6 The Friendica API aims to be compatible with the [GNU Social API](http://wiki.gnusocial.de/gnusocial:api) and the [Twitter API](https://dev.twitter.com/rest/public).
8 Please refer to the linked documentation for further information.
10 ## Implemented API calls
15 API endpoints can restrict the method used to request them.
16 Using an invalid method results in HTTP error 405 "Method Not Allowed".
18 In this document, the required method is listed after the endpoint name. "*" means every method can be used.
22 Friendica supports basic http auth and OAuth 1 to authenticate the user to the api.
24 OAuth settings can be added by the user in web UI under /settings/oauth/
26 In this document, endpoints which requires auth are marked with "AUTH" after endpoint name
28 #### Unsupported parameters
29 * cursor: Not implemented in GNU Social
30 * trim_user: Not implemented in GNU Social
31 * contributor_details: Not implemented in GNU Social
32 * place_id: Not implemented in GNU Social
33 * display_coordinates: Not implemented in GNU Social
35 * include_my_retweet: Retweets in Friendica are implemented in a different way
37 #### Different behaviour
38 * screen_name: The nick name in friendica is only unique in each network but not for all networks. The users are searched in the following priority: Friendica, StatusNet/GNU Social, Diaspora, pump.io, Twitter. If no contact was found by this way, then the first contact is taken.
39 * include_entities: Default is "false". If set to "true" then the plain text is formatted so that links are having descriptions.
42 * cid: Contact id of the user (important for "contact_allow" and "contact_deny")
43 * network: network of the user
46 When an error occurs in API call, an HTTP error code is returned, with an error message
48 - 400 Bad Request: if parameters are missing or items can't be found
49 - 403 Forbidden: if the authenticated user is missing
50 - 405 Method Not Allowed: if API was called with an invalid method, eg. GET when API require POST
51 - 501 Not Implemented: if the requested API doesn't exist
52 - 500 Internal Server Error: on other error conditions
59 "error": "Specific error message",
60 "request": "API path requested",
61 "code": "HTTP error code"
68 <error>Specific error message</error>
69 <request>API path requested</request>
70 <code>HTTP error code</code>
75 ### account/rate_limit_status (*; AUTH)
78 ### account/verify_credentials (*; AUTH)
81 * skip_status: Don't show the "status" field. (Default: false)
82 * include_entities: "true" shows entities for pictures and links (Default: false)
85 ### conversation/show (*; AUTH)
86 Unofficial Twitter command. It shows all direct answers (excluding the original post) to a given id.
90 * count: Items per page (default: 20)
92 * since_id: minimum id
94 * include_entities: "true" shows entities for pictures and links (Default: false)
96 #### Unsupported parameters
102 ### direct_messages (*; AUTH)
104 * count: Items per page (default: 20)
106 * since_id: minimum id
108 * getText: Defines the format of the status field. Can be "html" or "plain"
109 * include_entities: "true" shows entities for pictures and links (Default: false)
110 * friendica_verbose: "true" enables different error returns (default: "false")
112 #### Unsupported parameters
116 ### direct_messages/all (*; AUTH)
118 * count: Items per page (default: 20)
120 * since_id: minimum id
122 * getText: Defines the format of the status field. Can be "html" or "plain"
123 * friendica_verbose: "true" enables different error returns (default: "false")
126 ### direct_messages/conversation (*; AUTH)
127 Shows all direct messages of a conversation
129 * count: Items per page (default: 20)
131 * since_id: minimum id
133 * getText: Defines the format of the status field. Can be "html" or "plain"
134 * uri: URI of the conversation
135 * friendica_verbose: "true" enables different error returns (default: "false")
138 ### direct_messages/sent (*; AUTH)
140 * count: Items per page (default: 20)
142 * since_id: minimum id
144 * getText: Defines the format of the status field. Can be "html" or "plain"
145 * include_entities: "true" shows entities for pictures and links (Default: false)
146 * friendica_verbose: "true" enables different error returns (default: "false")
149 ### direct_messages/new (POST,PUT; AUTH)
151 * user_id: id of the user
152 * screen_name: screen name (for technical reasons, this value is not unique!)
