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Automate: create images by URL and API

Last updated October 22, 2026

In the template editor, Automate creates images and videos from your template without the design generator. You get an image URL that carries the values of your input fields, or a ready-made request to the API. Through the API, other software orders images from Bluepic. You only need the API tab if someone builds such a connection. You find Automate in the Share menu of the template editor.

This takes two steps:

  1. Create an image URL with your values in the Automate popup.
  2. Test a request to the API in the API tab.

Create an image URL

  1. Click Share at the top right of the toolbar. A menu opens.
    Share menu in the template editor with Automate highlighted.
  2. Click Automate. Bluepic saves the template, and the Automate popup opens in the Image URL tab. Your template's URL is at the top, a live preview below it. Every input field is a value in the URL, after an equals sign.
  3. Click a value in the URL. What comes next depends on the input field:
    • For a text:
      • Type your text and press Enter.
    • For an image:
      • Choose one of your images from the list.

    The live preview now shows your design with the new value.
    You see Query string is … bytes, the API accepts 2048?

    The part of the URL after the ? can be at most 2048 bytes long. Shorten a value or remove one.


    Automate in the Image URL tab: a value in the URL was changed and the live preview shows it.
  4. Click the gear to the right of the URL. The URL settings popup opens.
    URL settings with Readable alias, Format and Scale.
  5. Choose the settings for your URL:
    • Readable alias: a readable name in the URL instead of the template's ID. When you tick it, you choose under Scope whether the URL sits under Personal or under your team, and type the name under Alias. Save saves the alias. It applies to the template right away, not only to this URL. If you later change the alias or your team's URL scope, URLs with the old name stop working.
    • Canvas: which canvas is rendered. Only there when the template has several canvases.
    • Format: the file type, for example png or jpeg, for animations mp4 or mov.
    • Scale: the size of the file, from @0.5x to @4x.
  6. Click the icon with the two pages to the right of the URL. This is Copy URL. The URL is now on your clipboard. Anyone who knows it can open the file. So don't put private data into it.
    Right end of the URL bar in the Image URL tab with the icons Copy URL, Open in a new tab and the gear highlighted.
  7. Click the icon with the arrow leaving a box. This is Open in a new tab. The file opens in a new browser tab.
  8. Check that the file shows your values and has the right file type.
    The file doesn't show your values?

    If the render fails, the URL returns the template's saved preview image instead of an error. Check the values in the URL. The safest way is to copy the URL again from Automate.

Image URLs run on image.bluepic.io, videos on video.bluepic.io. You can use them anywhere an image or video is loaded from a link.

Test an API request

  1. Click the API tab at the top of the Automate popup. The top line now reads POST https://api.bluepic.io/v1/renders. Below it you see the same request as a curl command, with the values from the Image URL tab and your API key. If you don't have an API key yet, Studio creates one for you.
    You see No API key: …?

    Studio couldn't create an API key for you. Create one under Settings → Developer → Keys and open Automate again.

  2. If your application shouldn't wait for the file, tick Render as a job. The API then answers right away with a job instead of the file. You query it with GET /v1/renders/{id}, or you enter a webhook URL that Bluepic calls with the result. The result is kept for 30 days.
  3. Click the triangle at the top right. This is Send request. Bluepic renders your design through the API. The result appears in place of the live preview, with its status, file type, size and duration below. This is a real render and costs credits. If it comes from the cache, it says "from cache, not billed".
    Automate in the API tab with the curl command; the key is hidden. The Send request button is marked.
  4. Click Back to live preview. The live preview appears again. Download next to it saves the result first.
  5. Click the icon with the two pages. This is Copy as curl. The command is now on your clipboard. It contains your API key, so don't share it.

To build the request further, click Open in Explorer. The Explorer in the developer area opens in a new tab with your template already selected.

Costs

  • A new image from an image URL or the API costs 0.01 credit.
  • A new video from a video URL or the API costs 0.1 credit.
  • If a result comes from the cache because exactly these values were rendered before, it is not billed.
  • When the credits run out, URLs keep returning their file, but with a watermark.