Arabic document rendering API

Most Arabic PDFs look fine until you try to copy the text.

Presentation-form glyphs, reversed table columns, Latin stuck on the wrong side. ArabDoc is a JSON → PDF API that keeps Arabic readable and searchable.

curl -X POST https://api.arabdoc.dev/v1/render \
  -H "X-API-Key: $ARABDOC_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"template":"invoice","data":{...},"options":{"numerals":"western","calendar":"dual"}}' \
  -o invoice.pdf

Sample invoice fragment · IBM Plex Sans Arabic · on this page

فاتورة ضريبية رقم INV-2026-08421

البائع: شركة نخبة الجزيرة للتجارة · المشتري: مؤسسة أفق الرقمية لتقنية المعلومات

الوصف	الكمية	الإجمالي
اشتراك منصة التعلم الإلكتروني — باقة المؤسسات (NELC LMS)	12	22,200.00
أجهزة لوحية iPad 11" للقاعات التدريبية	8	19,992.00
خدمات استشارية لإعداد تقارير الامتثال وربط أنظمة SSO/SAML	40	18,000.00

الإجمالي شامل ضريبة القيمة المضافة: 96,515.70 ر.س

Pricing

Quotas are documents rendered per calendar month (Asia/Riyadh). Free tier is self-serve — get a key with email only (no card). Paid tiers issue a key after checkout.

Limitations — and what to do about them

These are real constraints, not marketing soft-pedals. Each item says whether it is permanent, what the workaround is today, and what is not in v1 on purpose.

• Permanent · Chromium No kashida (تطويل) justification

  Chromium’s PDF path justifies Arabic by stretching word spaces, not by elongating letter joins. True kashida exists in InDesign — not here. We will not fake it with tatweel spam.

  Workaround: leave options.justify at the default false (body uses text-align: right). If you need ceremonial justified naskh for print, export elsewhere; ArabDoc is for business docs where searchability and RTL correctness matter more than kashida.

• v1 scope Five templates only

  invoice, contract, certificate, letter, report. No custom HTML/Handlebars upload in v1.

  Workaround: map your fields onto the closest schema (most Arabic business PDFs fit). Need a sixth shape? Email [email protected] with a sample — template additions are the product roadmap, not a DIY upload surface yet.

• Out of scope No DOCX · no ZATCA XML signing

  JSON → PDF only. E-invoice cryptographic packages and Word export are separate products; we do not pretend otherwise.

Contact

Questions or benchmark repro issues: [email protected]