154 * replyto: ID of the replied direct message
155 * title: Title of the direct message
158 ### direct_messages/destroy (POST,DELETE; AUTH)
160 * id: id of the message to be deleted
161 * include_entities: optional, currently not yet implemented
162 * friendica_parenturi: optional, can be used for increased safety to delete only intended messages
163 * friendica_verbose: "true" enables different error returns (default: "false")
168 * JSON return as defined for Twitter API not yet implemented
169 * on friendica_verbose=true: JSON return {"result":"ok","message":"message deleted"}
173 * on friendica_verbose=true: different JSON returns {"result":"error","message":"xyz"}
176 ### externalprofile/show (*)
178 * profileurl: profile url
181 ### favorites (*; AUTH)
183 * count: Items per page (default: 20)
185 * since_id: minimum id
187 * include_entities: "true" shows entities for pictures and links (Default: false)
189 #### Unsupported parameters
193 Favorites aren't displayed to other users, so "user_id" and "screen_name" are unsupported.
194 Set this values will result in an empty array.
197 ### favorites/create (POST,PUT; AUTH)
200 * include_entities: "true" shows entities for pictures and links (Default: false)
203 ### favorites/destroy (POST,DELETE; AUTH)
206 * include_entities: "true" shows entities for pictures and links (Default: false)
209 ### followers/ids (*; AUTH)
211 * stringify_ids: Send id numbers as text (true) or integers (false)? (default: false)
213 #### Unsupported parameters
218 Friendica doesn't allow showing the followers of other users.
221 ### friends/ids (*; AUTH)
223 * stringify_ids: Send the id numbers as text (true) or integers (false)? (default: false)
225 #### Unsupported parameters
230 Friendica doesn't allow showing the friends of other users.
236 ### media/upload (POST,PUT; AUTH)
241 ### oauth/request_token (*)
245 #### Unsupported parameters
249 ### oauth/access_token (*)
253 #### Unsupported parameters
259 ### statuses/destroy (POST,DELETE; AUTH)
262 * include_entities: "true" shows entities for pictures and links (Default: false)
264 #### Unsupported parameters
268 ### statuses/followers (*; AUTH)
272 * include_entities: "true" shows entities for pictures and links (Default: false)
275 ### statuses/friends (*; AUTH)
279 * include_entities: "true" shows entities for pictures and links (Default: false)
282 ### blocks/list (*; AUTH)
286 * include_entities: "true" shows entities for pictures and links (Default: false)
287 * count: Items per page (default: 20).
290 #### Unsupported parameters
295 ### statuses/friends_timeline (*; AUTH)
297 * count: Items per page (default: 20)
299 * since_id: minimum id
301 * exclude_replies: don't show replies (default: false)
302 * conversation_id: Shows all statuses of a given conversation.
303 * include_entities: "true" shows entities for pictures and links (Default: false)
305 #### Unsupported parameters
308 * contributor_details
311 ### statuses/home_timeline (*; AUTH)
313 * count: Items per page (default: 20)
315 * since_id: minimum id
317 * exclude_replies: don't show replies (default: false)
318 * conversation_id: Shows all statuses of a given conversation.
319 * include_entities: "true" shows entities for pictures and links (Default: false)
321 #### Unsupported parameters
324 * contributor_details
327 ### statuses/mentions (*; AUTH)
329 * count: Items per page (default: 20)
331 * since_id: minimum id
333 * include_entities: "true" shows entities for pictures and links (Default: false)
335 #### Unsupported parameters
338 * contributor_details
341 ### statuses/public_timeline (*; AUTH)
343 * count: Items per page (default: 20)
345 * since_id: minimum id
347 * exclude_replies: don't show replies (default: false)
348 * conversation_id: Shows all statuses of a given conversation.
