Code Detector API

About the Code Detector API

Send a raw code snippet in a POST request. The service inspects the syntax to identify the language and returns its standard file extension and display name. Paid plans add detection confidence scores, language family, programming paradigms, and execution classification.

What people use it for

Syntax Highlighting Setup

Developer forums inspect unformatted user pastes to pick the right code fence tag before rendering highlighted code blocks.

File Download Naming

When users export generated snippets from a web interface, editors apply the returned extension to name and save files accurately.

Documentation Snippet Tagging

Knowledge base platforms assign language labels to community-submitted examples without forcing authors to pick options from a manual dropdown.

Support Ticket Routing

To triage incoming developer issues containing raw scripts or stack traces, ticketing systems route requests based on the detected language.

Ways to call it

One endpoint, many ways in — REST with JSON, XML, YAML and CSV, plus GraphQL and an MCP interface for AI agents.

JSON

Default REST response

XML

Markup format

YAML

Human-readable

CSV

Tabular export

Beta

GraphQL

Query language

New

MCP

For AI agents

Request parameters — POST /v1/codedetector

Sent as JSON in the request body. Premium parameters are accepted on every plan but only take effect on plans that include them. Anything not listed here is dropped rather than passed through.

Required

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curl -X POST "https://api.apiverve.com/v1/codedetector" \
  -H "x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"code":"a = 5\nb = 6\nc = 7\n\n# calculate the semi-perimeter\ns = (a + b + c) / 2\n\n# calculate the area\narea = (s*(s-a)*(s-b)*(s-c)) ** 0.5\nprint('\''The area of the triangle is %0.2f'\'' %area)"}'

Authentication

Send your key in the x-api-key header. That is the only auth step — no token exchange, and no per-endpoint scope to configure.

Response — POST /v1/codedetector

Every APIVerve endpoint returns the same three top-level keys, so one response handler covers your whole integration: status, error and data. Only data changes shape.

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{
  "status": "ok",
  "error": null,
  "data": {
    "likelihood": 0.99,
    "family": "PYTHON",
    "current": "python",
    "readable": "Python Code",
    "extension": ".py",
    "paradigm": "multi-paradigm",
    "isCompiled": false
  }
}

Response fields

Paths are relative to data. Premium fields are absent rather than zeroed on plans that do not include them, so check for presence instead of comparing to 0.

Response headers

Every response carries your balance, so your own code always knows where it stands without polling anything. All four are exposed to browsers through CORS.

Errors

Read the HTTP status first, then error for the specific reason. The body names the parameter that has to change.

What a call costs — 20 credits per call

Credits are shared across every APIVerve API — one balance, one key, one bill. Failed requests never count against it, so a rejected input costs nothing.

Calls are what the credits buy at this API's rate — spend them here, on any of the other APIs, or across both. Nothing is reserved per endpoint.

Zero-code embed — one snippet, no backend

Drop an interactive Code Detector form onto any page. The widget calls the API for you, so no key ever appears in your markup and there is nothing to deploy.

Changelog — Code Detector API

Every change to this endpoint, newest first. Breaking changes ship as a new version and the previous one keeps serving — response fields are added, never removed or retyped in place, so an integration written against v1 keeps working.

Currently v1