Receipt Scanner API: Developer Guide to Receipt Data Extraction

Building an expense management app? Automating bookkeeping? Or adding receipt scanning to your mobile app? A receipt scanner API lets you extract structured data from any receipt photo or PDF in seconds. In this developer guide, you'll learn how to integrate Eagle Doc's Receipt OCR API into your application — from authentication to handling the JSON response.

What Is a Receipt Scanner API?

A receipt scanner API is a cloud-based service that accepts receipt images (JPEG, PNG) or PDFs and returns structured data in JSON format. Unlike generic OCR which only returns raw text, a receipt-specific API understands the layout of receipts and extracts named fields like merchant name, date, total, tax, currency, payment method, and individual line items with their prices and quantities.

Key Features of Eagle Doc's Receipt Scanner API

Eagle Doc's receipt extraction API is purpose-built for production use:

• 40+ extracted fields: Merchant name, address, date, time, total, subtotal, tax (multiple rates), currency, payment method, and full line-item breakdown.
• No templates or training: AI-powered extraction works on any receipt layout from day one.
• Fast processing: Get structured JSON results typically in under 5 seconds per page, even for complex multi-page receipts.
• Multi-language support: Process receipts in 40+ languages, including all European, Asian, and Middle Eastern scripts.
• GDPR-compliant: All processing happens on EU-hosted servers. No data is stored after processing.

Quick Start: Integrate in Minutes

Getting started with Eagle Doc's Receipt OCR API takes just a few lines of code. Choose your preferred language:

curl -X POST "https://de.eagle-doc.com/api/receipt/v3/processing" \
  -H "api-key: YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -F "file=@receipt.jpg"

import requests

url = "https://de.eagle-doc.com/api/receipt/v3/processing"

payload = {}
files=[
('file',('receipt.jpeg',open('receipt.jpeg','rb'),'image/jpeg'))
]
headers = {
    'api-key': 'YOUR_SECRET_API_KEY'
}

response = requests.request("POST", url, headers=headers, data=payload, files=files)

print(response.text)

import java.net.http.*;
import java.net.*;
import java.nio.file.*;
import java.io.*;
import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;

public class ExampleReceipt {
    public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException, InterruptedException {
        var apiKey = "API-KEY-xxxxxx";

        var boundary = "----EagleDocBoundary" + System.currentTimeMillis();

        // Read the jpg file as bytes (binary)
        byte[] fileBytes = Files.readAllBytes(Path.of("receipt.jpeg"));

        // Build multipart body with binary support
        var outputStream = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
        var writer = new PrintWriter(new OutputStreamWriter(outputStream, StandardCharsets.UTF_8), true);

        // File part
        writer.append("--").append(boundary).append("\r\n");
        writer.append("Content-Disposition: form-data; name=\"file\"; filename=\"receipt.jpeg\"\r\n");
        writer.append("Content-Type: image/jpeg\r\n\r\n");
        writer.flush();
        outputStream.write(fileBytes);
        outputStream.flush();
        writer.append("\r\n");

        // End boundary
        writer.append("--").append(boundary).append("--\r\n");
        writer.flush();

        byte[] body = outputStream.toByteArray();

        var client = HttpClient.newHttpClient();
        var request = HttpRequest.newBuilder(URI.create("https://de.eagle-doc.com/api/receipt/v3/processing"))
            .header("api-key", apiKey)
            .header("Content-Type", "multipart/form-data; boundary=" + boundary)
            .POST(HttpRequest.BodyPublishers.ofByteArray(body))
            .build();

        var response = client.send(request, HttpResponse.BodyHandlers.ofString());
        System.out.println(response.body());
    }
}

Understanding the API Response

The API returns a structured JSON object. Here's an abbreviated example of what you'll receive:

