Detect

The /detect endpoint identifies and locates specific objects within images. It returns bounding box coordinates for each detected instance.

Example Request

Python

import moondream as md
from PIL import Image
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import matplotlib.patches as patches

# Initialize with API key
model = md.vl(api_key="your-api-key")

# Load an image
image = Image.open("path/to/image.jpg")

# Detect objects (e.g., "person", "car", "face", etc.)
result = model.detect(image, "person")
detections = result["objects"]
print(f"Found {len(detections)} people")

# Visualize the detections
plt.figure(figsize=(10, 10))
plt.imshow(image)
ax = plt.gca()

for obj in detections:
    # Convert normalized coordinates to pixel values
    x_min = obj["x_min"] * image.width
    y_min = obj["y_min"] * image.height
    x_max = obj["x_max"] * image.width
    y_max = obj["y_max"] * image.height
    
    # Calculate width and height for the rectangle
    width = x_max - x_min
    height = y_max - y_min
    
    # Create a rectangle patch
    rect = patches.Rectangle(
        (x_min, y_min), width, height, 
        linewidth=2, edgecolor='r', facecolor='none'
    )
    ax.add_patch(rect)
    plt.text(
        x_min, y_min, "Person", 
        color='white', fontsize=12,
        bbox=dict(facecolor='red', alpha=0.5)
    )

plt.axis('off')
plt.savefig("output_with_detections.jpg")
plt.show()

Node.js

import { vl } from 'moondream';
import fs from 'fs';

// Initialize with API key
const model = new vl({ apiKey: "your-api-key" });

// Load an image
const image = fs.readFileSync("path/to/image.jpg");

// Detect objects
const result = await model.detect({
  image: image,
  object: "person"
});
console.log(`Found ${result.objects.length} people`);

// Process the detections
result.objects.forEach((obj, index) => {
  console.log(`Person ${index + 1}: x_min=${obj.x_min}, y_min=${obj.y_min}, x_max=${obj.x_max}, y_max=${obj.y_max}`);
});

cURL

curl -X POST https://api.moondream.ai/v1/detect \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -H 'X-Moondream-Auth: YOUR_API_KEY' \
  -d '{
    "model": "moondream3.1-9B-A2B",
    "image_url": "data:image/jpeg;base64,...",
    "object": "person"
  }'

Example Response

{
  "request_id": "2025-03-25_detect_2025-03-25-21:00:39-715d03",
  "objects": [
    {
      "x_min": 0.2,
      "y_min": 0.3,
      "x_max": 0.6,
      "y_max": 0.8
    }
  ]
}

Parameters

Field	Type	Required	Description
model	string	Yes	Model ID. Supported values include moondream3.1-9B-A2B, moondream3-preview, or a saved finetuned checkpoint in {base_model}/{finetune_id}@{step} format.
image_url	string	Yes	Base64 data URL for the input image.
object	string	Yes	Object or visual phrase to detect.

Common Object Types

Moondream can detect a wide range of objects:

• person, face, car, dog, cat
• building, furniture, text, food, plant

Zero-Shot Detection: Moondream can detect virtually any object you specify, not just from a predefined list. Try describing the object as specifically as possible for best results.

---

Learn More:

• Try the interactive playground to test detection
• Explore code examples in multiple languages