Wedding Batch Studio, from sign-in to delivery ZIP

Follow the exact browser workflow a photographer sees, then build the same tested project lifecycle in Python. The video and screenshots show real processing and real output files.

Before you start

• A PixelAPI account and API key from the dashboard.
• Your export-ready photographs in JPEG, PNG, or WebP format.
• Optional: one approved reference image if you want Reference Match.
• Each file must be 40 MB or smaller. A project can contain up to 5,000 source photos.
• Processing costs one credit per selected source photo. The reference does not count as a source.

Part 1: use the browser

Part 2: review the output and deliver it

Do not jump straight from 100% to client delivery. Open representative images from every lighting group—getting ready, ceremony, portraits, reception, and dance floor. Batch finishing is a base pass; emotionally important or difficult frames may still deserve individual work.

When the review is clean, download the project ZIP. It contains a manifest.json and a finished/ folder with ordered JPEG outputs. The manifest maps stable source identities to output URLs and statuses.

Part 3: automate the same workflow in Python

Install Requests, put your real key in an environment variable, and keep the deliberately non-working placeholder in source control.

python -m pip install requests

# macOS or Linux
export PIXELAPI_API_KEY="pxapi_your_key_here"

# PowerShell
$env:PIXELAPI_API_KEY = "pxapi_your_key_here"

Save this as wedding_batch.py. Put an approved reference plus your selected JPEGs inside wedding_photos/.

import os
import time
import zipfile
from pathlib import Path

import requests

BASE = "https://api.pixelapi.dev"
API_KEY = os.getenv("PIXELAPI_API_KEY", "pxapi_demo_not_a_real_key")
PHOTOS = Path("wedding_photos")
REFERENCE = PHOTOS / "approved_reference.jpg"
OUTPUT = Path("wedding_delivery")

session = requests.Session()
session.headers.update({"Authorization": f"Bearer {API_KEY}"})

def api(method, path, **kwargs):
    url = path if path.startswith("http") else f"{BASE}{path}"
    response = session.request(method, url, timeout=120, **kwargs)
    response.raise_for_status()
    return response

# Reuse this key if your create request must be retried.
project = api("POST", "/v1/wedding-projects", json={
    "name": "Ananya and Rohan - final gallery",
    "preset": "reference_match",
    "workflow_version": 2,
    "idempotency_key": "ananya-rohan-final-v1",
    "preserve_resolution": True,
    "jpeg_quality": 94,
}).json()
project_id = project["project_id"]

with REFERENCE.open("rb") as handle:
    api("POST", f"/v1/wedding-projects/{project_id}/assets",
        files={"file": (REFERENCE.name, handle, "image/jpeg")},
        data={"client_asset_id": "approved-reference",
              "sort_order": 0, "role": "reference"})

sources = sorted(p for p in PHOTOS.glob("*.jpg") if p != REFERENCE)
for index, photo in enumerate(sources):
    with photo.open("rb") as handle:
        api("POST", f"/v1/wedding-projects/{project_id}/assets",
            files={"file": (photo.name, handle, "image/jpeg")},
            data={"client_asset_id": f"source-{index:05d}",
                  "sort_order": index, "role": "source"})
    print(f"uploaded {index + 1}/{len(sources)}: {photo.name}")

api("POST", f"/v1/wedding-projects/{project_id}/start", json={})

while True:
    project = api("GET", f"/v1/wedding-projects/{project_id}").json()
    counts = project["counts"]
    print(project["progress_percent"], counts)
    if project["status"] in {
        "completed", "completed_with_errors", "failed", "cancelled"
    }:
        break
    time.sleep(2)

if project["status"] not in {"completed", "completed_with_errors"}:
    raise SystemExit(f"Project ended as {project['status']}")

OUTPUT.mkdir(exist_ok=True)
zip_path = OUTPUT / "wedding-delivery.zip"
zip_path.write_bytes(api("GET", project["delivery_url"]).content)
with zipfile.ZipFile(zip_path) as archive:
    archive.extractall(OUTPUT / "finished")

manifest = api(
    "GET", f"/v1/wedding-projects/{project_id}/manifest"
).json()
print(f"finished {manifest['project']['counts']['completed']} photos")

Resume, cancel, and retry

Common responses

• 401/403: missing, expired, or invalid API key.
• 402: the account needs enough credits for every selected source image when starting.
• 409: missing source images, missing Reference Match image, upload attempted after start, retry requested before completion, or no failed images exist.
• 413: a file is over 40 MB or the project already has 5,000 source images.
• 422: invalid preset, JPEG quality outside 80–98, unsupported image, or malformed asset ID.

For the complete request and response fields, use the Wedding Projects API reference.