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Jinja2PDF

German invoice with GiroCode

Line items, net, VAT and gross computed in the template, dates in German format with a due date 14 days out, a SEPA QR code banking apps scan, and a running footer with page numbers. Your code sends the facts; the template owns the layout.

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Rendered result

Rendered result: German invoice with GiroCode
PDF · 1 page · 90 KB ↓ download

What this example shows

  • The request carries no sums and no tax: sum('total') adds the lines, and VAT and gross follow from invoice.vat_rate inside the template.
  • epcQr draws the GiroCode (EPC QR code) from name, IBAN, BIC, amount and the payment reference as free text, so a banking app fills in the transfer from a scan. For a single one, the GiroCode generator makes the same code in your browser.
  • dateAdd(14, 'days') sets the due date; with the locale de-DE, date('dd.MM.yyyy') and money print 24.09.2026 and 3.760,40 €.
  • The footer is a Chromium footer template with pageNumber and totalPages: “Seite 1 von 1” stays correct when the lines run over several pages.
  • filename names the download rechnung-2026-0042.pdf. It is taken as written: a template expression in it is not filled in, its braces become _. A program that renders many invoices builds the name from each number itself.

Helpers used

More on this use case: Invoice PDF API →

Template folder

templates/invoice-de/template.htmlJinja2
<p class="sender">{{ company.name }} · {{ company.street }} · {{ company.city }}</p>

<address class="recipient">
  <strong>{{ customer.name }}</strong><br>
  {{ customer.street }}<br>
  {{ customer.city }}
</address>

<h1>Rechnung {{ invoice.number }}</h1>
<p class="meta">
  Datum {{ invoice.date | date('dd.MM.yyyy') }},
  fällig am {{ invoice.date | dateAdd(14, 'days') | date('dd.MM.yyyy') }}
</p>

<table class="lines">
  <thead>
    <tr><th>Leistung</th><th class="num">Menge</th><th class="num">Preis</th><th class="num">Summe</th></tr>
  </thead>
  <tbody>
    {% for line in invoice.lines %}
    <tr>
      <td>{{ line.description }}</td>
      <td class="num">{{ line.qty | number(0) }}</td>
      <td class="num">{{ line.price | money }}</td>
      <td class="num">{{ line.total | money }}</td>
    </tr>
    {% endfor %}
  </tbody>
</table>

{% set net = invoice.lines | sum('total') %}
{% set vat = net * invoice.vat_rate / 100 %}
<table class="totals">
  <tr><td>Netto</td><td class="num">{{ net | money }}</td></tr>
  <tr><td>USt. {{ invoice.vat_rate }} %</td><td class="num">{{ vat | money }}</td></tr>
  <tr class="grand"><td>Gesamt</td><td class="num">{{ (net + vat) | money }}</td></tr>
</table>