            {
    "general": {
        "ShopName": {
            "value": "dm-drogerie markt",
            "page": 1,
            "confidence": 1.0
        },
        "ShopStreet": {
            "value": "Hertzstraße 9",
            "page": 1,
            "confidence": 1.0
        },
        "ShopCity": {
            "value": "Vaihingen an der Enz",
            "page": 1,
            "confidence": 1.0
        },
        "ShopZip": {
            "value": "71665",
            "page": 1,
            "confidence": 1.0
        },
        "ShopCountry": {
            "value": "DE",
            "confidence": 1.0
        },
        "TotalPrice": {
            "value": "34.7",
            "page": 1,
            "confidence": 1.0
        },
        "TaxAmount": {
            "value": "4.44",
            "confidence": 1.0
        },
        "TaxGrossAmount": {
            "value": "34.7",
            "page": 1,
            "confidence": 1.0
        },
        "TaxNetAmount": {
            "value": "30.26",
            "confidence": 1.0
        },
        "InvoiceDate": {
            "value": "2021-02-23",
            "page": 1,
            "confidence": 1.0
        },
        "InvoiceNumber": {
            "value": "0319/1 218506/12 3815",
            "page": 1,
            "confidence": 1.0
        },
        "TaxNumber": {
            "value": "34092/30007",
            "page": 1,
            "confidence": 1.0
        },
        "VATNumber": {
            "value": "34092/30007",
            "page": 1,
            "confidence": 1.0
        },
        "Category": {
            "value": "Other",
            "confidence": 1.0
        },
        "PaymentMethod": {
            "value": "DEBIT_CARD",
            "confidence": 1.0
        },
        "Currency": {
            "value": "EUR",
            "confidence": 1.0
        },
        "Website": {
            "value": "dm.de",
            "page": 1,
            "confidence": 0.99
        },
        "Time": {
            "value": "16:29",
            "page": 1,
            "confidence": 0.99
        },
        "Terminal": {
            "value": "65237920",
            "page": 1,
            "confidence": 0.73
        }
    },
    "productItems": [
        {
            "ProductName": {
                "value": "Dr.Best Zahnbü.HT mittel 2+1",
                "page": 1,
                "confidence": 1.0
            },
            "ProductPrice": {
                "value": "2.45",
                "page": 1,
                "confidence": 1.0
            },
            "ProductQuantity": {
                "value": "1.0",
                "page": 1,
                "confidence": 1.0
            },
            "ProductUnitPrice": {
                "value": "2.45",
                "page": 1,
                "confidence": 1.0
            },
            "TaxAmount": {
                "value": "0.39",
                "confidence": 1.0
            },
            "TaxNetAmount": {
                "value": "2.06",
                "confidence": 1.0
            },
            "TaxGrossAmount": {
                "value": "2.45",
                "page": 1,
                "confidence": 1.0
            },
            "TaxPercentage": {
                "value": "19.0",
                "page": 1,
                "confidence": 0.69
            },
            "TaxLabel": {
                "value": "1",
                "page": 1,
                "confidence": 0.98
            },
            "Currency": {
                "value": "EUR",
                "confidence": 1.0
            }
        },
        {
            "ProductName": {
                "value": "Zahnbürste Bambus 1St",
                "page": 1,
                "confidence": 1.0
            },
            "ProductPrice": {
                "value": "7.4",
                "page": 1,
                "confidence": 1.0
            },
            "ProductQuantity": {
                "value": "4.0",
                "page": 1,
                "confidence": 1.0
            },
            "ProductUnitPrice": {
                "value": "1.85",
                "page": 1,
                "confidence": 1.0
            },
            "TaxAmount": {
                "value": "1.18",
                "confidence": 1.0
            },
            "TaxNetAmount": {
                "value": "6.22",
                "confidence": 1.0
            },
            "TaxGrossAmount": {
                "value": "7.4",
                "page": 1,
                "confidence": 1.0
            },
            "TaxPercentage": {
                "value": "19.0",
                "page": 1,
                "confidence": 0.69
            },
            "TaxLabel": {
                "value": "1",
                "page": 1,
                "confidence": 1.0
            },
            "Currency": {
                "value": "EUR",
                "confidence": 1.0
            }
        },
        
