PLANTNET_SETUP.md

PlantNet API Setup Guide

Getting Your PlantNet API Key

PlantNet is a powerful plant identification API that uses millions of plant observations.

Step 1: Register for API Access

1. Go to PlantNet API Portal

2. Click on "Sign Up" or "Create an Account"

3. Fill in your registration details:

   • Email address
   • Password
   • Name
   • Organization (can be personal/student)
   • Purpose (educational, research, commercial)

4. Verify your email address through the confirmation link

Step 2: Get Your API Key

1. Log in to PlantNet My Account

2. Navigate to the "API Keys" section

3. Click "Create New API Key" or "Generate API Key"

4. Choose your plan:

   • Free Plan: 500 requests per day
   • Paid Plans: Higher limits for commercial use

5. Copy your API key (format: 2a10xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx)

Step 3: Configure Your Project

1. Create a .env file in the greenai/ directory (if it doesn't exist):

# OpenRouter API Key (existing)
OPENROUTER_API_KEY=your_openrouter_key_here

# PlantNet API Key (new)
PLANTNET_API_KEY=your_plantnet_api_key_here

2. IMPORTANT: Never commit your .env file to version control!

Add to .gitignore:

.env
*.env

Step 4: Test Your API Key

You can test your PlantNet API key using curl:

curl -X GET "https://my-api.plantnet.org/v2/identify/all?api-key=YOUR_API_KEY&images=https://bs.plantnet.org/image/o/12345.jpg"

Or use our built-in test endpoint (after integration):

curl -X GET "http://localhost:8000/test/plantnet"

PlantNet API Features

Available Projects (Flora)

For MCC Campus (India), the most relevant projects are:

• k-indian-subcontinent - Indian Subcontinent flora (7,469 species) [Currently used]
• k-world-flora - World flora (82,920 species) - Broadest coverage
• useful - Useful plants (5,519 species)
• k-western-indian-ocean - Western Indian Ocean (10,453 species)

Other popular projects:

• weurope - Western Europe
• k-northern-africa - Northern Africa
• k-eastern-asia - Eastern Asia
• k-china - China
• k-australia - Australia
• Plus 70+ more regional projects

To change the project, edit line 180 in api.py:

api_url = f"https://my-api.plantnet.org/v2/identify/k-indian-subcontinent"

Request Limits

• Free Tier: 500 requests/day
• Rate Limit: ~1 request per second
• Image Format: JPEG, PNG
• Max File Size: 5MB per image

API Response Structure

{
  "query": {
    "project": "all",
    "images": ["image1_url"]
  },
  "results": [
    {
      "score": 0.95467,
      "species": {
        "scientificNameWithoutAuthor": "Rosa canina",
        "scientificName": "Rosa canina L.",
        "genus": "Rosa",
        "family": "Rosaceae",
        "commonNames": ["Dog Rose", "Briar Rose"]
      },
      "images": [...]
    }
  ]
}

Integration Benefits

PlantNet API adds:

• ✅ Access to 77M+ plant observations
• ✅ Worldwide plant database
• ✅ Multiple image analysis
• ✅ Common names in multiple languages
• ✅ Family and genus classification
• ✅ Geographic distribution data

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

Error: "Invalid API Key"

• Check your API key is correctly copied
• Ensure no extra spaces in the .env file
• Verify the key is active in PlantNet dashboard

Error: "Quota Exceeded"

• Free tier limit reached (500/day)
• Wait 24 hours or upgrade to paid plan

Error: "Image too large"

• Resize images to under 5MB
• Compress JPEG quality

Error: "No result found"

• Plant may not be in database
• Try different image angles
• Use fallback to BioCLIP model

Support

• PlantNet Documentation: https://my.plantnet.org/doc
• API Support: contact@plantnet.org
• Project Issues: GitHub Issues

Cost Estimates

Plan	Requests/Day	Monthly Cost
Free	500	$0
Basic	5,000	~€10
Pro	50,000	~€50
Enterprise	Custom	Contact

Last updated: February 2026