Free-to-use images with the credit line written
Search Openverse, NASA, The Met, the Art Institute of Chicago and the Cleveland Museum of Art at once. Every image says if you may use it commercially, edit it, and how to credit it, with a ready-to-paste attribution.
Who it's for
Anyone who needs this answer fast, from a person to an AI agent.
Find a hero image you are allowed to use and paste the credit line under it.
Illustrate generated articles with license-checked images, attribution included.
Public-domain art, maps, space and science photos for slides and reports.
One JSON schema across six open sources, filtered by license and orientation.
Try it
Type what you need. Every result shows its license in plain words and a credit line you can copy.
Raw JSON response
Real sample output
Captured from a live call to this API (trimmed for length).
{
"query": "lighthouse",
"license": "commercial",
"orientation": "any",
"results": [
{
"query": "lighthouse",
"rank": 1,
"title": "Lighthouse",
"imageUrl": "https://live.staticflickr.com/8530/8486376375_6ba6d387a8_b.jpg",
"thumbnailUrl": "https://api.openverse.org/v1/images/94f51e61-f870-47f7-bdec-49cd2eb5f173/thumb/",
"width": 664,
"height": 1000,
"orientation": "portrait",
"fileType": "jpg",
"fileSizeBytes": null,
"license": "by",
"licenseVersion": "2.0",
"licenseName": "CC BY 2.0",
"licenseUrl": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/",
"commercialUse": true,
"modificationsAllowed": true,
"attributionRequired": true,
"shareAlike": false,
"attributionText": "\"Lighthouse\" by Kenneth Moore Photography is licensed under CC BY 2.0. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/",
"attributionHtml": "<a href=\"https://www.flickr.com/photos/50276595@N03/8486376375\">"Lighthouse"</a> by <a href=\"https://www.flickr.com/photos/50276595@N03\">Kenneth Moore Photography</a> is licensed under <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/\">CC BY 2.0</a>.",
"creator": "Kenneth Moore Photography",
"creatorUrl": "https://www.flickr.com/photos/50276595@N03",
"landingUrl": "https://www.flickr.com/photos/50276595@N03/8486376375",
"source": "openverse",
"provider": "flickr",
"id": "openverse:94f51e61-f870-47f7-bdec-49cd2eb5f173",
"tags": [
"lighthouse",
"longbeach"
],
"dateCreated": null,
"licenseNote": null,
"status": "ok",
"fetchedAt": "2026-09-25T23:03:23.782Z"
},
{
"query": "lighthouse",
"rank": 2,
"title": "Cape May Lighthouse",
"imageUrl": "https://live.staticflickr.com/1776/42286725184_697c10579d_b.jpg",
"thumbnailUrl": "https://api.openverse.org/v1/images/bf8a5968-c8cb-4e7c-85f7-766d759addd7/thumb/",
"width": 683,
"height": 1024,
"orientation": "portrait",
"fileType": "jpg",
"fileSizeBytes": null,
"license": "by",
"licenseVersion": "2.0",
"licenseName": "CC BY 2.0",
"licenseUrl": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/",
"commercialUse": true,
"modificationsAllowed": true,
"attributionRequired": true,
"shareAlike": false,
"attributionText": "\"Cape May Lighthouse\" by Cape May MAC is licensed under CC BY 2.0. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/",
"attributionHtml": "<a href=\"https://www.flickr.com/photos/56767128@N02/42286725184\">"Cape May Lighthouse"</a> by <a href=\"https://www.flickr.com/photos/56767128@N02\">Cape May MAC</a> is licensed under <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/\">CC BY 2.0</a>.",
"creator": "Cape May MAC",
"creatorUrl": "https://www.flickr.com/photos/56767128@N02",
"landingUrl": "https://www.flickr.com/photos/56767128@N02/42286725184",
"source": "openverse",
"provider": "flickr",
"id": "openverse:bf8a5968-c8cb-4e7c-85f7-766d759addd7",
"tags": [
"cape",
"lighthouse",
"may"
],
"dateCreated": null,
"licenseNote": null,
"status": "ok",
"fetchedAt": "2026-09-25T23:03:23.782Z"
}
],
"count": 8,
"found": {
"openverse": 8,
"nasa": 4,
"met": 3,
"artic": 4,
"cleveland": 3
},
"sources": [
"openverse",
"nasa",
"met",
"artic",
"cleveland"
]
}Limits, plainly
Free and rate limited so it stays fast for everyone. A bulk and scheduled version for big lists is coming to the Apify Store.
- 20 calls per minute per IP address.
- Up to 12 images per call.
- One search phrase per call (max 100 characters).
- About 15 seconds per call at most.
- Free, no key. Always check the license link before publishing.
Use the API
JSON over HTTPS, CORS enabled, no key. GET for quick calls, POST a JSON body for lists. Spec: openapi.json · llms.txt
curl -s "https://commonkite.cybermax-tools.workers.dev/api/search?q=lighthouse&license=commercial&orientation=any&limit=8"
# lists: POST a JSON body
curl -s -X POST https://commonkite.cybermax-tools.workers.dev/api/search \
-H "content-type: application/json" \
-d '{"q":"lighthouse","license":"commercial","orientation":"landscape","limit":6}'import requests
r = requests.post("https://commonkite.cybermax-tools.workers.dev/api/search",
json={"q":"lighthouse","license":"commercial","orientation":"landscape","limit":6}, timeout=30)
r.raise_for_status()
for row in r.json()["results"]:
print(row)Endpoints: /api/search search free-to-use images with license and attribution
Add it to your AI agent (MCP)
A remote MCP server at https://commonkite.cybermax-tools.workers.dev/mcp (streamable HTTP, no auth). Read-only tools with JSON schemas, so agents know exactly what to send.
// Claude Desktop, Cursor, VS Code, any MCP client (remote, no key)
{
"mcpServers": {
"commonkite": { "type": "http", "url": "https://commonkite.cybermax-tools.workers.dev/mcp" }
}
}
# Claude Code
claude mcp add --transport http commonkite https://commonkite.cybermax-tools.workers.dev/mcp
# Tools: search_images
# e.g. search_images({"query":"red fox","max_results":3})search_images
Search openly licensed images by keyword across Openverse, NASA, The Met, Art Institute of Chicago and Cleveland Museum of Art. Each result has the image and thumbnail URL, size, license name and URL, yes/no flags for commercial use, editing and required credit, and a ready attributionText/attributionHtml. Use when you need an image you are allowed to reuse. Up to 12 results.
FAQ
Why not just use Google Images?
Google Images shows pictures from anywhere, most of them copyrighted, and leaves the license question to you. Commonkite only searches open collections and returns the license, what it allows and the credit line with every image.
Can I use these images commercially?
With the default filter, yes: every result is CC0, public domain, CC BY, BY-SA or BY-ND. Check commercialUse, modificationsAllowed and attributionRequired on each row, and follow the license link. Commonkite reports what the source states; it is not legal advice.
How do I credit an image?
Paste attributionText (plain text) or attributionHtml (with links) under the image. They follow the Creative Commons "Title, Author, Source, License" format.
Where do the images come from?
Openverse (openly licensed images from Flickr, Wikimedia Commons, museums and more), NASA Image Library, The Met, Art Institute of Chicago and Cleveland Museum of Art. Add sources=wikimedia for live Wikimedia Commons search.
Can I run thousands of searches or get new images on a schedule?
The free API returns up to 12 images per call. A bulk and scheduled version (new images only) is coming to the Apify Store.
Do you host or change the images?
No. Links point to the original files and pages at each source.