Docling SDK

TypeScript SDK for Docling -- bridge between the Python Docling ecosystem and JavaScript/TypeScript.

What is Docling SDK?

Docling SDK provides document conversion, OCR, and chunking capabilities in TypeScript. It supports three client modes: an API client for Docling Serve, a CLI client wrapping the Python Docling tool, and a Web OCR client running entirely in the browser via WebGPU/WASM. The SDK works across Node.js, Bun, Deno, browsers, and Cloudflare Workers.

Installation

npm install docling-sdk

Also available via GitHub Package Registry: npm install @btwld/docling-sdk

For Web OCR, install peer dependencies: npm install @huggingface/transformers onnxruntime-web

See the Getting Started guide for prerequisites and setup.

Quick Start

API Client

import { readFile } from "node:fs/promises";
import { Docling } from "docling-sdk";

const client = new Docling({ api: { baseUrl: "http://localhost:5001" } });
const buffer = await readFile("./document.pdf");

const result = await client.convert(buffer, "document.pdf", { to_formats: ["md"] });
console.log(result.document.md_content);

Full API Client guide

CLI Client

import { Docling } from "docling-sdk";

const client = new Docling({ cli: { outputDir: "./output" } });
const result = await client.convert("./document.pdf", "document.pdf", { to_formats: ["md"] });
console.log(result.document.md_content);

Full CLI Client guide

Web OCR

import { createWebClient } from "docling-sdk/web";

const client = createWebClient({ device: "webgpu" });
await client.initialize();

const result = await client.processImage(imageFile);
console.log(result.markdown);
client.destroy();

Full Web Client guide

Feature Matrix

| Feature | API | CLI | Web | |---------|-----|-----|-----| | Document conversion (PDF, DOCX, PPTX, HTML, images, ...) | Yes | Yes | Yes | | Output formats (Markdown, JSON, HTML, text, DocTags) | Yes | Yes | Yes | | Streaming (content, ZIP, input) | Yes | -- | -- | | Async tasks with progress | Yes | -- | -- | | Document chunking (RAG) | Yes | -- | -- | | S3 integration | Yes | -- | -- | | VLM pipeline | Yes | Yes | -- | | ASR pipeline | -- | Yes | -- | | Batch processing | -- | Yes | -- | | Directory watching | -- | Yes | -- | | Browser-based OCR (no server) | -- | -- | Yes | | WebSocket progress tracking | Yes | -- | -- |

Documentation

Guides

• Getting Started -- installation, prerequisites, first conversion
• Configuration -- all config options for API, CLI, and Web clients
• Error Handling -- error hierarchy, retry logic, Result pattern
• TypeScript -- type guards, Result types, OpenAPI types, Zod validation

Client Guides

• API Client -- HTTP client for Docling Serve
• CLI Client -- Python CLI wrapper
• Web Client -- browser-based OCR

Feature Guides

• Document Chunking -- HybridChunker and HierarchicalChunker for RAG
• Async and Progress -- async tasks, polling, WebSocket
• Streaming -- content, ZIP, and input streaming
• S3 Integration -- S3 source and target operations
• VLM Pipeline -- Vision Language Model and ASR pipelines
• Cross-Runtime -- Node.js, Bun, Deno, Browser, CF Workers

Reference

• API Reference -- method-by-method reference
• Migration Guide -- v1.x to v2.0 migration
• Examples -- annotated guide to all examples

Requirements

| Requirement | Version | |-------------|---------| | Node.js | >= 18.0.0 | | TypeScript (optional) | >= 4.9.0 | | Docling Serve (API mode) | Latest | | Python Docling (CLI mode) | Latest | | WebGPU/WASM (Web mode) | Chrome 113+ or WASM fallback |

Contributing

Contributions are welcome. Please read the Contributing Guide for details.

License

BSD 3-Clause License -- see LICENSE for details.

Related Projects

• Docling -- the main Python library
• Docling Serve -- REST API server
• Docling TS -- TypeScript types and components