This is the reference document for the &product_full_name; REST API. The REST API is for developers who want to:

- integrate &product_name; with other applications;
- create scripts that interact with &product_name;; or
- develop plugins that enhance the &product_name; UI, using REST to interact with the backend.

You can read more about developing &product_name; plugins in the &product_name; Developer Documentation.

## Getting started

Because the REST API is based on open standards, you can use any web development language or command line tool capable of generating an HTTP request to access the API. See the developer documentation for a basic usage example.

If you're already working with the Atlassian SDK, the REST API Browser is a great tool for exploring and experimenting with the &product_name; REST API.

## Structure of the REST URIs

&product_name;'s REST APIs provide access to resources (data entities) via URI paths. To use a REST API, your application will make an HTTP request and parse the response. The &product_name; REST API uses JSON as its communication format, and the standard HTTP methods like GET, PUT, POST and DELETE. URIs for &product_name;'s REST API resource have the following structure:

        http://host:port/context/rest/api-name/api-version/path/to/resource

For example, the following URI would retrieve a page of the latest commits to the jira repository in the JIRA project on https://stash.atlassian.com.

        https://stash.atlassian.com/rest/api/1.0/projects/JIRA/repos/jira/commits

See the API descriptions below for a full list of available resources.

Alternatively we also publish a list of resources in WADL format. It is available here.

## Paged APIs

&product_name; uses paging to conserve server resources and limit response size for resources that return potentially large collections of items. A request to a paged API will result in a `values` array wrapped in a JSON object with some paging metadata, like this:

        {
            "size": 3,
            "limit": 3,
            "isLastPage": false,
            "values": [
                { /* result 0 */ },
                { /* result 1 */ },
                { /* result 2 */ }
            ],
            "start": 0,
            "filter": null,
            "nextPageStart": 3
        }

Clients can use the `limit` and `start` query parameters to retrieve the desired number of results.

The `limit` parameter indicates how many results to return per page. Most APIs default to returning `25` if the limit is left unspecified. This number can be increased, but note that a resource-specific hard limit will apply. These hard limits can be configured by server administrators, so it's always best practice to check the `limit` attribute on the response to see what limit has been applied. The request to get a larger page should look like this:

        http://host:port/context/rest/api-name/api-version/path/to/resource?limit={desired size of page}

For example:

        https://stash.atlassian.com/rest/api/1.0/projects/JIRA/repos/jira/commits?limit=1000

The `start` parameter indicates which item should be used as the first item in the page of results. All paged responses contain an `isLastPage` attribute indicating whether another page of items exists.

Important: If more than one page exists (i.e. the response contains `"isLastPage": false`), the response object will also contain a `nextPageStart` attribute which must be used by the client as the `start` parameter on the next request. Identifiers of adjacent objects in a page may not be contiguous, so the start of the next page is not necessarily the start of the last page plus the last page's size. A client should always use `nextPageStart` to avoid unexpected results from a paged API. The request to get a subsequent page should look like this:

        http://host:port/context/rest/api-name/api-version/path/to/resource?start={nextPageStart from previous response}

For example:

        https://stash.atlassian.com/rest/api/1.0/projects/JIRA/repos/jira/commits?start=25

## Authentication

Any authentication that works against &product_name; will work against the REST API. The preferred authentication methods are HTTP Basic (when using SSL) and OAuth. Other supported methods include: HTTP Cookies and Trusted Applications.

You can find OAuth code samples in several programming languages at bitbucket.org/atlassian_tutorial/atlassian-oauth-examples.

The log-in page uses cookie-based authentication, so if you are using &product_name; in a browser you can call REST from JavaScript on the page and rely on the authentication that the browser has established.

## Errors & Validation

If a request fails due to client error, the resource will return an HTTP response code in the 40x range. These can be broadly categorised into:

HTTP Code | Description
--- | ---
400 (Bad Request) | One or more of the required parameters or attributes: were missing from the request; incorrectly formatted; or inappropriate in the given context.
401 (Unauthorized) | Either: Authentication is required but was not attempted. Authentication was attempted but failed. Authentication was successful but the authenticated user does not have the requisite permission for the resource. See the individual resource documentation for details of required permissions.
403 (Forbidden) | Actions are usually "forbidden" if they involve breaching the licensed user limit of the server, or degrading the authenticated user's permission level. See the individual resource documentation for more details.
404 (Not Found) | The entity you are attempting to access, or the project or repository containing it, does not exist.
405 (Method Not Allowed) | The request HTTP method is not appropriate for the targeted resource. For example an HTTP GET to a resource that only accepts an HTTP POST will result in a 405.
409 (Conflict) | The attempted update failed due to some conflict with an existing resource. For example: Creating a project with a key that already exists Merging an out-of-date pull request Deleting a comment that has replies etc. See the individual resource documentation for more details.
415 (Unsupported Media Type) | The request entity has a `Content-Type` that the server does not support. Almost all of the &product_name; REST API accepts `application/json` format, but check the individual resource documentation for more details. Additionally, double-check that you are setting the `Content-Type` header correctly on your request (e.g. using `-H "Content-Type: application/json"` in cURL).

For 400 HTTP codes the response will typically contain one or more validation error messages, for example:

        {
            "errors": [
                {
                    "context": "name",
                    "message": "The name should be between 1 and 255 characters.",
                    "exceptionName": null
                },
                {
                    "context": "email",
                    "message": "The email should be a valid email address.",
                    "exceptionName": null
                }
            ]
        }

The `context` attribute indicates which parameter or request entity attribute failed validation. Note that the `context` may be null.

For 401, 403, 404 and 409 HTTP codes, the response will contain one or more descriptive error messages:

        {
            "errors": [
                {
                    "context": null,
                    "message": "A detailed error message.",
                    "exceptionName": null
                }
            ]
        }

A 500 (Server Error) HTTP code indicates an incorrect resource url or an unexpected server error. Double-check the URL you are trying to access, then report the issue to your server administrator or Atlassian Support if problems persist.

## Personal Repositories

&product_name; allows users to manage their own repositories, called personal repositories. These are repositories associated with the user and to which they always have REPO_ADMIN permission.

Accessing personal repositories via REST is achieved through the normal project-centric REST URLs using the user's slug prefixed by tilde as the project key. E.g. to list personal repositories for a user with slug "johnsmith" you would make a GET to:

    http://example.com/rest/api/1.0/projects/~johnsmith/repos

In addition to this, &product_name; allows access to these repositories through an alternate set of user-centric REST URLs beginning with:

    http://example.com/rest/api/1.0/users/~{userSlug}/repos

E.g. to list the forks of the repository with slug "nodejs" in the personal project of user with slug "johnsmith" using the regular REST URL you would make a GET to:

    http://example.com/rest/api/1.0/projects/~johnsmith/repos/nodejs/forks

Using the alternate URL, you would make a GET to:

    http://example.com/rest/api/1.0/users/johnsmith/repos/nodejs/forks