Migrating away from Tenor is more than changing a base URL. The safest boundary is a provider adapter that translates new search responses into your application’s own result model while preserving the identity of old results.
Google’s shutdown notice names June 30, 2026 as the API decommissioning date. Use the old endpoint documentation only to understand your existing contract.
Start with an inventory
Find every place your application uses search, featured results, autocomplete, categories, share registration, and content filtering. Check background jobs and released mobile clients as well as the current web app. Record which dependencies are essential and which can be removed.
Inspect stored favorites and sent messages. An ID only has meaning within its original provider. Keep records such as provider: "tenor" and providerId: "..."; do not send an old ID to a new provider and expect the same content.
Define the replacement contract
Your internal model should include a stable identity, title, dimensions, thumbnail, available animation formats, source link, and any required attribution. Represent an unavailable MP4 explicitly rather than fabricating a URL.
Map pagination deliberately. Tenor’s historical continuation value and another provider’s numeric offset are different concepts. GIFs.so returns items, total, and nextOffset; clients pass the returned offset into the next request. Reset it when the query or category changes.
Authentication also changes. GIFs.so requires a verified account and an API key in the x-api-key header for REST. Keep that key on your server. The integration guide documents the current schema and MCP option.
Preserve historical meaning
Do not silently replace old favorites or message attachments with the first result for their title. A different reaction can change the tone of a conversation. Keep a source link where useful, show an unavailable state when necessary, and let the user select a replacement.
Test one query with results, one empty query result, a final pagination page, a missing item, and each authentication failure. Verify the selected media in the destination app, not just in your picker.
Roll out the new adapter behind a controlled release. Track search-to-selection rate and errors by provider. Remove dead Tenor retry jobs after the replacement works; an outage loop can continue consuming resources long after the visible picker has moved.