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+.. _http-api:
+
+########
+HTTP-API
+########
+
+Enabling HTTP-API
+-----------------
+
+VyOS HTTP API can be enabled through the ``set service https api`` command.
+
+.. code-block:: none
+
+  set service https api debug
+  set service https api keys id MY-HTTP-API-ID key MY-HTTP-API-PLAINTEXT-KEY
+
+The local API process listens on localhost:8080, and nginx exposes it on all
+virtual servers, by default. For the purpose of illustration below, we will
+assume nginx is running at https://192.168.122.127.
+
+One can limit proxying to specific listen addresses/ports/server-names by
+defining a ``service https virtual-host <id>``, and setting ``service https
+api-restrict virtual-host <id>``.
+
+.. code-block:: none
+
+  set service https virtual-host example listen-address 192.168.122.127
+  set service https virtual-host example listen-port 44302
+  set service https virtual-host example server-name example.net
+
+  set service https api-restrict virtual-host example
+
+In this example, nginx will proxy only those requests to
+192.168.122.127:44302 or example.net:44302 (assuming the DNS record is
+viable). Omitting any of listen-address, listen-port, or server-name, will
+leave appropriate defaults in the nginx directive. Multiple instances of
+``service https api-restrict virtual-host`` may be set.
+
+Configuration mode requests
+---------------------------
+
+In our example, we are creating a dummy interface and assigning an address to it:
+
+.. code-block:: none
+
+  curl -k -X POST -F data='{"op": "set", "path": ["interfaces", "dummy", "dum1", "address"], "value": "203.0.113.76/32"}' -F key=MY-HTTP-API-PLAINTEXT-KEY https://192.168.122.127/configure
+
+The ``/configure`` endpoint takes a request serialized in JSON. The only HTTP method it uses is POST. Request data is passed in the ``data=`` field and the API key is passed in the ``key=`` field. Key identifiers from the config are purely informational and the application doesn't need to know them, they only appear in the server logs to avoid exposing keys in log files, you only need the key itself.
+
+Since internally there is no distinction between a path and a value, you can omit the value field and include the value in the path like it's done in the shell commands:
+
+.. code-block:: none
+
+  curl -k -X POST -F data='{"op": "set", "path": ["interfaces", "dummy", "dum10", "address", "203.0.113.99/32"]}' -F key=MY-HTTP-API-PLAINTEXT-KEY https://192.168.122.127/configure
+
+Separate value field make the semantics more clear though, and also makes it easier to create a command template once and update it with different values as needed.
+
+You can pass the ``set``, ``delete`` or ``comment`` command to it. The API will push the command to the session and commit.
+
+To retrieve a value:
+
+.. code-block:: none
+
+  curl -k -X POST -F data='{"op": "returnValue", "path": ["interfaces", "dummy", "dum1", "address"]}' -F key=MY-HTTP-API-PLAINTEXT-KEY https://192.168.122.127/retrieve
+
+Use ``returnValues`` for multi-valued nodes.
+
+
+Show config
+"""""""""""
+
+To retrieve the full config under a path:
+
+.. code-block:: none
+
+  # curl -k -X POST -F data='{"op": "showConfig", "path": ["interfaces", "dummy"]}' -F key=MY-HTTP-API-PLAINTEXT-KEY https://192.168.122.127/retrieve
+
+It will return:
+
+.. code-block:: none
+
+  {"success": true, "data": {"dummy": {"dum1": {"address": "203.0.113.76/32"}}}, "error": null}
+
+Passing an empty path will return the full config:
+
+.. code-block:: none
+
+  # curl -k -X POST -F data='{"op": "showConfig", "path": []}' -F key=MY-HTTP-API-PLAINTEXT-KEY https://192.168.122.127/retrieve
+
+
+Configuration management requests
+---------------------------------
+
+When saving or loading a configuration, the endpoint is ``/config-file`` and you can pass the ``save`` or ``load`` command.
+
+If you don't specify the file when saving, it saves to ``/config/config.boot``. Here's an example:
+
+.. code-block:: none
+
+  # curl -k -X POST -F key=MY-HTTP-API-PLAINTEXT-KEY -Fdata='{"op": "save", "file": "/config/config.boot"}' https://192.168.122.127/config-file
+
+Image management requests
+-------------------------
+
+One may ``add`` or ``delete`` a system image using the endpoint ``/image``. Here are the respective examples:
+
+``add`` from ``url``. Here we use the URL of the latest rolling release:
+
+.. code-block:: none
+
+  # curl -k -X POST -F data='{"op": "add", "url": "https://downloads.vyos.io/rolling/current/amd64/vyos-rolling-latest.iso"}' -F key=MY-HTTP-API-PLAINTEXT-KEY https://192.168.122.127/image
+
+``delete`` by image ``name``. For example:
+
+.. code-block:: none
+
+  # curl -k -X POST -F data='{"op": "delete", "name": "1.3-rolling-202006070117"}' -F key=MY-HTTP-API-PLAINTEXT-KEY https://192.168.122.127/image
+
+To list the available system images by name, one may use the operational mode request ``show`` discussed in the next section; in this setting it would be:
+
+.. code-block:: none
+
+  # curl -k -X POST -F data='{"op": "show", "path": ["system", "image"]}' -F key=MY-HTTP-API-PLAINTEXT-KEY https://192.168.122.127/show
+
+Operational mode requests
+-------------------------
+
+It is possible to run ``show`` and ``generate`` commands:
+
+
+Request:
+
+.. code-block:: none
+
+  curl -k -X POST -F data='{"op": "generate", "path": ["wireguard", "default-keypair"]}' -F key=MY-HTTP-API-PLAINTEXT-KEY https://192.168.122.127/generate
+
+Response:
+
+.. code-block:: none
+
+  {"success": true, "data": "", "error": null}
+
+Request:
+
+.. code-block:: none
+
+  curl -k -X POST -F data='{"op": "show", "path": ["wireguard", "keypairs", "pubkey", "default"]}' -F key=MY-HTTP-API-PLAINTEXT-KEY https://192.168.122.127/show
+
+Response:
+
+.. code-block:: none
+
+  {"success": true, "data": "<some pubkey>=\n", "error": null}
+
+Request:
+
+.. code-block:: none
+
+  curl -k -X POST -F data='{"op": "show", "path": ["ip", "route"]}' -F key=MY-HTTP-API-PLAINTEXT-KEY https://192.168.122.127/show
+
+Response:
+
+.. code-block:: none
+
+  {"success": true, "data": "Codes: K - kernel route, C - connected, S - static, R - RIP,\n       O - OSPF, I - IS-IS, B - BGP, E - EIGRP, N - NHRP,\n       T - Table, v - VNC, V - VNC-Direct, A - Babel, D - SHARP,\n       F - PBR, f - OpenFabric,\n       > - selected route, * - FIB route, q - queued route, r - rejected route\n\nS>* 0.0.0.0/0 [210/0] via 192.168.100.1, eth0, 01:41:05\nC>* 192.168.0.0/24 is directly connected, eth1, 01:41:09\nC>* 192.168.100.0/24 is directly connected, eth0, 01:41:05\nC>* 203.0.113.76/32 is directly connected, dum1, 01:38:40\n", "error": null}
+