Skip to main content

​

The TMDB API is a RESTful API provided by The Movie Database that gives developers access to a vast collection of movie, TV show, and actor data. It enables you to search for films, retrieve detailed information, and integrate multimedia content into your applications.
To get an API key, sign up for an account on TMDB and navigate to the API section in your account settings. There, you can generate a key which is required for making authenticated requests. For more details, see the TMDB API Documentation.
TMDB supports multiple authentication methods:
  • API Key Authentication: Used for general requests by including your API key as a query parameter.
  • User Authentication: For user-specific actions, you can authenticate using either session IDs or v4 authentication tokens (bearer tokens).
TMDB enforces rate limiting to ensure fair usage. Typically, you can make up to 40 requests every 10 seconds per IP address. Exceeding this limit will result in a 429 Too Many Requests error. It’s best to monitor your request volume and implement backoff strategies as needed.
The API returns data in JSON format, which makes it easy to parse and integrate with various programming languages and frameworks.
You can refer to the full TMDB API documentation here for comprehensive details on endpoints, parameters, and usage examples.
TMDB does not offer a separate sandbox environment. Instead, you can use your API key in a development environment to test your requests. Just be mindful of the rate limits and usage policies during testing.
If you run into issues, check the error codes returned by the API. The TMDB documentation provides details on each error code and troubleshooting steps. Additionally, community forums and TMDB support channels can be valuable resources.