Studio-quality car images, for apps and agents.
One GET request returns a transparent-background render of any vehicle in the open-source vehicle-db catalog — 1,145 makes, 14,841 models, 1990–2026. Six angles, fifteen colors, PNG/WebP/JPG. Cached forever, one credit each.
npx @meterapp/car-imageNo card required. $1 buys 1,000 images. No subscription, ever.
- HTTP/2
- 200
- content-type
- image/png
- x-credits-charged
- 1
- x-credits-remaining
- 99
- x-image-source
- cache
- etag
- "9f2a…c41d"
- 14,841
- models in the catalog
- 6
- camera angles
- 15
- preset colors
- 1 credit
- per image, cached or not
Live from the API
Real responses, not mockups
Every image below is served by GET /images/car.png right now — the same renders your users would see, on a checkerboard so the transparency shows.
2024 Porsche 911 — Side view=side&brand=porsche&model=911&year=2024&color=red
2023 Tesla Model 3 — Front view=front&brand=tesla&model=model-3&year=2023&color=white
2022 BMW M3 — Side view=side&brand=bmw&model=m3&year=2022&color=blue
2024 Blue Bird All American — Front view=front&brand=blue-bird&model=all-american&year=2024&color=yellow
2024 Chevrolet Suburban — Side view=side&brand=chevrolet&model=suburban&year=2024&color=black
2006 Dodge Charger — Side view=side&brand=dodge&model=charger&year=2006&color=orange
How it works
Key → request → cached forever
No SDK to learn and no image pipeline to run. The URL is the whole integration.
- 01
Create a key
Sign in, and 100 free credits are waiting. Create an API key in the dashboard or let the CLI do it with a browser-approved device code.
- 02
Call the API
GET /api/v1/images/car with make, model, year and a view. The first render of a new vehicle takes about ten seconds; the response carries the credits you have left.
- 03
Cached forever, 1 credit
Every render lands in a global cache and is served in milliseconds from then on. Cached or fresh, the price is the same one credit — and failed renders are refunded.
Integrate in a minute
Pick your client
The same request from a shell, a server, a notebook, an MCP host or the CLI. Keys live in headers or your environment — never in URLs.
curl --fail-with-body \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $CAR_IMAGE_API_KEY" \
"https://car-imgs.vercel.app/api/v1/images/car?make=porsche&model=911&year=2024&view=front-3-4&color=red" \
--output porsche-911.pngSix camera angles
Every angle a listing needs
Front, both sides, rear and the two three-quarter hero shots. Pass `view=` and get the same framing for every vehicle in the catalog.
Front
0°view=frontStraight-on front view
Front three-quarter
35°view=front-3-4Front and driver's side at ~35°; the classic hero angle
Aliases: front34, hero
Side (facing left)
90°view=sidePerfect side profile, nose pointing left
Aliases: side-left, profile
Side (facing right)
270°view=side-rightPerfect side profile, nose pointing right
Aliases: side-r
Rear
180°view=rearStraight-on rear view
Aliases: back
Rear three-quarter
145°view=rear-3-4Rear and driver's side at ~35°
Aliases: rear34
Fifteen preset colors
Real-world paint, bounded on purpose
Free-text colors would mint a new cached variant per spelling, so the API accepts exactly these 15. Default is silver.
- white
#f4f4f2 - black
#141414 - gray
#7a7d82 - silver
#c3c6cb - blue
#1f4fa3 - red
#b3151b - green
#1f6b3a - brown
#5c3d2e - beige
#d9c9a8 - tan
#c9a66b - orange
#e0641b - yellow
#f2c318 - gold
#b8963e - burgundy
#6b1a2b - purple
#5b2a86
Sizes and formats
Up to 1024 px, three formats
Source renders are 1024×1024 PNGs with a transparent background. Ask for a preset with size=, or exact pixels with w= and h=.
size=thumb256 pxsize=small512 pxsize=medium768 pxsize=large1024 px
Pricing
Cheapest, best, AI-forward
Prepaid credits instead of a monthly plan. Pay for the images you serve and nothing else.
$1
per 1,000 credits
One credit per image. Cached or freshly generated — the price never changes.
