The scan from accounting

Somebody fed the whole tray into the scanner. What lands in your inbox is one PDF holding three supplier invoices, a shipping label and, for reasons nobody will explain, a boarding pass. A Split node cuts that file into pieces by kind, and each kind goes to the Extract node that suits it.

One file, five pages

→

Five documents

Invoice98%

Shipping label

Boarding pass

NodesCredits85 per pageYou get

The workflow

Each Split rule is one kind of document and one outgoing branch. The invoice rule also carries a partition_key: the field that tells one invoice from the next inside the same rule, so three invoices in a row become three documents rather than one three-page one.

{
  "name": "The scan from accounting",
  "description": "One scanned file that holds several documents",
  "nodes": [
    { "id": "parse_1", "type": "parse" },
    {
      "id": "split_1",
      "type": "splitter",
      "rules": [
        {
          "id": "INVOICE",
          "name": "Invoice",
          "description": "A supplier invoice: an invoice number, a bill-to party, line items and a total due.",
          "partition_key": "invoice_number"
        },
        {
          "id": "SHIPPING_LABEL",
          "name": "Shipping label",
          "description": "A carrier shipping label: a tracking number, a sender and a recipient address, a weight."
        },
        {
          "id": "BOARDING_PASS",
          "name": "Boarding pass",
          "description": "An airline boarding pass: a passenger name, a flight number, a seat, an origin and a destination airport."
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "extract_invoice",
      "type": "extract",
      "extraction_schema": {
        "fields": [
          { "name": "invoice_number", "description": "The unique invoice identifier", "data_type": "string" },
          { "name": "vendor_name",    "description": "Name of the company that issued the invoice", "data_type": "string" },
          { "name": "total_amount",   "description": "Final total amount due including tax", "data_type": "float" }
        ]
      }
    },
    {
      "id": "extract_label",
      "type": "extract",
      "extraction_schema": {
        "fields": [
          { "name": "tracking_number", "description": "The carrier tracking number", "data_type": "string" },
          { "name": "carrier",         "description": "The shipping carrier", "data_type": "string" },
          { "name": "recipient_name",  "description": "Name of the recipient the parcel ships to", "data_type": "string" }
        ]
      }
    },
    {
      "id": "extract_pass",
      "type": "extract",
      "extraction_schema": {
        "fields": [
          { "name": "passenger_name", "description": "Name of the passenger", "data_type": "string" },
          { "name": "flight_number",  "description": "The flight number", "data_type": "string" },
          { "name": "seat",           "description": "The seat assignment", "data_type": "string" }
        ]
      }
    }
  ],
  "edges": [
    { "source": "parse_1", "target": "split_1" },
    { "source": "split_1", "target": "extract_invoice", "branch": "INVOICE" },
    { "source": "split_1", "target": "extract_label",   "branch": "SHIPPING_LABEL" },
    { "source": "split_1", "target": "extract_pass",    "branch": "BOARDING_PASS" }
  ]
}

import os

from anyformat.sdk import Client
from anyformat.workflow import Schema, SplitterRule

client = Client(api_key=os.environ["ANYFORMAT_API_KEY"])

invoice = SplitterRule(
    id="INVOICE",
    name="Invoice",
    description="A supplier invoice: an invoice number, a bill-to party, line items and a total due.",
    partition_key="invoice_number",
)
label = SplitterRule(
    id="SHIPPING_LABEL",
    name="Shipping label",
    description="A carrier shipping label: a tracking number, a sender and a recipient address, a weight.",
)
boarding_pass = SplitterRule(
    id="BOARDING_PASS",
    name="Boarding pass",
    description="An airline boarding pass: a passenger name, a flight number, a seat, an origin and a destination airport.",
)

workflow = (
    client.workflow("The scan from accounting", "One scanned file that holds several documents")
    .parse()
    .split(invoice, label, boarding_pass)
    .extract([
        Schema.string("invoice_number", "The unique invoice identifier"),
        Schema.string("vendor_name",    "Name of the company that issued the invoice"),
        Schema.float("total_amount",    "Final total amount due including tax"),
    ], branch=invoice)
    .extract([
        Schema.string("tracking_number", "The carrier tracking number"),
        Schema.string("carrier",         "The shipping carrier"),
        Schema.string("recipient_name",  "Name of the recipient the parcel ships to"),
    ], branch=label)
    .extract([
        Schema.string("passenger_name", "Name of the passenger"),
        Schema.string("flight_number",  "The flight number"),
        Schema.string("seat",           "The seat assignment"),
    ], branch=boarding_pass)
    .create()
)

import { Anyformat, Schema } from "@anyformat/sdk";

const af = new Anyformat({ apiKey: process.env.ANYFORMAT_API_KEY! });

const invoice = {
  id: "INVOICE",
  name: "Invoice",
  description: "A supplier invoice: an invoice number, a bill-to party, line items and a total due.",
  partition_key: "invoice_number",
};
const label = {
  id: "SHIPPING_LABEL",
  name: "Shipping label",
  description: "A carrier shipping label: a tracking number, a sender and a recipient address, a weight.",
};
const boardingPass = {
  id: "BOARDING_PASS",
  name: "Boarding pass",
  description: "An airline boarding pass: a passenger name, a flight number, a seat, an origin and a destination airport.",
};

const workflow = await af
  .workflow("The scan from accounting", "One scanned file that holds several documents")
  .parse()
  .split([invoice, label, boardingPass])
  .extract([
    Schema.string("invoice_number", "The unique invoice identifier"),
    Schema.string("vendor_name",    "Name of the company that issued the invoice"),
    Schema.float("total_amount",    "Final total amount due including tax"),
  ], { branch: invoice })
  .extract([
    Schema.string("tracking_number", "The carrier tracking number"),
    Schema.string("carrier",         "The shipping carrier"),
    Schema.string("recipient_name",  "Name of the recipient the parcel ships to"),
  ], { branch: label })
  .extract([
    Schema.string("passenger_name", "Name of the passenger"),
    Schema.string("flight_number",  "The flight number"),
    Schema.string("seat",           "The seat assignment"),
  ], { branch: boardingPass })
  .create();

Run it and read the result

Upload the file once. Split decides which pages belong to which rule, so you send nothing per document.

