1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
|
---
type: reference, dev
stage: none
group: Development
info: "See the Technical Writers assigned to Development Guidelines: https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/engineering/ux/technical-writing/#assignments-to-development-guidelines"
description: "Writing styles, markup, formatting, and other standards for GitLab's RESTful APIs."
---
# RESTful API
REST API resources are documented in Markdown under
[`/doc/api`](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/tree/master/doc/api). Each
resource has its own Markdown file, which is linked from `api_resources.md`.
When modifying the Markdown, also update the corresponding
[OpenAPI definition](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/tree/master/doc/api/openapi)
if one exists for the resource. If not, consider creating one. Match the latest
[OpenAPI 3.0.x specification](https://swagger.io/specification/). (For more
information, see the discussion in this
[issue](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/16023#note_370901810).)
In the Markdown doc for a resource (AKA endpoint):
- Every method must have the REST API request. For example:
```plaintext
GET /projects/:id/repository/branches
```
- Every method must have a detailed [description of the parameters](#method-description).
- Every method must have a cURL example.
- Every method must have a response body (in JSON format).
## API topic template
The following can be used as a template to get started:
````markdown
## Descriptive title
> Version history note.
One or two sentence description of what endpoint does.
```plaintext
METHOD /endpoint
```
Supported attributes:
| Attribute | Type | Required | Description |
|:------------|:---------|:---------|:----------------------|
| `attribute` | datatype | yes/no | Detailed description. |
| `attribute` | datatype | yes/no | Detailed description. |
Example request:
```shell
curl --header "PRIVATE-TOKEN: <your_access_token>" "https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/endpoint?parameters"
```
Example response:
```json
[
{
}
]
```
````
Adjust the [version history note accordingly](styleguide/index.md#version-text-in-the-version-history)
to describe the GitLab release that introduced the API call.
## Method description
Use the following table headers to describe the methods. Attributes should
always be in code blocks using backticks (`` ` ``).
```markdown
| Attribute | Type | Required | Description |
|:----------|:-----|:---------|:------------|
```
Rendered example:
| Attribute | Type | Required | Description |
|:----------|:-------|:---------|:--------------------|
| `user` | string | yes | The GitLab username. |
## cURL commands
- Use `https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/` as an endpoint.
- Wherever needed use this personal access token: `<your_access_token>`.
- Always put the request first. `GET` is the default so you don't have to
include it.
- Wrap the URL in double quotes (`"`).
- Prefer to use examples using the personal access token and don't pass data of
username and password.
| Methods | Description |
|:------------------------------------------- |:------------------------------------------------------|
| `--header "PRIVATE-TOKEN: <your_access_token>"` | Use this method as is, whenever authentication needed. |
| `--request POST` | Use this method when creating new objects |
| `--request PUT` | Use this method when updating existing objects |
| `--request DELETE` | Use this method when removing existing objects |
## cURL Examples
The following sections include a set of [cURL](https://curl.se/) examples
you can use in the API documentation.
WARNING:
Do not use information for real users, URLs, or tokens. For documentation, refer to our
relevant style guide sections on [Fake user information](styleguide/index.md#fake-user-information),
[Fake URLs](styleguide/index.md#fake-urls), and [Fake tokens](styleguide/index.md#fake-tokens).
### Simple cURL command
Get the details of a group:
```shell
curl --header "PRIVATE-TOKEN: <your_access_token>" "https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/groups/gitlab-org"
```
### cURL example with parameters passed in the URL
Create a new project under the authenticated user's namespace:
```shell
curl --request POST --header "PRIVATE-TOKEN: <your_access_token>" "https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/projects?name=foo"
```
### Post data using cURL's `--data`
Instead of using `--request POST` and appending the parameters to the URI, you
can use cURL's `--data` option. The example below will create a new project
`foo` under the authenticated user's namespace.
```shell
curl --data "name=foo" --header "PRIVATE-TOKEN: <your_access_token>" "https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/projects"
```
### Post data using JSON content
This example creates a new group. Be aware of the use of single (`'`) and double
(`"`) quotes.
```shell
curl --request POST --header "PRIVATE-TOKEN: <your_access_token>" --header "Content-Type: application/json" --data '{"path": "my-group", "name": "My group"}' "https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/groups"
```
For readability, you can also set up the `--data` by using the following format:
```shell
curl --request POST \
--url "https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/groups" \
--header "content-type: application/json" \
--header "PRIVATE-TOKEN: <your_access_token>" \
--data '{
"path": "my-group",
"name": "My group"
}'
```
### Post data using form-data
Instead of using JSON or urlencode you can use multipart/form-data which
properly handles data encoding:
```shell
curl --request POST --header "PRIVATE-TOKEN: <your_access_token>" --form "title=ssh-key" --form "key=ssh-rsa AAAAB3NzaC1yc2EA..." "https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/users/25/keys"
```
The above example is run by and administrator and will add an SSH public key
titled `ssh-key` to user's account which has an ID of 25.
### Escape special characters
Spaces or slashes (`/`) may sometimes result to errors, thus it is recommended
to escape them when possible. In the example below we create a new issue which
contains spaces in its title. Observe how spaces are escaped using the `%20`
ASCII code.
```shell
curl --request POST --header "PRIVATE-TOKEN: <your_access_token>" "https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/projects/42/issues?title=Hello%20Dude"
```
Use `%2F` for slashes (`/`).
### Pass arrays to API calls
The GitLab API sometimes accepts arrays of strings or integers. For example, to
exclude specific users when requesting a list of users for a project, you would
do something like this:
```shell
curl --request PUT --header "PRIVATE-TOKEN: <your_access_token>" --data "skip_users[]=<user_id>" --data "skip_users[]=<user_id>" "https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/projects/<project_id>/users"
```
|
