The classic api

Running since 2021

Post words and photographs to a design, and an animation comes back. One request, one GIF, nothing to keep track of in between.

This is the service that has answered at api.makesweet.com since 2021, reproduced here exactly, so a key issued then still works and a script written then still gets its GIF. Nothing about it will change. Something new is better begun on the newer api, which builds a composition up and lets you adjust it, or on the MCP service; the same key opens all three.

Your key

Every request carries one, in an Authorization header. Sign in to make a key, or to read back one you already have.

A request

curl -H "Authorization: KEY" -XPOST \
  "https://api.makesweet.com/make/heart-locket?text=hello" \
  -F images[]=@cat.jpg -o out.gif

The design is the end of the path. Every design on makesweet.com works, by its slug, with a membership; a free account renders ten of them. The originals are still among them: “billboard-cityscape”, “circuit-board”, “flag”, “bearplane”, “heart-locket”, “nesting-doll”.

Repeat -F for another photograph, and text= for another line. No more than 10 between them.

Each thing you send goes on the next surface of the design: the first photograph on the first surface, and so on, with the text following the photographs. textfirst=1 gives the text the earlier surfaces instead.

The MCP service is less blunt. You choose the surface, set how a thing sits on it, and adjust without starting over.

What else you can send

All optional. Left out, they change nothing.

Parameter	What it does
textfirst=1	Puts text before photographs. Any value counts, including 0.
textborder=60	Clear space around the text, in pixels. 60 unless you say otherwise.
size=800	800x600, rather than the usual 400x300. Comes with a membership.
format=still	One frame as a PNG. Much faster than an animation.
font=	Caption face. Arial, as on the site, unless you say otherwise.
color=	Caption layer, as a hex color. #000000 unless you say otherwise.
outline=	Caption outline, as a hex color. #ffffff unless you say otherwise.

What you may render

Your membership sets how much you can render in a day, which designs you can use, and how large. Failed renders are not counted.