The Canva Apps SDK, Connect APIs, and MCP are now unified in the Canva Developers SDK. Learn more(opens in a new tab or window).
Canva Developers SDK
The Canva Apps SDK, Connect APIs, and MCP are now unified in the Canva Developers SDK. Learn more(opens in a new tab or window).

Create image transformation job

This API is currently provided as a preview. Be aware of the following:

  • There might be unannounced breaking changes.
  • Any breaking changes to preview APIs won't produce a new API version.
  • Public apps that use preview APIs will not pass the review process, and can't be made available to all Canva users.

Starts a new asynchronous job to apply one or more transformations to an image asset. A successful job produces a single new image asset with all of the requested transformations applied. The source asset isn't modified, and intermediate results aren't returned.

The request requires the ID of the source asset and at least one transformation. The source asset must be an image asset, such as one created using the Asset upload APIs(opens in a new tab or window).

Transformations are applied in the order provided, with each one stacked on the result of the previous one.

Starting a job consumes the user's AI credit allowance(opens in a new tab or window). If the user has reached their AI allowance limit, the request returns a 429 error with the credit_quota_exceeded code. Polling for the result of a job using the Get image transformation job API doesn't consume any of the allowance.

For more information on the workflow for using asynchronous jobs, see API requests and responses. You can check the status and get the results of image transformation jobs created with this API using the Get image transformation job API.

HTTP method and URL path

POST https://api.canva.com/rest/v1/image-transformations

This operation is rate limited to 20 requests per minute for each user of your app.

Authentication and authorization

This endpoint requires a valid access token that acts on behalf of a user.

Scopes

The access token must have all the following scopes (permissions):

  • asset:read
  • asset:write

Header parameters

Authorizationstring
Required

Provides credentials to authenticate the request, in the form of a Bearer token.

For example: Authorization: Bearer {token}

Content-Typestring
Required

Indicates the media type of the information sent in the request. This must be set to application/json.

For example: Content-Type: application/json

Body parameters

asset_idstring
Required

The ID of the source asset to transform. The asset must be an image asset; referencing any other asset type (such as a video) fails with an unsupported_content_type error.

The asset must also have finished uploading. An asset that is still uploading has no image to transform yet and fails with an asset_not_ready error. If you've just created the asset, poll its upload job — for example with the Get asset upload job(opens in a new tab or window) endpoint — until it returns a success status before starting a transformation.

transformationsImageTransformationType[]
Required

The transformations to apply, in order. Must contain at least one transformation. Each transformation is stacked on the result of the previous one. The job's result is a single new image asset with all of the transformations applied; intermediate results are not returned.

Minimum items: 1

Maximum items: 20

Removes the background from an image, keeping the foreground subject. The resulting image has a transparent background. This transformation takes no parameters.

The output image is limited to a maximum of 10 megapixels. If the source image is larger, the output image is scaled down to stay within this limit.

Requires the user to have the background_removal capability. To check this before creating a job, use the Get user capabilities API.

typestring
Required

The type of transformation to apply. Currently, the only supported value is background_removal.

Available values: The only valid value is background_removal.

namestring
Optional

A name for the new image asset that the job produces. Canva doesn't localize this value, so provide a name in the user's language. When omitted, the new asset inherits the name of the source asset.

Minimum length: 1

Maximum length: 255

Example request

Examples for using the /v1/image-transformations endpoint:

