Developers
Add sound effects to your app or agent
Search 12,000+ CC0 sound effects with a REST API, or connect an AI assistant to the hosted MCP server.
- Base URL
- api.lotsofsounds.com
- Auth
- x-api-key header
- Search
- Keyword + filters
- Format
- MP3
- License
- CC0, no attribution
- Rate limit
- 2,500+/day
Quickstart
Find short whoosh sounds. Send your key in the x-api-key header.
curl -G https://api.lotsofsounds.com/api/v1/sounds \
-H "x-api-key: $LOS_API_KEY" \
--data-urlencode "q=whoosh" \
--data-urlencode "max_duration=2" \
--data-urlencode "limit=5"const params = new URLSearchParams({ q: "whoosh", max_duration: "2", limit: "5" });
const res = await fetch(`https://api.lotsofsounds.com/api/v1/sounds?${params}`, {
headers: { "x-api-key": process.env.LOS_API_KEY },
});
const { data } = await res.json();
console.log(data.map((sound) => sound.name));type Sound = { id: string; name: string; tags: string[]; duration: number; license: string | null };
export async function searchSounds(q: string, maxDuration?: number): Promise<Sound[]> {
const params = new URLSearchParams({ q, limit: "10" });
if (maxDuration) params.set("max_duration", String(maxDuration));
const res = await fetch(`https://api.lotsofsounds.com/api/v1/sounds?${params}`, {
headers: { "x-api-key": process.env.LOS_API_KEY! },
});
if (!res.ok) throw new Error(`Lots of Sounds API error ${res.status}`);
return (await res.json()).data;
}import os
import requests
res = requests.get(
"https://api.lotsofsounds.com/api/v1/sounds",
params={"q": "whoosh", "max_duration": 2, "limit": 5},
headers={"x-api-key": os.environ["LOS_API_KEY"]},
timeout=30,
)
res.raise_for_status()
for sound in res.json()["data"]:
print(sound["id"], sound["name"])MCP server for AI agents
Connect Claude, Cursor, ChatGPT or any MCP client to api.lotsofsounds.com/mcp.
claude mcp add lotsofsounds --transport http https://api.lotsofsounds.com/mcp \
--header "x-api-key: los_your_key"{
"mcpServers": {
"lotsofsounds": {
"url": "https://api.lotsofsounds.com/mcp",
"headers": { "x-api-key": "los_your_key" }
}
}
}Example prompts
The assistant turns each request into a keyword search.
“Find me a cinematic boom”
search_sounds(q: "boom", tags: ["cinematic"])
“Find five funny sounds for this video”
search_sounds(q: "funny", limit: 5)
“Find a short UI success sound”
search_sounds(q: "success", max_duration: 2)
Endpoints
| GET | /api/v1/sounds | Key | Search by keyword, tags, category and duration |
| GET | /api/v1/sounds/popular | Key | Most downloaded sounds |
| GET | /api/v1/sounds/{id} | Key | Metadata for one sound |
| GET | /api/v1/sounds/{id}/stream | Key | Signed URL for playback |
| GET | /api/v1/sounds/{id}/download | Key | Signed MP3 download URL (1 hour) |
| GET | /api/v1/sounds/sample | None | Free sample sounds to test with |
Rate limits
- Pro $15/month2,500 requests/day
- Enterprise $49/month50,000 requests/day
Responses include X-RateLimit-Remaining. Compare plans
Errors
- 401Missing or invalid API key
- 403Plan has no API access
- 404Sound not found
- 429Daily limit reached; resets at midnight UTC
Resources
API documentation
Guides and endpoint reference
OpenAPI (JSON)
Machine-readable spec
OpenAPI (YAML)
Same spec as YAML
MCP server guide
Claude, Cursor, ChatGPT, Agents SDK
llms.txt
Summary for AI assistants
Postman collection
Import and run
GitHub: lots-of-sounds-api-examples
API examples in curl, JavaScript, TypeScript and Python
GitHub: lots-of-sounds-mcp
Connect AI assistants to the hosted MCP server
Questions
Is there a sound effects API?
Yes. The Lots of Sounds REST API at https://api.lotsofsounds.com searches and downloads the full CC0 catalog. API and MCP access to the full catalog needs a Pro or Enterprise API key.
How does search work?
Keyword search across sound names and descriptions, plus tag, category and duration filters. Short keywords such as "whoosh" work best.
Can AI agents search the library?
Yes. Connect any MCP client to https://api.lotsofsounds.com/mcp, or call the REST API from a tool definition.
What license applies to API results?
Every sound is CC0: free for personal and commercial use, with no attribution required. A credit link to lotsofsounds.com is appreciated but optional.