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Migrate from Docusign to Anvil

Anvil converts a Docusign template directly into an Anvil template, field geometry intact. The plugin maps the APIs, rewrites your integration, and verifies it end to end.

Get started free View the plugin

Install in Claude Code

/plugin marketplace add anvilco/anvil-plugins
/plugin install docusign-anvil-migration@anvil-plugins

Type both into Claude Code: the first adds Anvil's plugin catalog, the second installs the Docusign plugin. Then ask Claude to migrate.

The mental model

A Docusign envelope built from a template becomes an Anvil Etch packet built from a Cast, and Docusign’s roles, tabs, captive recipients, and Connect events become Anvil signer IDs, fields, embedded signers, and webhook actions.

Cast is Anvil's word for a template: a reusable document with named fields your code fills through the API.

Lossless template conversion

Docusign is the one source that moves without re-tagging. Anvil rebuilds each template from the Docusign JSON with field coordinates, field types, and signer roles intact.

export-docusign-templates.ts

Pulls your templates out of Docusign as converter-shaped JSON. Standalone – no Docusign SDK required.

import-docusign-json.ts

Uploads that JSON to Anvil’s createCast, returning a new castEid per template.

Docusign to Anvil, term by term

Most of a migration is vocabulary. Here is the map the plugin works from – it keeps these names straight so you do not have to.

Docusign	Anvil	What it is
Envelope	Etch packet	The signing transaction. createEtchPacket returns an etchPacketEid.
Template (templateId)	Cast (castEid)	A reusable PDF template with tabs.
Template role (roleName)	Signer id	A named signing slot; in Anvil an arbitrary signer id you map to fields.
Tab (signHere, text, date…)	Field	A signable or fillable box, each with a type.
tabLabel / tabId	Field alias (aliasId)	Your data key for a field.
Tab value / prefillTabs	Fill data (data.payloads)	Prefilled field values.
clientUserId (captive recipient)	signerType: 'embedded'	In-app signing, with no email sent.
createRecipientView	generateEtchSignURL	The embedded signing URL.
Connect / eventNotification	createWebhookAction	Event delivery.
envelope-completed	etchPacketComplete	All signers done; documents downloadable.
recipient-completed	signerComplete	One signer finished.
Integration key + JWT + accountId	ANVIL_API_KEY	Auth. One key per org, no account discovery. OAuth or child orgs act for a client.

What the rewrite looks like

Sending from a template is one call on both sides, but Anvil drops the JWT and account-discovery handshake and carries prefill data as a keyed payload.

Before – Docusign

const envelopesApi = new docusign.EnvelopesApi(apiClient)

const envelope = { ... }

const results = await envelopesApi.createEnvelope(
  account.accountId,
  {
    envelopeDefinition: envelope,
  }
)
const envelopeId = results.envelopeId

After – Anvil

const {
  data,
  errors,
} = await anvilClient.createEtchPacket({
  variables: {
    files: [ ... ],
    data: { ... },
    signers: [ ... ],
  },
})

How the migration runs

The plugin works through six steps, showing you what it found and what it plans to change before it touches your Docusign integration.

Step 1 of 6

Discovery

Scans your codebase for every integration point – SDK imports, API calls, environment variables, webhook handlers, and database columns holding provider IDs.

Where Docusign and Anvil differ

No migration is a pure find-and-replace. These are the gaps the plugin raises during mapping – each tagged with what it will cost you to close, from a straight swap to a decision worth making up front.

Works the same – A direct equivalent – nothing to decide.

Minor change – The same capability, reached a different way in the API call.

Plan for rework – Supported, but you will write code for it.

Needs a decision – No direct equivalent – worth discussing before you start.

Signing order

Works the same

routingOrder is a direct equivalent – equal values sign in parallel.

Embedded signing

Works the same

createRecipientView becomes generateEtchSignURL rendered in AnvilEmbedFrame.

Template roles and prefill

Minor change

The template converter reconstructs role-to-field associations, so this is mostly a naming exercise.

Carbon copies and certified deliveries

Minor change

Becomes a non-signing recipient or an app-level notification – a one-time decision per template.

Envelope expiration and reminders

Minor change

Handled as app-level scheduling if hard deadlines matter.

Bulk send

Plan for rework

A loop over createEtchPacket instead of a batch call; the client handles rate limiting.

Signer authentication (access code, SMS, ID check)

Plan for rework

Build an auth wall in front of the sign URL if verification is compliance-critical.

OAuth multi-tenant

Plan for rework

Docusign’s OAuth lets your app act on behalf of other accounts. Anvil supports this: register an Anvil OAuth app for each tenant to authorize, or give each tenant a child organization with its own API key. Both are Enterprise features.

Agents, editors, and intermediaries

Needs a decision

No direct equivalent – the flow needs rethinking at the app level. The plugin confirms whether you actually use it before planning around it.