Create asset upload job

Create an asynchronous job to upload an asset.

Starts a new asynchronous job to upload an asset to the user's content library. Supported file types for assets are listed in the Assets API overview.

The request format for this endpoint is an application/octet-stream body of bytes. Attach information about the upload using an Asset-Upload-Metadata header.

For more information on the workflow for using asynchronous jobs, see API requests and responses. You can check the status and get the results of asset upload jobs created with this API using the Get asset upload job API.

HTTP method and URL path

POST https://api.canva.com/rest/v1/asset-uploads

This operation is rate limited to 30 requests per minute for each user of your integration.

Authentication

This endpoint requires a valid access token that acts on behalf of a user. The token must have the following scopes (permissions):

  • asset:write

For more information, see Scopes.

Header parameters

Authorizationstring
REQUIRED

Provides credentials to authenticate the request, in the form of a Bearer token.

For example: Authorization: Bearer {token}

Content-Typestring
REQUIRED

Indicates the media type of the information sent in the request. This must be set to application/octet-stream.

For example: Content-Type: application/octet-stream

Asset-Upload-MetadataAssetUploadMetadata
REQUIRED

Metadata for the asset being uploaded.

Properties of Asset-Upload-Metadata
name_base64string
REQUIRED

The asset's name, encoded in Base64.

The maximum length of an asset name in Canva (unencoded) is 50 characters.

Base64 encoding allows names containing emojis and other special characters to be sent using HTTP headers. For example, "My Awesome Upload 🚀" Base64 encoded is TXkgQXdlc29tZSBVcGxvYWQg8J+agA==.

Body parameters

Binary of the asset to upload.

Example request

Examples for using the /v1/asset-uploads endpoint:

curl --request POST 'https://api.canva.com/rest/v1/asset-uploads' \
--header 'Authorization: Bearer {token}' \
--header 'Content-Type: application/octet-stream' \
--header 'Asset-Upload-Metadata: { "name_base64": "TXkgQXdlc29tZSBVcGxvYWQg8J+agA==" }' \
--data-binary '@/path/to/file'
SH
const fetch = require("node-fetch");
const fs = require("fs");
fetch("https://api.canva.com/rest/v1/asset-uploads", {
method: "POST",
headers: {
"Asset-Upload-Metadata": JSON.stringify({ "name_base64": "TXkgQXdlc29tZSBVcGxvYWQg8J+agA==" }),
"Authorization": "Bearer {token}",
"Content-Length": fs.statSync("/path/to/file").size,
"Content-Type": "application/octet-stream",
},
body: fs.createReadStream("/path/to/file"),
})
.then(async (response) => {
const data = await response.json();
console.log(data);
})
.catch(err => console.error(err));
JS
import java.io.IOException;
import java.net.URI;
import java.net.http.*;
import java.nio.file.Paths;
public class ApiExample {
public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException, InterruptedException {
HttpRequest request = HttpRequest.newBuilder()
.uri(URI.create("https://api.canva.com/rest/v1/asset-uploads"))
.header("Authorization", "Bearer {token}")
.header("Content-Type", "application/octet-stream")
.header("Asset-Upload-Metadata", "{ \"name_base64\": \"TXkgQXdlc29tZSBVcGxvYWQg8J+agA==\" }")
.method("POST", HttpRequest.BodyPublishers.ofFile(Paths.get("/path/to/file")))
.build();
HttpResponse<String> response = HttpClient.newHttpClient().send(
request,
HttpResponse.BodyHandlers.ofString()
);
System.out.println(response.body());
}
}
JAVA
import requests
import json
headers = {
"Authorization": "Bearer {token}",
"Content-Type": "application/octet-stream",
"Asset-Upload-Metadata": json.dumps({ "name_base64": "TXkgQXdlc29tZSBVcGxvYWQg8J+agA==" })
}
with open("/path/to/file", "rb") as file:
response = requests.post("https://api.canva.com/rest/v1/asset-uploads",
headers=headers,
data=file
)
print(response.json())
PY
using System.Net.Http;
using System.Net.Http.Headers;
var client = new HttpClient();
var request = new HttpRequestMessage
{
Method = HttpMethod.Post,
RequestUri = new Uri("https://api.canva.com/rest/v1/asset-uploads"),
Headers =
{
{ "Authorization", "Bearer {token}" },
{ "Asset-Upload-Metadata", "{ \"name_base64\": \"TXkgQXdlc29tZSBVcGxvYWQg8J+agA==\" }" },
},
Content = new StreamContent(File.OpenRead("/path/to/file"))
{
Headers =
{
ContentType = new MediaTypeHeaderValue("application/octet-stream"),
}
},
};
using (var response = await client.SendAsync(request))
{
response.EnsureSuccessStatusCode();
var body = await response.Content.ReadAsStringAsync();
Console.WriteLine(body);
};
CSHARP
package main
import (
"fmt"
"io"
"net/http"
"os"
)
func main() {
payload, _ := os.Open("/path/to/file")
defer payload.Close()
url := "https://api.canva.com/rest/v1/asset-uploads"
req, _ := http.NewRequest("POST", url, payload)
req.Header.Add("Authorization", "Bearer {token}")
req.Header.Add("Content-Type", "application/octet-stream")
req.Header.Add("Asset-Upload-Metadata", "{ \"name_base64\": \"TXkgQXdlc29tZSBVcGxvYWQg8J+agA==\" }")
res, _ := http.DefaultClient.Do(req)
defer res.Body.Close()
body, _ := io.ReadAll(res.Body)
fmt.Println(string(body))
}
GO
$curl = curl_init();
curl_setopt_array($curl, array(
CURLOPT_URL => "https://api.canva.com/rest/v1/asset-uploads",
CURLOPT_CUSTOMREQUEST => "POST",
CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,
CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER => array(
'Authorization: Bearer {token}',
'Content-Type: application/octet-stream',
'Asset-Upload-Metadata: { "name_base64": "TXkgQXdlc29tZSBVcGxvYWQg8J+agA==" }',
),
CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS => file_get_contents("/path/to/file")
));
$response = curl_exec($curl);
$err = curl_error($curl);
curl_close($curl);
if (empty($err)) {
echo $response;
} else {
echo "Error: " . $err;
}
PHP
require 'net/http'
require 'uri'
url = URI('https://api.canva.com/rest/v1/asset-uploads')
http = Net::HTTP.new(url.host, url.port)
http.use_ssl = true
request = Net::HTTP::Post.new(url)
request['Authorization'] = 'Bearer {token}'
request['Content-Type'] = 'application/octet-stream'
request['Asset-Upload-Metadata'] = '{ "name_base64": "TXkgQXdlc29tZSBVcGxvYWQg8J+agA==" }'
request.body = File.read('/path/to/file')
response = http.request(request)
puts response.read_body
RUBY