# Upload the whole scan and start a run
curl -X POST "https://api.anyformat.ai/v3/workflows/$WORKFLOW_ID/upload/run/" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $ANYFORMAT_API_KEY" \
  -F 'files=@scan.pdf'
# → 202 { "run_id": "<run_id>", "status": "queued" }

curl "https://api.anyformat.ai/v3/runs/$RUN_ID/" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $ANYFORMAT_API_KEY"

result = workflow.run("scan.pdf").wait()

# One extraction per document, tagged with the rule and the partition it came from.
for extraction in result.extractions:
    print(extraction.split_name, extraction.partition)

import { readFileSync } from "node:fs";

const file = new File([readFileSync("scan.pdf")], "scan.pdf", { type: "application/pdf" });
const result = await (await workflow.run(file)).wait();

for (const extraction of result.extractions) {
  console.log(extraction.split_name, extraction.partition);
}

Response

splits says which pages became which document. extractions then carries one entry per document, each tagged with the split_name and the partition it came from, so you never have to work out which invoice a value belongs to.

{
  "status": "processed",
  "results": {
    "splits": [
      {
        "name": "Invoice",
        "files": [{ "file_name": "scan.pdf", "pages": [1, 2, 3] }],
        "confidence": 98,
        "partitions": [
          { "name": "INV-2026-1000", "files": [{ "file_name": "scan.pdf", "pages": [1] }], "confidence": 98 },
          { "name": "INV-2026-1001", "files": [{ "file_name": "scan.pdf", "pages": [2] }], "confidence": 98 },
          { "name": "INV-2026-1002", "files": [{ "file_name": "scan.pdf", "pages": [3] }], "confidence": 98 }
        ]
      },
      { "name": "Shipping label", "files": [{ "file_name": "scan.pdf", "pages": [4] }], "confidence": 98, "partitions": [] },
      { "name": "Boarding pass",  "files": [{ "file_name": "scan.pdf", "pages": [5] }], "confidence": 98, "partitions": [] },
      { "name": "Other", "files": [], "confidence": null, "partitions": [] }
    ],
    "extractions": [
      {
        "split_name": "Invoice",
        "partition": "INV-2026-1000",
        "fields": {
          "invoice_number": {
            "value": "INV-2026-1000",
            "confidence": 97.0,
            "evidence": [{ "text": "Invoice #: INV-2026-1000  \nIssue date: 2026-03-26", "page_number": 1 }],
            "verification_status": "not_verified",
            "value_override": null
          },
          "vendor_name":  { "value": "Acme Industries", "confidence": 97.0, "evidence": [{ "text": "**From: Acme Industries**", "page_number": 1 }] },
          "total_amount": { "value": "1810.5", "confidence": 97.0, "evidence": [{ "text": "**TOTAL: $1,810.50**", "page_number": 1 }] }
        },
        "validations": []
      },
      {
        "split_name": "Shipping label",
        "partition": null,
        "fields": {
          "carrier":         { "value": "FedEx", "confidence": 99.0, "evidence": [{ "text": "Carrier: FedEx", "page_number": 4 }] },
          "tracking_number": { "value": "RK51FQKH1DNN", "confidence": 99.0, "evidence": [{ "text": "TRACKING NUMBER RK51FQKH1DNN", "page_number": 4 }] }
        },
        "validations": []
      }
    ]
  }
}

When it goes wrong

Everything lands in “Other”. Split always emits an Other group for pages that match no rule, and it is empty on a clean run. A full one means your rule descriptions read like labels rather than descriptions. Write what is printed on the page: “a tracking number, a sender and a recipient address, a weight” beats “shipping stuff”. Three invoices come back as one document. That is the rule without a partition_key. The key names the field that changes between documents of the same kind, usually the identifier printed on each one, and it is what turns one three-page invoice group into three invoices. A sparse document extracts with low confidence. The boarding pass in this run returned its flight number at 80% and its seat at 78%, against 97-99% for the invoices. A card with six words on it gives the model little to cite. Treat a low confidence as “have someone look”, not as a failure: see verification and review. The pages are in the wrong order in the source file. Split works by page, so a document interleaved with another cannot be recovered. Fix the scan, or split the file before you upload it. The workflow is rejected when you save it. Once a workflow has a Split node, every Extract needs a branch, and each branch must be a rule id (INVOICE), not the rule’s display name (Invoice).

Examples

Read the page

Messy piles

Money and compliance

At scale

The scan from accounting

The workflow

Run it and read the result

Response

When it goes wrong

Next steps

Split

Sort invoices from receipts

​The workflow

​Run it and read the result

​Response

​When it goes wrong

​Next steps

Split

Sort invoices from receipts

The workflow

Run it and read the result

Response

When it goes wrong

Next steps