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File downloads are in closed beta. The feature is off by default and enabled per account. Want in? Submit your interest here and we’ll reach out.
Parse endpoints normally return JSON. File-download endpoints let an API hand back an actual file — a PDF, spreadsheet, image, or ZIP — from sites that expose documents. A common shape is one endpoint that lists the documents on a portal and another that downloads a specific one.

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How it works

File downloads are passthrough — Parse never stores your files. When a file endpoint runs, it doesn’t pull the bytes into Parse. It returns the document’s metadata plus a one-time, short-lived download URL. When you fetch that URL, Parse streams the file straight through to you and keeps nothing.
  • One-time. Each link works once.
  • Short-lived. It expires about 8 minutes after it’s created.
  • Any file type, up to 50 MB.
  • Nothing at rest. No file bytes are ever stored by Parse.

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Building a file API

Once your account is enabled for the beta, just ask for it in plain language when you create or revise an API — for example:
“List the statements on my account and let me download each one as a PDF.”
The build agent will add the file endpoints automatically. Over the API and MCP you can also set allow_downloads: true on a build to request it explicitly, but on an enabled account it isn’t required.

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Calling a file endpoint

A file endpoint returns a file object in its result — either at the top level for a single document, or one per item in a list. Single document:
A list of documents, one file per item:

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Downloading the file

Fetch the download_url with your API key — the same X-API-Key you call endpoints with:
In the dashboard, a file result renders a Download button — click it and the file downloads in your browser.
Don’t paste the download URL into a browser tab directly — it needs your API key. The dashboard’s Download button and an authenticated request both send it; a plain browser navigation doesn’t, and will return a 404.
The link is single-use and expires, so treat it as a fresh handle each time:
  • Download it once, promptly.
  • If you get an expired or 404 response, call the endpoint again for a new link. Re-fetching a spent URL won’t work.

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Documents behind a login

File endpoints work for public documents and for documents behind a login. When the documents require an account, the file endpoint rides the same authenticated session as an Authenticated API: the download replays through the same logged-in, IP-consistent session, and that session’s credentials are only ever sent to the site they were earned on — never to a different host.

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Privacy

Like authenticated APIs, an API with file endpoints is always private to your account. It’s never contributed to the public marketplace and never shared — a file endpoint hands back your documents, so the API that produces it stays yours.

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During the beta

  • Free. File downloads don’t incur additional charges during the beta.
  • Off by default. The feature is enabled per account — submit your interest to join.