I Built a Free Meme API with 2,300+ Templates on Cloudflare Workers

CodeLong888 — Sun, 17 May 2026 05:24:11 +0000

Last month I wanted to add meme generation to a side project. Every meme API I found was either paid, rate-limited to hell, or had maybe 50 templates.

So I built my own. justmeme.wtf has 2,300+ meme templates, a free API, and runs entirely on Cloudflare Workers + D1.

Here's how it works and what I learned.

The Stack

Cloudflare Workers — handles all routing, SSR, and image generation
Cloudflare D1 — stores 2,300+ meme templates with metadata
Canvas API — server-side text rendering on meme images
No framework — vanilla JS, single index.js file

Total monthly cost: $0 (Cloudflare free tier covers it).

The API

The API is completely free, no auth required. Here's what you can do:

Get all templates

curl https://justmeme.wtf/api/v1/templates

Returns every template with its slug, name, text box count, and dimensions.

Get a specific template

curl https://justmeme.wtf/api/v1/templates/drake-hotline-bling

Returns template details including image URL and text box positions.

Search templates

curl "https://justmeme.wtf/api/v1/templates/search?q=brain"

AI meme generation

curl -X POST https://justmeme.wtf/api/v1/ai-generate -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{"prompt":"a cat coding"}'

Full API docs: justmeme.wtf/api-docs

Architecture Decisions

Why Cloudflare Workers?

I wanted zero cold starts and global edge deployment without managing servers. Workers spin up in less than 1ms and run in 300+ locations. For an image API that needs to be fast, this matters.

Why D1 over KV?

KV is great for simple key-value lookups, but I needed to query templates by category, search by name, and paginate results. D1 gives me SQL for free.

Image generation without Node Canvas

The tricky part was rendering text on images without node-canvas (which doesn't work in Workers). I used the built-in Canvas API available in Cloudflare Workers with the Browser Rendering binding. For simpler cases, I pre-compute text positions and overlay them on the fly.

SEO: Making Memes Indexable

Each of the 2,300+ templates has its own page at /meme/{slug} with:

Unique title and meta description (not just the template name)
Schema.org structured data
OG image that's the actual meme template
How-to content for each template
Related templates for internal linking

The sitemap splits across multiple files to stay under the 50MB limit.

What I'd Do Differently

Start with fewer templates. I loaded 2,300 on day one. Google flagged a lot as "discovered but not indexed" because the pages looked too similar. Starting with 200 high-quality pages and growing would have been smarter.
Add user-generated content earlier. Google values pages that change. A comment section or "trending memes made with this template" would help.
Build the API first. The website gets traffic, but the API is what developers actually link to. I should have launched the API on its own and marketed it to dev communities.

Try It

Website: justmeme.wtf
GitHub: JustMeme-wtf/justmeme-api
API docs: justmeme.wtf/api-docs
Make a meme in 10 seconds: justmeme.wtf

The whole thing is a Cloudflare Worker. If you're building something that needs meme generation, the API is free. Use it.

How to Check for Email Breaches Programmatically (Free API, No Key)

CodeLong888 — Tue, 21 Apr 2026 20:00:23 +0000

The Problem

You're building an app and need to warn users if their email has been compromised in a data breach. The options are:

HaveIBeenPwned API: Requires a paid API key ($3.50/month)
Build your own: You'd need to aggregate breach databases yourself
HackMyIP Breach API: Free, no key, JSON response

I built the third option. Here's how to use it.

Quick Start

curl "https://hackmyip.com/api/breach?email=test@example.com"

Response:

{
  "success": true,
  "data": {
    "email": "tes***@example.com",
    "breaches": 13,
    "services": ["Adobe", "Canva", "LinkedIn", "Dropbox", ...],
    "risk": {
      "score": 71,
      "level": "high"
    },
    "passwords": {
      "plain_text": 3,
      "weak_hash": 2,
      "strong_hash": 5,
      "total": 10
    }
  }
}

No API key. No signup. No rate limits for reasonable use.

JavaScript Example

async function checkBreach(email) {
  const response = await fetch(
    `https://hackmyip.com/api/breach?email=${encodeURIComponent(email)}`
  );
  const { data } = await response.json();

  if (data.breaches > 0) {
    console.log(`⚠️ Found in ${data.breaches} breaches!`);
    console.log(`Risk level: ${data.risk.level}`);
    console.log(`Affected services: ${data.services.join(', ')}`);

    if (data.passwords?.plain_text > 0) {
      console.log(`🚨 ${data.passwords.plain_text} passwords stored in plain text!`);
    }
  } else {
    console.log('✅ No breaches found');
  }
}

checkBreach('user@example.com');

Python Example

import requests

def check_breach(email):
    resp = requests.get(f"https://hackmyip.com/api/breach?email={email}")
    data = resp.json()["data"]

    print(f"Breaches: {data['breaches']}")
    print(f"Risk: {data['risk']['level']} ({data['risk']['score']}/100)")

    if data["passwords"]:
        print(f"Plain text passwords: {data['passwords']['plain_text']}")

    return data

check_breach("user@example.com")

All Available Endpoints

HackMyIP isn't just breach checking. It's a full privacy API:

Endpoint	Description	Auth
`GET /api/breach?email=x`	Email breach check (500+ databases)	None
`GET /api/ip`	Your IP + geolocation + VPN detection + privacy score	None
`GET /api/lookup?ip=x`	Look up any IP address	None
`GET /api/score`	IP cleanliness grade (A-D) + VPN detection	None

All endpoints return JSON with CORS enabled. Use from any domain.

Comparison with Alternatives

Feature	HackMyIP	HaveIBeenPwned	LeakCheck
Price	Free	$3.50/month	Freemium
API Key Required	No	Yes	Yes
Breach Check	✅	✅	✅
Risk Scoring	✅	❌	❌
Password Analysis	✅	❌	✅
IP Geolocation	✅	❌	❌
VPN Detection	✅	❌	❌
Privacy Score	✅	❌	❌
CORS	✅	❌	❌

npm Package

npm install hackmyip

const { checkBreach, getMyIP, getPrivacyScore } = require('hackmyip');

const breach = await checkBreach('user@example.com');
const ip = await getMyIP();
const score = await getPrivacyScore();

Use Cases

User registration: Check if a new user's email has been compromised and suggest a password change
Security dashboards: Display breach status for monitored accounts
Compliance tools: Verify employee email exposure
Personal projects: Build your own "Have I Been Pwned" checker
CLI tools: Quick breach checks from the terminal

Forem: CodeLong888