Every processing request in Matil includes one or more documents. A document is the input you want to process — an invoice, a contract, an ID card, or any other file.
Matil accepts documents in several formats, so you can integrate regardless of how your files are stored or received.
Supported file types
Matil can process a wide range of document formats:
| Category | Formats |
|---|
| PDF | .pdf |
| Images | .jpg, .jpeg, .png, .gif, .webp, .tiff, .bmp |
| Spreadsheets | .xlsx, .xls, .ods, .csv |
| Text | .txt, .html, .xml, .json |
URL
Point to a document hosted online. Matil downloads and processes it automatically. This is the most common way to send documents.
{
"type": "url",
"url": "https://example.com/invoice.pdf"
}
Base64 encoded
Send binary files directly in the request body. Useful when you have files in memory.
{
"type": "base64",
"content": "JVBERi0xLjQK...",
"mime_type": "application/pdf"
}
import base64
with open("document.pdf", "rb") as f:
encoded = base64.b64encode(f.read()).decode("utf-8")
document = {
"type": "base64",
"content": encoded,
"mime_type": "application/pdf"
}
Plain text
Send raw text content directly. Useful when you already have the text extracted.
{
"type": "text",
"text": "INVOICE\n\nInvoice Number: INV-2024-001\nDate: January 15, 2024\nTotal: $150.00"
}
Multiple documents
You can send multiple documents in a single request. Matil processes them together as a single unit — useful for multi-page documents that arrive as separate files.
{
"documents": [
{"type": "url", "url": "https://example.com/page1.pdf"},
{"type": "url", "url": "https://example.com/page2.pdf"}
]
}
{
"documents": [
{"type": "url", "url": "https://example.com/invoice.pdf"}
],
"metadata": {
"order_id": "ORD-12345",
"source": "email-inbox",
"customer_id": "cust_abc"
}
}
Use metadata to link Matil results back to records in your own database. This makes it easy to match processed entries with their source.
Next steps
Processing modes
Process many documents efficiently with batch mode.
Structures
Learn how to extract structured data from your documents.
