roboflow-api-reference

name: roboflow-api-reference description: Protocol-level facts for Roboflow REST and Inference APIs — URL patterns, auth, parameters, error codes, and SDK quick-start. For deployment strategy and Workflow execution patterns, see roboflow-inference.

For agents — source-of-truth: This skill is authored in roboflow/computer-vision-skills and shipped with the Roboflow plugin. If your client has loaded the plugin (you'll see roboflow:<name> skills in your available skills list), use those local skills — they're read fresh from disk every session. The same content served as MCP resources at roboflow://skills/<name>/... is a fallback for clients without the plugin and may lag this repo. Don't call ReadMcpResourceTool for roboflow://skills/... URIs when a local roboflow:<name> skill is available.

Tip: If you're connected to the Roboflow MCP server, prefer its tools (projects_*, versions_*, models_*, workflows_*, images_*, …) over raw REST calls — they handle auth, pagination, and typed responses for you. The REST patterns below stay relevant if you're not using MCP.

Roboflow API Reference — Overview

API Hosts

Host	Base URL	Purpose
Platform API	`https://api.roboflow.com`	CRUD for projects, images, versions, training, upload
Serverless Inference	`https://serverless.roboflow.com`	Model inference + Workflow execution
Dedicated Deployment	`https://<name>.roboflow.cloud`	Private GPU inference (same API as serverless)
Self-hosted Inference	`http://localhost:9001`	Local inference server via `inference` package

Use the inference-sdk Python package as the preferred client for all inference hosts. It handles auth, retries, and response parsing.

Authentication

Method	Where	Format
Query parameter	All hosts	`?api_key=YOUR_KEY`
Request body	Platform API + Workflow inference	`"api_key": "YOUR_KEY"` in JSON body
Header	MCP server (`mcp.roboflow.com`)	`x-api-key: YOUR_KEY` (handled automatically by MCP)

API keys are workspace-scoped. Get yours from Workspace Settings > API Keys in the Roboflow dashboard (app.roboflow.com/{workspace}/settings/api). Personal API keys are at /settings/account → API Keys tab.

SDKs

SDK	Install	Primary Use
Python (`inference-sdk`)	`pip install inference-sdk`	Inference via `InferenceHTTPClient`
Python (`roboflow`)	`pip install roboflow`	Upload, training, project management
JavaScript (`roboflow.js`)	Browser script tag	Real-time on-device web inference
iOS (Swift)	CocoaPods/SPM	On-device mobile inference

Python inference-sdk Quick Start

from inference_sdk import InferenceHTTPClient

CLIENT = InferenceHTTPClient(
    api_url="https://serverless.roboflow.com",  # or dedicated URL, or localhost
    api_key="YOUR_KEY"
)
result = CLIENT.infer("image.jpg", model_id="your-project/1")

Python roboflow SDK Quick Start

import roboflow

rf = roboflow.Roboflow(api_key="YOUR_KEY")
project = rf.workspace("my-workspace").project("my-project")

# Upload
project.upload(image_path="image.jpg", split="train")

# Inference
model = project.version(1).model
result = model.predict("image.jpg", confidence=40).json()

Host Selection Guide

Task	Host to Use
Run model inference	`serverless.roboflow.com`
Run Workflows	`serverless.roboflow.com`
Upload images	`api.roboflow.com`
Manage projects/versions	`api.roboflow.com`
Start training	`api.roboflow.com`
High-throughput / SLA inference	Dedicated deployment URL
Air-gapped / on-prem inference	Self-hosted `localhost:9001`
Real-time video / webcam / RTSP	WebRTC via `inference_sdk.webrtc` against serverless or local — see `roboflow://skills/inference/workflows` ("Video Stream" section). Not a plain HTTP call.

Rate Limits

Serverless API: rate limits vary by plan
File upload max: 20 MB

roboflow://skills/api-reference/inference — inference URL patterns, request/response formats
roboflow://skills/api-reference/rest-api — platform REST API endpoints (CRUD, upload, training)