DeepRead PII — Document Redaction API

Your agent processes documents. Some of those documents contain names, SSNs, medical records, credit card numbers. Before that data flows to another API, a database, a teammate, or an LLM — it needs to be clean.

Input:  "Invoice to: John Smith, 123 Oak St, SSN: 456-78-9012, Card: 4532-1234-5678-9012"
Output: "Invoice to: ██████████, ██████████, SSN: ███████████, Card: ███████████████████"

One API call. Document in, redacted copy + detection report back.

DeepRead PII detects 14 types of personally identifiable information using context-aware AI — not regex. It knows "Dr. Sarah Chen" on a hospital letterhead is the physician (skip), but "Sarah Chen" on a patient intake form is the patient (redact). No regex rules to write. No word lists to maintain. No false positive floods.

This skill instructs the agent to POST your file to https://api.deepread.tech, poll for results, and download the redacted copy. No system files are modified and no elevated permissions are requested.

What This Skill Does

• 14 PII types detected: Names, SSNs, credit cards, emails, phones, addresses, dates of birth, passport numbers, driver's licenses, bank accounts, IBANs, IPs, URLs, medical record numbers
• Black bar redaction: PII replaced with solid black bars — text physically removed from the PDF content stream, irreversible, not just a visual overlay
• Any document format: PDF (digital + scanned), PNG, JPEG, plain text
• Context-aware: AI distinguishes personal vs. institutional, patient vs. provider, form labels vs. actual values
• Audit trail: Every redaction logged with detection counts per type. See DeepRead's privacy policy for data handling details.
• Copy-paste proof: Redacted text cannot be recovered via copy-paste, text selection, or PDF parsing
• Free tier: 2,000 pages/month (no credit card required)
• Works with other DeepRead skills: Extract data with deepread-ocr, fill forms with deepread-form-fill, then redact the originals

Setup

1. Get Your API Key

Sign up and create an API key:

# Visit the dashboard
https://www.deepread.tech/dashboard

# Or use this direct link
https://www.deepread.tech/dashboard/?utm_source=clawhub

Save your API key:

export DEEPREAD_API_KEY="sk_live_your_key_here"

2. Configuration (Optional)

Add to your clawdbot.config.json5:

{
  skills: {
    entries: {
      "deepread-pii": {
        enabled: true
        // API key is read from DEEPREAD_API_KEY environment variable
        // Do NOT hardcode your API key here
      }
    }
  }
}

3. Redact Your First Document

Option A: With Webhook (Recommended)

curl -X POST https://api.deepread.tech/v1/pii/redact \
  -H "X-API-Key: $DEEPREAD_API_KEY" \
  -F "[email protected]" \
  -F "webhook_url=https://your-app.com/webhooks/pii"

# Returns immediately:
{
  "id": "550e8400-e29b-41d4-a716-446655440000",
  "status": "queued"
}

# Your webhook receives results when processing completes

Option B: Poll for Results

curl -X POST https://api.deepread.tech/v1/pii/redact \
  -H "X-API-Key: $DEEPREAD_API_KEY" \
  -F "file=@patient_record.pdf"

# Returns immediately:
{
  "id": "550e8400-e29b-41d4-a716-446655440000",
  "status": "queued"
}

# Poll until completed:
curl https://api.deepread.tech/v1/pii/550e8400-e29b-41d4-a716-446655440000 \
  -H "X-API-Key: $DEEPREAD_API_KEY"

Usage Examples

Redact a PDF

Replaces all detected PII with solid black bars. Text is physically removed from the PDF content stream. Copy-paste cannot recover it.

curl -X POST https://api.deepread.tech/v1/pii/redact \
  -H "X-API-Key: $DEEPREAD_API_KEY" \
  -F "[email protected]"

Response when completed:

{
  "id": "550e8400-...",
  "status": "completed",
  "progress_percent": 100,
  "redacted_file_url": "https://...(signed URL)...",
  "report": {
    "id": "550e8400-...",
    "page_count": 5,
    "processing_time_ms": 3421,
    "pii_detected": {
      "NAME": {
        "count": 3,
        "pages": [1, 2],
        "confidence_avg": 0.92
      },
      "PHONE": {
        "count": 2,
        "pages": [1],
        "confidence_avg": 0.89
      },
      "EMAIL": {
        "count": 1,
        "pages": [2],
        "confidence_avg": 0.97
      }
    },
    "total_redactions": 6,
    "redaction_policy": "black_bar",
    "confidence_threshold_used": 0.85,
    "below_threshold_count": 0
  }
}

Redact an Image

Works on scanned documents, photos of IDs, screenshots — any PNG or JPEG.

curl -X POST https://api.deepread.tech/v1/pii/redact \
  -H "X-API-Key: $DEEPREAD_API_KEY" \
  -F "file=@drivers_license.png"

Vision AI detects PII in the image, locates exact positions, and draws black bars over the text.

Redact Plain Text

curl -X POST https://api.deepread.tech/v1/pii/redact \
  -H "X-API-Key: $DEEPREAD_API_KEY" \
  -F "[email protected]"

Before: Patient John Smith, SSN 456-78-9012, called from (555) 867-5309 After: Patient ██████████, SSN ███████████, called from ██████████████

Multi-Language Support

Supports documents in English, Chinese, Spanish, Hindi, and Arabic.

curl -X POST https://api.deepread.tech/v1/pii/redact \
  -H "X-API-Key: $DEEPREAD_API_KEY" \
  -F "[email protected]" \
  -F "language=es"

Supported languages: en (default), zh, es, hi, ar

When to Use This Skill

Use DeepRead PII For:

• Before sharing documents externally — redact before sending to vendors, partners, opposing counsel
• Before feeding documents to LLMs — strip PII before sending content to any AI model
• Compliance workflows — GDPR right to erasure, HIPAA de-identification, CCPA requests
• Training data preparation — create clean datasets from real documents
• Insurance claims — redact claimant PII before adjuster handoff
• Legal discovery — privilege review with PII protection
• Medical records — de-identify patient data for research or sharing
• Financial documents — mask account numbers, SSNs on statements
• HR documents — clean employee files before audits

Don't Use For:

• Real-time processing — async workflow, not instant (use webhooks)
• Structured data extraction — use deepread-ocr skill for that, then redact
• Documents with no text — blank images or decorative PDFs

How It Works

3-Layer Detection Pipeline

Document → AI Detection → Threshold Filter → Context Validation → Redact

Layer 1: AI Detection

• Text documents: LLM scans for all 14 PII types with confidence scoring
• Images/scans: Vision model detects PII with precise bounding box coordinates
• Returns type, exact value, and confidence score (0.0–1.0) for each detection

Layer 2: Confidence Threshold

• Default threshold: 0.85
• Detections below threshold are recorded but NOT redacted
• Reported separately as below_threshold_count for manual review

Layer 3: Context-Aware Validation

• Second AI pass with full document context
• Filters false positives that regex-based tools can't handle:
  • [email protected] → institutional email, SKIP
  • [email protected] → personal email, REDACT
  • "Dr. Sarah Chen" on letterhead → physician, SKIP
  • "Sarah Chen" on intake form → patient, REDACT
  • "Name:" (form label) → not PII, SKIP
  • "John Smith" (form value) → PII, REDACT
  • Invoice dates → not DOB, SKIP
  • "Date of Birth: 03/15/1990" → DOB, REDACT

What Gets Detected

PDF Redaction is Irreversible

• Digital PDFs: Text is physically removed from the PDF content stream using redaction annotations — not just covered
• Scanned PDFs: Pages are re-rendered as images with black bars, replacing the original
• All PDFs: Metadata stripped, content streams cleaned and deflated
• Copy-paste, text selection, and PDF parsing cannot recover redacted content

API Reference

POST /v1/pii/redact — Submit Document for Redaction

Auth: X-API-Key: YOUR_KEY Content-Type: multipart/form-data Rate Limit: 10 requests per 60 seconds

Response (200 OK):

{
  "id": "550e8400-e29b-41d4-a716-446655440000",
  "status": "queued"
}

Errors:

GET /v1/pii/{job_id} — Get Redaction Results

Auth: X-API-Key: YOUR_KEY Rate Limit: 60 requests per 60 seconds

Poll until status is completed or failed.

