Redact PDFs in seconds

Protect sensitive information in your PDF documents by automatically redacting PII/PHI such as SSNs, emails, phone numbers, credit cards, and more. Superagent makes it simple to sanitize documents while preserving their original formatting.

Why redact PDFs?

• Compliance: Meet GDPR, HIPAA, and SOC 2 requirements by removing PII/PHI before sharing
• Security: Prevent data leaks when distributing contracts, invoices, or reports
• Privacy: Protect customer information in legal documents and financial records
• Automation: Process documents at scale without manual review

Quick Start

Choose your preferred method to redact PDFs:

import { createClient } from "superagent-ai";
import { readFileSync, writeFileSync } from "fs";

const client = createClient({
  apiKey: process.env.SUPERAGENT_API_KEY!,
});

// Read PDF file
const pdfBuffer = readFileSync("sensitive-document.pdf");
const pdfBlob = new Blob([pdfBuffer], { type: "application/pdf" });

// Redact PDF and get redacted file
const result = await client.redact(pdfBlob, {
  format: "pdf", // Returns redacted PDF
  entities: ["SSN", "credit card numbers", "email addresses", "phone numbers"],
});

// Save the redacted PDF
if (result.pdf) {
  const arrayBuffer = await result.pdf.arrayBuffer();
  writeFileSync("redacted-output.pdf", Buffer.from(arrayBuffer));
  console.log("✓ Redacted PDF saved to redacted-output.pdf");
}

// Installation: npm install superagent-ai

What gets redacted?

Superagent automatically detects and redacts:

• Email addresses → <REDACTED_EMAIL>
• Social Security Numbers → <REDACTED_SSN>
• Credit cards (Visa, Mastercard, Amex) → <REDACTED_CC>
• Phone numbers (US format) → <REDACTED_PHONE>
• IP addresses (IPv4/IPv6) → <REDACTED_IP>
• API keys & tokens → <REDACTED_API_KEY>
• AWS access keys → <REDACTED_AWS_KEY>
• Medical record numbers → <REDACTED_MRN>
• Passport numbers → <REDACTED_PASSPORT>
• IBAN → <REDACTED_IBAN>
• ZIP codes → <REDACTED_ZIP>

Custom entity redaction

Define your own entity types using natural language:

const result = await client.redact(pdfBlob, {
  format: "pdf",
  entities: [
    "employee IDs",
    "project codenames",
    "salary information",
    "bank account numbers"
  ]
});

The AI model interprets your natural language descriptions and redacts matching content intelligently.

Use cases

Legal documents

Redact client information from contracts before sharing with third parties:

const result = await client.redact(contractBlob, {
  format: "pdf",
  entities: ["client names", "addresses", "phone numbers", "SSN"]
});

Medical records

Maintain HIPAA compliance by removing PHI from patient records:

result = await client.redact(
    medical_record_file,
    format="pdf",
    entities=["patient names", "MRN", "SSN", "addresses", "phone numbers"]
)

Financial documents

Sanitize invoices and statements before archiving:

superagent redact --file invoice.pdf --entities "credit card numbers,bank accounts,SSN" "Redact financial data"

Output options

Option 1: Redacted PDF file (format="pdf")

Returns a PDF with redactions applied directly to the document. The original formatting and layout are preserved.

Option 2: Redacted text (format="json")

Extracts text from the PDF, redacts it, and returns as JSON. Useful for text analysis or indexing.

const result = await client.redact(pdfBlob, {
  format: "pdf" // Returns Blob with redacted PDF
});

if (result.pdf) {
  // Save or process the redacted PDF
  const arrayBuffer = await result.pdf.arrayBuffer();
  writeFileSync("redacted.pdf", Buffer.from(arrayBuffer));
}

What you've protected

• Compliance audits get cleaner with no PII leaks
• Customer trust increases with proper data handling
• Legal risk decreases by sanitizing documents before distribution
• Workflow efficiency improves with automated redaction at scale

Next steps

• Integrate redaction into your document processing pipeline
• Set up automated workflows with n8n integration
• Explore Guard API for content validation
• Join our Discord community

Ready to protect your documents? Get your API key at app.superagent.sh