Success response

If successful, the endpoint returns a 200 response with a JSON body with the following parameters:

jobAssetUploadJob

The status of the asset upload job.

Properties of job
idstring

The ID of the asset upload job.

statusstring

Status of the asset upload job. This can be one of the following:

  • failed
  • in_progress
  • success
errorAssetUploadError
OPTIONAL

If the upload fails, this object provides details about the error.

Properties of error
codestring

A short string indicating why the upload failed. This field can be used to handle errors programmatically. This can be one of the following:

  • file_too_big
  • import_failed
messagestring

A human-readable description of what went wrong.

assetAsset
OPTIONAL

The asset object, which contains metadata about the asset.

Properties of asset
typestring

Type of an asset. Support for video assets is currently provided as a preview.

idstring

The ID of the asset.

namestring

The name of the asset.

tagsstring[]

The user-facing tags attached to the asset. Users can add these tags to their uploaded assets, and they can search their uploaded assets in the Canva UI by searching for these tags. For information on how users use tags, see the Canva Help Center page on asset tags(opens in a new tab or window).

created_atinteger

When the asset was added to Canva, as a Unix timestamp (in seconds since the Unix Epoch).

updated_atinteger

When the asset was last updated in Canva, as a Unix timestamp (in seconds since the Unix Epoch).

thumbnailThumbnail
OPTIONAL

A thumbnail image representing the object.

Properties of thumbnail
widthinteger

The width of the thumbnail image in pixels.

heightinteger

The height of the thumbnail image in pixels.

urlstring

A URL for retrieving the thumbnail image. This URL expires after 15 minutes. This URL includes a query string that's required for retrieving the thumbnail.

import_statusImportStatus
DEPRECATED

The import status of the asset.

Properties of import_status
statestring

State of the import job for an uploaded asset. This can be one of the following:

  • failed
  • in_progress
  • success
errorImportError
DEPRECATED

If the import fails, this object provides details about the error.

Properties of error
messagestring

A human-readable description of what went wrong.

codestring

A short string indicating why the upload failed. This field can be used to handle errors programmatically. This can be one of the following:

  • file_too_big
  • import_failed

Example responses

In progress job

{
"job": {
"id": "e08861ae-3b29-45db-8dc1-1fe0bf7f1cc8",
"status": "in_progress"
}
}
JSON

Successfully completed job

{
"job": {
"id": "e08861ae-3b29-45db-8dc1-1fe0bf7f1cc8",
"status": "success",
"asset": {
"id": "Msd59349ff",
"name": "My Awesome Upload",
"tags": [
"image",
"holiday",
"best day ever"
],
"created_at": 1377396000,
"updated_at": 1692928800,
"thumbnail": {
"width": 595,
"height": 335,
"url": "https://document-export.canva.com/Vczz9/zF9vzVtdADc/2/thumbnail/0001.png?<query-string>"
}
}
}
}
JSON

Failed job

{
"job": {
"id": "e08861ae-3b29-45db-8dc1-1fe0bf7f1cc8",
"status": "failed",
"error": {
"code": "file_too_big",
"message": "Failed to import because the file is too big"
}
}
}
JSON

Try it out

Step 1: Enter your access token

To get started, generate an access token or provide your own below