Start Processing a Discharge Document — POST /upload

Send your patient’s discharge paperwork to POST /upload and AfterCare immediately queues it for processing. The endpoint accepts a single PDF, JPEG, or PNG file up to 15 MB and returns a documentId you use to track progress and retrieve the finished recovery plan.

Request

file

required

The discharge document to process. Must be a PDF, JPEG, or PNG file no larger than 15 MB. Send this field as multipart/form-data.

If you upload a document that AfterCare has already seen, it will not reprocess it. Instead, the server returns 200 OK with the existing documentId and its current status. Use the returned processUrl to check status — if processing already finished, the SSE stream will replay the full event history and close immediately.

Response — 202 Accepted

A fresh upload returns 202 Accepted with the following fields.

string (UUID)

The unique identifier for this document. Store it — you need it to stream progress, retrieve medications, and list appointments.

string

Always "processing" on a 202 response. Connect to processUrl to receive stage-by-stage progress.

string

The relative path of the SSE stream for this document, e.g. /process/550e8400-e29b-41d4-a716-446655440000. Connect to this URL immediately after uploading to receive real-time pipeline progress.

string

The relative path where you can retrieve the original uploaded file, e.g. /documents/550e8400-e29b-41d4-a716-446655440000/original. Useful for displaying or cross-referencing source text alongside extracted data.

boolean

When true, AfterCare is operating in safe-development mode and no real AI calls were made. The returned plan is a static fixture. In production this is always false.

boolean

false on a 202 response — this is a newly accepted document. When the same document has been uploaded before, the server returns 200 OK with deduplicated: true and the existing documentId instead of queuing a new pipeline run.

Connect to the SSE stream at processUrl immediately after receiving the 202 response. The server buffers all past events, so reconnecting later still replays the full history — but listening from the start lets you show your user live progress as each pipeline stage completes.

Code examples

curl -X POST https://api.aftercare.app/upload \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR_TOKEN>" \
  -F "document=@/path/to/discharge-summary.pdf"

const form = new FormData();
form.append("document", fileBlob, "discharge-summary.pdf");

const response = await fetch("https://api.aftercare.app/upload", {
  method: "POST",
  headers: {
    Authorization: `Bearer ${token}`,
  },
  body: form,
});

if (!response.ok) {
  throw new Error(`Upload failed: ${response.status}`);
}

const { documentId, processUrl } = await response.json();
console.log("Upload accepted. Document ID:", documentId);
console.log("Connect to SSE stream at:", processUrl);

Sample 202 response

{
  "documentId": "550e8400-e29b-41d4-a716-446655440000",
  "status": "processing",
  "processUrl": "/process/550e8400-e29b-41d4-a716-446655440000",
  "originalDocumentUrl": "/documents/550e8400-e29b-41d4-a716-446655440000/original",
  "isPlaceholder": false,
  "deduplicated": false
}

Error responses

Status	Meaning
`400`	No file attached, or the `document` field is missing from the request body.
`415`	Unsupported file type. Only `application/pdf`, `image/jpeg`, and `image/png` are accepted.
`401`	Missing or invalid Bearer token.
`429`	Upload rate limit exceeded. Wait before retrying.

Overview

Endpoints

Start Processing a Discharge Document — POST /upload

Request

Response — 202 Accepted

Code examples

Sample 202 response

Error responses

​Request

​Response — 202 Accepted

​Code examples

​Sample 202 response

​Error responses

Request

Response — 202 Accepted

Code examples

Sample 202 response

Error responses