curl --request POST 'https://api.canva.com/rest/v1/image-transformations' \
--header 'Authorization: Bearer {token}' \
--header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
--data '{
"asset_id": "Msd59349ff",
"name": "My Awesome Upload with the background removed",
"transformations": [
{
"type": "background_removal"
}
]
}'
SH
const fetch = require("node-fetch");
fetch("https://api.canva.com/rest/v1/image-transformations", {
method: "POST",
headers: {
"Authorization": "Bearer {token}",
"Content-Type": "application/json",
},
body: JSON.stringify({
"asset_id": "Msd59349ff",
"name": "My Awesome Upload with the background removed",
"transformations": [
{
"type": "background_removal"
}
]
}),
})
.then(async (response) => {
const data = await response.json();
console.log(data);
})
.catch(err => console.error(err));
JS
import java.io.IOException;
import java.net.URI;
import java.net.http.*;
public class ApiExample {
public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException, InterruptedException {
HttpRequest request = HttpRequest.newBuilder()
.uri(URI.create("https://api.canva.com/rest/v1/image-transformations"))
.header("Authorization", "Bearer {token}")
.header("Content-Type", "application/json")
.method("POST", HttpRequest.BodyPublishers.ofString("{\"asset_id\": \"Msd59349ff\", \"name\": \"My Awesome Upload with the background removed\", \"transformations\": [{\"type\": \"background_removal\"}]}"))
.build();
HttpResponse<String> response = HttpClient.newHttpClient().send(
request,
HttpResponse.BodyHandlers.ofString()
);
System.out.println(response.body());
}
}
JAVA
import requests
headers = {
"Authorization": "Bearer {token}",
"Content-Type": "application/json"
}
data = {
"asset_id": "Msd59349ff",
"name": "My Awesome Upload with the background removed",
"transformations": [
{
"type": "background_removal"
}
]
}
response = requests.post("https://api.canva.com/rest/v1/image-transformations",
headers=headers,
json=data
)
print(response.json())
PY
using System.Net.Http;
var client = new HttpClient();
var request = new HttpRequestMessage
{
Method = HttpMethod.Post,
RequestUri = new Uri("https://api.canva.com/rest/v1/image-transformations"),
Headers =
{
{ "Authorization", "Bearer {token}" },
},
Content = new StringContent(
"{\"asset_id\": \"Msd59349ff\", \"name\": \"My Awesome Upload with the background removed\", \"transformations\": [{\"type\": \"background_removal\"}]}",
Encoding.UTF8,
"application/json"
),
};
using (var response = await client.SendAsync(request))
{
response.EnsureSuccessStatusCode();
var body = await response.Content.ReadAsStringAsync();
Console.WriteLine(body);
};
CSHARP
package main
import (
"fmt"
"io"
"net/http"
"strings"
)
func main() {
payload := strings.NewReader(`{
"asset_id": "Msd59349ff",
"name": "My Awesome Upload with the background removed",
"transformations": [
{
"type": "background_removal"
}
]
}`)
url := "https://api.canva.com/rest/v1/image-transformations"
req, _ := http.NewRequest("POST", url, payload)
req.Header.Add("Authorization", "Bearer {token}")
req.Header.Add("Content-Type", "application/json")
res, _ := http.DefaultClient.Do(req)
defer res.Body.Close()
body, _ := io.ReadAll(res.Body)
fmt.Println(string(body))
}
GO
$curl = curl_init();
curl_setopt_array($curl, array(
CURLOPT_URL => "https://api.canva.com/rest/v1/image-transformations",
CURLOPT_CUSTOMREQUEST => "POST",
CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,
CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER => array(
'Authorization: Bearer {token}',
'Content-Type: application/json',
),
CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS => json_encode([
"asset_id" => "Msd59349ff",
"name" => "My Awesome Upload with the background removed",
"transformations" => [
[
"type" => "background_removal"
]
]
])
));
$response = curl_exec($curl);
$err = curl_error($curl);
curl_close($curl);
if (empty($err)) {
echo $response;
} else {
echo "Error: " . $err;
}
PHP
require 'net/http'
require 'uri'
url = URI('https://api.canva.com/rest/v1/image-transformations')
http = Net::HTTP.new(url.host, url.port)
http.use_ssl = true
request = Net::HTTP::Post.new(url)
request['Authorization'] = 'Bearer {token}'
request['Content-Type'] = 'application/json'
request.body = <<REQUEST_BODY
{
"asset_id": "Msd59349ff",
"name": "My Awesome Upload with the background removed",
"transformations": [
{
"type": "background_removal"
}
]
}
REQUEST_BODY
response = http.request(request)
puts response.read_body
RUBY

Success response

If successful, the endpoint returns a 200 response with a JSON body with the following parameters:

jobImageTransformationJob

Details about the image transformation job. If the job status is success, the job's result is present.

statusstring

The status of the image transformation job. A newly created job will be in_progress and will eventually become success or failed. A job may also complete immediately, returning success or failed from job creation. If the status is success, the job's result is present.

