Poly Pizza API

Poly Pizza API v1.1

Poly Pizza (https://poly.pizza) hosts 10,000+ free low-poly CC0 and CC-BY 3D models. The API lets agents search, filter, and download them programmatically.

Authentication

All requests require an API key obtained from https://poly.pizza/settings/api (requires a free account). In this environment, the key is available as the POLY_PIZZA_KEY environment variable. Pass it as a header:

X-Auth-Token: <your_api_key>

The key must be present on every request. There is no OAuth flow — it's a static token.

Base URL

https://api.poly.pizza/v1/

All endpoints below are relative to this base.

Endpoints

Search models

GET /search/{query}

Returns models matching the keyword. URL-encode the query string.

Query parameters:

Example:

GET https://api.poly.pizza/v1/search/tree?limit=5
X-Auth-Token: your_key_here

Response shape:

{
  "cursor": "some_cursor_string_or_null",
  "results": [
    {
      "ID": "5EGWBMpuXq",
      "Title": "Oak Tree",
      "Description": "A simple low poly oak tree",
      "Creator": {
        "Username": "someartist",
        "PURL": "https://poly.pizza/u/someartist"
      },
      "Thumbnail": "https://...jpg",
      "Download": "https://...glb",
      "DownloadFBX": "https://...fbx",
      "Licence": "CC-BY 4.0",
      "Tags": ["nature", "tree", "foliage"],
      "TriangleCount": 320,
      "Animated": false,
      "PublishedAt": "2021-08-15T04:32:11.000Z"
    }
    // ... more results
  ]
}

Get popular models

GET /popular

Returns the most popular / trending models on the site.

Query parameters: same as search (limit, cursor, format, animated, tricount)

Example:

GET https://api.poly.pizza/v1/popular?limit=10
X-Auth-Token: your_key_here

Response shape is identical to search.

Get model by ID

GET /model/{id}

Returns full metadata for a single model by its unique ID.

Example:

GET https://api.poly.pizza/v1/model/5EGWBMpuXq
X-Auth-Token: your_key_here

Response is a single model object (same shape as an entry in results above).

Downloading a model

The Download field in the response is a direct CDN URL to the .glb file. To download it, perform a plain GET request — no auth header required on the CDN URL itself.

import requests

# First, search for the model
headers = {"X-Auth-Token": api_key}
resp = requests.get("https://api.poly.pizza/v1/search/chair", headers=headers, params={"limit": 1})
model = resp.json()["results"][0]

# Then download the .glb directly
glb_bytes = requests.get(model["Download"]).content
with open(f"{model['Title']}.glb", "wb") as f:
    f.write(glb_bytes)

Licenses and attribution

Always check model.Licence and record credits for CC-BY models. A minimal attribution line looks like:

"Oak Tree" by someartist (https://poly.pizza/u/someartist) CC-BY 4.0

Pagination

Responses include a cursor field. If it's non-null, there are more results. Pass it as ?cursor=<value> on the next request (keep all other params the same).

results = []
cursor = None
while True:
    params = {"limit": 24}
    if cursor:
        params["cursor"] = cursor
    data = requests.get(url, headers=headers, params=params).json()
    results.extend(data["results"])
    cursor = data.get("cursor")
    if not cursor:
        break

Error handling

On 429, wait at least 1 second before retrying. The API has no documented rate limit ceiling; hobbyist use is free, commercial use is pay-as-you-go.

Common patterns

Find best match for a keyword

1. GET /search/{keyword}?limit=5
2. Pick the result with the lowest TriangleCount that still looks appropriate, or the first result if the task doesn't specify poly count.

Batch fetch for a scene

Identify all needed asset types (e.g. "tree, rock, house, car"), then fire parallel search requests for each keyword. Collect the top result per keyword.

Download and save with attribution

import requests, os

def fetch_model(api_key: str, keyword: str, out_dir: str) -> dict:
    headers = {"X-Auth-Token": api_key}
    r = requests.get(
        f"https://api.poly.pizza/v1/search/{keyword}",
        headers=headers,
        params={"limit": 1}
    )
    r.raise_for_status()
    results = r.json().get("results", [])
    if not results:
        raise ValueError(f"No models found for '{keyword}'")
    
    model = results[0]
    glb = requests.get(model["Download"])
    glb.raise_for_status()
    
    safe_name = model["Title"].replace(" ", "_")
    path = os.path.join(out_dir, f"{safe_name}.glb")
    with open(path, "wb") as f:
        f.write(glb.content)
    
    attribution = None
    if "CC-BY" in model.get("Licence", ""):
        attribution = (
            f'"{model["Title"]}" by {model["Creator"]["Username"]} '
            f'({model["Creator"]["PURL"]}) {model["Licence"]}'
        )
    
    return {"path": path, "model": model, "attribution": attribution}

Notes

• Models are .glb (GLTF binary) by default, directly usable in Three.js, Babylon.js, Unity (with glTFast), Unreal, Godot, and most AR/VR frameworks.
• DownloadFBX is available on some models for Unity's native importer.
• The Thumbnail URL is a JPEG preview image, useful for showing a preview before downloading.
• Model IDs are stable — safe to cache and reference by ID later.
• The API key is obtained from https://poly.pizza/settings/api after creating a free account.