Appia®'s latest Application Programming Interface (API) version lets you execute requests using a Personal Access Token (PAT), which is unique to and managed by the user.
With a PAT you can execute API requests across all projects and businesses that you have API access to.
About APIs and PATs
API stands for Application Programming Interface. It's a way for two different software applications to communicate with each other. The Appia API provides the tools needed for developing integrations between the Appia service and other software applications.
See our Appia v3 API documentation to learn about specific requests.
Appia's v3 API uses something called a Personal Access Token (PAT) to authenticate API requests. A PAT is generated by and specific to each user, and functions like a combined name and password for API authentication.
It is your own unique key that stays the same for any API request you make for any project and business that you have API access to throughout Appia and Doc Express.
By contrast, Appia's earlier API used authorization tokens called API keys, which were not specific to any particular user. API keys were generated and distributed by a business's system administrator and were restricted to one business and its specific projects.
Access the Appia API
To access the Appia API you need to create a token on our Personal Access Token system and be granted API access by a business's system administrator.
Expand the sections below to learn how.
All Appia users can create a PAT regardless of their assigned role. To create yours:
- From the My Projects page, click on SYSTEM MGT > API.
- Click Go to Personal Access Tokens.
- Click Generate new token.
- On the new page, enter the Token Name and select your desired scopes.
- Click Generate new token.
Make sure that you copy your PAT in a secure place as it won't be saved in the service and cannot be recovered.
Using your PAT as an authorization key when generating API requests will only work if you have been granted API access to that particular business.
Get in touch with a project's system administrator and ask them to grant you API access. You will then be able to generate requests for any project within that business that you have access permission to.
For System Administrators
Only a user with the System Administrator role can assign API permissions for that business.
To grant or remove API access to a user:
- From the sidebar, go to SYSTEM MGT > MY BUSINESS > Users
- Find the user whose access you want to change. Next to their name and under the API Access column, click the toggle to change access to ON or OFF.
The user will now have permission to generate API requests for any project they have access to.