How to Create Instant URLs?

What are Instant URLs?

Instant URLs are dynamic image URLs bound to a single Image Template. Once created, you can render images on-the-fly by appending parameters to the URL, with no API request needed per image.

🐻 Create Instant URLs via Client Libraries

• Ruby — github.com/BannerbearHQ/bannerbear-ruby
• Node — github.com/BannerbearHQ/bannerbear-node
• PHP — github.com/BannerbearHQ/bannerbear-php
• Phython — github.com/BannerbearHQ/bannerbear-python

Each Instant URL has a mode (how parameters are encoded) and a security setting.

Modes

• Encoded — encodes your URL using Base64
• Named Params — human-readable URLs with editable query parameters

Security

• Signed — Signed URLs require an HMAC signature for tamper protection
• Open — No signature is required, but your URLs can be tampered with by anyone with access to it

Use signed security for production: requests are validated with an HMAC signature derived from the signing_key returned at creation. The signing key is only returned once — store it immediately.

Create Instant URLs

1. Under Integrations, click More →
2. Select Instant URLs
3. Click Create Instant URL

🐻 Bear Tip: Create Instant URLs via the API https://developers.bannerbear.com/v5/#post-v5-instant_urls

How to Build a URL

Named Params -  human-readable URLs with editable query parameters

1. Build query parameters in the format layer_name:attribute=value
2. URL-encode all values
3. Example: ?Title:text=Hello+World&Logo:background-image=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.bannerbear.com%2Fsample_images%2Fplaceholder_square.png

Encoded - encodes your URL using Base64

1. Build a JSON object with the same modifications  structure as a standard API request
2. Base64-encode the JSON string
3. Append it as ?modifications=

Signature Steps

1. Build the full URL without the &s= parameter
2. Calculate HMAC_SHA256(signing_key, full_url_without_s_param)
3. Append &s=<signature> as the final parameter