Getting started
Media URLs
Photos and videos come back as FansMetric links that open anywhere — no API key needed. They expire after two hours, so save the media ID, not the link.
Current plan
Media links expire two hours after you receive them. Save the media id and ask for the file again when you need to show it. Never store the link itself.
What you get back
OnlyFans does not let anyone else open its photo and video addresses. Copy one out of a response and it will not load for you — it never would have.
So we swap those addresses out before you see them. What arrives instead is a FansMetric link that goes and fetches the file for you. It is an ordinary web address: open it and the photo or video appears.
Using a link
Nothing special is needed. Paste it into a browser, show it on a page, or download it with whatever you already use. There is no API key to add.
The flip side of that: anyone holding the link can see the file until it expires. Treat a link like the file itself and do not post one anywhere public.
- Videos play and skip around normally
- Do not edit a link — changing a single character breaks it
- Each connected account can load up to 300 files a minute
- Showing the same file again within the hour is free
Links expire after two hours
Every link expires two hours after it is created. That is on purpose: a link opens without a password, so a short life limits the damage if one gets out.
It also means a link is never worth saving. Save the item's id instead and ask for the file again when you next need to show it. You get a fresh link every time.
- One vault item:
GET /v1/{account_id}/vault/media/{media_id}?refresh=1 - Anything else: ask the same endpoint for it again
If a link does not work
A media link hands back the file rather than the usual response, so a problem arrives as a bare error code. All four are fixed the same way — ask for the item again.
403— the link expired, or something altered it. Ask for the item again.404— that OnlyFans account was disconnected or removed. Its old links are gone for good.429— that account loaded too many files this minute. Wait the seconds given inRetry-After, then try again.502— OnlyFans refused. Ask for the item again withrefresh=1.
Which files this covers
Only the files OnlyFans restricts are swapped. Everything else is already public and reaches you untouched.
- Swapped: photos, videos, GIFs and audio from posts, the vault, chats, stories and mass messages
- Untouched: profile pictures and cover photos, Giphy results, and the upload addresses you get back when uploading