The Proof Business API lets you and seamlessly send documents to Proof. You can also quickly connect your signer to Proof to complete their documents. This guide outlines the sequence of API calls you would typically need for an end-to-end Proof integration.
The API, organized around REST, is designed to have predictable, resource-oriented URLs and uses HTTP response codes to indicate any API errors. Webhooks are available to notify you when a transaction changes state.
Who this is for
Any user in your organization with an owner or admin role and notaries sourcing transactions (NSTs) can perform the actions described below.
1. Generate your API key
After you create a Proof account, generate your API key from within your account. To generate your key, follow the instructions below.
- Log in to your Proof account.
- Click Settings from the navigation panel on the left.
- Select Organization Settings from the Settings menu.
- Click API Keys
- Click Generate full access key or Generate client only key.
2. Decide the transaction parameters
These parameters allow you to customize your transaction for internal necessities as well as for the signer experience. You can set things like transaction_name, file_number, a message_to_signer, etc. A full list of parameters can be found in the Transactions - Create endpoint.
Specifically, we recommend the following:
- draft_sign: true
3. Create your transaction
Once you have decided what your transaction parameters will be, it will be time to create the transaction. Make a POST request to the Transactions - Create endpoint.
4. Add your documents to the transaction
Proof supports .pdf file types supplied as URLs or base64 encoded local files. You can also pass a document with PDF bookmarks so each bookmark becomes its own individual document in the transaction. If you do so, set the pdf_bookmarked attribute to true.
If you pass a pdf_bookmarked document, it will take the Proof system time to split it. We will respond with a 200 and a response indicating that the document upload is in progress. Should you wish to set your document parameters on a pdf_bookmarked document, you must first wait for this upload to complete (~5min), recall the document object on the transaction, and use the document ID returned to update the document flags.
You can find a full list of supported document parameters in the Documents - Add to transaction ] endpoint. These parameters allow you to set document-level permissions such as notarization_required or witness_required. All document attributes are also supported in the [Update Document] endpoint.
5. Monitor the transaction
You can leverage Proof WebHooks to monitor the state of the transaction. There are several events fired — for example, you will be able to see when your signer has received and opened their transaction email and when they have completed their signing.
6. Retrieve the completed transaction
The Retrieve Transaction endpoint will return links to the completed documents. Alternatively, the binary file content can be returned for each document by using the Retrieve Document endpoint.
📘 If you have questions about the Proof Business API, find full technical specifications at the API Endpoint Reference.