How to use the CDNJS API in PHP

Library info on CDNJS. A free development API by cdnjs.com. This guide calls it from PHP with code we've run against the live endpoint.

Online · 614 msEndpoint tested Oct 24, 2026

1. What you need

PHP 7.4+ with the cURL extension (enabled by default on most hosts).

No API key or sign-up. Endpoint: https://api.cdnjs.com/libraries/jquery

2. Make the request

PHP

<?php
$ch = curl_init("https://api.cdnjs.com/libraries/jquery");
curl_setopt_array($ch, [CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true, CURLOPT_TIMEOUT => 10]);
$data = json_decode(curl_exec($ch), true);
curl_close($ch);
print_r($data);

3. The response

Trimmed from the live response on Oct 24, 2026.

JSON

{
  "name": "jquery",
  "latest": "https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/jquery/4.0.0/jquery.min.js",
  "sri": "sha512-8LENNbXmzI/Gbj+OwXmqR6V4QaUAw0/porPzy1+dQoJqC0JPHedWoe0DDOTL2uHA5XXJyI...",
  "description": "JavaScript library for DOM operations",
  "keywords": [
    "jquery",
    "library",
    "ajax"
  ],
  "version": "4.0.0",
  "filename": "jquery.min.js",
  "homepage": "https://jquery.com/",
  "license": "MIT",
  "repository": {
    "type": "git",
    "url": "https://github.com/jquery/jquery.git"
  },
  "autoupdate": {
    "source": "npm",
    "target": "jquery"
  },
  "versions": [
    "4.0.0",
    "4.0.0-rc.2",
    "4.0.0-rc.1"
  ]
}

4. Before you ship

Set a timeout and handle non-200 responses: free APIs can rate-limit or go down.
Cache responses where you can, instead of calling the API on every page view.
Read the official documentation ↗ for rate limits and terms of use.

FAQ

Does the CDNJS API need an API key in PHP?

No. The CDNJS API works without an API key, so the PHP example runs as-is.

Can I call the CDNJS API from the browser?

Yes. It sends CORS headers, so front-end JavaScript can call it directly.

What does the CDNJS API return?

JSON. The example response on this page is trimmed from a real response our health check received on Oct 24, 2026.

Same API in: Python · JavaScript · Node.js · Java · Go · Ruby · C#
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