Enlarge photos from code

Get an API key

Free needs no key in the CLI or MCP server. Pro needs an account with credits and an API key:

1. Sign in with your email. There is no password; we send you a link.
2. Buy a credit pack on your account page (see pricing).
3. On the same page, create an API key under API keys. It starts with enl_ and is shown once, so store it somewhere safe.

Send it as Authorization: Bearer enl_…. You can have up to 10 keys and revoke any of them at any time. Keys spend the credits of the account that made them.

REST API

Base URL https://enlarge.photos/api/v1. Requests and responses are JSON, except the upload (multipart) and the download (the image). Enlarging is asynchronous: create a job, poll it, then download the result.

• Each job costs one credit, any size up to 100 MP. It is taken when the job is created and refunded automatically if the job fails.
• Results are kept for 24 hours, then deleted. We delete the upload when the job ends.
• Rate limits: 30 per minute new jobs and 60 per minute deletes per account, and 20 per minute failed key checks per IP address.

POST/api/v1/upscale

Creates a Pro job. Send multipart/form-data; the answer is 202 with the job.

curl https://enlarge.photos/api/v1/upscale \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer enl_…" \
  -F [email protected] \
  -F scale=4

GET/api/v1/jobs/:id

Returns the job. status moves from queued to running to succeeded or failed, and a succeeded job becomes expired after 24 hours. Poll every 2 seconds. Only the account that created a job can see it.

curl https://enlarge.photos/api/v1/jobs/job_7Hk2mQ9xLp3vR8sT \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer enl_…"

{
  "job": {
    "id": "job_7Hk2mQ9xLp3vR8sT",
    "status": "succeeded",
    "engine": "pro",
    "mode": "standard",
    "scale": 4,
    "face_enhance": true,
    "format": "auto",
    "filename": "[email protected]",
    "input": {
      "width": 1200,
      "height": 800
    },
    "output": {
      "width": 4800,
      "height": 3200
    },
    "credits": 1,
    "output_bytes": 4182733,
    "error": null,
    "created_at": "2026-10-09T17:02:11.000Z",
    "started_at": "2026-10-09T17:02:11.412Z",
    "finished_at": "2026-10-09T17:02:24.903Z",
    "expires_at": "2026-10-10T17:02:24.903Z",
    "download_url": "https://enlarge.photos/api/v1/jobs/job_7Hk2mQ9xLp3vR8sT/download",
    "thumbnail_url": "https://enlarge.photos/api/v1/jobs/job_7Hk2mQ9xLp3vR8sT/thumbnail"
  }
}

GET/api/v1/jobs/:id/download

Returns the enlarged image. Before the job succeeds the answer is 409 not_ready; after 24 hours it is 410 expired.

curl https://enlarge.photos/api/v1/jobs/job_7Hk2mQ9xLp3vR8sT/download \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer enl_…" \
  -o [email protected]

GET/api/v1/jobs/:id/thumbnail

Returns a small preview of the result: a WebP image whose longest side is 384 pixels. A succeeded job links to it as thumbnail_url. Like the download, it answers 409 not_ready until the job succeeds and 410 expired once the result is deleted.

curl https://enlarge.photos/api/v1/jobs/job_7Hk2mQ9xLp3vR8sT/thumbnail \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer enl_…" \
  -o preview.webp

DELETE/api/v1/jobs/:id

Deletes the job and its files now, instead of after 24 hours. The credit is not refunded. While the job is queued or running the answer is 409 not_ready; wait for it to finish. A job that is already gone, or not yours, is 404 not_found.

curl -X DELETE https://enlarge.photos/api/v1/jobs/job_7Hk2mQ9xLp3vR8sT \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer enl_…"

{
  "deleted": true
}

GET/api/v1/jobs?limit=20

Your most recent jobs, newest first, as { "jobs": [...] }. limit is 1 to 100.

curl "https://enlarge.photos/api/v1/jobs?limit=20" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer enl_…"

GET/api/v1/me

The account the key belongs to and its credit balance.

curl https://enlarge.photos/api/v1/me \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer enl_…"

{
  "email": "[email protected]",
  "credits": 59
}

A full round trip

Create, poll and download in one script (uses jq):

export ENLARGE_API_KEY=enl_…

JOB=$(curl -s https://enlarge.photos/api/v1/upscale \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $ENLARGE_API_KEY" \
  -F [email protected] | jq -r .job.id)

# Poll every 2 seconds until the job leaves queued/running
while :; do
  STATUS=$(curl -s https://enlarge.photos/api/v1/jobs/$JOB \
    -H "Authorization: Bearer $ENLARGE_API_KEY" | jq -r .job.status)
  [ "$STATUS" = queued ] || [ "$STATUS" = running ] || break
  sleep 2
done

[ "$STATUS" = succeeded ] && curl -s https://enlarge.photos/api/v1/jobs/$JOB/download \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $ENLARGE_API_KEY" -o photo-enlarged.jpg

Errors

Every error has the same shape and an HTTP status that matches its code:

{
  "error": {
    "code": "insufficient_credits",
    "message": "This needs 1 credit and you have 0. Buy credits at https://enlarge.photos/account#credits. Questions: [email protected]."
  }
}

CLI

The enlarge command ships in the npm package enlarge-photos and needs Node 20 or later. Free runs the model on your machine and works offline; on a Mac it uses Core ML when it can.

npm i -g enlarge-photos

# Free: runs on your machine, offline, no key
enlarge photo.jpg

# Pro: our cloud AI, with your API key, asks before spending credits
export ENLARGE_API_KEY=enl_…
enlarge photo.jpg -e pro

Usage

enlarge <inputs...> [-s 2|4] [-e free|pro] [-f auto|jpeg|png|webp]
        [-o <file|dir>] [--force] [--yes] [--json] [--verbose]

Inputs are files or folders (JPEG, PNG and WebP; folders are not searched recursively). Results are named <name>@<scale>x.<ext> and existing files are never overwritten without --force.

Commands

Configuration and exit codes

• The key comes from ENLARGE_API_KEY, else from ~/.config/enlarge-photos/config.json (written by enlarge login, readable only by you; XDG_CONFIG_HOME is respected).
• Pro shows the credit total and asks before it spends anything. Progress goes to stderr, results to stdout.
• Exit codes: 0 success, 1 error, 2 usage error, 3 not enough credits.

MCP server

enlarge mcp is a local MCP server on stdio. Your agent hands it a file path; the image is enlarged on your machine (Free) or in the cloud (Pro) and saved as a new file. Without a key, only Free is available.

npm i -g enlarge-photos
claude mcp add enlarge -e ENLARGE_API_KEY=enl_… -- enlarge mcp

# Free only, no key:
# claude mcp add enlarge -- enlarge mcp

Tools

Long jobs report progress to clients that ask for it. Try: Enlarge ~/Desktop/photo.jpg 4x or How much would a Pro enlargement of this photo cost?