---

title: "Separations lookup" description: "Read-only named-ink enumeration — list every /Separation and /DeviceN colorant in an input PDF, with the pages each ink appears on." group: "Reference" order: 17

Separations lookup

The separations service enumerates the named inks in an input PDF: one entry per distinct separation declared via /Separation or /DeviceN color-space arrays, aggregated by ink name with the set of 0-indexed pages each ink appears on. It is read-only metadata — not a producer; it writes nothing.

Ships as the compile-pdf-separations satellite package. Always-on — mounted under /v1/separations regardless of COMPILE_PRODUCER. As a read-only service it carries no producer schema version and does not appear in /v1/contract's producer_schema_versions.

Editor surface: artwork-pdf's inks palette calls this after a compose render to populate its per-page ink list.

Endpoint

POST /v1/separations/list

{ "input_pdf_b64": "…" }

Response:

{
  "separations": [
    { "name": "PANTONE 485 C", "color_space": "Separation", "occurs_on_pages": [0, 2] },
    { "name": "White",         "color_space": "DeviceN",    "occurs_on_pages": [1] }
  ],
  "total": 2
}

color_space is "Separation" or "DeviceN". Process colors (DeviceCMYK / DeviceGray / ICCBased) are not enumerated — only named separations.

Errors: 400 (malformed base64).

Status

Shipped. Pure function of the input bytes — no state, no cache key, no lineage record.