Response (completed):

{
  "id": "550e8400-...",
  "status": "completed",
  "progress_percent": 100,
  "redacted_file_url": "https://...(signed URL)...",
  "report": {
    "id": "550e8400-...",
    "page_count": 3,
    "processing_time_ms": 4200,
    "pii_detected": {
      "NAME": {
        "count": 4,
        "pages": [1, 2, 3],
        "confidence_avg": 0.93,
        "confidence_min": 0.87,
        "below_threshold": 0,
        "allowed": 0
      },
      "SSN": {
        "count": 1,
        "pages": [1],
        "confidence_avg": 0.98,
        "confidence_min": 0.98,
        "below_threshold": 0,
        "allowed": 0
      }
    },
    "total_redactions": 5,
    "redaction_policy": "black_bar",
    "confidence_threshold_used": 0.85,
    "below_threshold_count": 0
  },
  "error": null
}

Response (failed):

{
  "id": "550e8400-...",
  "status": "failed",
  "progress_percent": 0,
  "redacted_file_url": null,
  "report": null,
  "error": {
    "code": "DOCUMENT_CORRUPTED",
    "message": "Unable to process the document"
  }
}

Statuses: queued → processing → completed or failed

Code Examples

Python

import requests
import time

API_KEY = "sk_live_YOUR_KEY"
BASE = "https://api.deepread.tech"

# Submit document for redaction
with open("patient_record.pdf", "rb") as f:
    resp = requests.post(
        f"{BASE}/v1/pii/redact",
        headers={"X-API-Key": API_KEY},
        files={"file": f},
    )
job_id = resp.json()["id"]

# Poll with backoff
delay = 3
while True:
    time.sleep(delay)
    result = requests.get(
        f"{BASE}/v1/pii/{job_id}",
        headers={"X-API-Key": API_KEY}
    ).json()

    if result["status"] == "completed":
        # Download redacted file
        redacted_url = result["redacted_file_url"]
        redacted_pdf = requests.get(redacted_url).content
        with open("patient_record_redacted.pdf", "wb") as f:
            f.write(redacted_pdf)

        # Review detection report
        report = result["report"]
        print(f"Redacted {report['total_redactions']} PII instances")
        for pii_type, summary in report["pii_detected"].items():
            print(f"  {pii_type}: {summary['count']} found on pages {summary['pages']}")
        break

    elif result["status"] == "failed":
        print(f"Failed: {result['error']['message']}")
        break

    delay = min(delay * 1.5, 15)

JavaScript / Node.js

import fs from "fs";

const API_KEY = "sk_live_YOUR_KEY";
const BASE = "https://api.deepread.tech";

// Submit document
const form = new FormData();
form.append("file", fs.createReadStream("contract.pdf"));

const { id: jobId } = await fetch(`${BASE}/v1/pii/redact`, {
  method: "POST",
  headers: { "X-API-Key": API_KEY },
  body: form,
}).then((r) => r.json());

// Poll with backoff
let delay = 3000;
let result;
do {
  await new Promise((r) => setTimeout(r, delay));
  result = await fetch(`${BASE}/v1/pii/${jobId}`, {
    headers: { "X-API-Key": API_KEY },
  }).then((r) => r.json());
  delay = Math.min(delay * 1.5, 15000);
} while (!["completed", "failed"].includes(result.status));

if (result.status === "completed") {
  console.log(`Redacted file: ${result.redacted_file_url}`);
  console.log(`Total redactions: ${result.report.total_redactions}`);
}

cURL

# Redact a PDF
curl -X POST https://api.deepread.tech/v1/pii/redact \
  -H "X-API-Key: $DEEPREAD_API_KEY" \
  -F "[email protected]"

# Redact a scanned image
curl -X POST https://api.deepread.tech/v1/pii/redact \
  -H "X-API-Key: $DEEPREAD_API_KEY" \
  -F "file=@id_card.png"

# Redact with language hint
curl -X POST https://api.deepread.tech/v1/pii/redact \
  -H "X-API-Key: $DEEPREAD_API_KEY" \
  -F "[email protected]" \
  -F "language=es"

# Check status
curl https://api.deepread.tech/v1/pii/JOB_ID \
  -H "X-API-Key: $DEEPREAD_API_KEY"

Workflows: Combine with Other DeepRead Skills

Extract Then Redact

Use deepread-ocr to extract data, then redact the original before archiving:

# Step 1: Extract structured data (keeps the data you need)
curl -X POST https://api.deepread.tech/v1/process \
  -H "X-API-Key: $DEEPREAD_API_KEY" \
  -F "[email protected]" \
  -F 'schema={"type":"object","properties":{"claim_number":{"type":"string"},"amount":{"type":"number"}}}'

# Step 2: Redact PII from original (clean copy for filing)
curl -X POST https://api.deepread.tech/v1/pii/redact \
  -H "X-API-Key: $DEEPREAD_API_KEY" \
  -F "[email protected]"

