Bubble Integration Guide

Learn how to integrate PDFBolt with Bubble.io to automate PDF generation in your no-code applications. Create professional documents from templates, HTML content, or web pages using Bubble's visual workflow builder and API Connector.

Prerequisites

Before starting, ensure you have:

1. PDFBolt API Key

• Sign up or log in to your PDFBolt account.
• Navigate to API Keys section.
• Copy your API key for authentication.

2. Bubble Account

• Active Bubble.io account with an app.
• API Connector plugin installed.

Basic Setup

Install and Configure API Connector

The API Connector plugin enables your Bubble app to communicate with external APIs like PDFBolt.

Step 1: Install API Connector Plugin

1. In your Bubble editor, go to Plugins tab.
2. Click Add plugins.
3. Search for API Connector.
4. Click Install (it's free on all Bubble plans).

Step 2: Add PDFBolt API Connection

1. Go to Plugins → API Connector.
2. Click Add another API.
3. Configure the API:

• API Name: PDFBolt
• Authentication: Private key in header
• Key name: API-KEY
• Key value: YOUR-API-KEY (paste your actual PDFBolt API key)

Choose Your Endpoint

Select the PDFBolt endpoint based on your app's needs:

Endpoint	Best For	Returns
/v1/direct	Immediate PDF delivery	Raw PDF data in response
/v1/sync	URL-based access	JSON with download URL
/v1/async	High-volume processing	Webhook callback with results

Endpoint Details

See API Endpoints for detailed specifications.

Choose Your Source

Select the content source that best fits your use case:

Source	Best For	When to Use
Templates	Recurring documents with consistent layouts	Certificates, invoices, receipts – any document you generate repeatedly with different data
HTML	Custom documents	When you need full control over a unique layout
URL	Existing web pages	Archiving documentation, capturing dashboards, saving public content

Source Parameters

Learn more about source parameters in the API Documentation.

Source: Templates

Templates provide the most efficient way to generate consistent, branded PDFs by separating design from data – perfect for Bubble apps that need to generate certificates, invoices, or reports.

How It Works

1. Create your template in PDFBolt's Template section:

• Build custom layouts with HTML, CSS, and Handlebars variables.
• Or start with a ready-made template from the gallery.

2. Publish the template to make it available via API and get your unique templateId.

3. Call API from Bubble workflow with templateId and data from your database.

4. Receive your PDF – Display, download, or email directly from Bubble.

Template Setup

Learn how to create and manage templates in the Templates Documentation.

Example: Student Certification Platform

Real-world scenario: You're building an online learning platform in Bubble. When students complete a course, they can generate and download a personalized certificate PDF.

1. Data structure for this example:

Courses (Data Type)

• Name (text)
• Instructor (text)
• Duration (text)

Enrollments (Data Type)

• Student (User)
• Course (Courses)
• Completion Date (date)

2. Create API Call

In API Connector, add a new call under your PDFBolt API:

• Name: Generate Certificate
• Use as: Action
• Data type: JSON
• Request type: POST
• URL: https://api.pdfbolt.com/v1/sync

Body:

{
  "templateId": "your-certificate-template-id",
  "templateData": {
    "student_name": "<student_name>",
    "course_title": "<course_title>",
    "completion_date": "<completion_date>",
    "instructor_name": "<instructor_name>",
    "course_duration": "<course_duration>"
  }
}

Dynamic Parameters

The <parameter_name> syntax in Bubble's API Connector creates dynamic parameters that you'll fill with actual data in your workflows. Bubble automatically detects these and makes them available when you use the API call.

3. Initialize the Call

After configuring the body:

• Fill in sample values for each parameter to test:

  • student_name: John Doe
  • course_title: Advanced Web Development
  • completion_date: 10/04/25
  • instructor_name: Prof. Sarah Chen
  • course_duration: 12 weeks

• Uncheck "Private" checkbox – this allows dynamic values in workflows.

• Click Initialize call to test the connection.

• If successful, Bubble will show the response structure.

4. Build the User Interface

Create a page showing the student's enrolled and completed courses in a Repeating Group with course details and a "Generate Certificate" button.

Create the Workflow

Click on the button "Generate Certificate" → Start/Edit workflow.

Step 1 – Generate PDF:

• Action: Plugins → PDFBolt – Generate Certificate
• Fill parameters with dynamic data:
  • student_name: Current User's Name
  • course_title: Parent group's Enrollment's Course's name
  • completion_date: Parent group's Enrollment's Completion Date:formatted as 10/04/25
  • instructor_name: Parent group's Enrollment's Course's instructor
  • course_duration: Parent group's Enrollment's Course's duration

Step 2 – Navigate to PDF:

• Action: Navigation → Open an external website
• Destination: Result of step 1's documentUrl
• Open in: New tab

Result Access

Use Result of step 1 to access API response data in subsequent workflow steps. Bubble makes all returned fields available automatically.

Template Workflow Example

What happens:

1. Student completes course (marked in database).
2. Student clicks "Generate Certificate" button.
3. Workflow triggers → generates personalized PDF.
4. PDF opens in new tab for download.

Additional PDF Sources

Beyond templates, PDFBolt can generate PDFs from:

• HTML content – Custom document layouts.
• URLs – Convert any public webpage to PDF.

Additional Resources

PDFBolt Documentation

• Templates Management Guide – Create and manage templates.
• Templates Overview – Benefits and use cases.
• API Endpoints – Complete endpoint reference.
• Conversion Parameters – Full parameter documentation.
• Error Handling – Error codes and solutions.
• S3 Bucket Upload – Store PDFs permanently.

Bubble Resources

• Bubble Docs
• Bubble Academy
• Bubble Forum