Pixelfed

Pixelfed Media API

Media upload and management

GitHub OpenAPI

Operations 4

POST /v1/media Upload media (v1, synchronous) #
GET /v1/media/{id} Get media attachment #
PUT /v1/media/{id} Update media attachment #
POST /v2/media Upload media (v2, asynchronous) #

Documentation

📖
Documentation
https://docs.pixelfed.org/
📖
Authentication
https://docs.pixelfed.org/technical/api/
📖
RateLimits
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/pixelfed/refs/heads/main/rate-limits/rate-limits.yml

Specifications

⚙
OpenAPI
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/pixelfed/refs/heads/main/openapi/pixelfed-media-api-openapi.yml

SDKs

📦
GitHubRepository
https://github.com/pixelfed/pixelfed

Other Resources

🔗
Plans
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/pixelfed/refs/heads/main/plans/plans.yml
🔗
FinOps
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/pixelfed/refs/heads/main/finops/finops.yml

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OpenAPI Specification

pixelfed-media-api-openapi.yml Raw ↑ 
openapi: 3.2.0
info:
  title: Pixelfed REST Accounts Media API
  description: 'Mastodon-compatible REST API for the Pixelfed federated photo-sharing platform. Provides endpoints for accounts, statuses, timelines, media, notifications, search, collections, stories, direct messages, and instance/federation metadata. All authenticated calls use OAuth2 Bearer tokens. Every Pixelfed instance exposes this API independently at its own domain; there is no single central API host.

    '
  version: '1.1'
  contact:
    name: Pixelfed
    email: hello@pixelfed.org
    url: https://pixelfed.org
  license:
    name: AGPL-3.0
    url: https://github.com/pixelfed/pixelfed/blob/dev/LICENSE
  x-logo:
    url: https://pixelfed.org/img/logo.svg
servers:
- url: https://{instance}/api
  description: A Pixelfed instance
  variables:
    instance:
      default: pixelfed.social
      description: Hostname of the Pixelfed instance
security:
- OAuth2:
  - read
  - write
  - follow
  - push
- BearerAuth: []
tags:
- name: Media
  description: Media upload and management
paths:
  /v1/media:
    post:
      operationId: uploadMedia
      summary: Upload media (v1, synchronous)
      description: Upload a media attachment. Returns immediately with the attachment.
      tags:
      - Media
      security:
      - OAuth2:
        - write
      - BearerAuth: []
      requestBody:
        required: true
        content:
          multipart/form-data:
            schema:
              type: object
              required:
              - file
              properties:
                file:
                  type: string
                  format: binary
                  description: The file to upload
                thumbnail:
                  type: string
                  format: binary
                  description: Custom thumbnail for video/audio
                description:
                  type: string
                  description: Alt text for the media
                focus:
                  type: string
                  description: 'Focal point: two floats between -1.0 and 1.0 (x,y)'
      responses:
        '200':
          description: Media attachment object
          content:
            application/json:
              schema:
                $ref: '#/components/schemas/MediaAttachment'
        '401':
          $ref: '#/components/responses/Unauthorized'
        '422':
          $ref: '#/components/responses/UnprocessableEntity'
  /v1/media/{id}:
    get:
      operationId: getMedia
      summary: Get media attachment
      description: Returns a media attachment with the given ID.
      tags:
      - Media
      security:
      - OAuth2:
        - read
      - BearerAuth: []
      parameters:
      - name: id
        in: path
        required: true
        schema:
          type: string
      responses:
        '200':
          description: Media attachment object
          content:
            application/json:
              schema:
                $ref: '#/components/schemas/MediaAttachment'
        '401':
          $ref: '#/components/responses/Unauthorized'
        '404':
          $ref: '#/components/responses/NotFound'
    put:
      operationId: updateMedia
      summary: Update media attachment
      description: Update alt text or focus point of an existing media attachment.
      tags:
      - Media
      security:
      - OAuth2:
        - write
      - BearerAuth: []
      parameters:
      - name: id
        in: path
        required: true
        schema:
          type: string
      requestBody:
        content:
          multipart/form-data:
            schema:
              type: object
              properties:
                thumbnail:
                  type: string
                  format: binary
                description:
                  type: string
                focus:
                  type: string
      responses:
        '200':
          description: Updated media attachment object
          content:
            application/json:
              schema:
                $ref: '#/components/schemas/MediaAttachment'
        '401':
          $ref: '#/components/responses/Unauthorized'
        '404':
          $ref: '#/components/responses/NotFound'
  /v2/media:
    post:
      operationId: uploadMediaV2
      summary: Upload media (v2, asynchronous)
      description: 'Upload a media attachment asynchronously. Returns 202 if still processing, or 200 when ready. Poll GET /api/v1/media/{id} to check processing status.

        '
      tags:
      - Media
      security:
      - OAuth2:
        - write
      - BearerAuth: []
      requestBody:
        required: true
        content:
          multipart/form-data:
            schema:
              type: object
              required:
              - file
              properties:
                file:
                  type: string
                  format: binary
                thumbnail:
                  type: string
                  format: binary
                description:
                  type: string
                focus:
                  type: string
      responses:
        '200':
          description: Media attachment (already processed)
          content:
            application/json:
              schema:
                $ref: '#/components/schemas/MediaAttachment'
        '202':
          description: Media attachment (still processing)
          content:
            application/json:
              schema:
                $ref: '#/components/schemas/MediaAttachment'
        '401':
          $ref: '#/components/responses/Unauthorized'
        '422':
          $ref: '#/components/responses/UnprocessableEntity'
components:
  responses:
    UnprocessableEntity:
      description: Validation error
      content:
        application/json:
          schema:
            $ref: '#/components/schemas/Error'
    NotFound:
      description: Resource not found
      content:
        application/json:
          schema:
            $ref: '#/components/schemas/Error'
    Unauthorized:
      description: Missing or invalid OAuth token
      content:
        application/json:
          schema:
            $ref: '#/components/schemas/Error'
  schemas:
    Error:
      type: object
      properties:
        error:
          type: string
          description: Error message
        error_description:
          type: string
          description: Additional error details
    MediaAttachment:
      type: object
      properties:
        id:
          type: string
        type:
          type: string
          enum:
          - unknown
          - image
          - gifv
          - video
          - audio
        url:
          type: string
          format: uri
          nullable: true
        preview_url:
          type: string
          format: uri
          nullable: true
        remote_url:
          type: string
          format: uri
          nullable: true
        meta:
          type: object
        description:
          type: string
          nullable: true
        blurhash:
          type: string
          nullable: true
  securitySchemes:
    OAuth2:
      type: oauth2
      flows:
        authorizationCode:
          authorizationUrl: https://{instance}/oauth/authorize
          tokenUrl: https://{instance}/oauth/token
          scopes:
            read: Read-only access to account data and timelines
            write: Write access to post statuses and manage account
            follow: Manage follows, blocks, and mutes
            push: Manage Web Push subscriptions
    BearerAuth:
      type: http
      scheme: bearer
      bearerFormat: OAuth2
externalDocs:
  description: Pixelfed Documentation
  url: https://docs.pixelfed.org/