        ...
    ],
    "taxes": [
        {
            "TaxAmount": {
                "value": "0.76",
                "page": 1,
                "confidence": 1.0
            },
            "TaxGrossAmount": {
                "value": "11.65",
                "page": 1,
                "confidence": 1.0
            },
            "TaxPercentage": {
                "value": "7.0",
                "confidence": 1.0
            },
            "TaxLabel": {
                "value": "2",
                "page": 1,
                "confidence": 0.48
            },
            "TaxNetAmount": {
                "value": "10.89",
                "page": 1,
                "confidence": 1.0
            }
        },
        {
            "TaxAmount": {
                "value": "3.68",
                "page": 1,
                "confidence": 1.0
            },
            "TaxGrossAmount": {
                "value": "23.05",
                "page": 1,
                "confidence": 1.0
            },
            "TaxPercentage": {
                "value": "19.0",
                "page": 1,
                "confidence": 1.0
            },
            "TaxLabel": {
                "value": "1",
                "page": 1,
                "confidence": 0.47
            },
            "TaxNetAmount": {
                "value": "19.37",
                "page": 1,
                "confidence": 1.0
            }
        }
    ],
    "payments": [
        {
            "PaymentMethod": {
                "value": "DEBIT_CARD",
                "page": 1,
                "confidence": 0.99
            }
        }
    ],
    "performanceOption": "ACCURACY",
    "fileHash": "96db620e2757d8832a7a7fd0035cd297",
    "version": "2.08.26",
    "numberOfPages": 1,
    "pages": [
        {
            "width": 394.12992799666125,
            "height": 1196.2985382403037
        }
    ],
    "fullText": null,
    "languages": [
        "de",
        "en"
    ],
    "mainLanguage": "de",
    "verification": {
        "NonDuplication": {
            "flagValid": false,
            "message": "Found 5 previous requests with the same file hash. The last 10 times requested: 2026-03-10T20:10:38.443Z; 2026-03-06T20:32:16.693Z; 2026-03-06T20:27:04.367Z; 2026-02-28T13:04:00.212Z; 2026-01-29T20:01:15.689Z; "
        },
        "TaxPercentage": {
            "flagValid": true,
            "message": "Tax percentage verification passed. No tax percentage found in general fields.  [Country: DE, Tax Percentages: [19.0, 7.0, 0.0]] "
        },
        "ProductsSumVsTotalPrice": {
            "flagValid": true,
            "message": "Valid total price: TaxGrossAmount matches sum of product prices."
        }
    }
}
            

Common Use Cases

Developers integrate receipt scanner APIs into a wide range of applications:

• Expense management apps: Let users snap a photo of a receipt and auto-fill expense reports with merchant, amount, and category data.
• Accounting automation: Feed receipt data directly into Xero, QuickBooks, or DATEV without manual entry.
• Warranty tracking: Extract purchase date and product details for automated warranty registration.
• Tax preparation: Categorize and sum business expenses automatically for tax season.

Why Choose Eagle Doc's Receipt API?

Not all receipt APIs are created equal. Here's what sets Eagle Doc apart:

• Line-item extraction included: Many competitors only extract totals. Eagle Doc extracts every item with name, price, and quantity.
• No per-field pricing: Extract all 40+ fields at the same cost — no surcharges for line items or tax breakdowns.
• EU data residency: Processing and hosting in the EU. GDPR-compliant by design. No data retained after extraction.
• Developer-friendly: Simple REST API, comprehensive documentation, structured JSON output, 20 free pages to test.

Start Building with the Receipt Scanner API

Eagle Doc's Receipt Scanner API gives you production-ready receipt extraction with a single API call. No training data, no templates, no complex setup. Sign up for a free API key, get 20 free pages, and start extracting receipt data in minutes.