Background Removal API

Endpoint

Send one image as multipart/form-data under the field name image. By default the API streams the transparent PNG straight back in the response body.

Quick start

cURL — save the result as a PNG

# Returns the transparent PNG directly
curl -X POST https://clearbackdrop.com/api/v1/remove-background \
  -F "image=@photo.jpg" \
  -o result.png

Prefer a JSON response with a hosted URL?

curl -X POST \
  "https://clearbackdrop.com/api/v1/remove-background?response=json" \
  -F "image=@photo.jpg"

Python

import requests

url = "https://clearbackdrop.com/api/v1/remove-background"
with open("photo.jpg", "rb") as f:
    r = requests.post(url, files={"image": f})

with open("result.png", "wb") as out:
    out.write(r.content)

JSON response

When you pass ?response=json:

{
  "success": true,
  "result_url": "https://clearbackdrop.com/static/images/processed/…png",
  "image_size": "1024x768",
  "processing_time": 2.41,
  "quota": { "limit_per_hour": 100, "remaining": 99 }
}

Rate limits

The free tier allows 100 images per hour per IP address. Every response includes your current usage in these headers:

Exceeding the limit returns 429 Too Many Requests. Check your remaining quota any time:

Duplicate detection: if you send a byte-identical image more than once, the cached result is returned instantly (look for the X-Cache: HIT header and "cached": true in JSON responses) — no need to store results yourself.

Built for AI agents MCP ready

ClearBackdrop speaks the Model Context Protocol, so AI agents (Claude, Cursor, or your own) can remove backgrounds natively — no glue code, no API key. Connect to the MCP endpoint over Streamable HTTP:

Add to Claude Code

claude mcp add --transport http clearbackdrop https://clearbackdrop.com/mcp

Or via .mcp.json / any MCP client

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "clearbackdrop": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://clearbackdrop.com/mcp"
    }
  }
}

The server exposes one tool, remove_background:

The tool returns the hosted result_url, dimensions, processing time, and remaining quota as structured JSON. It shares the REST API's rate limit and duplicate-image cache. Agents discovering the site programmatically can also read /llms.txt. Note: always use the non-www host (clearbackdrop.com) — the www host redirects and drops POST bodies.

Errors