Files

Across the policy lifecycle, institutions can provide different types of files. For example, many institutions provide a quote summary in the form of a PDF to accompany a quote, and policy documents to accompany a bound policy. Availability of these files can vary depending on the institution and line of business.

Herald has made these files available via API because they can contain additional information that is not available via the API response.

[.icon-square-blue][.icon-square-blue]Herald is continuously expanding our file offering. If you would like a file that is not listed in our list of supported file types, please reach out to our team at hello@heraldapi.com.

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Files at Herald

The files Herald provides via API come directly from the institution. When a supported file is available, we will provide details to access this file in a files array of the relevant response. Herald currently supports multiple types of files for quotes and policies, so both response always include the [.h-code]files[.h-code] array. If Herald has obtained files from an institution for a given quote or policy, the details of the files will be provided like this:

GET /quotes/{quote_id}

Copied

{
  "id": "497f6eca-6276-4993-bfeb-53cbbbba6f08",
  "product_id": "prd_mc4r_herald_general_liability",
  "status": "active",
  "files": [
    {
      "id": "d7c4579a-5450-4e79-bcfc-e918b3c8a564",
      "type": "quote_summary",
      "text": "Quote Summary",
      "status": "available"
    },
    {
      "id": "138fcedd-c394-46e6-b025-3f62a191223d",
      "type": "application",
      "text": "Application",
      "status": "processing"
    }
  ],
  ....
}
 

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Learn how to get additional metadata on a file, as well as the actual contents of a file, in our guide to getting files.

While the files are provided by the institution, Herald downloads and hosts each individual file. Depending on the type of file, it may be deleted after a certain period of time which is communicated by a files [.h-code]status[.h-code].

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Uploading Files

[.icon-square-blue][.icon-square-blue] Uploading files is currently only relevant when filling out bind applications or submitting actions to get policies.

Some resources at Herald require you to upload files to share with institutions. For example, some institutions require a signed and dated copy of an application in order to get a policy. To fulfill these requirements, you can upload files using [.h-code]POST[.h-code] [.h-endpoint-link]/files[.h-endpoint-link].

Learn how to upload files in our guide to uploading files.

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