Paste API for Bots, Scripts and Automation

Create Your First Paste with the API

You need an API key from a Creator Mode account. Send it as a Bearer token and POST a JSON body to /api/v1/pastes.

1. Create an API key in Creator Dashboard → API Keys and copy it. It is shown once.
2. Send the request below. Only body is required. The optional fields are title (up to 255 characters), password and as_button, and body can be up to 500,000 characters.
3. Read the url field of the 201 response and share it.

Request

curl -X POST https://pasterlink.com/api/v1/pastes \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "body": "Hello from the PasterLink API",
    "title": "My automated paste"
  }'

Response (201 Created)

{
  "id": 1,
  "slug": "k3Xw9QaB",
  "url": "https://pasterlink.com/paste/k3Xw9QaB",
  "title": "My automated paste",
  "body": "<p>Hello from the PasterLink API</p>",
  "as_button": false,
  "status": null,
  "seen_nbr": 0,
  "password_protected": false,
  "created_at": "2026-01-15T09:30:00+00:00",
  "updated_at": "2026-01-15T09:30:00+00:00"
}

Values such as id, slug and the timestamps are examples. Plain text is wrapped in paragraph markup when it is saved, so body comes back as HTML. The create response reports status as null. Fetching the paste afterwards returns its status, which is active for a new paste.

See the complete API reference

What You Can Automate with the API

API v1 covers paste management plus read access to analytics, profile and earnings data. It does not include webhooks or an SDK.

• Create pastes

  POST /api/v1/pastes

  Send a body (plain text or HTML) with an optional title, an optional password and an optional as_button flag. The response returns the paste and its public URL.

• Manage pastes

  GET /api/v1/pastesGET /api/v1/pastes/{slug}PATCH /api/v1/pastes/{slug}DELETE /api/v1/pastes/{slug}

  List your pastes 25 at a time, fetch one by slug, update its title, body, password or as_button flag, or delete it. These endpoints only reach pastes owned by the key’s account.

• Analytics

  GET /api/v1/analytics

  Total views and unique visitors for the period you choose (7days, 30days or 6months), a daily series, and breakdowns by country, device and referrer.

• Creator profile

  GET /api/v1/profile

  Your account and Creator Mode details, including total paste views, the unlock threshold and the profile bio.

• Bulk publishing

  Python bulk uploader

  A ready-to-run Python script that reads upload.txt (one paste per line) or upload.csv (title and body columns), creates each paste through the API and writes the new URLs to a file. If the API answers 429, it waits for the Retry-After time and retries up to 5 times before it stops and saves the URLs created so far.

• Earnings

  GET /api/v1/earnings

  Returns an enabled flag and a summary of finalized amounts, available balance and payouts. Earnings tools are optional and their availability can vary. Having access to the endpoint does not mean an account earns money.

Built for Real Automation Workflows

• Telegram, Discord and community bots

  When a reply is too long for a chat message, the bot creates a paste and posts the share URL instead. The bot keeps its API key on the server. See the Telegram paste tool for the full workflow.

• CI/CD logs and build output

  Send long diagnostic output to a paste and post only the link in the chat or the ticket. Redact tokens, hostnames and other sensitive lines first.

• Scripts and command-line workflows

  Publish generated text from a cron job, a shell script or a small program with one authenticated HTTP request.

• Bulk content migration

  Move a list of text entries into PasterLink with the Python uploader, which reads TXT or CSV input and records the URL of every paste it creates.

• Creator publishing workflows

  Automate paste creation while keeping the account features around it: paste management, the creator profile and the analytics endpoint.

• Support and customer-service tooling

  Turn a long diagnostic dump into a shareable paste and reference its link in the reply. Add a password when the content should not be open to anyone with the link.

Safety note: Do not publish passwords, API keys or other secrets in public pastes. PasterLink has no private visibility setting, so anyone with a paste's link can open it unless you add a password.

How the PasterLink API Works

These are the concrete behaviors you can rely on when you build against API v1.

Protocol and base URL

REST-style JSON over HTTPS at https://pasterlink.com/api/v1.

Authentication

Every request sends an Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY header.

Versioning

The version is part of the path (/api/v1). Every response carries an X-API-Version header. When a version is deprecated, its responses also carry Sunset and Deprecation: true headers. The versioning notes in the reference explain the policy.

Error format

Errors use one JSON envelope, {"error": {"code": "...", "message": "..."}}, with codes such as UNAUTHORIZED, FORBIDDEN, NOT_FOUND and VALIDATION_FAILED. Validation errors (422) add a details object with one entry per field.

Rate limit

All /api/v1 routes share a limit of 60 requests per minute for each API key. Going over it returns 429 with a Retry-After header.

Safe retries

POST /api/v1/pastes accepts an optional Idempotency-Key header. Repeating the same key with the same payload within 60 seconds returns the original response with an Idempotency-Replay: true header, and the same key with a different payload returns 409.

Ownership

A key acts as its owner. Lists only return that account’s pastes. Reading a paste that belongs to another account returns 404, and changing or deleting one returns 403.

Passwords

Responses include a password_protected boolean. The password itself is stored as a hash and is never returned.

API vs Web Paste Creation

The same paste can be created in three ways on PasterLink. This table compares them.

Create a paste in the browser

API Security Basics

• Send the key only in the Authorization header, and keep it on the server. Never put an API key in browser JavaScript, a mobile app or a public repository.
• PasterLink stores only a SHA-256 hash of each key. The plaintext key is shown once, when you create it, so store it in your secrets manager straight away.
• You can revoke any key in Creator Dashboard → API Keys. A revoked key returns 401 on its next request.
• A missing, unknown, revoked or expired key returns 401 UNAUTHORIZED. Accounts without Creator Mode cannot create API keys.
• The rate limit is 60 requests per minute per key, with 429 and Retry-After when exceeded.
• A key has the full access of its Creator Mode account to the endpoints above. There are no OAuth flows, scopes or IP allow-lists.

Comparing Paste APIs

If you're comparing paste APIs, PasterLink offers a versioned REST API for paste management plus creator analytics and profile data. Every service sets its own limits and rules, so check each one's documentation.

Comparing PasterLink with Pastebin?

Frequently asked questions