remove.bg API migration: switch to PixMiller before 1 December 2026

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remove.bg's self-service API stops accepting requests on 1 December 2026. This repository helps you move a remove.bg background-removal integration to PixMiller. PixMiller serves a remove.bg-compatible endpoint, POST /v1.0/removebg: the same X-Api-Key header, the same form fields, 200 with the image bytes, the same X-* headers and the same error envelope.

It contains:

• a migration guide that lists every difference up front;
• copy-paste examples in 7 languages, tested in CI;
• a script that finds every remove.bg call in your codebase;
• an AI agent skill that does the migration for you in Claude Code, Codex, Cursor and others.

- curl -X POST "https://api.remove.bg/v1.0/removebg" \
-   -H "X-Api-Key: $REMOVEBG_KEY" \
+ curl -X POST "https://api.pixmiller.com/v1.0/removebg" \
+   -H "X-Api-Key: $PIXMILLER_API_KEY" \
    -F "image_file=@product.jpg" \
    -F "size=auto" \
    -o out.png

If your code calls the API with its own HTTP client, the usual change is the base URL and the key. It is not a guaranteed drop-in for remove.bg's official SDKs. Read the differences before you switch.

What is happening to remove.bg

What	Details
1 Dec 2026, 09:00 CET	The standalone remove.bg website closes. Background removal moves to Canva.
Self-service API	Stops accepting requests the same day. remove.bg points users to Leonardo.Ai, whose migration guide requires code changes: a new endpoint, Bearer auth and a JSON request body.
Unused pay-as-you-go credits	remove.bg says they expire when the site closes.
Enterprise API contracts	Not affected, according to remove.bg.

Sources: the remove.bg site banner and the remove.bg API page, checked 1 October 2026.

Quick start (5 minutes)

1. Create an account: pixmiller.com/accounts/signup. Email or Google.

2. Copy your API key: pixmiller.com/users/~api, then check it. This call is free:

   export PIXMILLER_API_KEY="..."
   curl -s https://api.pixmiller.com/v1.0/account -H "X-Api-Key: $PIXMILLER_API_KEY"

3. Change the base URL and key, and set size (auto or a paid tier, see below). Previews are free, so you can test before you buy credits. Pay-as-you-go credits never expire.

Step-by-step guide: docs/getting-started.md.

What is the same

• Path /v1.0/removebg, the X-Api-Key header, and multipart, form or JSON bodies.
• image_file, image_url, image_file_b64, format (incl. zip), crop, crop_margin, roi, scale, position, channels, bg_color, bg_image_file, bg_image_url.
• 200 OK with the image bytes, or the base64 envelope with Accept: application/json.
• X-Credits-Charged, X-Width, X-Height, X-Type, X-Foreground-*, X-RateLimit-*.
• {"errors":[{"code","title"}]}, with remove.bg's status codes and error codes.
• GET /v1.0/account with data.attributes.credits.
• Browser calls work (CORS is enabled, no cookies). Never put your key in public front-end code: call through your own backend, or let users bring their own key. See Calling from a browser.

What is different

Important

1. size defaults to preview, which is a free, watermarked image up to 640 px. Send size=auto (full resolution while credits last) or full / hd / 4k / medium / 50MP (1 credit each). regular, the PyPI SDK default, is the watermarked preview too.
2. 40 images per minute per key (remove.bg: 500). Handle 429 with Retry-After.
3. Shadows (add_shadow, shadow_*) and semitransparency are accepted but not rendered.
4. Max input 20 MB (remove.bg: 22 MB). There are no free monthly HD calls; previews are free with no quota.
5. X-Type is a coarse class: person, product, animal, car or other.
6. No SDK-level compatibility promise. The PyPI removebg, npm remove.bg and removebg-cli clients passed our tests on 2026-09-22, but we do not re-test them on every release. See docs/client-libraries.md.

Full parameter, header and error reference: docs/migration-guide.md.

Examples

All of them read PIXMILLER_API_KEY, send size=auto, retry on 429 and print remove.bg-style errors. CI runs them on every push against a contract stub.

Language	File	Run
curl	examples/curl/remove-background.sh	./remove-background.sh in.jpg out.png
Python	examples/python/remove_background.py	python remove_background.py in.jpg out.png
Python (batch, rate-limited)	examples/python/batch_remove_bg.py	python batch_remove_bg.py ./in ./out
Python (keep the removebg SDK)	examples/python/patch_removebg_sdk.py	python patch_removebg_sdk.py in.jpg
Node.js 18+	examples/node/remove-background.mjs	node remove-background.mjs in.jpg out.png
PHP	examples/php/remove-background.php	php remove-background.php in.jpg out.png
Go	examples/go/main.go	go run . in.jpg out.png
Ruby	examples/ruby/remove_background.rb	ruby remove_background.rb in.jpg out.png
Java 11+	examples/java/RemoveBackground.java	java RemoveBackground.java in.jpg out.png

Let an AI agent do the migration

The remove-bg-migration skill teaches a coding agent the whole job. It finds every call site, classifies each integration (raw HTTP, PyPI removebg, npm remove.bg, CLI or no-code), walks you through the account and key, edits the code, and verifies the result without spending credits. It asks before any paid call and never touches your key.

Claude Code

/plugin marketplace add PixMiller/remove-bg-migration
/plugin install remove-bg-migration@pixmiller

Any agent supported by skills.sh (Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Gemini CLI, GitHub Copilot, Windsurf, …)

npx skills add PixMiller/remove-bg-migration

Manual: copy skills/remove-bg-migration into ~/.claude/skills/ (Claude Code) or ~/.agents/skills/ (Codex and other agents).

Then ask: "Migrate this project from remove.bg to PixMiller."

Tools

Script	What it does	Cost
scripts/find-removebg-usages.sh	Lists remove.bg endpoints, SDK imports, key variables and size values in a codebase	read-only
scripts/verify-key.sh	Checks the key and makes one preview call	free
scripts/smoke-test.sh	Checks auth, preview, JSON envelope and error codes; --paid adds one full-resolution call	free, or 1 credit with --paid

# Scan your project without cloning this repo
bash <(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/PixMiller/remove-bg-migration/main/scripts/find-removebg-usages.sh) /path/to/project

Videos

API migration in 60 s (developers)	API 迁移（中文，53 秒）
Website users: switch in 38 s	Batch users: 50 images at a time

Not a developer?

If you used the remove.bg website rather than the API:

• Single images: pixmiller.com/remove-bg-alternative. The preview is free, and you pay only when you download HD.
• Up to 50 images at once: the batch background remover. It takes loose files or a ZIP and keeps the original file names.
• PixMiller is available in 12 languages and accepts card, PayPal, Alipay and WeChat Pay.

Documentation

• Getting started: account, API key, credits
• Migration guide: every parameter, header and error code
• Client libraries: PyPI removebg, npm remove.bg, removebg-cli, Zapier, Make, n8n
• Production checklist: rollout, rate limits, monitoring
• FAQ
• Official guide on the website: pixmiller.com/api-docs/remove-bg-migration

Contributing

Did you migrate a library, framework or no-code tool that is not covered here? Pull requests with tested examples are welcome. If something in this repo disagrees with the API's real behaviour, please open an issue. To run the example tests locally, use ./tests/run-examples.sh. It needs no API key.

License and disclaimer

Code and docs are released under the MIT License. The videos in the releases are © Ullr AI Lab.

PixMiller is not affiliated with remove.bg, Canva or Leonardo.Ai. Product names are used for identification only. Facts about those services are quoted from their public pages as of September–October 2026.