Free Redirect Tracer API - Follow Chains

Parameters

name	in	type	required	description
`url`	query	string	required	Url

Request

Send your key in the X-API-Key header. More languages and patterns live on the code examples page.

curl -s "https://apixies.io/api/v1/trace-redirects?url=https%3A%2F%2Fgithub.com" \
  -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_API_KEY"

const res = await fetch("https://apixies.io/api/v1/trace-redirects?url=https%3A%2F%2Fgithub.com", {
  headers: { "X-API-Key": "YOUR_API_KEY" }
});
const data = await res.json();
console.log(data);

$ch = curl_init("https://apixies.io/api/v1/trace-redirects?url=https%3A%2F%2Fgithub.com");
curl_setopt_array($ch, [
    CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,
    CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER => ["X-API-Key: YOUR_API_KEY"],
]);
$data = json_decode(curl_exec($ch), true);
curl_close($ch);

print_r($data);

import requests

res = requests.get(
    "https://apixies.io/api/v1/trace-redirects",
    params={"url": "https://github.com"},
    headers={"X-API-Key": "YOUR_API_KEY"},
)
print(res.json())

Response

The result sits under data in the standard envelope. See the response format guide for errors and status codes.

returns

data.final_url: Where the redirect chain ends up.
data.hops: Each hop with its URL, status code and next location.
data.total_hops: Number of requests in the chain, including the last one.
data.original_url: The URL you started from.

example response 200

{
    "status": "success",
    "http_code": 200,
    "code": "SUCCESS",
    "message": "Redirect trace completed",
    "data": {
        "original_url": "http://github.com",
        "final_url": "https://github.com/",
        "total_hops": 2,
        "hops": [
            {
                "hop": 1,
                "url": "http://github.com",
                "status_code": 301,
                "status_text": "Moved Permanently",
                "redirects_to": "https://github.com/"
            },
            {
                "hop": 2,
                "url": "https://github.com/",
                "status_code": 200,
                "status_text": "OK"
            }
        ],
        "traced_at": "2026-09-18T12:00:00+00:00"
    }
}

Authentication and limits

This endpoint needs an API key. Use the sandbox ("try it" above) to test it without registering. See the authentication guide for details.

Standard rate limits apply to this endpoint.

Common use cases

SEO redirect auditing

Verify that redirect chains are clean and efficient. Detect redirect loops, excessive hops, and mixed HTTP/HTTPS redirects that hurt SEO rankings.

Link shortener analysis

Trace shortened URLs to their final destination before clicking. Useful for security screening and understanding where links actually lead.

Website migration validation

After a site migration, batch-verify that all old URLs correctly redirect to their new locations with the right status codes (301 vs 302).

related endpoints

GET Link Checker Check if a URL is reachable and return its HTTP status code and response time GET Security Headers Inspector Inspect security headers for a URL to check for adherence to current best practices GET Meta Tag Extractor Extract OpenGraph, Twitter Card, and standard meta tags from any URL

getting started

authentication code examples response format

explore

all api endpoints guides and tutorials online tools

resources

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