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Quick Start

Get up and running with CargoLint in under 5 minutes. Upload your first document and get structured data back.

Get Started in 5 Minutes

CargoLint makes it easy to extract structured data from your customs documents. Sign up, upload a document, and get results — it takes less than five minutes.

Choose Your Path

Using the dashboard? Follow the steps below, then explore the How-To Guides for detailed walkthroughs of every feature.

Building an integration? Start with the steps below to understand the basics, then head to Authentication and the API Reference to start coding.

Step 1: Sign Up for Your Account

Visit the CargoLint dashboard and create a new account. You’ll receive instant access to your workspace with 20 free documents per month and a 14-day trial of all features.

Step 2: Upload Your First Document

You can upload documents directly through the dashboard using drag-and-drop, or use the API.

Via the Dashboard:

  1. Log in to your dashboard
  2. Click Upload or drag and drop a file
  3. CargoLint automatically detects the document type and extracts data

Via the API (requires Business or Enterprise plan):

First, get your API key from Settings > API Keys.

curl -X POST https://api.cargolint.com/api/v1/documents \
  -H "X-API-Key: cl_test_YOUR_API_KEY_HERE" \
  -F "file=@invoice.pdf"

Supported file types: PDF, PNG, JPG, TIFF (max 5 MB)

Step 3: View Your Results

Open the document in your Documents list to see the extracted fields with confidence scores. Each field shows how certain CargoLint is about the extracted value.

Documents with confidence below 70% are automatically flagged for human review in the Review Queue, where you can correct any fields and approve the results.

If you’re using the API, retrieve extraction results programmatically:

{
  "documentId": "doc_abc123xyz",
  "documentType": "invoice",
  "status": "processed",
  "fields": {
    "invoiceNumber": {
      "value": "INV-2026-001",
      "confidence": 0.98
    },
    "shipmentDate": {
      "value": "2026-03-01",
      "confidence": 0.95
    },
    "totalAmount": {
      "value": "5000.00",
      "confidence": 0.99
    }
  }
}

Supported Document Types

CargoLint automatically classifies and extracts data from:

  • Commercial Invoices - Vendor/customer info, line items, totals
  • Packing Lists - Item descriptions, weights, dimensions
  • Bills of Lading - Shipper/consignee, vessel, ports, containers
  • Certificates of Origin - Country of origin, HS codes, certifying authority

Supported Languages

Documents can be in English, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, or Spanish. Language is detected automatically.

Next Steps

For dashboard users:

For developers:

Next Authentication