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>",
    "engine": "fabric",
    "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>",
    "engine": "fabric",
    "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`	FabricJS canvas JSON	You’re exporting from the dashboard editor or automating canvas layouts.

If you omit engine, Pictify infers it from the payload: a request with html and no fabricJSData becomes an html template; anything else is fabric. Set it explicitly anyway so the intent is clear.

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 Handlebars syntax in Expressions for block syntax and the full helper library.

<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" 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

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