/images/search API returns no pagination information for my API key, but does for DEMO-API-KEY

#1

HI there, thanks so much for making the Cats Api. I have a problem with the API not returning pagination headers.

My code first calls https://api.thecatapi.com/v1/breeds. I pass the API key that I obtained from you and no query params. The API call returns the 3 pagination headers successfully.

Next, again using my own API key, the code calls https://api.thecatapi.com/v1/images/search limit=8&page=0&order=DESC&. No pagination headers are returned. I don’t understand why this is the case, because it looks like the API request is correctly formed.

If I change my code to use DEMO-API-KEY in place of my API key, then the /images/search call works as expected, returning the 3 pagination headers.

What am I missing here? Thanks in advance.

#2

Screen Shot 2022-05-23 at 11.35.33 am
Screen Shot 2022-05-23 at 11.35.33 am1915×1248 816 KB

You should be able to see the pagination headers in the response, as shown in the example with the chrome inspector open

#3

Good find on the lack of PAgination headers when authenticating via an api_key - it looks like the Pagination headers are only returned if the api_key / x-api-key is valid. If it is not then no pagination headers are returned

#4

Thanks for your response. I generated a new API key and now I do get Pagination headers.

It looks like I dropped a digit from my original API key when copying it from the email. So that’s why I wasn’t getting the headers.

I would expect the server to give me some kind of error with an invalid key rather than silently (mostly) working. Do you agree?

#5

I completely agree. The API will throw an error if you try to write any data to your account with an Invalid key, or GET ./images, ./facts ./jokes ./votes or ./favourites - however with the GET ./images/search endpoint it does not

I’ll add it to the list for the next release - thanks for the feedback, it’s always appreciated