canonical: https://jentic.com/apis/cloudinary.com

# Cloudinary APIs

Cloudinary is a cloud media platform for storing, transforming, and delivering images, videos, and raw files. Its APIs cover two halves of media management: uploading and transforming assets on ingest, and administering the resulting library of resources, folders, and account usage. Jentic publishes and maintains the OpenAPI specifications for both Cloudinary APIs, keeping them validated and callable by AI agents. Together they let an agent add new media, tag and rename it, apply transformations without re-uploading, organize assets into folder hierarchies, and monitor storage and bandwidth against plan quotas.

## For AI agents

Across Cloudinary's APIs an agent can upload images, videos, and raw files, apply transformations and tags, rename or delete assets, organize them into folders, and inspect resource metadata and account usage. It covers the full media lifecycle from ingest and transformation through library administration and quota monitoring.

## Scope

Use for: Uploading, transforming, tagging, and organizing images, videos, and raw files in Cloudinary, and administering the resulting resources, folders, and account usage quotas.

Not supported:
- image content analysis
- facial recognition
- video transcoding pipelines
- raw object storage
- real-time streaming

## APIs

| API | Category | Endpoints | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Cloudinary Admin API | media | 11 | Administer Cloudinary media assets, folders, and account configuration. |
| Cloudinary Upload API | media | 6 | Upload and manage media assets in Cloudinary, including images, videos, and raw files. |

## Which API to use

| Need | API | Why |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Add new media, apply transformations, or tag and rename assets | upload-api | The Upload API creates and mutates assets: it uploads images, videos, and raw files, applies eager transformations, and handles tagging, renaming, and deletion. |
| List existing resources, organize folders, or monitor account usage | admin-api | The Admin API handles account-level administration: listing and inspecting resources by type, managing folder hierarchies, and reading storage, bandwidth, and transformation-credit usage. |
| Delete a media asset | upload-api | Both APIs can remove assets, but the Upload API destroy operation permanently deletes an asset and its CDN derivatives, while the Admin API delete works on listed resources by type and public ID. |

## Cross-API use cases

### Upload, tag, then verify against quota

An agent uploads a batch of product images with tags applied on ingest through the Upload API, then uses the Admin API to confirm the resources are listed and to check that storage and bandwidth remain below plan limits before continuing.

Example prompt: Upload product images with tags via the Upload API, then list the new image resources and read current usage with the Admin API to confirm storage is below the quota

### Organize a library and place new assets in it

An agent creates a folder hierarchy for a campaign using the Admin API, then uploads the campaign's media into those folders and tags it through the Upload API, keeping ingest and organization aligned in a single flow.

Example prompt: Create a campaign folder with the Admin API, upload assets into it and apply tags with the Upload API, then list the folder contents to confirm placement

### Audit and clean up a media library

An agent inspects resource metadata and usage through the Admin API to find oversized or untagged assets, then applies corrective transformations, retags, or removes them through the Upload API to reclaim storage.

Example prompt: List resources and read usage with the Admin API to flag oversized assets, then apply transformations or delete them with the Upload API and re-check usage

## Why Jentic

- **Setup:** Wiring Cloudinary by hand means configuring Basic auth with your API key and secret, computing upload signatures, and resolving the per-account api.cloudinary.com host for both the Upload and Admin APIs. Through Jentic you install once, add the Cloudinary APIs from the Jentic directory, store the key and secret once, and your agent calls either API.
- **Permission scoping:** Both APIs work within one cloud fixed by the cloud name and address assets by parameters rather than one id pinned in the path, so you scope the agent to the operations it needs, such as uploading, tagging, listing resources, or reading usage. Destructive operations like destroy or resource delete are only in reach if your rules include them.
- **Credential handling:** Your single Cloudinary API key and secret are stored once, encrypted, by your own Jentic One instance and injected as the Basic auth header at execution time, with upload signatures computed there. They never enter the agent's prompt, logs, or context.
- **Discovery method:** Agents search Jentic by intent such as 'upload an image to cloud storage' or 'check Cloudinary usage', and Jentic returns the matching Upload or Admin API operation with its input schema, resolving the cloud name parameter so the agent calls the right endpoint without browsing the reference docs.

## Related vendors

- **Imagga** — Image recognition and auto-tagging that pairs with Cloudinary storage to categorize uploaded assets by content.
- **Filestack** — Alternative file upload and transformation service with CDN delivery and a unified file picker.
- **Sirv** — Alternative image CDN and optimization service focused on e-commerce imagery with spin and deep zoom.
- **Backblaze** — Low-cost object storage alternative when raw file storage is needed without media transformations.

## FAQ

### What is the difference between the Cloudinary Upload API and Admin API?

The Upload API creates and mutates assets: it uploads images, videos, and raw files, applies transformations, and handles tagging, renaming, and deletion. The Admin API handles account-level administration: listing and inspecting resources, managing folder hierarchies, and monitoring usage. Use the Upload API to add and change content, and the Admin API to organize and audit what already exists.

### Do the two Cloudinary APIs share one set of credentials?

Yes. Both APIs use HTTP Basic authentication with the same Cloudinary API Key and API Secret, scoped to a single cloud name. One credential pair covers uploading, transformation, resource administration, folder management, and usage monitoring, so an agent set up for one API can call the other without a separate login.

### Can an agent both upload media and organize it into folders?

Yes. An agent can create and search folders with the Admin API and upload assets that target those folders through the Upload API. A typical flow creates a folder structure first, uploads and tags the media into it, then lists the folder to confirm placement, keeping ingest and organization aligned in one workflow.

### Why does Jentic maintain these Cloudinary specs?

Cloudinary does not publish an official OpenAPI specification for these APIs. Jentic generates and maintains both specs, validates them against the live API, and keeps them current so AI agents and developers can call Cloudinary through structured tooling instead of hand-reading the reference docs.

### How does an agent monitor storage and bandwidth while uploading?

The Admin API usage operation returns current-period metrics for storage, bandwidth, transformation credits, and API calls against your plan limits. An agent can upload media through the Upload API and then read usage through the Admin API to confirm it stays below quota before overages trigger extra charges.

### Can an agent apply transformations without re-uploading an asset?

Yes. The Upload API explicit operation applies eager transformations such as resizing, cropping, format conversion, and quality adjustment to an asset that is already stored, using its public ID. Cloudinary generates the derivatives and caches them on its CDN, so no new upload is required.