<figure class="pay">
  <img src="{{ epcQr({ name: company.name, iban: company.iban, bic: company.bic, amount: net + vat, text: 'Rechnung ' ~ invoice.number }, { size: 110 }) }}" alt="GiroCode">
  <figcaption>Mit der Banking-App scannen und bezahlen</figcaption>
</figure>
templates/invoice-de/style.cssCSS
body { font-family: 'Inter', sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; color: #1e293b; }
.sender {
  display: inline-block;
  margin: 10mm 0 3mm;
  padding-bottom: 1mm;
  border-bottom: 1px solid #cbd5e1;
  font-size: 7pt;
  color: #64748b;
}
.recipient { font-style: normal; line-height: 1.5; }
h1 { margin: 18mm 0 1mm; font-size: 18pt; color: #312e81; }
.meta { margin: 0 0 8mm; color: #475569; }
table { width: 100%; border-collapse: collapse; }
.lines th {
  padding: 2mm 1.5mm;
  border-bottom: 1.5px solid #1e293b;
  text-align: left;
  font-size: 7.5pt;
  letter-spacing: 0.05em;
  text-transform: uppercase;
  color: #64748b;
}
.lines td { padding: 2.5mm 1.5mm; border-bottom: 1px solid #e2e8f0; }
.num { text-align: right !important; white-space: nowrap; }
.totals { width: 72mm; margin: 5mm 0 0 auto; }
.totals td { padding: 1.3mm 1.5mm; }
.totals .grand td { border-top: 1.5px solid #1e293b; font-weight: 700; font-size: 11pt; }
.pay { display: flex; align-items: center; gap: 4mm; margin: 14mm 0 0; }
.pay figcaption { max-width: 45mm; font-size: 8pt; color: #475569; }
templates/invoice-de/head.htmlHTML
<link rel="stylesheet" href="https://fonts.googleapis.com/css2?family=Inter:wght@400;600;700&display=swap">
templates/invoice-de/footer.htmlJinja2
<div style="box-sizing:border-box;width:100%;display:flex;justify-content:space-between;padding:0 18mm;font-size:8px;color:#555">
  <span>{{ company.name }} · USt-IdNr. {{ company.vat_id }} · IBAN {{ company.iban }}</span>
  <span>Seite <span class="pageNumber"></span> von <span class="totalPages"></span></span>
</div>
templates/invoice-de/settings.jsonJSON
{
  "pdf": {
    "metadata": {
      "title": "Rechnung {{ invoice.number }}"
    }
  },
  "paper": {
    "format": "A4"
  },
  "margin": {
    "top": "20mm",
    "right": "18mm",
    "bottom": "22mm",
    "left": "18mm"
  },
  "locale": "de-DE",
  "timezone": "Europe/Berlin",
  "currency": "EUR",
  "footer": {
    "height": "12mm"
  }
}
templates/invoice-de/data/default.jsonJSON
{
  "company": {
    "name": "Fennlor Studio GmbH",
    "street": "Musterstraße 1",
    "city": "12345 Musterstadt",
    "iban": "DE36000000000000000000",
    "bic": "XXXXDEXXXXX",
    "vat_id": "DE000000000"
  },
  "customer": {
    "name": "Olvarest GmbH",
    "street": "Beispielweg 2",
    "city": "54321 Beispielstadt"
  },
  "invoice": {
    "number": "2026-0042",
    "date": "2026-09-10",
    "vat_rate": 19,
    "lines": [
      {
        "description": "Consulting",
        "qty": 8,
        "price": 120,
        "total": 960
      },
      {
        "description": "Implementation",
        "qty": 20,
        "price": 110,
        "total": 2200
      }
    ]
  }
}

Render it through the API

Save the sample data as data.json and send it with the template’s name. TypeScript and Python use the SDKs; every other language posts the same JSON to the REST API with its standard library. Renders with a key that starts with ff_test_ are not metered; on the Free plan they carry a small watermark.

render.shShell
jq '{template: "invoice-de", data: ., filename: "rechnung-2026-0042.pdf"}' data.json \
  | curl https://api-eu.formfeed.dev/v1/renders \
      -H "Authorization: Bearer ff_test_..." \
      -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
      --data-binary @-
render.tsTypeScript
import { Formfeed } from '@formfeed/sdk';
import data from './data.json' with { type: 'json' };

const formfeed = new Formfeed({ apiKey: process.env.FORMFEED_API_KEY! });

const render = await formfeed.renders.create({
  template: 'invoice-de',
  data,
  filename: 'rechnung-2026-0042.pdf',
});
console.log(render.status, render.download_url);
render.pyPython
import json
import os

from formfeed import Formfeed

formfeed = Formfeed(api_key=os.environ["FORMFEED_API_KEY"])

with open("data.json", encoding="utf-8") as file:
    data = json.load(file)

render = formfeed.renders.create(
    template="invoice-de",
    data=data,
    filename="rechnung-2026-0042.pdf",
)
print(render.status, render.download_url)
render.phpPHP
<?php
$body = [
    'template' => 'invoice-de',
    'data' => json_decode(file_get_contents('data.json'), true),
    'filename' => 'rechnung-2026-0042.pdf',
];

