> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://sudomock.com/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

> ## Agent Instructions
> The base URL is https://api.sudomock.com.
> Authenticate every request with the x-api-key header. Keys begin with sm_.
> A render returns the finished image at data.print_files[0].export_path. A request sent with is_async true returns a job_id to poll at GET /api/v1/jobs/{job_id}.
> Prefer the official SDKs over hand-written HTTP calls: npm install sudomock for Node, pip install sudomock for Python.

# Is SudoMock a Photoshop API replacement

> What SudoMock takes over when Photoshop is in a loop.

For the half of the work that repeats, yes. For the half that does not, Photoshop
stays where it is. That split is worth being precise about before you plan an
integration, because it decides what you build and what you stop maintaining.

## The repeating half becomes a request

Opening a template, dropping a design into a smart object, retyping a line,
recolouring a layer, exporting at the right size: that sequence is identical
every time, and it is the part SudoMock takes over. You register the Photoshop
file once and read back a handle for every design area, text layer and group it
holds. Every image after that is one render request naming the template, the
areas you are filling, the wording you are changing and the export you want, and
it answers with a finished image.

Nothing in that loop needs a Photoshop licence, an Action, a script, or a
machine kept running to hold the file open.
[Render a PSD](/docs/psd-mockups/render-a-psd-without-photoshop) walks the whole job
end to end, and [Render a PSD mockup](/docs/api-reference/psd-mockups/render-a-psd-mockup)
is the request itself.

## The authoring half stays in Photoshop

The template is still designed in Photoshop, once per product. That is where the
warp around a mug, the shadow falling across a fold, the mask trimming artwork
to a frame and the blend mode letting fabric texture through are decided, and
those decisions travel with the file. Smart objects, layer masks, clipping
masks, all 27 blend modes, opacity, warps, perspective transforms, Drop Shadow,
Stroke, Blend If and live text layers render as authored.

A feature is listed as supported only once its output is verified against
Photoshop's own render. Where a feature is not reproduced,
[PSD compatibility](/docs/psd-mockups/psd-compatibility) names the one thing to send
instead, usually a rasterised layer or a value moved into the render request, so
no file reaches a dead end.

## Where the boundary sits

SudoMock renders templates, and the operations sitting next to rendering are
their own calls rather than layer commands:
[background removal](/docs/api-reference/background-removal/remove-the-background-from-an-image),
[fonts](/docs/text/fonts) you upload and address by id, and
[a short video](/docs/api-reference/video-mockups/render-a-video-mockup) built from
the same template.

## If you do not own a PSD

A product photograph is enough on its own. A
[photo mockup](/docs/photo-mockups/overview) turns one photograph into a reusable
template with printable areas you render onto, which covers every product
nobody ever shipped you a layered file for.
[Which mockup type to use](/docs/knowledge-base/psd-template-or-product-photo)
compares the two.

## At production volume

Renders run in parallel up to your plan's concurrency, and anything past that
answers with a `429` carrying `Retry-After`. Queue the work instead and collect
finished images from a [webhook](/docs/webhooks/overview): a queued render holds no
concurrency slot while it waits, which is the right shape for a large batch.
Read the render and the upload ceiling at runtime rather than hardcoding
either, as [Usage limits](/docs/api-reference/usage-limits) describes.

Registering a template costs nothing. Rendering is charged per image, and the
current credit weights are on [pricing](https://sudomock.com/pricing).

## Learn more

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Render a PSD" icon="file-image" href="/docs/psd-mockups/render-a-psd-without-photoshop">
    The whole job, from one upload to a batch of images.
  </Card>

  <Card title="PSD compatibility" icon="table" href="/docs/psd-mockups/psd-compatibility">
    Which Photoshop features render, and what to send instead.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>


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