Using an external image as OG image

Learn how to pass the username as a URL parameter to pull an external profile image for the image generation.

DX Team
Knowledge Base
2 min read
Last updated November 11, 2025

You can use the following code sample to explore using parameters and different content types with next/og. To learn more about OG Image Generation, see Open Graph Image Generation.

Create an API route handler:

app/api/og/route.tsx
import { ImageResponse } from 'next/og';
// App router includes @vercel/og.
// No need to install it.


export async function GET(request: Request) {
  const { searchParams } = new URL(request.url);
  const username = searchParams.get('username');
  if (!username) {
    return new ImageResponse(<>Visit with &quot;?username=vercel&quot;</>, {
      width: 1200,
      height: 630,
    });
  }


  return new ImageResponse(
    (
      <div
        style={{
          display: 'flex',
          fontSize: 60,
          color: 'black',
          background: '#f6f6f6',
          width: '100%',
          height: '100%',
          paddingTop: 50,
          flexDirection: 'column',
          justifyContent: 'center',
          alignItems: 'center',
        }}
      >
        <img
          width="256"
          height="256"
          src={`https://github.com/${username}.png`}
          style={{
            borderRadius: 128,
          }}
        />
        <p>github.com/{username}</p>
      </div>
    ),
    {
      width: 1200,
      height: 630,
    },
  );
}
app/about/opengraph-image.jsx
import { ImageResponse } from 'next/og';
// App router includes @vercel/og.
// No need to install it.


export async function GET(request) {
  const { searchParams } = new URL(request.url);
  const username = searchParams.get('username');
  if (!username) {
    return new ImageResponse(<>Visit with &quot;?username=vercel&quot;</>, {
      width: 1200,
      height: 630,
    });
  }


  return new ImageResponse(
    (
      <div
        style={{
          display: 'flex',
          fontSize: 60,
          color: 'black',
          background: '#f6f6f6',
          width: '100%',
          height: '100%',
          paddingTop: 50,
          flexDirection: 'column',
          justifyContent: 'center',
          alignItems: 'center',
        }}
      >
        <img
          width="256"
          height="256"
          src={`https://github.com/${username}.png`}
          style={{
            borderRadius: 128,
          }}
        />
        <p>github.com/{username}</p>
      </div>
    ),
    {
      width: 1200,
      height: 630,
    },
  );
}

If you're not using a framework, you must either add "type": "module" to your package.json or change your JavaScript Functions' file extensions from .js to .mjs

Preview the OG route locally by running the following command:

terminal
pnpm dev

Then, browse to http://localhost:3000/api/og. You will see the following image:

og-dynamic-img.png
Image generated using a github profile dynamic image for username=vercel

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