$curl = curl_init('https://api-eu.formfeed.dev/v1/renders');
curl_setopt_array($curl, [
    CURLOPT_POST => true,
    CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,
    CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER => [
        'Authorization: Bearer ' . getenv('FORMFEED_API_KEY'),
        'Content-Type: application/json',
    ],
    CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS => json_encode($body),
]);
$render = json_decode(curl_exec($curl), true);

echo $render['status'], ' ', $render['download_url'], PHP_EOL;
main.goGo
package main

import (
	"bytes"
	"encoding/json"
	"fmt"
	"net/http"
	"os"
)

func main() {
	data, err := os.ReadFile("data.json")
	if err != nil {
		panic(err)
	}
	body, _ := json.Marshal(map[string]any{
		"template": "invoice-de",
		"data":     json.RawMessage(data),
		"filename": "rechnung-2026-0042.pdf",
	})

	request, _ := http.NewRequest("POST", "https://api-eu.formfeed.dev/v1/renders", bytes.NewReader(body))
	request.Header.Set("Authorization", "Bearer "+os.Getenv("FORMFEED_API_KEY"))
	request.Header.Set("Content-Type", "application/json")

	response, err := http.DefaultClient.Do(request)
	if err != nil {
		panic(err)
	}
	defer response.Body.Close()

	var render struct {
		Status      string `json:"status"`
		DownloadURL string `json:"download_url"`
	}
	json.NewDecoder(response.Body).Decode(&render)
	fmt.Println(render.Status, render.DownloadURL)
}
Program.csC#
using System.Net.Http.Headers;
using System.Net.Http.Json;
using System.Text.Json;

var body = new
{
    template = "invoice-de",
    data = JsonDocument.Parse(File.ReadAllText("data.json")).RootElement,
    filename = "rechnung-2026-0042.pdf",
};

using var http = new HttpClient();
http.DefaultRequestHeaders.Authorization =
    new AuthenticationHeaderValue("Bearer", Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("FORMFEED_API_KEY"));

var response = await http.PostAsJsonAsync("https://api-eu.formfeed.dev/v1/renders", body);
var render = await response.Content.ReadFromJsonAsync<JsonElement>();

Console.WriteLine($"{render.GetProperty("status")} {render.GetProperty("download_url")}");
Render.javaJava
import java.net.URI;
import java.net.http.HttpClient;
import java.net.http.HttpRequest;
import java.net.http.HttpResponse;
import java.nio.file.Files;
import java.nio.file.Path;

public class Render {
  public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
    String data = Files.readString(Path.of("data.json"));
    String body = """
        {
          "template": "invoice-de",
          "filename": "rechnung-2026-0042.pdf",
          "data": %s
        }
        """.formatted(data);

    HttpRequest request = HttpRequest.newBuilder(URI.create("https://api-eu.formfeed.dev/v1/renders"))
        .header("Authorization", "Bearer " + System.getenv("FORMFEED_API_KEY"))
        .header("Content-Type", "application/json")
        .POST(HttpRequest.BodyPublishers.ofString(body))
        .build();

    HttpResponse<String> response = HttpClient.newHttpClient().send(request, HttpResponse.BodyHandlers.ofString());
    System.out.println(response.body()); // status, download_url, page_count, units …
  }
}
render.rbRuby
require "json"
require "net/http"

body = {
  template: "invoice-de",
  data: JSON.parse(File.read("data.json")),
  filename: "rechnung-2026-0042.pdf",
}

response = Net::HTTP.post(
  URI("https://api-eu.formfeed.dev/v1/renders"),
  JSON.generate(body),
  "Authorization" => "Bearer #{ENV.fetch("FORMFEED_API_KEY")}",
  "Content-Type" => "application/json"
)
render = JSON.parse(response.body)

puts render["status"], render["download_url"]

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