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Generating and downloading reports

Generating reports through the Patchstack App API is available for the Developer and Enterprise plan users

You can generate security reports and download their PDFs over the Patchstack App API, for example to send monthly reports to your customers from your own platform.

Reports are generated in the background, so getting a PDF takes three steps:

  1. Request a report with POST /report/generate/{site}
  2. Find the finished report with POST /report/reports
  3. Download the PDF from the report’s download_url

All examples use the App API root URL https://api.patchstack.com/monitor/. Replace YOUR_APP_API_KEY with your own Patchstack App API key and 12345 with your site identifier.

1. Generate a report

Section titled “1. Generate a report”

Send the report type, either snapshot or developer. A Developer report also needs a from and to date in the D-M-YYYY format.

Terminal window
curl -X POST "https://api.patchstack.com/monitor/report/generate/12345" \
  -H "UserToken: YOUR_APP_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"type": "developer", "from": "1-9-2026", "to": "30-9-2026"}'

The response only confirms that the report was queued. It does not contain the PDF:

{ "success": "The generation request has been sent." }

2. Find the generated report

Section titled “2. Find the generated report”

A report shows up in the report list once it is ready. A Developer report can take a few minutes. List the reports for the site, newest first:

Terminal window
curl -X POST "https://api.patchstack.com/monitor/report/reports" \
  -H "UserToken: YOUR_APP_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"page": 1, "application": "12345"}'

Each report in the response has a download_url:

{
  "reports": [
    {
      "id": 1,
      "site_id": 12345,
      "type": "developer",
      "hash": "1/1-eb0b4a0e-2866-436c-a7ee-cfffda415d21.pdf",
      "raw_hash": "1-eb0b4a0e-2866-436c-a7ee-cfffda415d21",
      "download_url": "https://api.patchstack.com/monitor/report/fetch/1-eb0b4a0e-2866-436c-a7ee-cfffda415d21",
      "created_at": "2026-10-01 03:09:02"
    }
  ],
  "total": 1
}

To wait for a report you just requested, poll this endpoint until a new report for the site appears, for example once a minute. Compare its id with the newest report you saw before generating.

3. Download the PDF

Section titled “3. Download the PDF”

Request the report’s download_url. It redirects to a temporary link for the PDF, so tell your HTTP client to follow redirects:

Terminal window
curl -L -o report.pdf "https://api.patchstack.com/monitor/report/fetch/1-eb0b4a0e-2866-436c-a7ee-cfffda415d21"
  • The download URL needs no API key, so you can hand it to your customer as it is.
  • The temporary link it redirects to is valid for one week. The download_url itself keeps working, so request it again for a fresh link.
  • If you build the URL yourself, use raw_hash, not hash. raw_hash is hash without the leading folder and the .pdf extension.
  • An unknown hash returns a 422 response with {"error": "The given report could not be found."}.

Scheduled reports

Section titled “Scheduled reports”

To get reports on a fixed schedule instead, create a schedule with POST /report/schedule/{site}/create. Scheduled reports show up in the same report list, so you can download them the same way. See Scheduling reports for how schedules work.