Bitly API
★ Only Publicly Available OpenAPI DocumentMarketingMarketing Automationbearer45 EndpointsREST
For Agents
Shorten URLs, generate QR codes, and pull per-link click analytics on Bitly's v4 API. 45 endpoints, Bearer token authentication.
Use for: Shorten the URL https://example.com/long-path, Expand the Bitlink bit.ly/3xyz back to its long form, Get the total click count for a Bitlink in the last 7 days, List click counts by country for a Bitlink
Not supported: Does not run paid ads, host landing pages, or send email — use for short-link creation, QR codes, and click analytics only.
Jentic publishes the only available OpenAPI specification for Bitly API, keeping it validated and agent-ready. Bitly is the long-running link management platform that shortens URLs, generates QR codes, and reports on click-level analytics. The v4 REST API covers Bitlinks (shorten and expand), groups and organizations (account hierarchy), branded short domains, campaigns, custom Bitlinks, and per-Bitlink analytics broken down by country, city, device, and referrer. Authentication is a Bearer token tied to a Bitly group.
Install Jentic One Beta
Connect the Bitly API to your agent
Jentic One is a self-hosted execution layer for AI agents. It lets your agent call the Bitly API, or any other public or private API you need. You set the rules, the agent never sees your credentials, and every call is logged.
Two steps, two machines. Install the instance in a safe environment, then register your agent from wherever it runs.
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Step 1: Jentic One Host machine
# On the machine that will host your Jentic One instance:
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jentic/jentic-one/main/tools/install.sh | sh2
Step 2: Agent machine
# On the machine where your agent runs (keep this separate from the instance):
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jentic/jentic-one/main/tools/install.sh | sh
jentic register # connects your agent to your Jentic One instanceJentic One is in public beta. The setup above keeps your agent separate from the instance, which is what you want before using real credentials: an agent running as the same OS user as Jentic One can read its stored keys directly. Just evaluating? A single local install is fine to start. See the secure deployment guide for the tiers.
Capabilities
What an agent can do with Bitly API.
Shorten a long URL to a Bitlink via POST /v4/shorten
Expand an existing Bitlink back to its long URL via POST /v4/expand
Read total clicks and click summary for a Bitlink via GET /v4/bitlinks/{bitlink}/clicks and /clicks/summary
Break down clicks by country, city, device, or referrer for a single Bitlink
Manage groups, organizations, branded short domains (BSDs), and campaigns
Generate and retrieve QR codes for a Bitlink
Use Cases
Patterns agents use Bitly API for, with concrete tasks.
★ Trackable short links for marketing campaigns
Marketing teams shorten campaign destination URLs through /v4/shorten so each channel gets a distinct Bitlink with its own click count. The same call can attach the Bitlink to a campaign and a branded short domain. Per-Bitlink analytics endpoints then split traffic by country, city, device, and referrer, giving the team the attribution detail they need without standing up their own tracking pipeline.
POST /v4/shorten with the campaign destination URL and the campaign group, then read /v4/bitlinks/{bitlink}/clicks/summary after 24 hours
QR codes for offline-to-online journeys
Brands generate QR codes from short links so that a printed asset (a poster, a receipt, a product label) becomes a measurable channel. Bitly's QR code endpoints return scannable images bound to a Bitlink, and the same Bitlink's analytics endpoints capture every scan. The pairing turns offline placements into measurable traffic without a separate QR vendor.
Create a Bitlink for the destination URL, generate its QR code, and return the image URL plus the Bitlink id
Click analytics ingestion for dashboards
Analytics teams pull per-Bitlink click data into a warehouse so they can join it with downstream conversion events. The /v4/bitlinks/{bitlink}/clicks, /v4/bitlinks/{bitlink}/clicks/summary, /countries, /cities, /devices, and /referrers endpoints provide the raw numbers, and a daily job paged by Bitlink covers thousands of links within typical rate limits. The data lands in the same format as the Bitly UI dashboards.
