Docling Client
Lightweight client SDK for converting documents via a remote Docling Serve endpoint
docling-client is a meta-package that installs docling-slim[service-client], giving you DoclingServiceClient — a drop-in replacement for the local DocumentConverter that offloads conversion to a Docling Serve instance over HTTP.
For the full documentation, see the Docling docs.
Why a remote client?
| You want to… | Use |
|---|---|
| Convert documents in a Python application, without running models locally | docling-client → point at a Docling Serve endpoint |
| Run Docling directly in-process in a Python application | docling |
| Full control over which extras are installed | docling-slim[service-client] |
Switching from local to remote conversion typically requires changing only the client class and the endpoint URL — the conversion API (sources, options, output formats) stays the same.
Getting started
1. Install
pip install docling-client
2. Point at a Docling Serve endpoint
You need a running Docling Serve instance — self-hosted or a managed service.
Set your connection details in the environment (or a .env file):
DOCLING_SERVICE_URL=https://your-docling-service.example.com
DOCLING_SERVICE_API_KEY=your-api-key # omit if the service is unauthenticated
3. Convert a document
import os
from docling.service_client import DoclingServiceClient
with DoclingServiceClient(
url=os.environ["DOCLING_SERVICE_URL"],
api_key=os.environ.get("DOCLING_SERVICE_API_KEY", ""),
) as client:
result = client.convert(source="https://arxiv.org/pdf/2501.17887")
print(result.document.export_to_markdown())
Convert many documents concurrently:
sources = [
"https://arxiv.org/pdf/2501.17887",
"path/to/report.pdf",
"path/to/slides.pptx",
]
with DoclingServiceClient(url=os.environ["DOCLING_SERVICE_URL"]) as client:
for result in client.convert_all(source=sources, max_concurrency=4):
print(result.input.file.name, result.status)
print(result.document.export_to_markdown()[:200])
Switching from local to remote
If you already use the local DocumentConverter, the client API mirrors it closely. Only the import and instantiation change:
# Before — local, runs models on this machine
from docling.document_converter import DocumentConverter
converter = DocumentConverter()
result = converter.convert("report.pdf")
# After — remote, offloads conversion to Docling Serve
from docling.service_client import DoclingServiceClient
converter = DoclingServiceClient(url="https://...", api_key="...")
result = converter.convert(source="report.pdf")
Both result.document.export_to_markdown() and other output methods work the same way.
Managed services
Running Docling Serve yourself means operating infrastructure. Managed services remove that overhead.
Docling for IBM watsonx
A fully managed, hosted instance of Docling Serve — no servers, GPUs, scaling, or operational monitoring required. It exposes the same REST API, so your client code stays portable: swap the base URL, supply your API key, and go.
- Product page
- Free trial — no credit card needed
More examples
Runnable examples are in docs/examples/service_client/ in the repository:
| Script | What it shows |
|---|---|
convert.py |
convert() and convert_all() — the high-level API |
tasks.py |
Job lifecycle: submit(), watch(), result(), result targets |
batch.py |
submit_batch() for plugin sources and artifact targets |
chunk.py |
chunk() — split a document into retrieval-ready pieces |
Documentation
License
MIT License — see LICENSE
Metadata
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