API endpoint update

New integrations should use . Existing URLs remain supported.

Detect URL

Metered / request
POST/v1/detect-url

Analyse a public image URL and return the same detection output as /detect, without uploading a file.

Processing images regularly or at large scale?

Use this Instant detection endpoint for first tests, debugging, and small workflows. For steady pipelines, larger files, or bursty camera-fleet uploads, approved customers can use Detection jobs.

Open Detection jobs
Try in playground

Parameters

Required

string

Public image URL.

Optional

string

Optional geofencing hint (CCA2/CCA3/full country name).

number

Confidence threshold between 0.01 and 0.99. Default: 0.2.

boolean

Default: true. Set to false for detector-only animal, human, or vehicle labels.

boolean

When true, herd animals can use a precise label already found in the same image. Experimental: Denmark only.

number

Optional. Used only when longitude and country are also present. Adds area-level geofencing inside the country.

number

Optional. Used only when latitude and country are also present. Adds area-level geofencing inside the country.

boolean

Set to true to include available image metadata in the response.

integer

Positive integer (1-10). With classify=true, returns alternative species candidates on each annotation.

Request notes

Send JSON only. Use classify=false for faster coarse labels. Send latitude and longitude together; they only apply when country is also present. Private IPs and internal targets are blocked. Fetched images must be 10 MB or smaller.

Status codes

200Detection completed.
400Validation error or blocked URL target.
401Invalid, missing, or revoked API key.
402Free monthly quota used up and no active API billing, or API keys paused.
413Fetched image is too large for the endpoint limit.
429Rate limit exceeded.
500Unexpected internal server error.
503AI processing service temporarily unavailable.

Notes

  • Use classify=false for faster blank filtering. Labels become coarse: animal, human, or vehicle.
  • smooth_herd=true can replace broad herd labels such as mammal with a precise species already present in the image. Experimental: Denmark only.
  • latitude and longitude require each other and country. Without all three, area-level geofencing has no effect.
  • metadata=true includes metadata only for fields found in the fetched image.
  • top_candidate with classify=true can add ranked alternative species to each annotation.

Examples

Node.js / Express
const response = await fetch('https://api.animaldetect.com/v1/detect-url', {
  method: 'POST',
  headers: {
    Authorization: 'Bearer ' + process.env.ANIMAL_DETECT_API_KEY,
    'Content-Type': 'application/json',
  },
  body: JSON.stringify({
    url: 'https://example.com/camera-trap.jpg',
    country: 'USA',
    threshold: 0.2,
    classify: true,
    smooth_herd: true,
    latitude: 56.834,
    longitude: 9.994,
    metadata: true,
    top_candidate: 2,
  }),
})

const data = await response.json()
Example response
{
  "id": "70dc39be-e013-4ea5-bbc5-a3832f7fc310",
  "expires_at": "2026-03-12T09:44:20.954Z",
  "annotations": [],
  "metadata": {
    "image_width": 4000,
    "image_height": 3000,
    "file_size": 2456789
  },
  "info": {
    "processing_time_ms": 884,
    "model_version": "mdv1000-speciesnet",
    "model_id": "mdv1000-speciesnet",
    "country_processed": "USA",
    "threshold_applied": 0.2,
    "source_url": "https://example.com/camera-trap.jpg"
  }
}