Available values:

  • failed
  • in_progress
  • success
idstring
Optional

The image transformation job ID. Only present if the job status is in_progress. A job that completes immediately returns its result or error directly and has no ID to poll.

resultImageTransformationJobResult
Optional

Result of the image transformation job. Only present if the job status is success.

assetobject

The new image asset produced by applying all of the requested transformations.

typestring

Type of an asset.

Available values:

  • image
  • video
idstring

The ID of the asset.

namestring

The name of the asset.

tagsstring[]

The user-facing tags attached to the asset. Users can add these tags to their uploaded assets, and they can search their uploaded assets in the Canva UI by searching for these tags. For information on how users use tags, see the Canva Help Center page on asset tags(opens in a new tab or window).

created_atinteger

When the asset was added to Canva, as a Unix timestamp (in seconds since the Unix Epoch).

updated_atinteger

When the asset was last updated in Canva, as a Unix timestamp (in seconds since the Unix Epoch).

ownerTeamUserSummary

Metadata for the user, consisting of the User ID and Team ID.

user_idstring

The ID of the user.

team_idstring

The ID of the user's Canva Team.

thumbnailThumbnail
Optional

A thumbnail image representing the object.

widthinteger

The width of the thumbnail image in pixels.

heightinteger

The height of the thumbnail image in pixels.

urlstring

A URL for retrieving the thumbnail image. This URL expires after 15 minutes. This URL includes a query string that's required for retrieving the thumbnail.

metadataAssetMetadata
Optional

Type-specific metadata for the asset.

typestring

Available values: The only valid value is image.

widthinteger
Optional

The width of the image in pixels.

heightinteger
Optional

The height of the image in pixels.

smart_tagsstring[]
Optional

AI-generated tags for the image.

typestring

Available values: The only valid value is video.

widthinteger

The width of the video in pixels.

heightinteger

The height of the video in pixels.

durationinteger
Optional

The duration of the video in seconds.

import_statusImportStatus
Deprecated

The import status of the asset.

statestring
Deprecated

State of the import job for an uploaded asset.

Available values:

  • failed
  • in_progress
  • success
errorImportError
Deprecated

If the import fails, this object provides details about the error.

messagestring
Deprecated

A human-readable description of what went wrong.

codestring
Deprecated

A short string indicating why the upload failed. This field can be used to handle errors programmatically.

Available values:

  • file_too_big
  • import_failed
errorImageTransformationError
Optional

If the image transformation job fails, this object provides details about the error. Only present if the job status is failed.

codestring

Error code indicating what went wrong with the image transformation.

Available values:

  • no_foreground_found: No foreground subject was found in the image, so there is no background to remove.
  • quota_exceeded: The user has run out of quota, such as their AI credit quota. The quota isn't necessarily specific to the requested transformations.
  • internal_error: An unexpected error occurred during the transformation.
messagestring

A human-readable description of what went wrong.

Example responses

In progress job

{
"job": {
"id": "450a76e7-f96f-43ae-9c37-0e1ce492ac72",
"status": "in_progress"
}
}
JSON

Successfully completed job

{
"job": {
"status": "success",
"result": {
"asset": {
"id": "Msd59349ff",
"type": "image",
"name": "My Awesome Upload with the background removed",
"tags": [
"image",
"holiday",
"best day ever"
],
"owner": {
"user_id": "oU123456AbCdE",
"team_id": "oB123456AbCdE"
},
"created_at": 1377396000,
"updated_at": 1692928800,
"thumbnail": {
"width": 595,
"height": 335,
"url": "https://document-export.canva.com/Vczz9/zF9vzVtdADc/2/thumbnail/0001.png?<query-string>"
}
}
}
}
}
JSON

Failed job

{
"job": {
"status": "failed",
"error": {
"code": "no_foreground_found",
"message": "No foreground subject was found in the image, so there is no background to remove."
}
}
}
JSON

Error responses

400 Bad Request

codestring

A short string indicating what failed. This field can be used to handle errors programmatically. For a complete list of error codes, see Error responses.

messagestring

A human-readable description of what went wrong.

