Cats

Overview

The Cat API serves cat images (and GIFs) at scale: random cats, breed-filtered search, and (with an account) voting and favorites. It’s one of the friendliest APIs to demo — in fact, the basic image search works even without a key.

Verified 2026-08: Access-Control-Allow-Origin: * is returned, so browser calls work (the listing above marks CORS as “No” — outdated).

Quick Start

Get a random cat image — works without a key:

curl "https://api.thecatapi.com/v1/images/search"

[{"id":"MjAwNjc3OA","url":"https://cdn2.thecatapi.com/images/MjAwNjc3OA.jpg","width":500,"height":667}]

With your free API key (recommended — higher limits):

curl "https://api.thecatapi.com/v1/images/search?limit=3&api_key=YOUR_API_KEY"

Search by breed:

curl "https://api.thecatapi.com/v1/images/search?breed_ids=beng&api_key=YOUR_API_KEY"

List breeds:

curl "https://api.thecatapi.com/v1/breeds"

Authentication

• A free API key (thecatapi.com signup) raises rate limits and unlocks voting/favorites.
• Send it as the api_key query parameter.
• The image search endpoint tolerates missing keys — great for demos.

Rate Limits & Notes

• Free tier is generous for hobby use; the docs page lists current limits.
• Images are served from cdn2.thecatapi.com — hotlink-friendly.
• Breed IDs are short lowercase codes (beng, sibe, abys).
• Voting/favorites require registering an account and using your key.

FAQ

Does The Cat API require an API key? The image search works without one, but a free key gives higher limits and access to voting/favorites.

Is it free? Yes — free tier for hobby use; check docs.thecatapi.com for current limits.

Can I call it from the browser? Yes — CORS is enabled, so client-side apps can fetch cat images directly.