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AttachmentScanner API — AI Integration Guide

You are integrating AttachmentScanner, a REST API that scans files and URLs for viruses and malware. This document gives you everything you need.

Authentication

Every request requires a Bearer token in the Authorization header:

Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_TOKEN

Read credentials from environment variables:

Variable Purpose
ATTACHMENT_SCANNER_URL Base URL for API requests (includes region)
ATTACHMENT_SCANNER_API_TOKEN Bearer token for authentication

Regions

AttachmentScanner runs in three regions. The user's base URL determines the region:

Region Base URL
US https://api.attachmentscanner.com
EU https://eu.api.attachmentscanner.com
Australia https://aus.api.attachmentscanner.com

Core Endpoint

POST /v1.0/scans

Scan a URL

{
  "url": "https://example.com/file.pdf"
}

Scan a File (multipart upload)

Send the file as a multipart form field named file:

POST /v1.0/scans
Content-Type: multipart/form-data
Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_TOKEN

file=@document.pdf

Response

{
  "id": "scan-id",
  "status": "found",
  "matches": ["Eicar-Test-File-Signature"],
  "url": "https://example.com/file.pdf",
  "filename": "file.pdf",
  "content_length": 68,
  "md5": "...",
  "sha256": "..."
}

Status Values

Status Meaning
ok File is clean — no threats detected
found Malware detected — matches contains threat names
pending Scan is still running (async mode)
failed Scan could not complete

For production use, always use async mode with a callback URL. Synchronous scans block the request until scanning completes, which can take several seconds for large files.

{
  "url": "https://example.com/file.pdf",
  "async": true,
  "callback": "https://yourapp.com/webhooks/scan-complete"
}

This returns immediately with "status": "pending". When the scan finishes, AttachmentScanner POSTs the full result to your callback URL.

Polling Fallback

If you cannot receive webhooks, poll for the result:

GET /v1.0/scans/{id}

Testing

Use the EICAR test file to verify your integration without real malware:

https://www.attachmentscanner.com/eicar.com

This URL always triggers a "found" result with the match "Eicar-Test-File-Signature".

Before You Start

Ask the user:

  1. What language/framework are they using?
  2. What are they scanning — user-uploaded files, URLs, or both?
  3. Sync or async — can they receive webhooks, or do they need to poll?

Language Examples

Working code examples are available for each language: