pydcapi: Unofficial Python library for Adobe Document Cloud

pydcapi is a typed client for the private API behind Acrobat web (dc-api-v2.adobe.io): folders, assets, uploads, PDF operations, jobs, user info. It is generated from Adobe's own discovery document and JSON schemas, so every operation returns a pydantic model.

It is unofficial. It uses the same session mechanism as the web app, so it can break without notice and it is your responsibility to stay within Adobe's terms.

Install

pip install pydcapi

Python 3.9+. Dependencies: httpx, pydantic>=2, uritemplate.

Quickstart

import pydcapi
from pydcapi import credentials

client = pydcapi.Client(credentials.JSONFileCredentialsProvider("credentials.json"))

me = client.users.get_user(fields="identity")
print(me.identity.email)

root = client.folders.get_system_folders().roots.document_cloud.root_uri
listing = client.folders.list(folder_uri=str(root), order_by="name", sort_order="ascending")
for member in listing.members:
    print(member.name)

Authentication

There is no public OAuth client for this API. Authentication piggybacks on the browser session of a logged-in Acrobat web user:

You only ever need to supply ims_sid. The client obtains and renews the access token on its own, and hands renewed values back to your CredentialsProvider, so a provider that persists (JSONFileCredentialsProvider) keeps itself up to date.

Treat ims_sid like a password: it is a full login to your Adobe account.

Getting ims_sid from the browser

1. Open https://acrobat.adobe.com/link/home/ in Chrome and sign in.
2. Open DevTools (Cmd+Opt+I), go to Application > Storage > Cookies.
3. Select https://acrobat.adobe.com, find the cookie named ims_sid (domain .services.adobe.com). It is a ~770 character opaque string.
4. Copy its value. Optionally also copy aux_sid (domain .adobe.com).

Put it in a credentials file:

{ "ims_sid": "AUU3RIS...", "aux_sid": "" }

or in the environment as IMS_SID and use EnvCredentialsProvider().

Scripted alternative with agent-browser:

agent-browser --session adobe --profile ~/.config/pydcapi/browser --headed open https://acrobat.adobe.com/link/home/
# sign in in the window that opens, then:
agent-browser --session adobe cookies get --json | jq -r '.data.cookies[] | select(.name=="ims_sid") | .value'

How long does it last?

The cookie itself is issued with a one-year expiry, and every token refresh rotates it (old values stay valid). What ends a session server-side is signing out in the browser, changing the password, revoking sessions in the Adobe account settings, or Adobe's own inactivity limit, which is not documented. If your session stops working the client raises pydcapi.AuthenticationError; log in again and copy a fresh ims_sid.

Credential providers

• StaticCredentialsProvider(dict) for in-memory use.
• EnvCredentialsProvider(prefix="") reads IMS_SID, AUX_SID, TOKEN, EXPIRY.
• JSONFileCredentialsProvider(path) reads and writes a JSON file, including the renewed token. ~ is expanded, the file is created on first write with mode 0600.
• Anything with get() -> Credentials and set(Credentials) -> None.

Development

uv sync
cp .env.example .env   # then paste your IMS_SID
uv run pytest
uv run ruff check && uv run ruff format --check && uv run mypy

tests/test_client.py holds live integration tests against your account; they are skipped without credentials. The rest runs offline. CI runs the same commands on the oldest and newest supported Python.

src/pydcapi/models and src/pydcapi/resources are generated; do not edit by hand.