Example error responses

The request field does not match expected format
{
"code": "invalid_request",
"message": "{fieldValue} does not match expected format for {fieldName}"
}
JSON
The asset is not an image asset
{
"code": "unsupported_content_type",
"message": "Asset is not an image asset: {assetId}"
}
JSON
The asset is still being uploaded, so it can't be transformed yet
{
"code": "asset_not_ready",
"message": "Asset is still being uploaded and has no image to transform yet: {assetId}"
}
JSON

401 Unauthorized

codestring

A short string indicating what failed. This field can be used to handle errors programmatically. For a complete list of error codes, see Error responses.

messagestring

A human-readable description of what went wrong.

Example error responses

The OAuth client credentials are invalid
{
"code": "invalid_client",
"message": "Client {clientId} not available"
}
JSON
Access token could not be decoded or signature could not be verified.
{
"code": "invalid_access_token",
"message": "Access token is invalid"
}
JSON
Client credentials or body auth are missing from the request
{
"code": "invalid_client",
"message": "Client credentials or body auth are missing from the request."
}
JSON
Authorization header has wrong number of components
{
"code": "invalid_access_token",
"message": "Malformed Authorization header: wrong number of components"
}
JSON
Authorization header has invalid mode
{
"code": "invalid_access_token",
"message": "Malformed Authorization header: invalid mode"
}
JSON
Token couldn't be introspected
{
"code": "invalid_access_token",
"message": "Token couldn't be introspected"
}
JSON
Access token is revoked
{
"code": "revoked_access_token",
"message": "Access token is revoked"
}
JSON
Missing Authorization header
{
"code": "invalid_access_token",
"message": "Missing Authorization header"
}
JSON
Malformed Authorization header
{
"code": "invalid_access_token",
"message": "Malformed Authorization header"
}
JSON

403 Forbidden

codestring

A short string indicating what failed. This field can be used to handle errors programmatically. For a complete list of error codes, see Error responses.

messagestring

A human-readable description of what went wrong.

Example error response

Image transformation is not enabled for this client
{
"code": "permission_denied",
"message": "Image transformation is not enabled"
}
JSON

404 Not Found

codestring

A short string indicating what failed. This field can be used to handle errors programmatically. For a complete list of error codes, see Error responses.

messagestring

A human-readable description of what went wrong.

Example error response

The asset was not found
{
"code": "asset_not_found",
"message": "Asset not found"
}
JSON

429 Credit Quota Exceeded

codestring

A short string indicating what failed. This field can be used to handle errors programmatically. For a complete list of error codes, see Error responses.

messagestring

A human-readable description of what went wrong.

quota_usageobject
Optional

Credit quota usage at the time of the error. Not present if quota data is unavailable.

Example error responses

User has reached their credit quota limit
{
"code": "credit_quota_exceeded",
"message": "User has exceeded their credit quota",
"quota_usage": {
"used_percentage": 100,
"resets_at": 1735689600,
"using_bonus_credits": false,
"upgrade_url": "https://www.canva.com/upgrade",
"is_admin": false,
"generation_pending": false
}
}
JSON
User is in a cooldown period after heavy credit usage
{
"code": "credit_quota_cooldown",
"message": "Credit quota cooldown is active",
"quota_usage": {
"used_percentage": 100,
"resets_at": 1735689600,
"using_bonus_credits": false,
"upgrade_url": "https://www.canva.com/upgrade",
"cooldown_ends_at": 1767182400,
"is_admin": false,
"generation_pending": true
}
}
JSON

Try it out

This uses your live Canva data.

This is not a sandbox/playground. This form performs API requests against your account's actual live Canva data. Make sure that you understand what the request is doing, as well as the requirements for each parameter detailed above.

Step 1: Enter your access token

To get started, generate an access token or provide your own below