OCR API

POST /api/v1/ocr/extract extracts text from images and documents as Markdown.

Extract text from an image or document as Markdown, using Cloudflare Workers AI's document-to-markdown conversion.

Send an LLM API key (sk-ar-v1-…) from /dashboard/keys as Authorization: Bearer …. Management keys (ak_…) are not accepted.

Request

Send a JSON body with a base64 image, or a multipart file upload.

Field	Type	Required	Description
`image`	string	yes (JSON only)	Base64-encoded image bytes, or a data URL (`data:<mime>;base64,<data>`).
`filename`	string	no (JSON only)	Filename hint for file-type detection. Defaults to `image.png` when not set.

For multipart/form-data, include the file in a field named image. The filename is taken from the Content-Disposition header.

Supported formats

Any format Workers AI toMarkdown supports, including PNG, JPEG, GIF, WebP, BMP, TIFF, and PDF.

Maximum file size is 5 MiB; larger requests get 413.

Response

{
  "text": "# Invoice #1042\n\n**Date:** 2026-06-15  \n**Amount:** $120.00\n\n## Line items\n\n| Description | Price |\n|---|---|\n| API credits | $120.00 |",
  "format": "markdown",
  "model": "cloudflare/ai-to-markdown",
  "tokens": 68
}

Field	Type	Description
`text`	string	Extracted content in Markdown format.
`format`	string	Always `"markdown"`.
`model`	string	Always `"cloudflare/ai-to-markdown"`.
`tokens`	number	Token count consumed by the extraction.

Examples

# JSON — base64 data URL
curl https://anyrouter.dev/api/v1/ocr/extract \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $ANYROUTER_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d "{\"image\": \"$(base64 -i receipt.png | tr -d '\n')\"}"

# Multipart — raw file upload
curl https://anyrouter.dev/api/v1/ocr/extract \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $ANYROUTER_API_KEY" \
  -F "image=@receipt.png"

// JSON path — base64 encode the image first
async function extractText(imageBuffer: ArrayBuffer): Promise<string> {
  const base64 = btoa(String.fromCharCode(...new Uint8Array(imageBuffer)))

  const response = await fetch("https://anyrouter.dev/api/v1/ocr/extract", {
    method: "POST",
    headers: {
      Authorization: `Bearer ${process.env.ANYROUTER_API_KEY}`,
      "Content-Type": "application/json",
    },
    body: JSON.stringify({
      image: `data:image/png;base64,${base64}`,
      filename: "document.png",
    }),
  })

  const result = await response.json()
  return result.text
}

// Multipart path — stream the file directly
async function extractTextFromFile(filePath: string): Promise<string> {
  const { createReadStream } = await import("node:fs")
  const form = new FormData()
  form.append("image", new Blob([createReadStream(filePath)]), "document.png")

  const response = await fetch("https://anyrouter.dev/api/v1/ocr/extract", {
    method: "POST",
    headers: { Authorization: `Bearer ${process.env.ANYROUTER_API_KEY}` },
    body: form,
  })

  const result = await response.json()
  return result.text
}

Errors

Status	Code	Description
400	`missing_required_fields`	The `image` field is absent or empty.
400	`invalid_request_body`	The request body is not valid JSON or is not parseable multipart.
400	`invalid_image_encoding`	The `image` value is not valid base64 or a valid data URL.
400	`invalid_image_field`	The multipart `image` field is a string, not a file.
401	`invalid_api_key`	The API key is missing, expired, or invalid.
413	`image_too_large`	The image exceeds the 5 MiB limit.
500	`missing_workers_ai_binding`	The Workers AI binding is not configured (server misconfiguration).
502	`ocr_upstream_failed`	The extraction call failed. Retry the request.
502	`ocr_extraction_error`	Workers AI returned an error for this file (for example: unsupported format or corrupt data).

See Errors for retry guidance.

AnyRouter routes requests to third-party models. Models and outputs are provided as is, with no warranty; you use them at your own risk. Disclaimer