> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.context.dev/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

> ## Agent Instructions
> Setting up Context.dev for a user? Follow https://docs.context.dev/agent-quickstart.md. MCP clients sign in with OAuth and need no API key; application code reads CONTEXT_DEV_API_KEY.

# Parse documents

> Upload file bytes and convert them into Markdown or HTML.

Send a file to `POST /parse` as raw bytes, without multipart encoding or a JSON wrapper. Files can be up to 50 MiB. For a public document URL, use [Scrape documents](/scrape/pdfs-and-documents).

## Convert a file

<CodeGroup>
  ```typescript TypeScript theme={null}
  import { readFile } from "node:fs/promises";
  import ContextDev, { toFile } from "context.dev";

  const client = new ContextDev({apiKey: process.env.CONTEXT_DEV_API_KEY});
  const file = await toFile(await readFile("report.pdf"), "report.pdf", {
    type: "application/pdf",
  });

  const result = await client.parse.handle(file, {
    extension: "pdf"
  }, {
    headers: {"Content-Type": "application/pdf"},
  });

  console.log(result.markdown);
  ```

  ```python Python theme={null}
  import os
  from pathlib import Path
  from context.dev import ContextDev

  client = ContextDev(api_key=os.environ["CONTEXT_DEV_API_KEY"])

  result = client.parse.handle(
      body=Path("report.pdf").read_bytes(),
      extension="pdf",
      extra_headers={"Content-Type": "application/pdf"},
  )

  print(result.markdown)
  ```

  ```ruby Ruby theme={null}
  require "cgi/core"
  require "context_dev"

  client = ContextDev::Client.new(api_key: ENV.fetch("CONTEXT_DEV_API_KEY"))

  result = client.parse.handle(
    body: File.binread("report.pdf"),
    extension: :pdf,
    request_options: {extra_headers: {"Content-Type" => "application/pdf"}},
  )

  puts result.markdown
  ```

  ```go Go theme={null}
  package main

  import (
      "context"
      "fmt"
      "os"

      contextdev "github.com/context-dot-dev/context-go-sdk/v2"
      "github.com/context-dot-dev/context-go-sdk/v2/option"
  )

  func main() {
      client := contextdev.NewClient(
          option.WithAPIKey(os.Getenv("CONTEXT_DEV_API_KEY")),
      )

      file, err := os.Open("report.pdf")
      if err != nil {
          panic(err)
      }
      defer file.Close()
      result, err := client.Parse.Handle(
          context.Background(),
          file,
          contextdev.ParseHandleParams{},
          option.WithQuery("extension", "pdf"),
          option.WithHeader("Content-Type", "application/pdf"),
      )
      if err != nil {
          panic(err)
      }

      fmt.Println(result.Markdown)
  }
  ```

  ```php PHP theme={null}
  <?php

  require __DIR__.'/vendor/autoload.php';

  use ContextDev\Client;

  $client = new Client(apiKey: getenv('CONTEXT_DEV_API_KEY'));

  $bytes = file_get_contents('report.pdf');
  if ($bytes === false) {
      throw new RuntimeException('Could not read report.pdf');
  }

  // Use the SDK's request method: the 2.14.0 Parse helper drops the body.
  $raw = $client->request(
      method: 'post',
      path: 'parse',
      query: ['extension' => 'pdf'],
      headers: ['Content-Type' => 'application/pdf'],
      body: $bytes,
  );

  $result = json_decode((string) $raw->getBody(), true, flags: JSON_THROW_ON_ERROR);
  echo $result['markdown'], PHP_EOL;
  ```

  ```bash cURL theme={null}
  curl -X POST "https://api.context.dev/v1/parse?extension=pdf" \
    -H "Authorization: Bearer $CONTEXT_DEV_API_KEY" \
    -H "Content-Type: application/pdf" \
    --data-binary @report.pdf
  ```
</CodeGroup>

Read `markdown` for the text and the returned type for the detected format. Request `includeLinks`, `includeImages`, `shortenBase64Images`, or `useMainContentOnly` as query options when they apply to your input.

## File types and OCR

Supply `extension` when the input type needs a hint; see [supported formats](/parse/formats). [PDFs and OCR](/parse/pdfs-and-ocr) covers scanned pages, images, and page ranges.

An oversized upload returns 413 and an unsupported format returns 415. A scanned PDF with OCR disabled returns `400 PDF_IMAGES_ONLY`; retry it with OCR enabled if text recovery is needed. The [Parse reference](/api-reference/utility/parse) lists all options and errors.