Today I am super excited to officially announce the PyImageSearch web API.

I’ve been planning on building this API for awhile now, and finally last weeks blog post on building a face detection Web API was just the kick in the ass I needed to finish up the project and push it online.

The PyImageSearch Web API is meant to be a teaching tool used further facilitate high quality computer vision tutorials on the PyImageSearch blog.

Right now the only endpoint is for face detection in images, but as I release more articles on the PyImageSearch blog, the list of endpoints will continue to grow.

For example, imagine being able to interact with the image search engine we built to search through vacation photos.

How about an API endpoint to handle mobile document scanning?

Or maybe we can wrap a deep learning classifier to recognize handwritten digits?

As you can see, there are quite the number of possibilities — and I think we are going to have a lot of fun with this API.

So keep your eyes out as new PyImageSearch blog posts are released. When appropriate I’ll be including new API endpoints.

Where can I access the PyImageSearch Web API?

The PyImageSearch Web API can be found over at http://api.hcl.pyimagesearch.com, which also includes documentation for each endpoint.

Is the PyImageSearch Web API free?

You bet! The PyImageSearch Web API is 100% free. Use it in good health to aide you in your computer vision education.

Can I use the PyImageSearch Web API in my own app?

I would recommend against doing this. The PyImageSearch web API is meant to be a teaching tool, so if you are abusing the API, I will have to start issuing API keys — which is something that I really, really don’t want to do.

Is there a commercial version of the PyImageSearch Web API?

Perhaps in the future there will be a commercial version of the PyImageSearch Web API that you can use in your own applications, but not right now. If there is enough interest in the API as it grows I could certainly imagine creating a commercial, production level version of the API that can be licensed to developers.

Can I contribute the PyImageSearch Web API?

If you have developed a computer vision app that you think would make for a a great endpoint, please send me a message. I will also suggest that you wrap your app using my boilerplate Django view template (which can be found about halfway down the page) for building computer vision based web APIs.

How can I support the PyImageSearch Web API?

I personally pay out-of-pocket for the server and hosting to run the PyImageSearch Web API. If you enjoy it, find it useful, or learn anything from it, you can support myself and the PyImageSearch blog by picking up a copy of my book, Practical Python and OpenCV. Otherwise, please enjoy the API!

Have a request for an API endpoint?

Do you think a previous post on the PyImageSearch blog would make for a good API endpoint? Or have a suggestion for a computer vision tutorial that could include an API endpoint? Just comment on this post below to let me know or send me a message.