Redact Before LLM Processing

Strip PII before sending document content to any AI model:

# 1. Redact the document
resp = requests.post(f"{BASE}/v1/pii/redact",
    headers={"X-API-Key": API_KEY},
    files={"file": open("report.pdf", "rb")})
job_id = resp.json()["id"]

# 2. Wait for completion, download redacted version
# 3. Now safe to send to any LLM for analysis

Fill Form Then Redact Copy

Use deepread-form-fill to complete a form, then redact a copy for records:

# Step 1: Fill the form
curl -X POST https://api.deepread.tech/v1/form-fill \
  -H "X-API-Key: $DEEPREAD_API_KEY" \
  -F "file=@w4_form.pdf" \
  -F 'form_fields={"full_name":"Jane Smith","ssn":"456-78-9012"}'

# Step 2: Redact the filled form for internal records
curl -X POST https://api.deepread.tech/v1/pii/redact \
  -H "X-API-Key: $DEEPREAD_API_KEY" \
  -F "file=@w4_filled.pdf"

Best Practices

1. Use Webhooks for Production

curl -X POST https://api.deepread.tech/v1/pii/redact \
  -H "X-API-Key: $DEEPREAD_API_KEY" \
  -F "[email protected]" \
  -F "webhook_url=https://your-app.com/webhooks/pii"

Only use polling if you cannot expose a webhook endpoint.

2. Review the Detection Report

The report tells you exactly what was found and where:

report = result["report"]

# Check if anything was below confidence threshold
if report["below_threshold_count"] > 0:
    print(f"Warning: {report['below_threshold_count']} detections below threshold")
    print("Consider manual review of the original document")

# See breakdown by type
for pii_type, summary in report["pii_detected"].items():
    print(f"{pii_type}: {summary['count']} on pages {summary['pages']}")

3. Set Language for Non-English Documents

Always specify the language for better detection accuracy:

-F "language=zh"   # Chinese
-F "language=es"   # Spanish
-F "language=hi"   # Hindi
-F "language=ar"   # Arabic

4. Polling Strategy

Poll every 3-5 seconds with backoff:

delay = 3
while True:
    time.sleep(delay)
    result = check_status(job_id)
    if result["status"] in ("completed", "failed"):
        break
    delay = min(delay * 1.5, 15)  # cap at 15s

Rate Limits & Pricing

Free Tier (No Credit Card)

• 2,000 pages/month
• 10 requests/minute (redact endpoint)
• 60 requests/minute (status endpoint)
• Full feature access

Paid Plans

• PRO: 50,000 pages/month, 100 req/min @ $99/mo
• SCALE: Custom volume pricing

Upgrade: https://www.deepread.tech/dashboard/billing?utm_source=clawhub

Troubleshooting

Error: UNSUPPORTED_FORMAT

Solution: Only PDF, PNG, JPEG, and TXT are supported. Convert other formats first.

Error: EMPTY_DOCUMENT

Solution: File has no content. Check the file is not corrupted or zero-bytes.

Error: FILE_TOO_LARGE

Solution: Compress the file or split into smaller documents. Max 50MB.

No PII detected in report

Possible causes:

• Document genuinely contains no PII
• PII is in a language not specified (set language parameter)
• Image quality too low for detection (try higher resolution scan)

Redaction missed some PII

Possible causes:

• Value was below the 0.85 confidence threshold (check below_threshold_count)
• Unusual formatting or handwritten text
• Report the issue: https://github.com/deepread-tech/deep-read-service/issues

Security Notes

• This skill only calls https://api.deepread.tech — no other endpoints are contacted
• Documents are uploaded to DeepRead servers for processing and redacted copies are returned via signed URLs
• This skill does not modify any system files, install packages, or request elevated permissions
• Keep DEEPREAD_API_KEY secret — rotate if compromised
• If using webhooks, ensure your receiving endpoint uses HTTPS and is authenticated
• Test with non-sensitive documents first to verify behavior
• Review DeepRead's privacy policy for data retention and handling details

Related DeepRead Skills

DeepRead is three tools with one API key:

Common pipeline: Extract data (OCR) → Fill target form (Form Fill) → Redact originals for filing (PII)

Support & Resources

• Dashboard: https://www.deepread.tech/dashboard
• Issues: https://github.com/deepread-tech/deep-read-service/issues
• Email: [email protected]

Ready to start? Get your free API key at https://www.deepread.tech/dashboard/?utm_source=clawhub