Gravatar URL Generator API: The Complete Guide

Need to generate Gravatar URLs from email addresses? This guide covers everything you need to know about building Gravatar URLs via API, including MD5 hashing, default fallbacks, and implementation examples in multiple languages.

What is Gravatar?

Gravatar (Globally Recognized Avatar) is a service that associates user-uploaded profile pictures with email addresses. When someone signs up for a Gravatar-enabled site, their avatar appears automatically based on their email address.

Gravatar URLs are constructed from MD5 hashes of lowercase, trimmed email addresses, like: https://www.gravatar.com/avatar/0bc83cb571cd1c50ba6f3e8a78ef1346

How Gravatar Works

Gravatar URL generation follows these steps:

1. Trim leading and trailing whitespace from the email
2. Convert the email to lowercase
3. Calculate the MD5 hash of the processed email
4. Construct the URL with optional parameters

Using the Gravatar URL API

TinyFn provides a simple endpoint to generate Gravatar URLs:

GET https://api.tinyfn.io/v1/gravatar?email=user@example.com
Headers: X-API-Key: your-api-key

{
  "email": "user@example.com",
  "hash": "b58996c504c5638798eb6b511e6f49af",
  "gravatar_url": "https://www.gravatar.com/avatar/b58996c504c5638798eb6b511e6f49af",
  "gravatar_url_with_params": "https://www.gravatar.com/avatar/b58996c504c5638798eb6b511e6f49af?s=200&d=identicon"
}

Parameters

Code Examples

JavaScript / Node.js

const response = await fetch(
  'https://api.tinyfn.io/v1/gravatar?email=user@example.com&size=200&default=identicon',
  { headers: { 'X-API-Key': 'your-api-key' } }
);
const data = await response.json();
console.log(data.gravatar_url_with_params);
// Use in img tag
document.querySelector('.avatar').src = data.gravatar_url_with_params;

Python

import requests

response = requests.get(
    'https://api.tinyfn.io/v1/gravatar',
    params={'email': 'user@example.com', 'size': 200, 'default': 'retro'},
    headers={'X-API-Key': 'your-api-key'}
)
data = response.json()
print(f"Gravatar URL: {data['gravatar_url_with_params']}")

cURL

curl "https://api.tinyfn.io/v1/gravatar?email=user@example.com&size=100" \
  -H "X-API-Key: your-api-key"

Default Image Options

Best Practices

1. Always set a default: Provide a fallback for users without Gravatars
2. Use HTTPS: Always use secure Gravatar URLs
3. Set appropriate rating: Use 'g' rating for general audiences
4. Cache wisely: Gravatar URLs are deterministic; cache appropriately