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Part 7 of 8: Photoshop API v1 reached end of life on August 31

By Pushparajan Ramar · September 23, 2026

Part 7 of 8: Photoshop API v1 reached end of life on August 31

Series: Firefly Services for developers. Checked against Adobe's documentation on September 23, 2026.

TL;DR

  • Adobe posted the Photoshop API v1 deprecation notice on April 20, 2026. End of life was August 31, 2026.
  • v2 lives at photoshop-api.adobe.io/v2/... and uses new request shapes.
  • Manifest, smart object replacement and text editing all moved.
flowchart LR
    A[Apr 20, 2026<br/>Deprecation notice] --> B[Aug 31, 2026<br/>End of life]

Where the calls went

v1 (image.adobe.io/pie/psdService/...) v2 (photoshop-api.adobe.io/v2/...)
documentManifest /v2/generate-manifest
smartObject (place or replace) /v2/create-composite
text /v2/execute-actions (ActionJSON or UXP)
renditionCreate /v2/create-composite
/sensei/cutout /v2/remove-background

Adobe's v2 catalog notes that Depth Blur (Neural Filters) is not yet supported in v2.

Payload shape changes

v1 v2
inputs[0].href image.source.url
outputs[].href outputs[].destination.url
storage storageType
type mediaType
quality (1 to 7) quality (string such as "high", "maximum", "photoshop_max")

Quality defaults differ. create-composite defaults to photoshop_max; for execute-actions no default is guaranteed, so set quality explicitly when migrating payloads that omitted it.

Manifest

curl -X POST https://photoshop-api.adobe.io/v2/generate-manifest \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $token" -H "x-api-key: $apiKey" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "image": {"source": {"url": "<SIGNED_GET_URL>"}},
    "includeLayerThumbnails": true,
    "outputs": [{"destination": {"url": "<MANIFEST_OUTPUT_URL>"}, "mediaType": "application/json"}]
  }'

What changed in the response, per Adobe's migration guides:

  • Layer type strings are now snake_case (adjustmentLayer became adjustment_layer). Any code that switches on type must be updated.
  • Artboards are a first-class artboard type. In v1 they looked like plain groups.
  • The boolean locked became a protection array of flags.
  • Embedded smart objects expose a download URL (extracted.url), so you can retrieve their content without opening Photoshop.

Replacing a smart object

In v2, place and replace are both handled by /v2/create-composite using edits.layers. For replace you must include operation.type: "edit"; there is no implicit replace.

POST https://photoshop-api.adobe.io/v2/create-composite
{
  "image": {"source": {"url": "<SIGNED_INPUT_PSD_GET_URL>"}},
  "edits": {
    "layers": [{
      "type": "smart_object_layer",
      "name": "<EXISTING_SMART_OBJECT_LAYER_NAME>",
      "operation": {"type": "edit"},
      "smartObject": {
        "isLinked": false,
        "smartObjectFile": {"source": {"url": "<SIGNED_REPLACEMENT_FILE_GET_URL>"}}
      }
    }]
  },
  "outputs": [{"destination": {"url": "<SIGNED_OUTPUT_URL>"}, "mediaType": "image/vnd.adobe.photoshop"}]
}

Layer names are the ones in your PSD; use the manifest to find them. Setting isLinked to false (or omitting it) embeds the file; linked smart objects depend on the external file staying available. Also note: when you resize an output PSD, linked smart objects that you did not edit in the same request are rasterized to pixel layers.

Text edits

The dedicated v1 /text endpoint was replaced. In v2 you edit text layers through /v2/execute-actions, passing ActionJSON or a UXP script that selects the text layer and sets its properties. Adobe's Text Layer Operations migration page has the payload details; I haven't reproduced them here because I did not verify a complete v2 payload.

A v2 template pipeline

flowchart TD
    F[Firefly generate-async<br/>new backdrop] --> C[Photoshop v2 create-composite<br/>swap the smart object]
    C --> T[Photoshop v2 execute-actions<br/>localize the headline]
    T --> O[PSD master + flat renditions]

Migration checklist

  • Every image.adobe.io/pie/psdService call inventoried
  • Request bodies remapped (image.source.url, destination.url, mediaType)
  • Code that switches on manifest layer type updated to snake_case
  • Smart object replaces include operation.type: "edit"
  • quality set explicitly where you relied on v1 defaults
  • Anything using Depth Blur has a plan

Sources

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