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Cloudflare Fundamentals
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Cloudflare Fundamentals
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  1. Products
  2. Cloudflare Fundamentals
  3. ...
  4. How to
  5. Make API calls

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.

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.

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:

curl "https://api.cloudflare.com/client/v4/zones/{zone_id}" \

--header "Authorization: Bearer <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:

​​ 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 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-identifier/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 instead of single quotes (').

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:

PS C:\> Invoke-RestMethod -URI 'https://api.cloudflare.com/client/v4/zones/{zone_id}/ssl/certificate_packs?ssl_status=all' -Method 'GET' -ContentType 'application/json' -Headers @{'X-Auth-Email'='<EMAIL>';'X-Auth-Key'='<KEY>'}

Example output
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    : {}

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):

PS C:\> Invoke-RestMethod -URI 'https://api.cloudflare.com/client/v4/zones/{zone_id}/ssl/certificate_packs?ssl_status=all' -Method 'GET' -ContentType 'application/json' -Headers @{'X-Auth-Email'='<EMAIL>';'X-Auth-Key'='<KEY>'} | ConvertTo-Json -Depth 5
Example output
{
    "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:

PS C:\> curl.exe --request PATCH "https://api.cloudflare.com/client/v4/user/invites/{id}" --header "Authorization: Bearer <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:

PS C:\> curl.exe --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\"}'