349 * include_entities: "true" shows entities for pictures and links (Default: false)
351 #### Unsupported parameters
355 ### statuses/networkpublic_timeline (*; AUTH)
357 * count: Items per page (default: 20)
359 * since_id: minimum id
361 * include_entities: "true" shows entities for pictures and links (Default: false)
364 ### statuses/replies (*; AUTH)
366 * count: Items per page (default: 20)
368 * since_id: minimum id
370 * include_entities: "true" shows entities for pictures and links (Default: false)
372 #### Unsupported parameters
375 * contributor_details
378 ### statuses/retweet (POST,PUT; AUTH)
381 * include_entities: "true" shows entities for pictures and links (Default: false)
383 #### Unsupported parameters
387 ### statuses/show (*; AUTH)
390 * conversation: if set to "1" show all messages of the conversation with the given id
391 * include_entities: "true" shows entities for pictures and links (Default: false)
393 #### Unsupported parameters
398 ### statuses/update, statuses/update_with_media
400 * title: Title of the status
401 * status: Status in text format
402 * htmlstatus: Status in HTML format
403 * in_reply_to_status_id
407 * source: Application name
413 * include_entities: "true" shows entities for pictures and links (Default: false)
414 * media_ids: (By now only a single value, no array)
416 #### Unsupported parameters
419 * display_coordinates
422 ### statuses/user_timeline (*; AUTH)
424 * user_id: id of the user
425 * screen_name: screen name (for technical reasons, this value is not unique!)
426 * count: Items per page (default: 20)
428 * since_id: minimum id
430 * exclude_replies: don't show replies (default: false)
431 * conversation_id: Shows all statuses of a given conversation.
432 * include_entities: "true" shows entities for pictures and links (Default: false)
434 #### Unsupported parameters
438 * contributor_details
441 ### statusnet/config (*)
444 ### statusnet/conversation (*; AUTH)
445 It shows all direct answers (excluding the original post) to a given id.
449 * count: Items per page (default: 20)
451 * since_id: minimum id
453 * include_entities: "true" shows entities for pictures and links (Default: false)
456 ### statusnet/version (*)
458 #### Unsupported parameters
463 Friendica doesn't allow showing followers of other users.
469 * page: the page number (starting at 1) to return
470 * rpp: the number of statuses to return per page
471 * count: alias for the rpp parameter
472 * since_id: returns statuses with ids greater than the given id
473 * max_id: returns statuses with ids lower or equal to the given id
475 #### Unsupported parameters
486 * q: name of the user
488 #### Unsupported parameters
496 * user_id: id of the user
497 * screen_name: screen name (for technical reasons, this value is not unique!)
498 * include_entities: "true" shows entities for pictures and links (Default: false)
500 #### Unsupported parameters
505 Friendica doesn't allow showing friends of other users.
508 ### users/lookup (*; AUTH)
511 * user_id: list of ids to lookup
513 #### Unsupported parameters
518 ### account/update_profile_image (POST; AUTH)
520 * image: image data as base64 (Twitter has a limit of 700kb, Friendica allows more)
521 * profile_id (optional): id of the profile for which the image should be used, default is changing the default profile
523 uploads a new profile image (scales 4-6) to database, changes default or specified profile to the new photo
528 * JSON return: returns the updated user details (see account/verify_credentials)
531 * 403 FORBIDDEN: if not authenticated
532 * 400 BADREQUEST: "no media data submitted", "profile_id not available"
533 * 500 INTERNALSERVERERROR: "image size exceeds PHP config settings, file was rejected by server",
534 "image size exceeds Friendica Config setting (uploaded size: x)",
535 "unable to process image data",
536 "image upload failed"
539 ## Implemented API calls (not compatible with other APIs)
543 ### friendica/activity/<verb>
547 Add or remove an activity from an item.
548 'verb' can be one of:
556 To remove an activity, prepend the verb with "un", eg. "unlike" or "undislike"
557 Attend verbs disable eachother: that means that if "attendyes" was added to an item, adding "attendno" remove previous "attendyes".
