Create job

Create a new on-demand workflow job using either a template or custom DAG.

POST /api/v1/jobs

cURL

curl --request POST \
  --url "${UNSTRUCTURED_API_URL}/api/v1/jobs/" \
  --header "unstructured-api-key: ${UNSTRUCTURED_API_KEY}" \
  --form "request_data={\"template_id\":\"f0a1b2c3-4d5e-6f7a-8b9c-0d1e2f3a4b5c\"}" \
  --form "input_files=@/path/to/document.pdf"

Response

{
  "id": "b2c3d4e5-6f7a-8b9c-0d1e-2f3a4b5c6d7e",
  "workflow_id": "f0a1b2c3-4d5e-6f7a-8b9c-0d1e2f3a4b5c",
  "workflow_name": "My ETL Workflow",
  "status": "SCHEDULED",
  "created_at": "2026-01-01T00:00:00Z",
  "runtime": null,
  "input_file_ids": ["document.pdf"],
  "output_node_files": null,
  "job_type": "ephemeral"
}

An on-demand workflow job is a job that takes one or more local files only as input, and whose temporary workflow exists only for the duration of the job’s run

To run a workflow that was already created at some point in the past and still exists (also known as a long-lived workflow), see the run workflow endpoint instead. To run a workflow that takes files and data from remote locations as input (instead of local files), do the following instead:

1. Create a source connector to the remote source locations.
2. Create a destination connector to the remote destination location.
3. Create a long-lived workflow that uses this specific source connector and destination connector.
4. Run this long-lived workflow manually, if you have not already created the workflow to run on a schedule.

Body

request_data · string · required

Job configuration data.

• To use a workflow template for a job, include a template_id field that specifies the unique ID of the workflow template. For more information, see list templates.
• To use a custom workflow definition for a job, include a job_nodes field that specifies the settings for the job’s workflow nodes. For instructions, see Workflow Nodes.

input_files · array

Input files to process. Upload as multipart/form-data, in the following format:

--form "input_files=@</full/path/to/local/filename.extension>;filename=<filename.extension>;type=<local-file-media-type>" \
--form "input_files=@</full/path/to/local/filename.extension>;filename=<filename.extension>;type=<local-file-media-type>" # For each additional file to be uploaded.

For more information, see Unstructured API Quickstart - On-Demand Jobs.

Response

id · string · required

Unique identifier for the job.

workflow_id · string · required

Unique identifier of the workflow that created this job.

workflow_name · string · required

Name of the workflow that created this job.

status · string · required

Job status. One of: SCHEDULED, IN_PROGRESS, COMPLETED, STOPPED, FAILED.

created_at · string · required

ISO 8601 timestamp when the job was created.

runtime · string

ISO 8601 duration of the job run.

input_file_ids · array

IDs of input files for this job.

output_node_files · array

Output file metadata objects. Each object includes node_id, file_id, node_type, and node_subtype.

job_type · string

Job type. Default: ephemeral.

cURL

curl --request POST \
  --url "${UNSTRUCTURED_API_URL}/api/v1/jobs/" \
  --header "unstructured-api-key: ${UNSTRUCTURED_API_KEY}" \
  --form "request_data={\"template_id\":\"f0a1b2c3-4d5e-6f7a-8b9c-0d1e2f3a4b5c\"}" \
  --form "input_files=@/path/to/document.pdf"

Response

{
  "id": "b2c3d4e5-6f7a-8b9c-0d1e-2f3a4b5c6d7e",
  "workflow_id": "f0a1b2c3-4d5e-6f7a-8b9c-0d1e2f3a4b5c",
  "workflow_name": "My ETL Workflow",
  "status": "SCHEDULED",
  "created_at": "2026-01-01T00:00:00Z",
  "runtime": null,
  "input_file_ids": ["document.pdf"],
  "output_node_files": null,
  "job_type": "ephemeral"
}