Docs / Templates / YouTube Thumbnail template

YouTube Thumbnail template

The youtube-thumbnail template renders a social image as a PNG. POST a JSON payload to the endpoint below and you receive a CDN URL in the response.

Endpoint

POST https://html2img.com/api/v1/templates/youtube-thumbnail
X-API-Key: <your-api-key>
Content-Type: application/json

Authentication uses the X-API-Key header. See the authentication docs for details on issuing and rotating keys.

Inputs

The full set of inputs the template accepts:

Name	Type	Required	Description	Example
`title`	string	Yes	Main headline shown in the image.	`I built a $0 SaaS in 7 days`
`eyebrow`	string	No	Text value for the eyebrow.	`CASE STUDY`
`duration`	string	No	Text value for the duration.	`14:22`
`host_name`	string	No	Text value for the host name.	`Devon Reed`
`host_avatar_url`	url	No	URL of the host avatar to include in the rendered image.	`https://i.pravatar.cc/160?img=33`
`background_image_url`	url	No	URL of the background image to include in the rendered image.	`https://picsum.photos/seed/yt-thumb/1280/720`
`background_color`	string	No	Hex colour code for the background.	`#0F172A`
`accent_color`	string	No	Hex colour code for the accent.	`#FACC15`

Defaults

Defaults applied automatically when not overridden in the request:

Option	Default value
`width`	`1280`
`height`	`720`

Code examples

curl -X POST https://app.html2img.com/api/v1/templates/youtube-thumbnail \
  -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"title":"I built a $0 SaaS in 7 days","eyebrow":"CASE STUDY","duration":"14:22","host_name":"Devon Reed","host_avatar_url":"https://i.pravatar.cc/160?img=33","background_image_url":"https://picsum.photos/seed/yt-thumb/1280/720","background_color":"#0F172A","accent_color":"#FACC15"}'

<?php
$response = \Illuminate\Support\Facades\Http::withHeaders([
    'X-API-Key' => 'YOUR_API_KEY',
])->post('https://app.html2img.com/api/v1/templates/youtube-thumbnail', ['title' => 'I built a $0 SaaS in 7 days', 'eyebrow' => 'CASE STUDY', 'duration' => '14:22', 'host_name' => 'Devon Reed', 'host_avatar_url' => 'https://i.pravatar.cc/160?img=33', 'background_image_url' => 'https://picsum.photos/seed/yt-thumb/1280/720', 'background_color' => '#0F172A', 'accent_color' => '#FACC15']);

$url = $response->json('url');

const response = await fetch('https://app.html2img.com/api/v1/templates/youtube-thumbnail', {
  method: 'POST',
  headers: {
    'X-API-Key': 'YOUR_API_KEY',
    'Content-Type': 'application/json',
  },
  body: JSON.stringify({
    "title": "I built a $0 SaaS in 7 days",
    "eyebrow": "CASE STUDY",
    "duration": "14:22",
    "host_name": "Devon Reed",
    "host_avatar_url": "https://i.pravatar.cc/160?img=33",
    "background_image_url": "https://picsum.photos/seed/yt-thumb/1280/720",
    "background_color": "#0F172A",
    "accent_color": "#FACC15"
}),
});

const { url } = await response.json();

import requests

response = requests.post(
    'https://app.html2img.com/api/v1/templates/youtube-thumbnail',
    headers={'X-API-Key': 'YOUR_API_KEY'},
    json={'title': 'I built a $0 SaaS in 7 days', 'eyebrow': 'CASE STUDY', 'duration': '14:22', 'host_name': 'Devon Reed', 'host_avatar_url': 'https://i.pravatar.cc/160?img=33', 'background_image_url': 'https://picsum.photos/seed/yt-thumb/1280/720', 'background_color': '#0F172A', 'accent_color': '#FACC15'},
)

url = response.json()['url']

Looking for a fuller integration sketch in your language? The usage guides cover PHP, Laravel, Rails, Python, JavaScript, React and Vue.

Response

A successful render returns:

{
  "success": true,
  "id": "abc123",
  "url": "https://i.html2img.com/abc123.png",
  "credits_remaining": 1234,
  "template": "youtube-thumbnail"
}

The url field is a CDN URL for the rendered PNG. credits_remaining tracks your monthly quota. Shared response fields are documented in the API parameters reference.

Errors

The template endpoint returns the following error responses:

422 Validation failed

Returned when one or more inputs fail validation. The errors object lists field-specific messages.

{
  "success": false,
  "error": "validation_failed",
  "errors": {
    "title": ["The title field is required."]
  }
}

404 Template not found

Returned with {"code": "template_not_found"} if the slug is not registered. Check the template list for current slugs.

401 Unauthorised

Missing or invalid API key. See the authentication docs.

429 Too many requests

You have hit the rate limit or used your monthly credits. The pricing page covers higher-volume plans.

Related templates

Instagram Square Post — Bold square images sized for the Instagram feed
Open Graph Image — Generate dynamic Open Graph images from JSON
Twitter/X Post Image — Generate share-ready images sized for Twitter/X posts
Facebook Post Image — Bold share images sized for Facebook feed posts

See the YouTube Thumbnail template in our gallery for sample renders and use cases.

Documentation