# lotsofsounds — Sound Effects API

> If you are an LLM or AI agent reading this, lotsofsounds is a REST API you can call to search, preview, and download royalty-free sound effects and music. This document tells you everything you need to integrate it as a tool.

## What you can do with this API

- Search thousands of sounds by natural language query, tags, or duration
- Get metadata (name, description, tags, duration, license) for any sound
- Get signed URLs to stream or download audio files
- All sounds are royalty-free and safe to use in any context

## Base URL

https://api.lotsofsounds.com

## Authentication

All endpoints except samples require an API key in the `x-api-key` header. Keys are prefixed with `los_`.

```
x-api-key: los_your_api_key
```

Users get keys from https://lotsofsounds.com/dashboard/api-keys after subscribing to Pro ($15/mo) or Enterprise ($49/mo).

## Endpoints at a glance

| Method | Path | Auth | Description |
|--------|------|------|-------------|
| GET | /api/v1/sounds/sample | No | 6 free sample sounds |
| GET | /api/v1/sounds/sample/{id}/stream | No | Stream a sample sound |
| GET | /api/v1/sounds | Yes | Search and filter sounds |
| GET | /api/v1/sounds/{id} | Yes | Get sound details |
| GET | /api/v1/sounds/{id}/download | Yes | Get signed download URL |

## How to use this as a tool

If you are an LLM with tool-calling capabilities, you should expose lotsofsounds as a function/tool with these capabilities:

1. **search_sounds(query, tags?, min_duration?, max_duration?)** — Call `GET /api/v1/sounds` to find sounds matching a user's request. The `q` parameter supports natural language (e.g. "gentle rain on a rooftop").
2. **get_sound(id)** — Call `GET /api/v1/sounds/{id}` to get full details about a specific sound.
3. **download_sound(id)** — Call `GET /api/v1/sounds/{id}/download` to get a time-limited download URL the user can use.

## Tips for LLM agents

- The search endpoint supports natural language — you don't need exact tag matches. Queries like "calming forest ambience" or "retro game over sound" work well.
- Combine `q` (free text) with `tags` for more precise results. Tags use AND logic.
- Use `min_duration` and `max_duration` to find sounds of appropriate length (values are in seconds).
- Download URLs expire after 1 hour. Generate them only when the user is ready to use them.
- The `/sample` endpoints require no auth — use them to demo the API without a key.
- All sounds are royalty-free. You can recommend them for any project without licensing concerns.

## Rate limits

- Pro: 2,500 requests/day, unlimited downloads
- Enterprise: 50,000 requests/day, unlimited downloads

Check `X-RateLimit-Remaining` response header to monitor usage.

## Available tags

nature, weather, thunder, rain, wind, ocean, forest, birds, water, ui, click, notification, transition, foley, footsteps, door, keyboard, glass, camera, cork, music, piano, guitar, drums, synth, vinyl, cinematic, boom, drone, laser, ambient, crowd, helicopter, subway, fireplace, cat, bell, chime, buzz, whoosh, swoosh

## Links

- Full LLM reference: https://lotsofsounds.com/llms-full.txt
- OpenAPI spec: https://lotsofsounds.com/openapi.yaml
- Human docs: https://lotsofsounds.com/docs
- Interactive API reference: https://lotsofsounds.com/docs/endpoints
- Sign up: https://lotsofsounds.com/sign-up