BYTETOOLS

Docker Hub API

Free Docker Hub API with no key for public images: repository metadata, pull counts, stars, tags and last-updated dates. Tested curl example and live JSON.

No API key requiredHTTPSFree tier

Endpoint tested and returned HTTP 200 on 2026-08-19

What is the Docker Hub API?

The Docker Hub API provides free, key-free access to public repository metadata — description, pull count, star count, available tags and last-updated timestamps — for any public container image.

Public repository data on Docker Hub is readable without authentication, which makes it easy to display image popularity, check available tags, or detect when a base image has been updated.

The pull count is the headline metric and is genuinely useful for judging whether an image is widely trusted. Note that anonymous pulls from Docker Hub are rate limited at the registry level — that is a separate concern from this metadata API, which is not.

Quick facts

Base URL
https://hub.docker.com/v2
Authentication
Public repository metadata needs no auth. Private repos and higher registry pull limits require a token.
Rate limit
No published limit on metadata reads. Image pulls themselves are separately rate limited.
Pricing
Free for public metadata.
CORS
Not enabled — call it from your server
Official docs
Read the docs

How to use the Docker Hub API

Every request below was executed against the live API on 2026-08-19, and the response shown is the real body it returned — not an illustration.

1. Fetch metadata for an official image

GET https://hub.docker.com/v2/repositories/library/nginx

curl
curl 'https://hub.docker.com/v2/repositories/library/nginx'
JavaScript (fetch)
const res = await fetch("https://hub.docker.com/v2/repositories/library/nginx");
if (!res.ok) throw new Error(`Request failed: ${res.status}`);
const data = await res.json();
console.log(data);
Python (requests)
import requests

res = requests.get("https://hub.docker.com/v2/repositories/library/nginx", timeout=20)
res.raise_for_status()
print(res.json())
Response — HTTP 200 (truncated)
{
  "user": "library",
  "name": "nginx",
  "namespace": "library",
  "repository_type": "image",
  "status": 1,
  "status_description": "active",
  "description": "Official build of Nginx.",
  "is_private": false,
  "is_automated": false,
  "star_count": 21360,
  "pull_count": 13277909756,
  "last_updated": "2026-08-19T19:51:34.274983Z",
  "last_modified": "2026-08-19T19:14:19.323791Z",
  "date_registered": "2014-06-05T19:14:45Z",
  "collaborator_count": 0,
  "affiliation": null,
  "hub_user": "stackbrew",
  "has_starred": false,
  "full_description": "# Quick reference\n\n-\t**Maintained by**:  \n\t[the NGINX Docker Maintainers](https://github.com/nginxinc/docker-nginx)\n\n-\t**Where to get help**:  \n\t[the Docker Community Slack](https://dockr.ly/comm-slack), [Server Fault](https://serverfault.com/help/on-topic), [Unix & Linux](https://unix.stackexchange.com/help/on-topic), or [Stack Overflow](https://stackoverflow.com/help/on-topic)\n\n# Supported tags and respective `Dockerfile` links\n\n-\t[`1.31.4`, `mainline`, `1`, `1.31`, `latest`, `1.31.4-trixie`, `mainline-trixie`, `1-trixie`, `1.31-trixie`, `trixie`](https://github.com/nginx/docker-nginx/blob/b8590bd36b4504b9b847fcf2e98a9111dcae85fa/mainline/debian/Dockerfile)\n\n-\t[`1.31.4-perl`, `mainline-perl`, `1-perl`, `1.31-perl`, `perl`, `1.31.4-trixie-perl`, `mainline-trixie-perl`, `1-trixie-perl`, `1.31-trixie-perl`, `trixie-perl`](https://github.com/nginx/docker-nginx/blob/b8590bd36b4504b9b847fcf2e98a9111dcae85fa/mainline/debian-perl/Dockerfile)\n\n-\t[`1.31.4-otel`, `mainline-otel`, `1-otel`, `1.31-otel`, `otel`, `1

Parameters

ParameterTypeRequiredDescription
<namespace>/<repository>pathRequiredImage namespace and name; official images use `library`. library/nginx
tagspathOptionalAppend /tags to list available tags. tags
page_sizeintegerOptionalResults per page on list endpoints. 25

Response fields

name / namespacestring
Repository name and owning namespace.
descriptionstring
Short repository description.
star_countinteger
Number of stars.
pull_countinteger
Total pulls — the main popularity signal.
last_updatedstring
ISO timestamp of the most recent push.
is_officialboolean
Whether this is a Docker Official Image.

What you can build with the Docker Hub API

  • Show image popularity and last-updated date in internal tooling
  • Detect when a base image has been rebuilt and trigger a rebuild
  • List available tags for a version picker
  • Audit which images your infrastructure depends on and how current they are

Common errors and how to fix them

404

Unknown repository, or an official image queried without the library namespace.

Fix: Official images live under `library`, so nginx is `library/nginx`.

401

The repository is private.

Fix: Private repositories require a bearer token obtained from the Docker Hub login endpoint.

Docker Hub API — frequently asked questions

Does the Docker Hub API need authentication?

Not for public repository metadata. Private repositories require a token, and separately, anonymous image pulls from the registry are rate limited.

How do I query an official image like nginx?

Official images live under the `library` namespace, so the path is /v2/repositories/library/nginx.

How do I list all tags for an image?

Append /tags to the repository path. The response is paginated, so follow the `next` link for images with many tags.

Is pull_count a reliable popularity measure?

It is the best available signal, but it counts automated CI pulls too, so very high numbers partly reflect build pipelines rather than distinct human users.

Tools that pair with this API

JSON Formatter

Format, beautify and minify JSON online with 2-space, 4-space or tab indentation. Sort keys alphabetically and catch syntax errors instantly — free and private.

JSON Validator

Free online JSON validator: validate JSON and find syntax errors with the exact line and column. See root type, key counts and depth — instant and 100% private.

Docker Hub is an independent third-party service and is not affiliated with ByteTools or ByteVancer. Details on this page were verified on 2026-08-19; always check the official documentation before relying on this API in production, as terms and limits can change.