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How the scheduled PDF workflow fits together
Cron is the recurring trigger; PDFShift does the conversion. At the scheduled time, cron runs a shell script. The script sends a request to PDFShift’s conversion endpoint using a webpage URL or raw HTML as the source, authenticates with an X-API-Key header, checks whether the request succeeded, and stores the resulting PDF.
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PDFShift’s official Make example documents a JSON request to this endpoint with the API key in that header. The same API request can be made from a script launched by cron. The endpoint and authentication details are documented in PDFShift’s API documentation and API key authentication help.
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Choose the input and output before scheduling
Use a URL or submit raw HTML
Pass a URL when PDFShift should fetch the page itself. If your workflow already has the markup, submitting raw HTML avoids having PDFShift fetch the source page. PDFShift’s Node guide recommends raw HTML when available; including styles and scripts inline can also reduce external resource requests, though that does not guarantee faster or identical rendering on every page. See the conversion guide and the raw HTML guidance.
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For a page that requires authentication, PDFShift’s Make guide documents authentication, cookies, and custom HTTP headers as possible options. Limit credentials to what the capture requires, keep them out of logs, and consider whether sending page content to an external conversion service is appropriate for that data.
Choose direct PDF output or a temporary download link
PDFShift can return the PDF directly in the conversion response. If you supply a filename, the documented workflow instead returns JSON containing a download URL. PDFShift says that URL remains available for two days, so download the PDF during the scheduled run and copy it to storage governed by your own retention policy if it must last longer. Do not treat the temporary link as an archive.
Make a script that cron can run
Keep the API key out of the script and repository. PDFShift’s current documented authentication uses the X-API-Key request header; its help article says this replaced the older Basic Auth mechanism on 2025-05-06. Store the secret in a protected environment or secrets facility available to the scheduled account. The official Make guide likewise uses a credential store rather than exposing the key in a request body.
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The request body needs a source field. A minimal JSON shape for a URL-based request is:
{"source":"https://example.com/report"}Have your chosen HTTP client POST that JSON to https://api.pdfshift.io/v3/convert/pdf with Content-Type: application/json and X-API-Key: $PDFSHIFT_API_KEY. Configure the client to fail on non-success HTTP status codes, write the response bytes to a temporary file, and move that file to its final destination only after the request has succeeded and the file is usable. This prevents a failed or partial run from leaving a file that looks like a completed capture.
The precise shell and HTTP-client command depends on the host and client you use; PDFShift’s official examples establish the endpoint, JSON body, and header, but the scheduled workflow must still handle status checks and storage in your environment. Use absolute paths to the script, executable, and output locations rather than relying on an interactive shell’s PATH or current directory.
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Schedule it with cron
This illustrative user-crontab entry runs the script at 08:00 Monday through Friday:
0 8 * * 1-5 /absolute/path/to/capture-page.sh >> /absolute/path/to/capture-page.log 2>&1Linux crontab entries use five time-and-date fields followed by a command, and cron checks entries every minute. The example is not a tested command: confirm the syntax and time zone for the cron implementation on your host. The field pattern and behavior are described in the Linux crontab manual.
- Install the script at a stable absolute path. Make it executable and confirm the account running cron can read it and write to the log and destination directories.
- Provide required settings explicitly. Cron runs with a limited environment. The Linux manual describes
/bin/shas the default shell for its implementation and identifies account-relatedHOMEandLOGNAMEvalues. Set any other variables the script needs rather than assuming they will be inherited from your terminal. See the cron environment documentation. - Add and verify the crontab entry. Use the crontab editor or the mechanism provided by your host. The weekday example’s time is interpreted according to the applicable cron configuration.
- Test the script outside cron first. Run it as the scheduled account, verify the PDF opens, and check that it reaches the intended storage location. Then inspect the cron log after a scheduled run.
Time zones, daylight saving, and duplicate runs
Decide whether the schedule should follow the server’s local clock or a deliberately selected time zone. The Linux manual documents CRON_TZ for a crontab and warns that daylight-saving transitions can make a local scheduled time nonexistent (so it does not run) or repeated (so it runs twice). Consult the cron manual’s time-zone and daylight-saving notes for the implementation in use.
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If missing or duplicate snapshots would cause problems, make the job safe to rerun. One practical design is to associate each output with its intended capture date and time, then check that identity before writing a second copy. Keep the intended schedule zone consistent in filenames or stored metadata so a daylight-saving transition does not make a duplicate indistinguishable from a separate scheduled capture.
Make failures visible and protect the output
- Check the HTTP result. Do not treat a completed process or a response body alone as proof of a successful conversion. Fail the run when the HTTP request fails, and do not mark it successful until the PDF has reached its destination.
- Log useful diagnostics. Redirect standard output and errors as in the example, while avoiding API keys, private page contents, or sensitive headers in logs.
- Configure alerts deliberately. The Linux manual describes
MAILTOhandling for command output, but email alerts only work if the host has mail delivery configured. Use an alerting path you have verified. - Plan retries and idempotency. A transient network or conversion failure may warrant a retry, but repeated runs should not create confusing duplicate archives. Set the retry policy and output identity to match the cost of a missed capture.
- Persist temporary-link output promptly. If using the
filenameflow, download the PDF while the generated link is still available and store it where your retention policy applies.
Troubleshooting scheduled PDF captures
The job works in a terminal but not from cron
Cron’s environment is limited and may use /bin/sh rather than your interactive shell. Replace relative paths with absolute paths, explicitly set required environment variables, and confirm the scheduled account has permission to read the script and write the output and log. Check the cron log for command-not-found and permission errors.
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Confirm that the request is a POST to https://api.pdfshift.io/v3/convert/pdf, includes the required source input, sends JSON with the appropriate content type, and supplies the key in the X-API-Key header. Do not rely on the older Basic Auth method described in legacy examples; PDFShift says the header replaced it on 2025-05-06. Review the HTTP status and response diagnostics without printing the secret.
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The PDF is missing or not retained
Distinguish the direct-PDF response from the filename flow, which returns JSON with a temporary download URL. In the latter case, the URL’s documented two-day availability means the scheduled process should download the file and save it to durable storage during the run. Verify the final path and permissions rather than assuming a successful API response means an archive was created.
The capture is skipped or duplicated around a clock change
Review the crontab’s time zone and the host’s daylight-saving behavior. A local time can be skipped or repeated at transitions. Choose a schedule zone deliberately and make reruns safe if either outcome would be disruptive.
The page is private or depends on external resources
For pages requiring access, review PDFShift’s documented authentication, cookie, and custom-header options, and keep credentials narrowly scoped. If you already have the page markup, raw HTML can avoid having the service fetch the page; inline styles and scripts reduce reliance on external requests, but page rendering still depends on the submitted content and resources available to it.
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