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Make API calls

Once you create your API token, all API requests are authorized in the same way. Cloudflare uses the RFC standard ↗ Authorization: Bearer <API_TOKEN> interface. An example request is shown below.

Terminal window
curl "https://api.cloudflare.com/client/v4/zones/$ZONE_ID" \
--header "Authorization: Bearer YQSn-xWAQiiEh9qM58wZNnyQS7FUdoqGIUAbrh7T"

Never send or store your API token secret in plaintext. Also be sure not to check it into code repositories, especially public ones.

Consider defining environment variables for the zone or account ID, as well as for authentication credentials (for example, the API token).

To format JSON output for readability in the command line, you can use a tool like jq, a command-line JSON processor. For more information on obtaining and installing jq, refer to Download jq ↗.

The following example will format the curl JSON output using jq:

Terminal window
curl "https://api.cloudflare.com/client/v4/zones/$ZONE_ID" \
--header "Authorization: Bearer $CLOUDFLARE_API_TOKEN" | jq .

Using Cloudflare's APIs

Every Cloudflare API element is fixed to a version number. The latest version is Version 4. The stable base URL for all Version 4 HTTPS endpoints is: https://api.cloudflare.com/client/v4/

For specific guidance on making API calls, refer to the following resources:

Query parameters

Several Cloudflare endpoints have optional query parameters to filter incoming results, such as List Zones.

When adding those query parameters, make sure you enclose the URL in double quotes "" (just like the header values), or the API call might error.

Terminal window
curl "https://api.cloudflare.com/client/v4/zones?account.id=$ACCOUNT_ID" \
--header "Authorization: Bearer $CLOUDFLARE_API_TOKEN"

You can enclose strings using either single quotes ('') or double quotes (""). However, using single quotes prevents variable substitution in shells like bash. In the previous example, this would mean that the $ACCOUNT_ID and $CLOUDFLARE_API_TOKEN environment variables would not be replaced with their values.

Pagination

Sometimes there will be too many results to display via the default page size, for example you might receive the following:

"count": 1,
"page": 1,
"per_page": 20,
"total_count": 200,

There are two query parameter options, which can be combined to paginate across the results.

  • page=x enables you to select a specific page.
  • per_page=xx enables you to adjust the number of results displayed on a page. If you select too many, you may get a timeout.

An example might be https://api.cloudflare.com/client/v4/zones/$ZONE_ID/dns_records?per_page=100&page=2.

Other options are:

  • order: Select the attribute to order by.
  • direction: Either ASC (ascending order) or DESC (descending order).

The available options will be listed at the end of the result_info of all endpoints in the API documentation.

Making API calls on Windows

Recent versions of Windows 10 and 11 already include the curl tool ↗ used in the developer documentation's API examples. If you are using a different Windows version, refer to Windows downloads ↗ in the curl website for more information on obtaining and installing this tool.

Using a Command Prompt window

To use the Cloudflare API with curl on a Command Prompt window, you must use double quotes (") as string delimiters.

A typical PATCH request will be similar to the following:

C:\>curl --request PATCH "https://api.cloudflare.com/client/v4/user/invites/{id}" --header "X-Auth-Email: <EMAIL>" --header "X-Auth-Key: <API_KEY>" --data "{""status"": ""accepted""}"

To escape a double quote character in a request body (for example, a body specified with -d or --data in a POST/PATCH request), prepend it with another double quote (") or a backslash (\) character.

To break a single command in two or more lines, use ^ as the line continuation character at the end of a line:

C:\>curl --request PATCH ^
"https://api.cloudflare.com/client/v4/user/invites/{id}" ^
--header "X-Auth-Email: <EMAIL>" ^
--header "X-Auth-Key: <API_KEY>" ^
--data "{""status"": ""accepted""}"

Using PowerShell

PowerShell has specific cmdlets (Invoke-RestMethod and ConvertFrom-Json) for making REST API calls and handling JSON responses. The syntax for these cmdlets is different from the curl examples provided in the developer documentation.

The following example uses the Invoke-RestMethod cmdlet:

PowerShell
Invoke-RestMethod -URI "https://api.cloudflare.com/client/v4/zones/$Env:ZONE_ID/ssl/certificate_packs?ssl_status=all" -Method 'GET' -Headers @{'X-Auth-Email'=$Env:CLOUDFLARE_EMAIL;'X-Auth-Key'=$Env:CLOUDFLARE_API_KEY}
result      : {@{id=78411cfa-5727-4dc1-8d4a-773d01f17c7c; type=universal; hosts=System.Object[];
              primary_certificate=c173c8a1-9724-4e96-a748-2c4494186098; status=active; certificates=System.Object[];
              created_on=2022-12-09T23:11:06.010263Z; validity_days=90; validation_method=txt;
              certificate_authority=lets_encrypt}}
result_info : @{page=1; per_page=20; total_pages=1; count=1; total_count=1}
success     : True
errors      : {}
messages    : {}

The command assumes that the environment variables ZONE_ID, CLOUDFLARE_EMAIL, and CLOUDFLARE_API_KEY have been previously defined. For more information, refer to Environment variables.

