Every Pexels photo, video, and collection endpoint — plus a local store that adds quota forecasting, dedup-aware bulk download, and one-shot attribution exports no other Pexels tool has.
Created by @vcolombo (Vincent Colombo).
Contributors: @tmchow (Trevin Chow).
A single binary for the full Pexels API: search and curated photos, video search and popular feeds, and collections including your own. It mirrors results into a local SQLite store so you can re-search offline, dedup downloads across sessions, forecast your rate budget, pick the best-fit resolution for a target, and export license-compliant attribution in one command.
Authentication
Pexels uses a free API key sent as a raw Authorization: <key> header — there is NO Bearer prefix (the single most common 401 in the ecosystem). Set PEXELS_API_KEY or run pexels-pp-cli auth login. Every request also sends a User-Agent, since Pexels' edge returns 403 to header-less clients.
Quick Start
# Confirm the CLI is wired and see whether your API key is detected
pexels-pp-cli doctor --dry-run
# Core photo search with Pexels' filters
pexels-pp-cli photos search --query "golden retriever puppy" --orientation square --per-page 5
# Dedup-aware download that writes attribution sidecars
pexels-pp-cli download "mountain lake" --type photo --limit 3 --size large --sidecar
# Emit SOURCES.md crediting everything you've downloaded
pexels-pp-cli attribution export --csv
Unique Features
These capabilities aren't available in any other tool for this API.
Rate-limit intelligence
-
quota forecast — Check before a bulk pull whether it fits your remaining hourly/monthly Pexels quota, with a reset ETA.
Reach for this before any large download to avoid burning the 200/hour budget mid-batch.
pexels-pp-cli quota forecast --resources photos,videos --max-pages 10 --agent
Resolution & download intelligence
-
resolve — Pick the smallest photo size or video file that meets a target dimension without upscaling.
Use when you know the media id and need exactly one URL sized for a target, instead of parsing eight src variants.
pexels-pp-cli resolve 2014422 --target-width 1280 --target-height 720 --agent
-
download — Bulk-download a query, skipping media already in your ledger and checkpointing each page so a hit quota stops you gracefully.
Use for repeated or large harvests that must not re-download files or exceed the rate budget.
pexels-pp-cli download "mountain lake" --type photo --limit 30 --max-pages 3 --size large --sidecar
License compliance
-
attribution export — Emit a SOURCES.md and per-file .meta.json sidecars crediting every photographer in your local download ledger.
Reach for this to satisfy Pexels' attribution guideline in one shot rather than hand-building credit lists.
pexels-pp-cli attribution export --resources photos,videos --csv
Local store that compounds
-
search — Full-text search media you already synced, with stable ordering and no API call.
Reach for this to re-find media you pulled earlier instead of spending quota on a fresh live search.
pexels-pp-cli search "sunset" --type photos --limit 10 --agent --select id,photographer,alt
-
analytics — Group your synced photos by photographer to review credit balance and licensing coverage.
Use during a licensing or credit review to see which photographers dominate your pulled set.
pexels-pp-cli analytics --type photos --group-by photographer --limit 20
Recipes
Agent-native photo search, narrowed
pexels-pp-cli photos search --query "foggy forest" --orientation portrait --per-page 8 --agent --select photos.id,photos.photographer,photos.src.large2x,photos.alt
Returns only the four fields an agent needs from a deeply-nested response, instead of all eight src sizes per photo.
Forecast then harvest
pexels-pp-cli quota forecast --resources photos --max-pages 5 && pexels-pp-cli download "city skyline night" --type photo --limit 50 --max-pages 5 --size large --sidecar
Check the rate budget, then run a dedup-aware bulk pull that writes attribution sidecars.
Best-fit resolution for a known id
pexels-pp-cli resolve 2014422 --target-width 1920 --target-height 1080 --agent
Picks the smallest src/video_file that covers 1080p without upscaling.
Browse your own collections
pexels-pp-cli collections list --per-page 20 --json
Lists the authenticated user's collections — a surface only two ecosystem tools expose.
Re-find synced media offline
pexels-pp-cli sync --resources photos --max-pages 3 && pexels-pp-cli search "sunset" --type photos --limit 10
Mirror a few pages locally, then full-text search them without spending more quota.
Usage
Run pexels-pp-cli --help for the full command reference and flag list.
Paths & environment variables
This CLI separates local files into four path kinds:
| Kind | Contents |
|---|
config | User-editable settings such as config.toml and saved profiles |
data | Durable local data: credentials.toml, data.db, cookies, browser-session proof files, and other auth sidecars |
state | Runtime state such as persisted queries, jobs, and teach.log |
cache | Regenerable HTTP/cache files |
Each kind resolves independently. The ladder is:
- Per-kind env var:
PEXELS_CONFIG_DIR, PEXELS_DATA_DIR, PEXELS_STATE_DIR, or PEXELS_CACHE_DIR
--home <dir> for this invocationPEXELS_HOME for a flat relocated root- XDG env vars:
XDG_CONFIG_HOME, XDG_DATA_HOME, XDG_STATE_HOME, XDG_CACHE_HOME
- Platform defaults matching existing installs
For containers and agent sandboxes, prefer a single relocated root:
export PEXELS_HOME=/srv/pexels
pexels-pp-cli doctor
Under PEXELS_HOME=/srv/pexels, the four dirs resolve to /srv/pexels/config, /srv/pexels/data, /srv/pexels/state, and /srv/pexels/cache.
