Bolt.new AI and Pixabay API integration: Step-by-Step Guide 2025

To integrate Bolt.new with the Pixabay API, you simply call Pixabay’s REST API from whatever code you scaffold inside Bolt.new (Node, Python, etc.) and store your Pixabay API key in Bolt’s environment variables. Bolt itself doesn’t provide a special “Pixabay integration”—you wire it manually through standard HTTP requests. Once your code can hit https://pixabay.com/api/?key=YOUR_KEY&q=..., you can build UI components in Bolt that trigger those API calls and render image results. Everything runs inside Bolt’s sandbox, so you must provide the API key via environment variables and not hard‑code it.

 

What You Actually Do (High‑Level)

 

You place your Pixabay API key into Bolt.new’s environment variables panel, then inside your app (Node/React or Node/Express in Bolt), you call Pixabay’s public REST endpoint using fetch or axios. Pixabay uses a simple query-string-based API, so no OAuth, no session flow — just a secret key plus search terms. Bolt’s AI workspace can scaffold the project, but the integration is just normal HTTP.

• Pixabay API key is required for all calls.
• Use standard REST calls from your server-side code inside Bolt.
• Never expose the key in the frontend. Always fetch from your backend route.
• Return sanitized JSON (image URLs, tags, etc.) to your frontend.

 

Step-by-step for Bolt.new

 

Below is the clean system-minded flow you use in any real Bolt.new app.

• Open Bolt.new workspace and create a Node or full-stack scaffold.
• Open the Environment Variables panel and add your key as PIXABAY_API_KEY.
• Create a backend route (for example: /api/search) that reads the env var and calls Pixabay.
• Call that backend route from your frontend code.
• Render the images returned by Pixabay.

 

Backend Example (Node.js inside Bolt.new)

 

// Example Express route inside Bolt.new backend

import express from "express";
import fetch from "node-fetch";

const router = express.Router();

// GET /api/search?q=cats
router.get("/search", async (req, res) => {
  try {
    const query = req.query.q || "nature"; // default search
    const key = process.env.PIXABAY_API_KEY; // stored securely in Bolt env vars

    const url = `https://pixabay.com/api/?key=${key}&q=${encodeURIComponent(query)}&image_type=photo`;

    const response = await fetch(url); // call Pixabay API
    const data = await response.json();

    res.json({
      images: data.hits || [] // return only what frontend needs
    });
  } catch (err) {
    console.error(err);
    res.status(500).json({ error: "Pixabay fetch failed" });
  }
});

export default router;

 

Frontend Fetch Example (React component inside Bolt)

 

// React example to call your backend and display images

import { useState } from "react";

export default function ImageSearch() {
  const [q, setQ] = useState("");
  const [images, setImages] = useState([]);

  const search = async () => {
    const res = await fetch(`/api/search?q=${encodeURIComponent(q)}`);
    const data = await res.json();
    setImages(data.images);
  };

  return (
    <div>
      <input
        value={q}
        onChange={(e) => setQ(e.target.value)}
        placeholder="Search images..."
      />
      <button onClick={search}>Search</button>

      <div>
        {images.map((img) => (
          <img
            key={img.id}
            src={img.previewURL}
            alt={img.tags}
            style={{ width: "150px", margin: "4px" }}
          />
        ))}
      </div>
    </div>
  );
}

 

Important Notes

 

• Never call Pixabay directly from the frontend, because that exposes your API key.
• Bolt.new sandbox allows outbound HTTP, so Pixabay requests work fine.
• Rate limits: Pixabay enforces limits based on your plan — handle errors accordingly.
• Query encoding: Always wrap user input in encodeURIComponent.

 

With this structure, your Bolt.new app stays safe, clean, and production‑ready: backend calls Pixabay using an environment variable, frontend calls your backend, and everything remains fully real and testable.