By default, the output will only contain the first level of the JSON object hierarchy (in the above example, the content of objects such as hosts and certificates is not shown). To show additional levels and format the output like the jq tool, you can use the ConvertFrom-Json cmdlet specifying the desired maximum depth (by default, 2):

PowerShell
Invoke-RestMethod -URI "https://api.cloudflare.com/client/v4/zones/$Env:ZONE_ID/ssl/certificate_packs?ssl_status=all" -Method 'GET' -Headers @{'X-Auth-Email'=$Env:CLOUDFLARE_EMAIL;'X-Auth-Key'=$Env:CLOUDFLARE_API_KEY} | ConvertTo-Json -Depth 5
{
  "result": [
    {
      "id": "78411cfa-5727-4dc1-8d4a-773d01f17c7c",
      "type": "universal",
      "hosts": ["*.example.com", "example.com"],
      "primary_certificate": "c173c8a1-9724-4e96-a748-2c4494186098",
      "status": "active",
      "certificates": [
        {
          "id": "c173c8a1-9724-4e96-a748-2c4494186098",
          "hosts": ["*.example.com", "example.com"],
          "issuer": "LetsEncrypt",
          "signature": "ECDSAWithSHA384",
          "status": "active",
          "bundle_method": "ubiquitous",
          "zone_id": "<ZONE_ID>",
          "uploaded_on": "2023-02-02T11:20:25.403338Z",
          "modified_on": "2022-12-08T00:26:15.577555Z",
          "expires_on": "2023-03-07T23:26:12.000000Z",
          "priority": null
        }
      ],
      "created_on": "2022-12-09T23:11:06.010263Z",
      "validity_days": 90,
      "validation_method": "txt",
      "certificate_authority": "lets_encrypt"
    }
  ]
  // (...)
}

You can also use the curl tool in PowerShell. However, in PowerShell curl is an alias to the Invoke-WebRequest cmdlet, which supports a different syntax from the usual curl tool. To use curl, enter curl.exe instead.

A typical PATCH request with curl will be similar to the following:

PowerShell
curl.exe --request PATCH "https://api.cloudflare.com/client/v4/user/invites/{id}" --header "Authorization: Bearer $Env:CLOUDFLARE_API_TOKEN" --data '{\"status\": \"accepted\"}'

To escape a double quote (") character in a request body (specified with -d or --data), prepend it with another double quote (") or a backslash (\). You must escape double quotes even when using single quotes (') as string delimiters.

To break a single command in two or more lines, use a backtick (`) character as the line continuation character at the end of a line:

PowerShell
curl.exe --request PATCH `
"https://api.cloudflare.com/client/v4/user/invites/{id}" `
--header "X-Auth-Email: $Env:CLOUDFLARE_EMAIL" `
--header "X-Auth-Key: $Env:CLOUDFLARE_API_KEY" `
--data '{\"status\": \"accepted\"}'

Environment variables

You can define environment variables for values that repeat between commands, such as the zone or account ID. The lifetime of an environment variable can be the current shell session, all future sessions of the current user, or even all future sessions of all users on the machine you are defining them.

You can also use environment variables for keeping authentication credentials (API token, API key, and email) and reusing them in different commands. However, make sure you define these values in the smallest possible scope (either the current shell session only or all new sessions for the current user).

The procedure for setting and referencing environment variables depends on your platform and shell.

Define an environment variable

To define a ZONE_ID environment variable for the current shell session, run the following command:

Terminal window
export ZONE_ID='f2ea6707005a4da1af1b431202e96ac5'

To define the variable for all new shell sessions for the current user, add the command above at the end of your shell configuration file (for example, ~/.bashrc for the bash shell and ~/.zshrc for the zsh shell).

Reference an environment variable

When referencing an environment variable in a command, add a $ prefix to the variable name (for example, $ZONE_ID). Make sure that the full string referencing the variable is either unquoted (if it does not contain spaces) or enclosed in double quotes ("").

For example:

Terminal window
curl "https://api.cloudflare.com/client/v4/zones/$ZONE_ID" \
--header "Authorization: Bearer $CLOUDFLARE_API_TOKEN"