Documenso Core Workflow A: Document Creation & Recipients

Overview

Complete workflow for creating documents, managing recipients, and configuring signature fields in Documenso.

Prerequisites

Completed documenso-install-auth setup
Understanding of documenso-sdk-patterns
PDF file ready for signing

Instructions

Step 1: Create Document with PDF Upload

import { Documenso } from "@documenso/sdk-typescript";
import { openAsBlob } from "node:fs";

const documenso = new Documenso({
  apiKey: process.env.DOCUMENSO_API_KEY ?? "",
});

async function createDocument(
  title: string,
  pdfPath: string
): Promise<string> {
  const pdfBlob = await openAsBlob(pdfPath);

  const document = await documenso.documents.createV0({
    title,
    file: pdfBlob,
  });

  console.log(`Created document: ${document.documentId}`);
  return document.documentId!;
}

Step 2: Add Multiple Recipients with Signing Order

interface RecipientInput {
  email: string;
  name: string;
  role: "SIGNER" | "VIEWER" | "APPROVER" | "CC";
  signingOrder?: number;
}

async function addRecipients(
  documentId: string,
  recipients: RecipientInput[]
): Promise<Map<string, string>> {
  const recipientMap = new Map<string, string>(); // email -> recipientId

  for (const recipient of recipients) {
    const result = await documenso.documentsRecipients.createV0({
      documentId,
      email: recipient.email,
      name: recipient.name,
      role: recipient.role,
      signingOrder: recipient.signingOrder,
    });

    recipientMap.set(recipient.email, result.recipientId!);
    console.log(`Added ${recipient.role}: ${recipient.email}`);
  }

  return recipientMap;
}

// Example: Sequential signing order
const recipients: RecipientInput[] = [
  { email: "employee@company.com", name: "John Employee", role: "SIGNER", signingOrder: 1 },
  { email: "manager@company.com", name: "Jane Manager", role: "APPROVER", signingOrder: 2 },
  { email: "hr@company.com", name: "HR Department", role: "CC", signingOrder: 3 },
];

Step 3: Add Signature Fields

interface FieldInput {
  recipientId: string;
  type: "SIGNATURE" | "INITIALS" | "NAME" | "EMAIL" | "DATE" | "TEXT" | "CHECKBOX";
  page: number;
  x: number;
  y: number;
  width?: number;
  height?: number;
  required?: boolean;
  placeholder?: string;
}

async function addFields(
  documentId: string,
  fields: FieldInput[]
): Promise<string[]> {
  const fieldIds: string[] = [];

  for (const field of fields) {
    const result = await documenso.documentsFields.createV0({
      documentId,
      recipientId: field.recipientId,
      type: field.type,
      page: field.page,
      positionX: field.x,
      positionY: field.y,
      width: field.width ?? getDefaultWidth(field.type),
      height: field.height ?? getDefaultHeight(field.type),
    });

    fieldIds.push(result.fieldId!);
    console.log(`Added ${field.type} field on page ${field.page}`);
  }

  return fieldIds;
}

function getDefaultWidth(type: string): number {
  const widths: Record<string, number> = {
    SIGNATURE: 200,
    INITIALS: 80,
    NAME: 180,
    EMAIL: 200,
    DATE: 120,
    TEXT: 200,
    CHECKBOX: 24,
  };
  return widths[type] ?? 150;
}

function getDefaultHeight(type: string): number {
  const heights: Record<string, number> = {
    SIGNATURE: 60,
    INITIALS: 40,
    NAME: 30,
    EMAIL: 30,
    DATE: 30,
    TEXT: 30,
    CHECKBOX: 24,
  };
  return heights[type] ?? 30;
}

Step 4: Complete Document Creation Workflow

interface CreateSigningDocumentInput {
  title: string;
  pdfPath: string;
  recipients: Array<{
    email: string;
    name: string;
    role: "SIGNER" | "VIEWER" | "APPROVER" | "CC";
    signingOrder?: number;
    fields: Array<{
      type: "SIGNATURE" | "INITIALS" | "NAME" | "EMAIL" | "DATE" | "TEXT";
      page: number;
      x: number;
      y: number;
    }>;
  }>;
  sendImmediately?: boolean;
}

async function createSigningDocument(
  input: CreateSigningDocumentInput
): Promise<{ documentId: string; signingUrls: Map<string, string> }> {
  // Step 1: Create document with PDF
  const pdfBlob = await openAsBlob(input.pdfPath);
  const document = await documenso.documents.createV0({
    title: input.title,
    file: pdfBlob,
  });
  const documentId = document.documentId!;

