Box Platform Developer Documentation

1 of 5

https://developers.box.com/get-started/

Box Developers Home

Box Content
Box View
Mobile
Programs
Docs
Blog
Help
My Apps
Sign Up
Content API
Get Started with the Content API
Content API Reference Docs
Content API Tutorials
Content API SDKs
Content API Mobile SDKs
Content API Metadata Docs
Box File Picker
Box Embed
Developer Account FAQ
Application Security Guidelines
Third Party Tools
Branding Guidelines
Deep Linking to Box Mobile Apps
View API
Get Started with the View API
View API Reference Docs
View API Tutorials
View API SDKs
View API Viewer.js
View API Webhooks
View API FAQ
View API with Content API

Get Started with the Box API

This quickstart guide will take you through all the steps necessary to start accessing your own Box account
through the API.

Authenticating Yourself
To get going super-quickly, visit your application configuration page, and get a Developer Token. It is good
for 1 hour against your own Box account. Later, when youre looking to start working with other Box
accounts, see the walkthrough on OAuth 2.0 to get an access token for making API calls.
5/29/2015 7:57 PM

Box Platform Developer Documentation

2 of 5

https://developers.box.com/get-started/

Accessing Users Content

Once youve successfully authenticated your user, youll want to be able to see whats in their Box account.
You can do this by simply getting the information about their root folder, which for every user is identified by
0. Using cURL, we would do this like so:
curl https://api.box.com/2.0/folders/FOLDER_ID \
-H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN"

The response to this call in my account looks like this (yours will look similar):
{
"type": "folder",
"id": "11446498",
"sequence_id": "1",
"etag": "1",
"name": "Pictures",
"created_at": "2012-12-12T10:53:43-08:00",
"modified_at": "2012-12-12T11:15:04-08:00",
"description": "Some pictures I took",
"size": 629644,
"path_collection": {
"total_count": 1,
"entries": [
{
"type": "folder",
"id": "0",
"sequence_id": null,
"etag": null,
"name": "All Files"
}
]
},
"created_by": {
"type": "user",
"id": "17738362",
"name": "sean rose",
"login": "sean@box.com"
},
"modified_by": {
"type": "user",
"id": "17738362",
"name": "sean rose",
"login": "sean@box.com"
},
"owned_by": {
"type": "user",
"id": "17738362",
"name": "sean rose",
"login": "sean@box.com"
},
"shared_link": {
"url": "https://www.box.com/s/vspke7y05sb214wjokpk",
"download_url": "https://www.box.com/shared/static/vspke7y05sb214wjokpk",
"vanity_url": null,
"is_password_enabled": false,
"unshared_at": null,
"download_count": 0,
"preview_count": 0,
"access": "open",

5/29/2015 7:57 PM

Box Platform Developer Documentation

3 of 5

https://developers.box.com/get-started/

"permissions": {
"can_download": true,
"can_preview": true
}
},
"folder_upload_email": {
"access": "open",
"email": "upload.Picture.k13sdz1@u.box.com"
},
"parent": {
"type": "folder",
"id": "0",
"sequence_id": null,
"etag": null,
"name": "All Files"
},
"item_status": "active",
"item_collection": {
"total_count": 1,
"entries": [
{
"type": "file",
"id": "5000948880",
"sequence_id": "3",
"etag": "3",
"sha1": "134b65991ed521fcfe4724b7d814ab8ded5185dc",
"name": "tigers.jpeg"
}
],
"offset": 0,
"limit": 100
}
}

Uploading and Downloading

Now that were able to see whats in the users account, lets try to add some new files through the API. We
need to do this as a multipart form upload, which looks like this in cURL:
curl https://upload.box.com/api/2.0/files/content \
-H "Authorization: Bearer ACCESS_TOKEN" -X POST \
-F attributes='{"name":"tigers.jpeg", "parent":{"id":"11446498"}}' \
-F file=@myfile.jpeg

Alert: Dont forget the @ sign when indicating the filename. This tells cURL to read data from the file.
Upon success, youll receive a response that should look like this:
{
"total_count": 1,
"entries": [
{
"type": "file",
"id": "5000948880",
"sequence_id": "3",
"etag": "3",
"sha1": "134b65991ed521fcfe4724b7d814ab8ded5185dc",
"name": "tigers.jpeg",
"description": "a picture of tigers",

5/29/2015 7:57 PM

Box Platform Developer Documentation

4 of 5

https://developers.box.com/get-started/

"size": 629644,
"path_collection": {
"total_count": 2,
"entries": [
{
"type": "folder",
"id": "0",
"sequence_id": null,
"etag": null,
"name": "All Files"
},
{
"type": "folder",
"id": "11446498",
"sequence_id": "1",
"etag": "1",
"name": "Pictures"
}
]
},
"created_at": "2012-12-12T10:55:30-08:00",
"modified_at": "2012-12-12T11:04:26-08:00",
"created_by": {
"type": "user",
"id": "17738362",
"name": "sean rose",
"login": "sean@box.com"
},
"modified_by": {
"type": "user",
"id": "17738362",
"name": "sean rose",
"login": "sean@box.com"
},
"owned_by": {
"type": "user",
"id": "17738362",
"name": "sean rose",
"login": "sean@box.com"
},
"shared_link": null,
"parent": {
"type": "folder",
"id": "11446498",
"sequence_id": "1",
"etag": "1",
"name": "Pictures"
},
"item_status": "active"
}
]
}

Since we now have a file_id available, lets try downloading that same file just to see how the process works.
This is accomplished through a simple GET request to a /files resource like so:
curl https://api.box.com/2.0/files/FILE_ID/content?version=10849 \
-H "Authorization: Bearer ACCESS_TOKEN"

The response to this request will simply be the complete data of the file itself.

5/29/2015 7:57 PM

Box Platform Developer Documentation

5 of 5

https://developers.box.com/get-started/

Learn More
Thats just the beginning of what you can do with the Box API. Check out the full documentation to find out
all of the other features of the API.
Personal
Send Files Fast
Online Storage
Mobile Access
Business
FTP Alternative
Project Collaboration
Sales Portal
Enterprise
Services
Security
Enterprise Mobility
Customers
Case Studies
Industries
Use Case
Platform
Build
Innovate
Integrate

Blog
YouTube
Facebook
Twitter
2015 Box
About
Press
Careers
Terms
Privacy Policy
Support
Developers
Resources

5/29/2015 7:57 PM