---
layout: page
title: "Rest API"
description: "Home Assistant Rest API documentation"
date: 2014-12-21 13:27
sidebar: false
comments: false
sharing: true
footer: true
---
Home Assistant runs a web server accessible on port 8123.
* http://127.0.0.1:8123/ is an interface to control Home Assistant.
* http://localhost:8123/api/ is a Rest API.
In the package [`homeassistant.remote`](https://github.com/balloob/home-assistant/blob/master/homeassistant/remote.py) a Python API on top of the HTTP API can be found.
The API accepts and returns only JSON encoded objects. All API calls have to be accompanied by the header `X-HA-Access: YOUR_PASSWORD` (YOUR_PASSWORD as specified in your `configuration.yaml`).
There are several ways to consume the Home Assistant API. One is with `curl`:
```bash
curl -X GET \
-H "x-ha-access: YOUR_PASSWORD" \
http://localhost:8123/api
```
Another option is to use Python and the [Requests](http://docs.python-requests.org/en/latest/) module.
```python
from requests import get
url = 'http://localhost:8123/api/'
headers = {'x-ha-access': 'YOUR_PASSWORD',
'content-type': 'application/json'}
response = get(url, headers=headers)
print(response.text)
```
You can append ?api_password=YOUR_PASSWORD to any url to log in automatically.
Successful calls will return status code 200 or 201. Other status codes that can return are:
- 400 (Bad Request)
- 401 (Unauthorized)
- 404 (Not Found)
- 405 (Method not allowed)
The api supports the following actions:
#### {% linkable_title GET /api %}
Returns message if API is up and running.
```json
{
"message": "API running."
}
```
#### {% linkable_title GET /api/events %}
Returns an array of event objects. Each event object contain event name and listener count.
```json
[
{
"event": "state_changed",
"listener_count": 5
},
{
"event": "time_changed",
"listener_count": 2
}
]
```
#### {% linkable_title GET /api/services %}
Returns an array of service objects. Each object contains the domain and which services it contains.
```json
[
{
"domain": "browser",
"services": [
"browse_url"
]
},
{
"domain": "keyboard",
"services": [
"volume_up",
"volume_down"
]
}
]
```
#### {% linkable_title GET /api/states %}
Returns an array of state objects. Each state has the following attributes: entity_id, state, last_changed and attributes.
```json
[
{
"attributes": {
"next_rising": "07:04:15 29-10-2013",
"next_setting": "18:00:31 29-10-2013"
},
"entity_id": "sun.sun",
"last_changed": "23:24:33 28-10-2013",
"state": "below_horizon"
},
{
"attributes": {},
"entity_id": "process.Dropbox",
"last_changed": "23:24:33 28-10-2013",
"state": "on"
}
]
```
#### {% linkable_title GET /api/states/<entity_id> %}
Returns a state object for specified entity_id. Returns 404 if not found.
```json
{
"attributes": {
"next_rising": "07:04:15 29-10-2013",
"next_setting": "18:00:31 29-10-2013"
},
"entity_id": "sun.sun",
"last_changed": "23:24:33 28-10-2013",
"state": "below_horizon"
}
```
#### {% linkable_title POST /api/states/<entity_id> %}
Updates or creates the current state of an entity.
Expects a JSON object that has atleast a state attribute:
```json
{
"state": "below_horizon",
"attributes": {
"next_rising": "07:04:15 29-10-2013",
"next_setting": "18:00:31 29-10-2013"
}
}
```
Return code is 200 if the entity existed, 201 if the state of a new entity was set. A location header will be returned with the url of the new resource. The response body will contain a JSON encoded State object.
```json
{
"attributes": {
"next_rising": "07:04:15 29-10-2013",
"next_setting": "18:00:31 29-10-2013"
},
"entity_id": "weather.sun",
"last_changed": "23:24:33 28-10-2013",
"state": "below_horizon"
}
```
#### {% linkable_title POST /api/events/<event_type> %}
Fires an event with event_type
You can pass an optional JSON object to be used as `event_data`.
```json
{
"next_rising": "18:00:31 29-10-2013"
}
```
Returns a message if successful.
```json
{
"message": "Event download_file fired."
}
```
#### {% linkable_title POST /api/services/<domain>/<service> %}
Calls a service within a specific domain. Will return when the service has been executed or 10 seconds has past, whichever comes first.
You can pass an optional JSON object to be used as `service_data`.
```json
{
"entity_id": "light.Ceiling"
}
```
Returns a list of states that have changed while the service was being executed.
```json
[
{
"attributes": {
"next_rising": "07:04:15 29-10-2013",
"next_setting": "18:00:31 29-10-2013"
},
"entity_id": "sun.sun",
"last_changed": "23:24:33 28-10-2013",
"state": "below_horizon"
},
{
"attributes": {},
"entity_id": "process.Dropbox",
"last_changed": "23:24:33 28-10-2013",
"state": "on"
}
]
```
The result will include any changed states that changed while the service was being executed, even if their change was the result of something else happening in the system.
#### {% linkable_title POST /api/event_forwarding %}
Setup event forwarding to another Home Assistant instance.
Requires a JSON object that represents the API to forward to.
```json
{
"host": "machine",
"api_password": "my_super_secret_password",
"port": 8880 // optional
}
```
It will return a message if event forwarding was setup successful.
```json
{
"message": "Event forwarding setup."
}
```
#### {% linkable_title DELETE /api/event_forwarding %}
Cancel event forwarding to another Home Assistant instance.
Requires a JSON object that represents the API to cancel forwarding to.
```json
{
"host": "machine",
"api_password": "my_super_secret_password",
"port": 8880 // optional
}
```
It will return a message if event forwarding was cancelled successful.
```json
{
"message": "Event forwarding cancelled."
}
```
If your client does not support DELETE HTTP requests you can add an optional attribute _METHOD and set its value to DELETE.