autosignly

Python client for the Autosignly API - eIDAS electronic signatures and document workflows.

Install

pip install autosignly

Requires Python 3.10 or newer.

Stable release. The supported line is 1.0.*, ready for production use; the newest version is listed under tags.

Quickstart

from autosignly import AutosignlyClient, Signer

with AutosignlyClient(api_key="api_key_...", api_secret="api_sct_...") as client:
    document_id = client.upload_and_sign(
        pdf=open("contract.pdf", "rb").read(),
        document_name="Consulting agreement",
        signers=[
            Signer(
                first_name="Anna",
                last_name="Nowak",
                email="anna@example.com",
                country="PL",
            )
        ],
    )
    print(document_id)

The key and secret decide which environment you are working in. Every environment, production or sandbox, has its own pair, so pointing a script at the sandbox is a matter of swapping credentials.

The secret must stay on your server. It must never be shipped to a browser or a mobile app.

Reading documents

document = client.get_document(document_id)
print(document.status, [s.email for s in document.signers])

for summary in client.iter_documents(status="SIGNED"):
    print(summary.id, summary.name)

Both listing calls take tag_id as well. Several tags narrow the result — a document has to carry all of them — and a tag that does not exist gives an empty page rather than an error:

page = client.list_documents(tag_id=["contracts", "2026"], status="SIGNED")

Downloading the file

A document carries a short-lived link to its file. The link expires, so fetch the document again for a fresh one rather than storing it.

document = client.get_document(document_id)
print(document.file_url)

pdf = client.download_document(document_id)
open("signed.pdf", "wb").write(pdf)

A document that is still being signed can be downloaded as well - it then carries only the signatures collected so far.

What a signer may be asked for

The rules differ by country, and a signer sent with a combination their country does not allow is rejected when the document goes out. Read them first:

policy = client.get_signature_policy(signer.country)
for allowed in policy.signature_types:
    print(allowed.type, allowed.verification_methods)

A country without its own rules answers with the fallback policy rather than an error.

Verifying by SMS also needs a reachable phone number:

prefixes = {c.country_code: c.dialing_prefix for c in client.list_sms_countries()}

A number outside that list is refused when the code is requested — which happens after the document has already gone out, so check it while preparing the signer.

Attachments

Files attached to a document are converted to PDF and merged into it when it is sent for signing, behind an index page listing each one with its checksum — so a single signature covers the document and everything attached to it.

Attachments can only be added before the document is sent, so upload it first and send it afterwards instead of using upload_and_sign:

document_id = client.upload_pdf(
    pdf=open("protocol.pdf", "rb").read(),
    document_name="Handover protocol",
)

attachment = client.add_attachment(
    document_id,
    content=open("site-photo.jpg", "rb").read(),
    file_name="site-photo.jpg",
)
print(attachment.order_index, attachment.sha256)

for existing in client.list_attachments(document_id):
    print(existing.file_name, existing.page_count)

client.send_for_signing(document_id, signers=[signer])

An attachment can be dropped again while the document is still unsent:

client.delete_attachment(document_id, attachment.id)

PDF, JPEG and PNG are accepted, recognised from the content rather than the file name. Attachments merge in the order they were added, and can only be changed before the document is sent for signing.

Tags

tag = client.create_tag("contracts")
client.set_document_tags(document_id, tag_ids=[tag.id], names=["2026"])

Setting tags replaces the whole set: tags left out are removed, and names that do not exist yet are added to the company tag pool.

Parties

A party is the other side of a document — a business or a natural person the company signs with.

from autosignly import Party, PartyAddress, PartyType

acme = client.create_party(Party(
    type=PartyType.COMPANY,
    name="Acme Sp. z o.o.",
    tax_id="5842831253",
    email="kontakt@acme.pl",
    address=PartyAddress(street="Marszalkowska", number="12/34",
                         postal_code="00-001", city="Warszawa", country_code="PL"),
))

for party in client.list_parties(name="acme", type=PartyType.COMPANY):
    print(party.id, party.name, party.tax_id)

client.update_party(acme.id, Party(type=PartyType.COMPANY, name="Acme Renamed",
                                   tax_id="5842831253"))
client.delete_party(acme.id)

A COMPANY needs a tax_id and an address; a PERSON needs a firstname and an email. A Polish address makes the tax id subject to the NIP checksum.

update_party replaces the whole party, so send every field you want to keep. Creating a party that already exists — same tax id for a COMPANY, same e-mail for a PERSON — is rejected rather than deduplicated, so look the party up before retrying a failed create.

Parties belong to the environment of the key that created them: a sandbox key never sees a production party. Listing has no sort — the searchable fields are stored encrypted, so the server cannot order by them.

Verifying webhooks

Autosignly signs every delivery. Check the signature against the raw request body, before parsing it - re-serialising the JSON changes the bytes and the signature will not match.

from autosignly import webhooks

webhooks.verify(
    request.body,
    request.headers["X-Webhook-Signature"],
    webhook_key,
    request.headers["X-Webhook-Timestamp"],
)

The signature covers the timestamp as well as the body, and a delivery older than five minutes is rejected even when its signature matches, so a captured request cannot be replayed later.

While a webhook key is being rotated a delivery carries several signatures; it is accepted when any of them matches, so rotation needs no change on your side.

verify raises InvalidSignatureError on a mismatch; webhooks.is_valid(...) returns a boolean instead.

Errors

Every failure raises a subclass of AutosignlyError carrying the HTTP status and the error type returned by the API.

from autosignly import AutosignlyError, NotFoundError

try:
    client.get_document("does-not-exist")
except NotFoundError:
    ...
except AutosignlyError as error:
    print(error.status_code, error.error_type, error.error_id)

Connection problems and server errors are retried automatically, with an exponential backoff and jitter. Client errors are not retried, since repeating a rejected request cannot change its outcome.

Rate limits are retried too, honouring the delay the API asks for. When that delay is longer than a minute the call fails instead of blocking your thread, and RateLimitError.retry_after tells you how long to wait.

The client does not implement a circuit breaker. It runs inside your process, on calls you asked for, so refusing to even attempt one would be surprising - and your own infrastructure is the right place for that policy. Pass your own http_client if you want to add one.

Writes carry an Idempotency-Key header, generated once per call and kept across the retries of that call, and the API honours it: a retry whose original has already finished gets the stored response back instead of creating a second document, and a retry that catches the original still in flight is rejected with 409 (a ValidationError) rather than duplicating the write. Successful responses are remembered for 24 hours. Retrying a write yourself is safe under the same rule — send the same key with the same body.

Links

• Website: https://autosignly.eu
• API documentation: https://docs.16it.eu/docs/intro/
• Source and issues: https://github.com/16it-pl/autosignly-sdk

License

Apache-2.0