Pexels API

Pexels API provides programmatic access to a large library of free stock photos and videos. Content can be retrieved by keyword search, curated and popular feeds, and featured collections. Nexla connects to the Pexels API as a data source so you can ingest photo and video metadata into your data flows.

Power end-to-end data operations for your Pexels API API with Nexla. Our bi-directional Pexels API connector is purpose-built for Pexels API, making it simple to ingest data, sync it across systems, and deliver it anywhere — all with no coding required. Nexla turns API-sourced data into ready-to-use, reusable data products and makes it easy to send data to Pexels API or any other destination. With comprehensive monitoring, lineage tracking, and access controls, Nexla keeps your Pexels API workflows fast, secure, and fully governed.

Features

Type: API

SourceDestination

• Seamless API Integration: Connect to any endpoint as source or destination without coding, with automatic data product creation
• Visual Composition & Chaining: Build complex integrations using visual templates, chain API calls, and compose workflows with data validation and filtering
• API Proxy: Expose curated slices of your data securely with a secure and customizable API proxy that validates and transforms data on the fly
• Request optimization with intelligent batching, retry, and caching to minimize API calls and costs

Prerequisites

Before creating a Pexels credential, you need a Pexels API key. Pexels authenticates every request with an API key sent in the Authorization header.

To obtain your Pexels API key, follow these steps:

1. Sign in to your Pexels account, or create a free account at pexels.com.

2. Go to the Pexels API documentation and open the API request page.

3. Request an API key. Anyone with a Pexels account can request a key, and it is issued instantly.

4. Copy your API key and store it securely. You will enter it when configuring your Nexla credential.

By default, the Pexels API allows 200 requests per hour and 20,000 requests per month. Higher limits are available on request for use cases that meet the Pexels API terms, including proper attribution. For full details on endpoints, response formats, and usage terms, see the Pexels API documentation.

Authenticate

Credentials required

Field	Required	Secret	Description
API Key	Yes	Yes	API key for Pexels API.

Create a credential in Nexla

1. After selecting the data source type, click the Add Credential tile to open the Add New Credential overlay.

2. Enter a name for the credential in the Credential Name field and a short, meaningful description in the Credential Description field.

3. Enter your Pexels API key in the API Key field. This is the key you obtained in Prerequisites. Nexla sends it in the Authorization header for all requests to the Pexels API and keeps it confidential.

   Treat your Pexels API key as sensitive information. If your key is compromised, request a new one from the Pexels API documentation page.

   For detailed information about authentication, endpoints, and usage terms, see the Pexels API documentation.

4. Click the Save button at the bottom of the overlay. The newly added credential will now appear in a tile on the Authenticate screen during data source creation.

Use as a data source

To create a new data flow, navigate to the Integrate section, and click the New Data Flow button. Select the Pexels API connector tile, then select the credential that will be used to connect to Pexels, and click Next; or, create a new Pexels API credential for use in this flow.

Endpoint templates

Nexla provides pre-built templates that can be used to rapidly configure data sources to ingest data from common Pexels API endpoints. Select the endpoint from which this source will fetch data from the Endpoint pulldown menu. Available endpoint templates are listed in the expandable boxes below.

[Rest API] List Photos Search

This endpoint template retrieves photos from the Pexels API that match a search query. Use this template when you need to ingest photo metadata for a keyword or topic into your Nexla flows.

• This endpoint returns photos from the search endpoint and reads records from the photos array in the response. The endpoint is paginated, and Nexla automatically fetches subsequent pages until no more data is returned.

For detailed information about search parameters, response structures, and available photo fields, see the Pexels API documentation.

[Rest API] List Photos Curated

This endpoint template retrieves the current set of curated photos from the Pexels API. Use this template when you need to ingest the photos handpicked and updated by the Pexels team.

• This endpoint reads records from the photos array in the response. The endpoint is paginated, and Nexla automatically fetches subsequent pages until no more data is returned.

For detailed information about response structures and available photo fields, see the Pexels API documentation.

[Rest API] List Collection Featured

This endpoint template retrieves the featured collections from the Pexels API. Use this template when you need to ingest metadata about the collections featured by Pexels.

• This endpoint reads records from the collections array in the response. The endpoint is paginated, and Nexla automatically fetches subsequent pages until no more data is returned.

For detailed information about collections and response structures, see the Pexels API documentation.

[Rest API] List Videos Search

This endpoint template retrieves videos from the Pexels API that match a search query. Use this template when you need to ingest video metadata for a keyword or topic into your Nexla flows.

• This endpoint returns videos from the search endpoint and reads records from the videos array in the response. The endpoint is paginated, and Nexla automatically fetches subsequent pages until no more data is returned.

For detailed information about search parameters, response structures, and available video fields, see the Pexels API documentation.

[Rest API] List Videos Popular

This endpoint template retrieves the current set of popular videos from the Pexels API. Use this template when you need to ingest the video metadata for content trending on Pexels.

• This endpoint reads records from the videos array in the response. The endpoint is paginated, and Nexla automatically fetches subsequent pages until no more data is returned.

For detailed information about response structures and available video fields, see the Pexels API documentation.

Once the selected endpoint template has been configured, click the Test button to the right of the endpoint selection menu to retrieve a sample of the data that will be fetched. Sample data will be displayed in the Endpoint Test Result panel on the right, allowing you to verify that the source is configured correctly before saving.

Manual configuration

Pexels API data sources can also be manually configured to ingest data from any valid Pexels API endpoint, including endpoints not covered by the pre-built templates, chained API calls, or custom request parameters. Select the Advanced tab at the top of the configuration screen, and follow the instructions in Connect to Any API to configure the API method, endpoint URL, date/time and lookup macros, path to data, metadata, and request headers.

Once all of the relevant settings have been configured, click the Create button in the upper right corner of the screen to save and create the new Pexels API data source. Nexla will now begin ingesting data from the configured endpoint and will organize any data that it finds into one or more Nexsets.