558 Attend verbs should be used only with event-related items (there is no check at the moment)
573 ### friendica/group_show (*; AUTH)
574 Return all or a specified group of the user with the containing contacts as array.
577 * gid: optional, if not given, API returns all groups of the user
582 * name: name of the group
583 * gid: id of the group
584 * user: array of group members (return from api_get_user() function for each member)
588 ### friendica/group_delete (POST,DELETE; AUTH)
589 delete the specified group of contacts; API call need to include the correct gid AND name of the group to be deleted.
592 * gid: id of the group to be deleted
593 * name: name of the group to be deleted
598 * success: true if successfully deleted
599 * gid: gid of the deleted group
600 * name: name of the deleted group
601 * status: „deleted“ if successfully deleted
602 * wrong users: empty array
606 ### friendica/group_create (POST,PUT; AUTH)
607 Create the group with the posted array of contacts as members.
610 * name: name of the group to be created
613 JSON data as Array like the result of "users/group_show":
622 * success: true if successfully created or reactivated
623 * gid: gid of the created group
624 * name: name of the created group
625 * status: „missing user“ | „reactivated“ | „ok“
626 * wrong users: array of users, which were not available in the contact table
630 ### friendica/group_update (POST)
631 Update the group with the posted array of contacts as members (post all members of the group to the call; function will remove members not posted).
634 * gid: id of the group to be changed
635 * name: name of the group to be changed
638 JSON data as array like the result of „users/group_show“:
647 * success: true if successfully updated
648 * gid: gid of the changed group
649 * name: name of the changed group
650 * status: „missing user“ | „ok“
651 * wrong users: array of users, which were not available in the contact table
656 ### friendica/notifications (GET)
657 Return last 50 notification for current user, ordered by date with unseen item on top
666 * type: type of notification as int (see NOTIFY_* constants in boot.php)
667 * name: full name of the contact subject of the note
668 * url: contact's profile url
669 * photo: contact's profile photo
670 * date: datetime string of the note
671 * timestamp: timestamp of the node
672 * date_rel: relative date of the note (eg. "1 hour ago")
673 * msg: note message in bbcode
674 * msg_html: note message in html
675 * msg_plain: note message in plain text
677 * seen: seen state: 0 or 1
681 ### friendica/notifications/seen (POST)
682 Set note as seen, returns item object if possible
685 id: id of the note to set seen
688 If the note is linked to an item, the item is returned, just like one of the "statuses/*_timeline" api.
690 If the note is not linked to an item, a success status is returned:
692 * "success" (json) | <status>success</status>;" (xml)
696 ### friendica/photo (*; AUTH)
698 * photo_id: Resource id of a photo.
699 * scale: (optional) scale value of the photo
701 Returns data of a picture with the given resource.
702 If 'scale' isn't provided, returned data include full url to each scale of the photo.
703 If 'scale' is set, returned data include image data base64 encoded.
705 possibile scale value are:
707 * 0: original or max size by server settings
708 * 1: image with or height at <= 640
709 * 2: image with or height at <= 320
710 * 3: thumbnail 160x160
711 * 4: Profile image at 175x175
712 * 5: Profile image at 80x80
713 * 6: Profile image at 48x48
715 An image used as profile image has only scale 4-6, other images only 0-3
723 "created": "date(YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS)",
724 "edited": "date(YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS)",
725 "title": "photo title",
726 "desc": "photo description",
727 "album": "album name",
728 "filename": "original file name",
732 "profile": "1 if is profile photo",
734 "<scale>": "url to image"
738 "datasize": "size in byte",
739 "data": "base64 encoded image data"
747 <created>date(YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS)</created>
748 <edited>date(YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS)</edited>
749 <title>photo title</title>
750 <desc>photo description</desc>
751 <album>album name</album>
752 <filename>original file name</filename>
753 <type>mime type</type>
754 <height>number</height>
755 <width>number</width>
756 <profile>1 if is profile photo</profile>
758 <link type="mime type" scale="scale number" href="image url"/>
765 ### friendica/photos/list (*; AUTH)
