4.5 KiB
🔗 direct-img.link
Live images in markdown, powered by search.
Give your AI a system instruction to embed images using direct-img.link and they just work — no uploads, no APIs, no tokens.
Usage
That's it. The image is searched, cached, and served.
How It Works
- A request hits
direct-img.link/<query> - If cached (within 30 days) → serves the image instantly from edge
- If not cached → searches via image API → compresses to WebP → caches in R2 → serves
URL Format
Use + to separate words, just like Google:
https://direct-img.link/orange+cat
https://direct-img.link/new+york+city
| Query | URL |
|---|---|
| orange cat | /orange+cat |
| spider-man | /spider-man |
| u.s. president | /u.s.+president |
| 90's fashion | /90%27s+fashion |
| "exact phrase" | /%22exact+phrase%22 |
For AI System Prompts
Add this to your system prompt:
When including images in your markdown responses, use https://direct-img.link/<query>
as the image URL. Use + to separate words. Example: 
Rate Limits
Global (Cloudflare WAF)
Applied to all requests before they hit any function:
| Rule | Limit | Action |
|---|---|---|
| Global rate limit | 60 requests/min per IP | Block for 1 min |
| Burst protection | 10 requests/10s per IP | Challenge |
Cache hits and new searches both count toward these limits.
New Searches (Cache Misses)
- 10 new searches per day per IP (resets at midnight UTC)
- Cache hits are unlimited (within WAF limits above)
Only fresh searches that call the image API count toward the daily limit. If your query is already cached by anyone, it's free.
Caching
- Images are cached for 30 days
- After expiry, the next request triggers a fresh search
- This keeps time-sensitive queries (e.g.
/us+president) reasonably current
Support
This is a free community service. Donations help cover API and infrastructure costs, and allow us to offer higher rate limits for everyone.
BTC Address: bc1qkqdmhk0we49qn74ua9752ysfxzd7uxqettymhv
Infrastructure
Cloudflare Resources
| Resource | Name | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| R2 Bucket | direct-img-store |
Stores compressed WebP images |
| KV Namespace | DIRECT_IMG_CACHE |
Query → cache existence + timestamp |
| KV Namespace | DIRECT_IMG_RATE |
Per-IP daily new-search counter |
R2: direct-img-store
Key is derived deterministically from the query — no need to store it in KV.
Key format: <sha256-of-normalized-query>.webp
Example: "orange cat" → a1b2c3d4...ef.webp
All images stored as compressed WebP.
KV: DIRECT_IMG_CACHE
Confirms a cached image exists for a query. The R2 key is derived from the same query at request time.
Key: normalized query (lowercase, trimmed, spaces from +)
orange cat
Value:
{"t":1719000000}
t = unix timestamp when cached. Useful for debugging and cache-age headers.
TTL: 30 days (expirationTtl: 2592000) — KV auto-deletes expired keys. No cron needed.
Size: ~20 bytes per entry. Free tier (1 GB) supports millions of entries.
KV: DIRECT_IMG_RATE
Tracks daily new-search count per IP.
Key: <ip>:<YYYY-MM-DD>
192.168.1.1:2025-01-15
Value:
{"c":7}
c = count of new searches made today.
TTL: 48 hours (expirationTtl: 172800) — generous buffer past midnight, auto-cleanup.
Cloudflare WAF Rules (Dashboard)
Set manually in Security → WAF → Rate limiting rules:
-
Global rate limit
- Match: URI Path starts with
/ - Rate: 60 requests per 1 minute
- Per: IP
- Action: Block for 60 seconds
- Match: URI Path starts with
-
Burst protection
- Match: URI Path starts with
/ - Rate: 10 requests per 10 seconds
- Per: IP
- Action: Managed Challenge
- Match: URI Path starts with
Environment Variables / Secrets
| Variable | Description |
|---|---|
BING_API_KEY |
Bing Image Search API subscription key |
Stack
- Cloudflare Pages — hosting + edge functions
- Cloudflare R2 — image storage (zero egress fees)
- Cloudflare KV — metadata cache + rate limiting
- Cloudflare WAF — global rate limiting + DDoS protection
- Bing Image Search API — image sourcing
direct-img.link — because  should just work.