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"

Trending memes

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

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

1. 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.

2. Add user-generated content earlier. Google values pages that change. A comment section or "trending memes made with this template" would help.

3. 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.