MCP servers do not receive CLI flags from the host. Put relocation in the host env block:
{
"mcpServers": {
"pexels": {
"command": "pexels-pp-mcp",
"env": {
"PEXELS_HOME": "/srv/pexels"
}
}
}
}
Precedence matters in fleets: an ambient per-kind variable such as PEXELS_DATA_DIR overrides an explicit --home for that kind. Use PEXELS_HOME or the per-kind variables for durable fleet relocation; treat --home as the weaker per-invocation lever.
Relocation is one-way. Unsetting PEXELS_HOME does not move files back to platform defaults, and doctor cannot find credentials left under a former root. Move the files manually before unsetting relocation variables.
Existing installs keep working because the platform-default rung matches the legacy layout. On the first auth write, stored secrets leave config.toml and are consolidated into credentials.toml under the data directory. Run pexels-pp-cli doctor --fail-on warn to check path and credential-location warnings in automation.
Commands
collections
Browse featured collections, your own collections, and collection media
pexels-pp-cli collections featured - List Pexels featured collectionspexels-pp-cli collections list - List the authenticated user's own collections (requires PEXELS_API_KEY)pexels-pp-cli collections media - List the media (photos and/or videos) inside a collection
photos
Search, curate, and fetch Pexels photos
pexels-pp-cli photos curated - Browse the Pexels editor-curated photo feed (use --random for a random page)pexels-pp-cli photos get - Get a single photo by its numeric idpexels-pp-cli photos search - Search photos by keyword with orientation/size/color/locale filters
videos
Search, browse popular, and fetch Pexels videos
pexels-pp-cli videos get - Get a single video by its numeric idpexels-pp-cli videos popular - Browse popular videos with optional dimension/duration filterspexels-pp-cli videos search - Search videos by keyword with orientation/size/locale filters
Output Formats
# Human-readable table (default in terminal, JSON when piped)
pexels-pp-cli collections list
# JSON for scripting and agents
pexels-pp-cli collections list --json
# Filter to specific fields
pexels-pp-cli collections list --json --select id,name,status
# Dry run — show the request without sending
pexels-pp-cli collections list --dry-run
# Agent mode — JSON + compact + no prompts in one flag
pexels-pp-cli collections list --agent
Agent Usage
This CLI is designed for AI agent consumption:
- Non-interactive - never prompts, every input is a flag
- Pipeable -
--json output to stdout, errors to stderr
- Filterable -
--select id,name returns only fields you need
- Previewable -
--dry-run shows the request without sending
- Read-only by default - this CLI does not create, update, delete, publish, send, or mutate remote resources
- Offline-friendly - sync/search commands can use the local SQLite store when available
- Agent-safe by default - no colors or formatting unless
--human-friendly is set
Exit codes: 0 success, 2 usage error, 3 not found, 4 auth error, 5 API error, 7 rate limited, 10 config error.
Health Check
pexels-pp-cli doctor
Verifies configuration, credentials, and connectivity to the API.
Configuration
Run pexels-pp-cli doctor to see the resolved config, data, state, and cache directories. The platform-default config path is ~/.config/pexels-pp-cli/config.toml; --home, PEXELS_HOME, and per-kind env vars can relocate it.
Static request headers can be configured under headers; per-command header overrides take precedence.
Environment variables:
| Name | Kind | Required | Description |
|---|
PEXELS_API_KEY | per_call | Yes | Set to your API credential. |
agentcookie (optional)
If you use agentcookie to sync secrets across machines, this CLI auto-adopts agentcookie-managed credentials with no extra setup. When the daemon writes to this CLI's config, pexels-pp-cli doctor reports agentcookie: detected and auth-status labels the source as agentcookie. Skip this section if you don't use agentcookie - the CLI works the same as any other.
Troubleshooting
Authentication errors (exit code 4)
- Run
pexels-pp-cli doctor to check credentials
- Verify the environment variable is set:
echo $PEXELS_API_KEY
Not found errors (exit code 3)
- Check the resource ID is correct
- Run the
list command to see available items
API-specific
- 401 Unauthorized on every call — Your key is likely sent with a Bearer prefix by another tool; this CLI sends the raw key. Verify with
pexels-pp-cli doctor and re-set via pexels-pp-cli auth login.
- 403 from api.pexels.com — Header-less clients get Cloudflare-403'd; this CLI sets a User-Agent automatically. If you still see it, your key may be gated — check status.pexels.com.
- Bulk download stops early — You hit the 200/hour budget. Run
pexels-pp-cli quota forecast first, then resume with --max-pages once the reset passes.
- search returns nothing — Offline search reads the local store; run
pexels-pp-cli sync --resources photos first, or use photos search for a live query.
Sources & Inspiration
This CLI was built by studying these projects and resources:
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