file2text is a powerful, containerized REST API service for extracting text from various document formats, optimized for integration with LLMs, n8n workflows, and other automation tools.

• Multi-format Support: Extract text from PDFs, DOC/DOCX, and various image formats
• Smart OCR Processing: Automatically uses OCR for scanned documents and images
• Multiple Input Methods: Upload files directly or send base64-encoded data
• Batch Processing: Process multiple files in a single request
• LLM-Ready Output: Clean, structured JSON responses ready for LLM processing
• n8n Integration: Seamless integration with n8n workflows
• Docker Containerized: Easy deployment in any environment
• Secure API: Protected endpoints with API key authentication
• Multilingual Support: Built-in English and Hebrew text recognition

• FastAPI: High-performance Python web framework
• Tesseract OCR: Optical Character Recognition for images and scanned PDFs
• PyPDF2 & pdf2image: PDF processing and conversion
• python-docx: Microsoft Word document processing
• Docker & Docker Compose: Containerization and orchestration

• Docker & Docker Compose
• 2GB+ RAM recommended for optimal OCR performance
• Sufficient disk space for temporary file processing

file2text utilizes a combination of direct text extraction and OCR technologies to process your documents:

1. PDFs: First attempts direct text extraction, falls back to OCR for scanned documents
2. DOC/DOCX: Extracts text from Microsoft Word documents (including legacy .doc via LibreOffice)
3. Images: Uses Tesseract OCR with image pre-processing for optimal text recognition
4. All extracted text is returned in clean, structured JSON format

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/Aviadg/file2text.git
   cd file2text

2. Create a .env file with your API key:

   echo "API_KEY=your-secure-api-key-here" > .env

3. Start the service:

   docker-compose up -d

4. The API will be available at http://localhost:8000

1. Clone the repository
2. Create .env file with your API key
3. Customize the Dockerfile or docker-compose.yml if needed
4. Build and start the service:

   docker-compose build
   docker-compose up -d

Once the service is running, access the interactive API documentation at http://localhost:8000/docs

All API endpoints require an API key for authentication. Include it in your requests using the X-API-Key header:

X-API-Key: your-secure-api-key-here

• GET / - Service status check
• POST /extract-text/ - Extract text from uploaded file
• POST /batch-extract/ - Process multiple uploaded files
• POST /extract-text-base64/ - Extract text from base64-encoded file

curl -X POST \
  http://localhost:8000/extract-text/ \
  -H "X-API-Key: your-secure-api-key-here" \
  -H "accept: application/json" \
  -F "file=@/path/to/your/document.pdf"

{
  "filename": "document.pdf",
  "text": "This is the extracted text content from the PDF file...",
  "file_type": "pdf"
}

file2text is optimized for use with n8n workflows. Here's how to connect:

1. In n8n, add an HTTP Request node
2. Configure it to send a POST request to http://yourhostip:8000/extract-text-base64/
3. Add the X-API-Key header with your API key
4. Set the body to JSON with this structure:

   {
     "filename": "{{$node[\"Read Binary File\"].binary.data.fileName}}",
     "content_type": "{{$node[\"Read Binary File\"].binary.data.mimeType}}",
     "base64_data": "{{$binary.data.toString('base64')}}"
   }

If running both n8n and file2text in Docker containers, use one of these approaches:

1. Use the host's IP address in the HTTP Request URL:

   http://YOUR_HOST_IP:8000/extract-text-base64/
   

2. Create a shared Docker network:

   docker network create shared-network

   Then update both docker-compose files to use this network and reference the service by name:

   http://text-extraction-api:8000/extract-text-base64/
   

file2text/
│
├── docker-compose.yml          # Main docker-compose configuration
├── Dockerfile                  # Docker image configuration
├── .env                       # Environment variables including API key
│
├── app/                       # Main application directory
│   ├── requirements.txt       # Python dependencies
│   ├── main.py               # FastAPI main application file
│   │
│   └── extractors/           # Package for text extraction modules
│       ├── __init__.py       # Package initialization
│       ├── pdf_extractor.py  # PDF extraction module
│       ├── doc_extractor.py  # DOC/DOCX extraction module
│       └── image_extractor.py # Image extraction module
│
└── uploads/                   # Directory for temporary file uploads

• Set a strong, random API key in production
• The service processes files temporarily and automatically removes them after extraction
• Use HTTPS in production environments
• Consider implementing rate limiting for additional security
• Monitor API usage and implement appropriate access controls

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

1. Fork the repository
2. Create your feature branch (git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature)
3. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add some amazing feature')
4. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/amazing-feature)
5. Open a Pull Request

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

Project Link: https://github.com/Aviadg/file2text

Made with ❤️ by Aviad