---
title: "Parse Bytes"
method: POST
path: "/parse"
tags: ["Parsing"]
---

# Parse Bytes

`POST /parse`

Converts raw text, source code, web/data, PDF, Microsoft Office, and image bytes into LLM-usable Markdown.

## Query parameters

- `extension` 'txt' | 'text' | 'md' | 'markdown' | 'html' | 'htm' | 'xhtml' | 'xml' | 'rss' | 'atom' | 'csv' | 'tsv' | 'yaml' | 'yml' | 'py' | 'java' | 'js' | 'jsx' | 'mjs' | 'cjs' | 'json' | 'jsonl' | 'ndjson' | 'php' | 'sh' | 'bash' | 'zsh' | 'fish' | 'rb' | 'ts' | 'tsx' | 'rtf' | 'srt' | 'css' | 'scss' | 'less' | 'styl' | 'sass' | 'svg' | 'pdf' | 'docx' | 'doc' | 'xlsx' | 'xlsm' | 'xlsb' | 'xltx' | 'xltm' | 'xls' | 'pptx' | 'pptm' | 'ppsx' | 'ppsm' | 'potx' | 'potm' | 'ppt' | 'pps' | 'pot' | 'jpg' | 'jpeg' | 'jpe' | 'png' | 'gif' | 'bmp' | 'tiff' | 'tif' | 'webp' | 'ppm' | 'pbm' | 'pgm' | 'pnm' — Optional file extension hint, such as pdf, docx, xlsx, pptx, html, json, csv, md, py, rtf, jpg, png, or txt.
- `includeLinks` union — Preserve hyperlinks in Markdown output
  - boolean
  - 'true' | 'false'
- `includeImages` union — Include image references in Markdown output
  - boolean
  - 'true' | 'false'
- `shortenBase64Images` union — Shorten base64-encoded image data in the Markdown output
  - boolean
  - 'true' | 'false'
- `useMainContentOnly` union — Extract only the main content from HTML-like inputs
  - boolean
  - 'true' | 'false'
- `ocr` union — When true for PDF inputs, OCR the selected pages that have no usable text layer (scans), replacing each recovered page's text with the OCR result while pages with a real text layer keep it. pdf.start/pdf.end limit the inclusive page range. Billed at 1 credit per page OCR actually recovered, on top of the base request cost. When false, no OCR runs.
  - boolean
  - 'true' | 'false'
- `pdf` object — PDF page-range options as a JSON object, e.g. {"start": 2, "end": 5}.
  - `start` integer — First 1-based PDF page to parse. When omitted, parsing starts at the first page.
  - `end` integer — Last 1-based PDF page to parse. When omitted, parsing ends at the last page. Must be greater than or equal to start when both are provided.
- `client` string — Optional client identifier used for usage attribution.
- `zdr` 'enabled' | 'disabled' — Set to enabled to bypass shared caches and omit request and response content from retained usage logs. Requires zero data retention to be enabled for your organization (contact support@context.dev), otherwise the request fails with ZDR_NOT_ENABLED. Successful ZDR responses include X-Context-ZDR: true.
- `tags` string[] — Optional tags for tracking usage. Up to 20 tags, each 1 to 50 characters.

## Response `200`

Successful response

- object
  - `success` true, required — Indicates success
  - `markdown` string, required — Input bytes converted to GitHub Flavored Markdown
  - `type` 'html' | 'xml' | 'json' | 'jsonl' | 'text' | 'csv' | 'tsv' | 'markdown' | 'yaml' | 'python' | 'java' | 'javascript' | 'php' | 'shell' | 'ruby' | 'typescript' | 'rtf' | 'srt' | 'css' | 'scss' | 'less' | 'stylus' | 'sass' | 'svg' | 'pdf' | 'docx' | 'doc' | 'xlsx' | 'xls' | 'pptx' | 'ppt' | 'jpg' | 'png' | 'gif' | 'bmp' | 'tiff' | 'webp' | 'ppm' | 'pbm' | 'pgm' | 'pnm', required — Detected content type used for parsing
  - `key_metadata` KeyMetadata — Metadata about the API key used for the request. Included in every response whenever a valid API key is provided, even when the response status is not 200.
    - `credits_consumed` integer, required — The number of credits consumed by this request.
    - `credits_remaining` integer, required — The number of credits remaining for your organization after this request.

## Other responses

- `400` — Invalid input or no parseable content
- `413` — Request body exceeds the 25 MiB upload limit
- `415` — Unsupported content type
- `500` — Internal server error

---

[API](https://skmtc.net/context/apis/context-dev.md) · [All operations](https://skmtc.net/context/apis/context-dev/llms.txt) · [OpenAPI document](https://skmtc-service-staging.skmtc.workers.dev/v1/apis/context/context-dev/versions/3c6a01ba967f/schema)