767 Returns a list of all photo resources of the logged in user.
777 filename: "original file name",
778 type: "image mime type",
779 thumb: "url to thumb sized image"
787 <photos type="array">
788 <photo id="resource_id"
790 filename="original file name"
791 type="image mime type">
792 "url to thumb sized image"
799 ### friendica/photoalbum/delete (POST,DELETE; AUTH)
801 * album: name of the album to be deleted
803 deletes all images with the specified album name, is not reversible -> ensure that client is asking user for being sure to do this
808 * JSON return {"result":"deleted","message":"album 'xyz' with all containing photos has been deleted."}
811 * 403 FORBIDDEN: if not authenticated
812 * 400 BADREQUEST: "no albumname specified", "album not available"
813 * 500 INTERNALSERVERERROR: "problem with deleting item occured", "unknown error - deleting from database failed"
817 ### friendica/photoalbum/update (POST,PUT; AUTH)
819 * album: name of the album to be updated
820 * album_new: new name of the album
822 changes the album name to album_new for all photos in album
827 * JSON return {"result":"updated","message":"album 'abc' with all containing photos has been renamed to 'xyz'."}
830 * 403 FORBIDDEN: if not authenticated
831 * 400 BADREQUEST: "no albumname specified", "no new albumname specified", "album not available"
832 * 500 INTERNALSERVERERROR: "unknown error - updating in database failed"
836 ### friendica/photo/create (POST; AUTH)
837 ### friendica/photo/update (POST; AUTH)
839 * photo_id (optional): if specified the photo with this id will be updated
840 * media (optional): image data as base64, only optional if photo_id is specified (new upload must have media)
841 * desc (optional): description for the photo, updated when photo_id is specified
842 * album: name of the album to be deleted (always necessary)
843 * album_new (optional): can be used to change the album of a single photo if photo_id is specified
844 * allow_cid/allow_gid/deny_cid/deny_gid (optional): on create: empty string or omitting = public photo, specify in format '```<x><y><z>```' for private photo;
845 on update: keys need to be present with empty values for changing a private photo to public
847 both calls point to one function for creating AND updating photos.
848 Saves data for the scales 0-2 to database (see above for scale description).
849 Call adds non-visible entries to items table to enable authenticated contacts to comment/like the photo.
850 Client should pay attention to the fact that updated access rights are not transferred to the contacts. i.e. public photos remain publicly visible if they have been commented/liked before setting visibility back to a limited group.
851 Currently it is best to inform user that updating rights is not the right way to do this, and offer a solution to add photo as a new photo with the new rights instead.
856 * new photo uploaded: JSON return with photo data (see friendica/photo)
857 * photo updated - changed photo data: JSON return with photo data (see friendica/photo)
858 * photo updated - changed info: JSON return {"result":"updated","message":"Image id 'xyz' has been updated."}
859 * photo updated - nothing changed: JSON return {"result":"cancelled","message":"Nothing to update for image id 'xyz'."}
862 * 403 FORBIDDEN: if not authenticated
863 * 400 BADREQUEST: "no albumname specified", "no media data submitted", "photo not available", "acl data invalid"
864 * 500 INTERNALSERVERERROR: "image size exceeds PHP config settings, file was rejected by server",
865 "image size exceeds Friendica Config setting (uploaded size: x)",
866 "unable to process image data",
867 "image upload failed",
868 "unknown error - uploading photo failed, see Friendica log for more information",
869 "unknown error - update photo entry in database failed",
870 "unknown error - this error on uploading or updating a photo should never happen"
874 ### friendica/photo/delete (DELETE; AUTH)
876 * photo_id: id of the photo to be deleted
878 deletes a single image with the specified id, is not reversible -> ensure that client is asking user for being sure to do this
879 Sets item table entries for this photo to deleted = 1
884 * JSON return {"result":"deleted","message":"photo with id 'xyz' has been deleted from server."}
887 * 403 FORBIDDEN: if not authenticated
888 * 400 BADREQUEST: "no photo_id specified", "photo not available"
889 * 500 INTERNALSERVERERROR: "unknown error on deleting photo", "problem with deleting items occurred"
893 ### friendica/direct_messages_setseen (GET; AUTH)
895 * id: id of the message to be updated as seen
900 * JSON return {"result":"ok","message":"message set to seen"}
903 * different JSON returns {"result":"error","message":"xyz"}
906 ### friendica/direct_messages_search (GET; AUTH)
908 * searchstring: string for which the API call should search as '%searchstring%' in field 'body' of all messages of the authenticated user (caption ignored)
