Create asset upload job via URL

Create an asynchronous job to upload an asset from a URL.

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 integrations 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 upload an asset from a URL to the user's content library. Supported file types for assets are listed in the Assets API overview(opens in a new tab or window).

Uploading a video asset from a URL is limited to a maximum 100MB file size. For importing larger video files, use the Create asset upload job API(opens in a new tab or window).

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 asset upload jobs created with this API using the Get asset upload job via URL API(opens in a new tab or window).

HTTP method and URL path

POST https://api.canva.com/rest/v1/url-asset-uploads

This operation is rate limited to 30 requests per minute for each user of your integration.

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: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

namestring
Required

A name for the asset.

Minimum length: 1

Maximum length: 255

urlstring
Required

The URL of the file to import. This URL must be accessible from the internet and be publicly available.

Minimum length: 8

Maximum length: 2048

Example request

Examples for using the /v1/url-asset-uploads endpoint:

curl --request POST 'https://api.canva.com/rest/v1/url-asset-uploads' \
--header 'Authorization: Bearer {token}' \
--header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
--data '{
"name": "My Awesome Asset",
"url": "https://example.com/my_asset_to_upload.jpg"
}'
SH
const fetch = require("node-fetch");
fetch("https://api.canva.com/rest/v1/url-asset-uploads", {
method: "POST",
headers: {
"Authorization": "Bearer {token}",
"Content-Type": "application/json",
},
body: JSON.stringify({
"name": "My Awesome Asset",
"url": "https://example.com/my_asset_to_upload.jpg"
}),
})
.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/url-asset-uploads"))
.header("Authorization", "Bearer {token}")
.header("Content-Type", "application/json")
.method("POST", HttpRequest.BodyPublishers.ofString("{\"name\": \"My Awesome Asset\", \"url\": \"https://example.com/my_asset_to_upload.jpg\"}"))
.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 = {
"name": "My Awesome Asset",
"url": "https://example.com/my_asset_to_upload.jpg"
}
response = requests.post("https://api.canva.com/rest/v1/url-asset-uploads",
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/url-asset-uploads"),
Headers =
{
{ "Authorization", "Bearer {token}" },
},
Content = new StringContent(
"{\"name\": \"My Awesome Asset\", \"url\": \"https://example.com/my_asset_to_upload.jpg\"}",
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(`{
"name": "My Awesome Asset",
"url": "https://example.com/my_asset_to_upload.jpg"
}`)
url := "https://api.canva.com/rest/v1/url-asset-uploads"
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/url-asset-uploads",
CURLOPT_CUSTOMREQUEST => "POST",
CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,
CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER => array(
'Authorization: Bearer {token}',
'Content-Type: application/json',
),
CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS => json_encode([
"name" => "My Awesome Asset",
"url" => "https://example.com/my_asset_to_upload.jpg"
])
));
$response = curl_exec($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/url-asset-uploads')
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
{
"name": "My Awesome Asset",
"url": "https://example.com/my_asset_to_upload.jpg"
}
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:

jobAssetUploadJob

The status of the asset upload job.

idstring

The ID of the asset upload job.

statusstring

Status of the asset upload job.

Available values:

  • failed
  • in_progress
  • success
errorAssetUploadError
Optional

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

codestring

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

Available values:

  • file_too_big
  • import_failed
  • fetch_failed
messagestring

A human-readable description of what went wrong.

assetAsset
Optional

The asset object, which contains metadata about the asset.

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).

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.

import_statusImportStatus
Deprecated

The import status of the asset.

statestring

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

A human-readable description of what went wrong.

codestring

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

Available values:

  • file_too_big
  • import_failed

Example responses

In progress job

{
"job": {
"id": "e08861ae-3b29-45db-8dc1-1fe0bf7f1cc8",
"status": "in_progress"
}
}
JSON

Successfully completed job

{
"job": {
"id": "e08861ae-3b29-45db-8dc1-1fe0bf7f1cc8",
"status": "success",
"asset": {
"id": "Msd59349ff",
"name": "My Awesome Upload",
"tags": [
"image",
"holiday",
"best day ever"
],
"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": {
"id": "e08861ae-3b29-45db-8dc1-1fe0bf7f1cc8",
"status": "failed",
"error": {
"code": "file_too_big",
"message": "Failed to import because the file is too big"
}
}
}
JSON

Try it out

Step 1: Enter your access token

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