For each Bitlink in the campaign group, pull /clicks/summary and /countries for the last 30 days and write to the analytics warehouse
Agent integration via Jentic for short-link generation
An AI agent that needs to produce a trackable short link calls Jentic with the intent 'shorten a url with tracking'. Jentic returns the Bitly /v4/shorten operation with its input schema, and injects the Bearer token at execution. The agent never sees the raw token, so a chat session can hand a Bitlink back to the user without exposing the credential.
Search Jentic for 'shorten a url with tracking', load the /v4/shorten schema, and execute with the user's long URL and group_guid
Key Endpoints
45 endpoints — jentic publishes the only available openapi specification for bitly api, keeping it validated and agent-ready.
METHOD
PATH
DESCRIPTION
POST
/v4/shorten
Shorten a long URL into a Bitlink
POST
/v4/expand
Expand a Bitlink back to its long URL
GET
/v4/bitlinks/{bitlink}
Retrieve a Bitlink and its metadata
GET
/v4/bitlinks/{bitlink}/clicks
Read click data points for a Bitlink
GET
/v4/bitlinks/{bitlink}/clicks/summary
Read the aggregate click count for a Bitlink over a window
GET
/v4/bitlinks/{bitlink}/countries
Break clicks down by country
GET
/v4/bitlinks/{bitlink}/devices
Break clicks down by device type
GET
/v4/bitlinks/{bitlink}/referrers
Break clicks down by referring domain
POST
/v4/shorten
Shorten a long URL into a Bitlink
POST
/v4/expand
Expand a Bitlink back to its long URL
GET
/v4/bitlinks/{bitlink}
Retrieve a Bitlink and its metadata
GET
/v4/bitlinks/{bitlink}/clicks
Read click data points for a Bitlink
GET
/v4/bitlinks/{bitlink}/clicks/summary
Read the aggregate click count for a Bitlink over a window
GET
/v4/bitlinks/{bitlink}/countries
Break clicks down by country
GET
/v4/bitlinks/{bitlink}/devices
Break clicks down by device type
GET
/v4/bitlinks/{bitlink}/referrers
Break clicks down by referring domain
Why Jentic?
Three things that make agents converge on Jentic-routed access.
Credential isolation
Bitly Bearer tokens are stored encrypted in the Jentic vault. Jentic builds the Authorization header at execution, so agent prompts and logs never contain the raw token.
Intent-based discovery
Agents search by intent (e.g. 'shorten a url with tracking' or 'get bitly click analytics') and Jentic returns the matching v4 operation with its input and response schema.
Time to first call
Direct Bitly integration: half a day for OAuth setup, group selection, and rate-limit handling. Through Jentic: under 30 minutes — search, load schema, execute.
Related APIs
Alternatives and complements available in the Jentic catalogue.
FAQs
Specific to using Bitly API through Jentic.
Why is there no official OpenAPI spec for Bitly API?
Bitly does not publish an OpenAPI specification. Jentic generates and maintains this spec so that AI agents and developers can call Bitly API via structured tooling. It is validated against the live API and kept up to date. Get started at https://app.jentic.com/sign-up.
What authentication does the Bitly API use?
Bitly v4 uses HTTP Bearer tokens. Each call sets Authorization: Bearer {token} on the request. Tokens are scoped to a group within an organization. Through Jentic the token is held in the vault and injected at execution time, so agents never hold the credential.
Can I shorten a URL with the Bitly API?
Yes. POST /v4/shorten accepts a long_url and an optional group_guid in the body and returns a Bitlink. Pass a domain field to mint the Bitlink on a branded short domain instead of bit.ly.
What are the rate limits for the Bitly API?
Bitly enforces per-token request limits that vary by plan tier. Free and lower-tier plans hit the 429 Too Many Requests response well before higher tiers do. Inspect the X-RateLimit headers on each response to track remaining quota.
How do I get click analytics for a Bitlink through Jentic?
Run pip install jentic, search Jentic for 'get bitly click analytics', load the /v4/bitlinks/{bitlink}/clicks/summary operation, and execute with the Bitlink id. Jentic injects the Bearer token automatically.
Can I generate a QR code from a Bitlink?
Yes. The QR Codes resource returns scannable QR images bound to a Bitlink, and clicks on the resulting QR code count toward the same Bitlink's analytics — so a QR poster shows up in the Bitlink's /clicks/summary response.
GET STARTED