911 Returns only tested with JSON, XML might work as well.
914 * JSON return {"success":"true","search_results": array of found messages}
915 * JSOn return {"success":"false","search_results":"nothing found"}
918 * different JSON returns {"result":"error","message":"searchstring not specified"}
921 ### friendica/profile/show (GET; AUTH)
922 show data of all profiles or a single profile of the authenticated user
925 * profile_id: id of the profile to be returned (optional, if omitted all profiles are returned by default)
928 On success: Array of:
930 * multi_profiles: true if user has activated multi_profiles
931 * global_dir: URL of the global directory set in server settings
932 * friendica_owner: user data of the authenticated user
933 * profiles: array of the profile data
936 HTTP 403 Forbidden: when no authentication was provided
937 HTTP 400 Bad Request: if given profile_id is not in the database or is not assigned to the authenticated user
939 General description of profile data in API returns:
942 * is_default: true if this is the public profile
943 * hide_friends: true if friends are hidden
946 * publish: true if published on the server's local directory
947 * net_publish: true if published to global_dir
948 * description ... homepage: different data fields from 'profile' table in database
949 * users: array with the users allowed to view this profile (empty if is_default=true)
952 ### friendships/incoming (*; AUTH)
954 #### Unsupported parameters
959 ## Not Implemented API calls
960 The following API calls are implemented in GNU Social but not in Friendica: (incomplete)
962 * statuses/retweets_of_me
964 * friendships/destroy
967 * account/update_profile_background_image
971 The following API calls from the Twitter API are not implemented in either Friendica or GNU Social:
973 * statuses/mentions_timeline
974 * statuses/retweets/:id
976 * statuses/retweeters/ids
978 * direct_messages/show
980 * friendships/no_retweets/ids
981 * friendships/outgoing
986 * account/update_delivery_device
987 * account/update_profile
988 * account/update_profile_background_image
992 * account/remove_profile_banner
993 * account/update_profile_banner
994 * users/profile_banner
996 * mutes/users/destroy
999 * users/suggestions/:slug
1001 * users/suggestions/:slug/members
1005 * lists/members/destroy
1008 * lists/subscribers/create
1009 * lists/subscribers/show
1010 * lists/subscribers/destroy
1011 * lists/members/create_all
1012 * lists/members/show
1014 * lists/members/create
1019 * lists/subscriptions
1020 * lists/members/destroy_all
1022 * saved_searches/list
1023 * saved_searches/show/:id
1024 * saved_searches/create
1025 * saved_searches/destroy/:id
1027 * geo/reverse_geocode
1032 * help/configuration
1046 /usr/bin/curl -u USER:PASS https://YOUR.FRIENDICA.TLD/api/statuses/update.xml -d source="some source id" -d status="the status you want to post"
1049 The [RSStoFriedika](https://github.com/pafcu/RSStoFriendika) code can be used as an example of how to use the API with python.
1050 The lines for posting are located at [line 21](https://github.com/pafcu/RSStoFriendika/blob/master/RSStoFriendika.py#L21) and following.
1052 def tweet(server, message, group_allow=None):
1053 url = server + '/api/statuses/update'
1054 urllib2.urlopen(url, urllib.urlencode({'status': message,'group_allow[]':group_allow}, doseq=True))
1056 There is also a [module for python 3](https://bitbucket.org/tobiasd/python-friendica) for using the API.