  // Step 2: Add recipients and collect their IDs
  const recipientIds = new Map<string, string>();

  for (const recipient of input.recipients) {
    const result = await documenso.documentsRecipients.createV0({
      documentId,
      email: recipient.email,
      name: recipient.name,
      role: recipient.role,
      signingOrder: recipient.signingOrder,
    });
    recipientIds.set(recipient.email, result.recipientId!);
  }

  // Step 3: Add fields for each recipient
  for (const recipient of input.recipients) {
    const recipientId = recipientIds.get(recipient.email)!;

    for (const field of recipient.fields) {
      await documenso.documentsFields.createV0({
        documentId,
        recipientId,
        type: field.type,
        page: field.page,
        positionX: field.x,
        positionY: field.y,
        width: getDefaultWidth(field.type),
        height: getDefaultHeight(field.type),
      });
    }
  }

  // Step 4: Send document if requested
  if (input.sendImmediately) {
    await documenso.documents.sendV0({ documentId });
    console.log("Document sent to all recipients!");
  }

  // Step 5: Get signing URLs
  const signingUrls = new Map<string, string>();
  const doc = await documenso.documents.getV0({ documentId });

  for (const recipient of doc.recipients ?? []) {
    if (recipient.signingUrl) {
      signingUrls.set(recipient.email!, recipient.signingUrl);
    }
  }

  return { documentId, signingUrls };
}

// Example usage
const result = await createSigningDocument({
  title: "Employment Contract",
  pdfPath: "./contracts/employment.pdf",
  recipients: [
    {
      email: "newhire@company.com",
      name: "New Employee",
      role: "SIGNER",
      signingOrder: 1,
      fields: [
        { type: "SIGNATURE", page: 3, x: 100, y: 600 },
        { type: "DATE", page: 3, x: 350, y: 600 },
        { type: "INITIALS", page: 1, x: 500, y: 750 },
        { type: "INITIALS", page: 2, x: 500, y: 750 },
      ],
    },
    {
      email: "hr@company.com",
      name: "HR Manager",
      role: "APPROVER",
      signingOrder: 2,
      fields: [
        { type: "SIGNATURE", page: 3, x: 100, y: 700 },
        { type: "DATE", page: 3, x: 350, y: 700 },
      ],
    },
  ],
  sendImmediately: true,
});

console.log(`Document ID: ${result.documentId}`);

Step 5: Update Recipients

async function updateRecipient(
  documentId: string,
  recipientId: string,
  updates: { email?: string; name?: string }
): Promise<void> {
  await documenso.documentsRecipients.updateV0({
    documentId,
    recipientId,
    ...updates,
  });
  console.log(`Updated recipient ${recipientId}`);
}

// Example: Correct email typo
await updateRecipient(documentId, recipientId, {
  email: "correct.email@company.com",
});

Step 6: Remove Recipients

async function removeRecipient(
  documentId: string,
  recipientId: string
): Promise<void> {
  await documenso.documentsRecipients.deleteV0({
    documentId,
    recipientId,
  });
  console.log(`Removed recipient ${recipientId}`);
}

Recipient Roles

| Role | Description | Signs Document | |------|-------------|----------------| | SIGNER | Primary signer | Yes | | APPROVER | Must approve before completion | Yes | | VIEWER | Can view but not sign | No | | CC | Receives copy when complete | No |

Field Positioning Tips

PDF coordinates start from bottom-left (0, 0)
Standard letter size: 612 x 792 points
Standard A4 size: 595 x 842 points
Leave 50+ points margin from edges
Signature fields: typically 200x60 points
Text fields: typically 200x30 points

Output

Created document with uploaded PDF
Recipients added with signing order
Signature fields positioned on pages
Document sent for signing (optional)
Signing URLs available for embedding

Error Handling

| Error | Cause | Solution | |-------|-------|----------| | Document not found | Invalid ID | Verify document exists | | Recipient exists | Duplicate email | Update existing recipient | | Invalid field position | Off-page coordinates | Check page dimensions | | Cannot modify sent doc | Document already sent | Create new version | | File too large | PDF exceeds limit | Compress or split PDF |

Resources

Next Steps

For template-based workflows, see documenso-core-workflow-b.