TMDB API

The Movie Database (TMDB) API provides rich metadata for movies, TV shows, people, and images; ideal for powering posters, details, search, and enrichment in apps and portfolio widgets. Official docs / getting started: TMDB Developer – Getting Started.

Key Features & Capabilities

• Access movie, TV, and person metadata (titles, overviews, release dates, credits, genres).
• Search endpoints for movies, TV shows, and people.
• Image endpoints and configuration for building poster/backdrop URLs (TMDB supplies image base paths & sizes via the configuration API).
• Session & authentication types: API key (v3), user authentication, and guest sessions for specific write actions (ratings, lists).
• Two API surface versions exist (v3 and v4), use the version appropriate for the features you need.

Authentication & Authorization

TMDB primarily uses an API key model for server-to-server requests (v3). For user-related actions (write: rate, favorite, lists) you can use guest sessions or full user authentication flows. Read the Authentication section in the docs for details.

Common approaches

• api_key query param (v3) for public/read requests.
• Guest sessions for anonymous user writes (no account sign-in).
• OAuth / user auth flows for account-scoped operations (v4 or user auth endpoints).

Typical Request Structure & Base URLs

• Base (v3): https://api.themoviedb.org/3/

• Common endpoints

  • GET /movie/{movie_id} movie details.
  • GET /tv/{tv_id} TV show details.
  • GET /person/{person_id} person (actor, director).
  • GET /search/movie search movies.
  • GET /configuration returns base image URL and available sizes (useful to construct poster/backdrop URLs).

Headers / params

• Many requests accept language and region query params. Images are returned as paths prepend the image base URL from the configuration endpoint to construct full image URLs.

Rate Limits & Policies

TMDB enforces rate limiting; check the docs for the current limits and best practices. Respect caching and avoid unnecessary repeated requests (cache configuration & popular responses).

Use Cases & Integration

• Enrich a Trakt or personal watch widget with high-quality poster images and metadata.
• Build search and discovery UIs (autocomplete search boxes, trending lists).
• Display cast and crew info for portfolio projects (e.g., “used TMDB to power movie detail pages”).
• Use configuration once at app startup to determine supported image sizes and base URL for cacheable poster requests.

Example: Get Movie Details

Request:

GET https://api.themoviedb.org/3/movie/550?api_key={TMDB_API_KEY}&language=en-US

Simplified sample response:

{
  "id": 550,
  "title": "Fight Club",
  "release_date": "1999-10-15",
  "overview": "A depressed man (Edward Norton) ...",
  "genres": [{ "id": 18, "name": "Drama" }],
  "poster_path": "/a26cQPRhJPX6GbWfQbvZdrrp9j9.jpg"
}

Advantages & Limitations

Advantages

• Comprehensive, community-backed dataset for movies/TV/people.
• Robust search and metadata ideal for UI enrichment and portfolio displays.
• Configuration API gives reliable image base paths & sizes to avoid hardcoding.

Limitations

• You must follow TMDB’s terms of use and attribute data where required.
• Some write actions require user/guest sessions, simple API key is often read-only.

Purpose

My usecase: TMDB to fetch poster art and metadata, then combine it with Trakt (or your own watch history) to show rich, image-driven widgets on your site. Fetch /configuration at app boot to determine image sizes; cache posters and metadata server-side to limit API calls.