorizations

Body

Response

​Handlebars HTML templates

​Auto-added variables

​strictVariables and jsEnabled

strictVariables

jsEnabled

​Helpers and expressions

​FabricJS canvas templates

​Rendering

Authorizations

Body

Response

Handlebars HTML templates

Auto-added variables

`strictVariables` and `jsEnabled`

Helpers and expressions

FabricJS canvas templates

Rendering