dorfteich/docs/manual/api-guide.md

# API guide

_Deutsche Fassung: [docs/de/manual/api-guide.md](../de/manual/api-guide.md)_

How to talk to Dorfteich from scripts and integrations. The public REST
API lives at `/api/public/v1`; its machine-readable description is
served at `/api/public/v1/openapi.json`.

## Switching it on

The API is **off by default**, twice:

1. A **site admin** enables the instance switch (Admin → Settings →
   Public API).
2. Each **pond** that should be reachable opts in (pond settings →
   "Expose this pond through the public API").

Anything not enabled answers `404` — indistinguishable from an instance
without the feature.

## Personal access tokens

Create tokens under **Settings → API tokens**: a name, a scope
(`read` or `read+write`), an optional expiry date, and optionally a
restriction to selected ponds. The secret (`dt_pat_…`) is shown **once**
— copy it immediately. Tokens are revocable and show their last use.

A token acts **as you**: it can read and write exactly what you can,
narrowed by its scope and pond restriction — never more. Token
management itself always requires the browser session; a leaked token
cannot mint new tokens.

Authenticate with a bearer header:

```sh
curl -H "Authorization: Bearer dt_pat_..." \
  https://wiki.example.com/api/public/v1/me
```

`GET /me` is the smoke test — it returns your user, the token scope,
and any pond restriction.

## Reading

```sh
# The ponds this token can reach
curl -H "$AUTH" https://wiki.example.com/api/public/v1/ponds

# Pages of a pond: slug, title, labels, timestamps
curl -H "$AUTH" https://wiki.example.com/api/public/v1/ponds/team/pages

# One page — Markdown source AND rendered, sanitized HTML
curl -H "$AUTH" https://wiki.example.com/api/public/v1/ponds/team/pages/meeting-notes

# Full-text search (optionally ?pond=<slug>&label=<labelId>)
curl -H "$AUTH" "https://wiki.example.com/api/public/v1/search?q=seerose"

# The whole pond as a Markdown ZIP
curl -H "$AUTH" -o team.zip \
  https://wiki.example.com/api/public/v1/ponds/team/export/markdown
```

Search snippets mark hits with `**…**`; results carry pond and page
slugs for follow-up calls.

## Writing (requires the `write` scope)

```sh
# Create a page from Markdown
curl -H "$AUTH" -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"title": "Meeting notes", "markdown": "# Agenda\n\n- Ducks\n"}' \
  https://wiki.example.com/api/public/v1/ponds/team/pages

# Rename and/or REPLACE the content
curl -X PATCH -H "$AUTH" -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"markdown": "New content."}' \
  https://wiki.example.com/api/public/v1/ponds/team/pages/meeting-notes

# Move a page to the trash
curl -X DELETE -H "$AUTH" \
  https://wiki.example.com/api/public/v1/ponds/team/pages/meeting-notes
```

A content `PATCH` **replaces** the whole page. It is applied through the
live collaborative document: anyone editing the page at that moment sees
the change appear, nothing forks, and the previous state remains in the
version history as a restorable snapshot (the update itself shows up as
a version named "API update").

## Labels

```sh
GET    /ponds/{pond}/labels                       # the label tree
POST   /ponds/{pond}/labels                       # {name, color?, parentId?}
PATCH  /ponds/{pond}/labels/{labelId}             # rename/recolor/move in one call
DELETE /ponds/{pond}/labels/{labelId}
PUT    /ponds/{pond}/pages/{page}/labels/{labelId}   # assign
DELETE /ponds/{pond}/pages/{page}/labels/{labelId}   # unassign
```

Label-tree management needs pond-admin rights (like in the app).

## Comments

```sh
GET    /ponds/{pond}/pages/{page}/comments?filter=all|open|resolved
POST   /ponds/{pond}/pages/{page}/comments        # {body, parentId?} — Markdown
POST   /ponds/{pond}/pages/{page}/comments/{id}/resolve
DELETE /ponds/{pond}/pages/{page}/comments/{id}/resolve   # reopen
```

The pond's comment policy applies exactly as in the app.

## Errors, limits, semantics

- Errors carry the uniform body `{ "code": "...", "message": "...",
"details": {...} }`. The `code` is stable and machine-checkable.
- **404 vs 403**: what you may not _read_ answers 404 (existence stays
  hidden — including ponds without the API opt-in); a write on
  something you may read but not change answers 403. A token without
  the `write` scope gets `403 scope_required` on every write route.
- **Rate limit** per token; `429` responses carry a `Retry-After`
  header.
- No cookies are involved anywhere — there is no CSRF surface, and
  browser sessions cannot call the public API.

## Out of scope (for now)

Attachment upload, version endpoints, and webhooks are deliberately not
part of v1.

_Operator's view of the same feature (switches, security notes):
[`docs/self-hosting/public-api.md`](../self-hosting/public-api.md)._