Documenso Install & Auth

Overview

Set up the Documenso SDK and configure API authentication for document signing. Covers the TypeScript SDK (

@documenso/sdk-typescript

documenso-sdk-python

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18+ or Python 3.10+
• Package manager (npm, pnpm, yarn, pip, or uv)
• Documenso account — cloud at

  app.documenso.com

  or self-hosted instance
• API key generated from the Documenso dashboard

Instructions

Step 1: Install the SDK

TypeScript / Node.js:

npm install @documenso/sdk-typescript
# or
pnpm add @documenso/sdk-typescript

Python:

pip install documenso-sdk-python
# or
uv pip install documenso-sdk-python

Step 2: Generate an API Key

1. Log in to your Documenso dashboard (

   https://app.documenso.com

   or your self-hosted URL).
2. Click your avatar (top-right) and select User settings (or Team settings for team-scoped keys).
3. Navigate to the API tokens tab.
4. Click Create API Key, give it a descriptive name (e.g.

   ci-pipeline-prod

   ).
5. Copy the key immediately — it is shown only once.

Team API keys inherit the team's document and template access. Personal keys only access your own documents.

Step 3: Store the Key Securely

# .env (never commit this file)
DOCUMENSO_API_KEY=api_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Add

.env

.gitignore

echo ".env" >> .gitignore

Step 4: Initialize the Client

TypeScript — v2 API (recommended):

import { Documenso } from "@documenso/sdk-typescript";

const documenso = new Documenso({
  apiKey: process.env.DOCUMENSO_API_KEY!,
  // For self-hosted, override the server URL:
  // serverURL: "https://sign.yourcompany.com/api/v2",
});

TypeScript — v1 REST (legacy):

const BASE = process.env.DOCUMENSO_BASE_URL ?? "https://app.documenso.com/api/v1";
const headers = { Authorization: `Bearer ${process.env.DOCUMENSO_API_KEY}` };

const res = await fetch(`${BASE}/documents`, { headers });
const docs = await res.json();

Python:

from documenso_sdk_python import Documenso
import os

client = Documenso(api_key=os.environ["DOCUMENSO_API_KEY"])

Step 5: Verify the Connection

// verify-connection.ts
import { Documenso } from "@documenso/sdk-typescript";

async function verify() {
  const client = new Documenso({ apiKey: process.env.DOCUMENSO_API_KEY! });
  const { documents } = await client.documents.findV0({ page: 1, perPage: 1 });
  console.log(`Connected — ${documents.length >= 0 ? "OK" : "FAIL"}`);
}
verify().catch(console.error);

Run with

npx tsx verify-connection.ts

API Endpoints

https://app.documenso.com/api/v2

https://app.documenso.com/api/v1

https://stg-app.documenso.com/api/v2

https://stg-app.documenso.com/api/v1

https://your-instance.com/api/v2

https://your-instance.com/api/v1

Self-Hosted Base URL Override

const documenso = new Documenso({
  apiKey: process.env.DOCUMENSO_API_KEY!,
  serverURL: process.env.DOCUMENSO_BASE_URL, // e.g. "https://sign.acme.com/api/v2"
});

Error Handling

npm install @documenso/sdk-typescript

app.documenso.com

ERR_INVALID_URL

serverURL

https://host/api/v2

Security Checklist

• API key stored in environment variable, never in source code

• .env

  is listed in

  .gitignore

• CI secrets use masked/encrypted storage (GitHub Secrets, Vault, etc.)
• Team keys rotated on employee offboarding
• Self-hosted instances use HTTPS with valid TLS certificates

Resources

• Documenso API Documentation
• TypeScript SDK
• Python SDK
• OpenAPI Reference (v2)
• Self-Hosting Guide

Next Steps

After successful auth, proceed to

documenso-hello-world