100
free credits on signup
Full quality, no watermark, no card. Enough to wire up an integration end to end.
$0/mo
no subscription
Buy a pack from $5 when you need it. Optional auto-reload keeps agents running.
| Feature | Car Image API | Typical subscription API |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Pay as you go — $1 per 1,000 credits, no subscription | $49 / month plan |
| 25,000 images | $25, once | $49, every month |
| Free tier | 100 credits, full quality, no watermark | 5,000 / month, watermarked WebP |
| Cached vs. fresh render | Same price: 1 credit | Counts against the monthly quota |
| Camera angles | 6 (front, front ¾, side ×2, rear, rear ¾) | 8 |
| Max size | 1024 px | 1200 px |
| Formats | PNG, WebP, JPG — transparent background | WebP |
| Catalog | 14,841 models · 1,145 makes · cars, motorcycles, trucks, buses · open source | Cars, closed catalog |
| Agent tooling | MCP (remote + local), CLI, OpenAPI 3.1, llms.txt, Claude Code, ChatGPT actions | JavaScript loader |
| Browser embeds | Signed URLs, TTL up to 7 days, billed once at creation | HMAC signed URLs |
Catalog coverage
Bounded to a real, open catalog
Every request is validated against @meterapp/vehicle-db, so the API cannot be turned into an unbounded image generator — and a vehicle that is missing can be added by anyone.
- 1,145
- makes
- 18,131
- models
- 1990–2026
- model years
- 5
- official data sources
NHTSA Vehicle Product Information Catalog · United States
Model-year catalog from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration vPIC API.
U.S. government public data · 1990–2026
- 390
- makes
- 51,270
- models
UK DfT/DVLA Vehicle Licensing Statistics · United Kingdom
Registered fleet make/model catalog by year of manufacture, including cars, goods vehicles, motorcycles, buses and coaches, and other vehicles.
Open Government Licence v3.0 · 1990–2025
- 701
- makes
- 60,145
- models
Atul Auto Product Catalog · India
Current passenger and cargo auto-rickshaw product names published by Atul Auto.
Source attribution (factual product names only) · 2024–2026
- 1
- makes
- 36
- models
NZTA Motor Vehicle Register — Asian-origin vehicles · Asia-Pacific (registered in New Zealand)
Asian-origin cars, trucks, buses, motorcycles, and mopeds in New Zealand's registered fleet, keyed by vehicle year.
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International · 1990–2026
- 251
- makes
- 30,374
- models
Malaysia JPJ Car Registration Transactions · Malaysia
Passenger cars, MPVs, jeeps, pickups, and window vans registered by Malaysia's Road Transport Department, keyed by registration year.
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International · 2024–2026
- 120
- makes
- 1,756
- models
Built for agents
Agents are the first-class client
Machine-readable everywhere: the docs, the errors, the pricing. Every surface below returns the same problem+json and the same credit headers.
MCP server
Remote over HTTP with a bearer key, or local via the CLI. Tools for images, signed URLs, vehicle search, account and feedback.
https://car-imgs.vercel.app/api/mcpCLI
Interactive onboarding, browser-approved login, get/url/search/resolve, billing and a built-in MCP server.
npx @meterapp/car-imageOpenAPI 3.1
Typed schemas for every endpoint and RFC 9457 problem responses. Generate a client or import it into any tool.
https://car-imgs.vercel.app/openapi.jsonllms.txt
A compact, model-readable guide to the API, its rules and its error semantics. Point your agent at it.
https://car-imgs.vercel.app/llms.txtClaude Code
One command connects the hosted MCP server, then Claude can fetch, resolve and rate vehicle images inside your repo.
claude mcp add --transport http car-image https://car-imgs.vercel.app/api/mcp --header "Authorization: Bearer $CAR_IMAGE_API_KEY"ChatGPT actions
Build a custom GPT from the OpenAPI document; bearer auth is declared, so the action works out of the box.
Import /openapi.json as an action
FAQ
Questions engineers ask first
Everything else is in the docs — and the docs are in llms.txt for your agent.
Stay in the loop
Building something with vehicle images?
Tell us what you are making and get notified about new angles, catalog updates and agent tooling. No marketing drip — just release notes.