HTTP APIs

HTTP APIs include:

• Functions API
• Streaming export API
• Streaming import API

Convex value format

Each of the HTTP APIs take a format query param that describes how documents are formatted. Currently the only supported value is json. See our types page for details. Note that for simplicity, the json format does not support all Convex data types as input, and uses overlapping representation for several data types in output. We plan to add a new format with support for all Convex data types in the future.

API authentication

The Functions API can be optionally authenticated as a user via a bearer token in a Authorization header. The value is Bearer <access_key> where the key is a token from your auth provider. See the under the hood portion of the Clerk docs for details on how this works with Clerk.

Streaming export and streaming import requests require deployment admin authorization via the HTTP header Authorization. The value is Convex <access_key> where the access key comes from "Deploy key" on the Convex dashboard and gives full read and write access to your Convex data.

Functions API

POST /api/query, /api/mutation, /api/action

These HTTP endpoints allow you to call Convex functions and get the result as a value.

You can find your backend deployment URL on the dashboard Settings page, then the API URL will be <CONVEX_URL>/api/query etc., for example:

curl https://acoustic-panther-728.convex.cloud/api/query -d '{"path": "messages:list", "args": {}, "format": "json"}' -X POST -H "Content-Type: application/json"

JSON Body parameters

Name	Type	Required	Description
path	string	y	Path to the Convex function formatted as a string as defined here.
args	object	y	Named argument object to pass to the Convex function.
format	string	y	Output format for values. Valid values: [json]

Result JSON on success

Field Name	Type	Description
status	string	"success"
value	object	Result of the Convex function in the requested format.
logLines	list[string]	Log lines printed out during the function execution.

Result JSON on error

Field Name	Type	Description
status	string	"error"
errorMessage	string	The error message.
errorData	object	Error data within an application error if it was thrown.
logLines	list[string]	Log lines printed out during the function execution.

Streaming export API

Convex supports streaming export. Convex provides connector implementations for Fivetran and Airbyte. Those connectors use the following APIs.

Sign up for a Professional plan for streaming export support. You can also read the documentation on streaming export.

Streaming Export HTTP APIs are in beta

Streaming Export HTTP APIs are currently a beta feature. If you have feedback or feature requests, let us know on Discord!

GET /api/json_schemas

The JSON Schemas endpoint lists tables, and for each table describes how documents will be encoded, given as JSON Schema. This endpoint returns $description tags throughout the schema to describe unintuitive encodings and give extra information like the table referenced by Id fields.

Query parameters

Name	Type	Required	Description
deltaSchema	boolean	n	If set, include metadata fields returned by document_deltas and list_snapshot (_ts, _deleted, and _table)
format	string	n	Output format for values. Valid values: [json]

GET /api/list_snapshot

The list_snapshot endpoint walks a consistent snapshot of documents. It may take one or more calls to list_snapshot to walk a full snapshot.

Query parameters

Name	Type	Required	Description
snapshot	int	n	Database timestamp at which to continue the snapshot. If omitted, select the latest timestamp.
cursor	string	n	An opaque cursor representing the progress in paginating through the snapshot. If omitted, start from the first page of the snapshot.
tableName	string	n	If provided, filters the snapshot to a table. If omitted, provide snapshot across all tables.
format	string	n	Output format for values. Valid values: [json]

Result JSON

Field Name	Type	Description
values	List[ConvexValue]	List of convex values in the requested format. Each value includes extra fields _ts and _table.
hasMore	boolean	True if there are more pages to the snapshot.
snapshot	int	A value that represents the database timestamp at which the snapshot was taken.
cursor	string	An opaque cursor representing the end of the progress on the given page. Pass this to subsequent calls.

Expected API usage (pseudocode):

def list_full_snapshot()
    snapshot_values = []
    snapshot = None
    cursor = None
    while True:
        result = api.list_snapshot(cursor, snapshot)
        snapshot_values.extend(result.values)
        (cursor, snapshot) = (result.cursor, result.snapshot)
        if !result.hasMore:
            break
    return (snapshot_values, result.snapshot)

GET /api/document_deltas

The document_deltas endpoint walks the change log of documents to find new, updated, and deleted documents in the order of their mutations. This order is given by a _ts field on the returned documents. Deletions are represented as JSON objects with fields _id, _ts, and _deleted: true.

Query parameters

Name	Type	Required	Description
cursor	int	y	Database timestamp after which to continue streaming document deltas. Initial value is the snapshot field returned from list_snapshot.
tableName	string	n	If provided, filters the document deltas to a table. If omitted, provide deltas across all tables.
format	string	n	Output format for values. Valid values: [json]

Result JSON

Field Name	Type	Description
values	List[ConvexValue]	List of convex values in the requested format. Each value includes extra fields for _ts, and _table. Deletions include a field _deleted.
hasMore	boolean	True if there are more pages to the snapshot.
cursor	int	A value that represents the database timestamp at the end of the page. Pass to subsequent calls to document_deltas.

Expected API usage (pseudocode):

def delta_sync(delta_cursor):
    delta_values = []
    while True:
        result = api.document_deltas(cursor)
        delta_values.extend(result.values)
        cursor = result.cursor
        if !hasMore:
            break
    return (delta_values, delta_cursor)

(snapshot_values, delta_cursor) = list_full_snapshot()
(delta_values, delta_cursor) = delta_sync(delta_cursor)
# Save delta_cursor for the next sync

Streaming import API

Convex supports streaming import. Convex provides a connector implementation for Airbyte. Those connectors use the following APIs.

Streaming import support is automatically enabled for all Convex projects.

Headers

Streaming import endpoints accept a Convex-Client: streaming-import-<version> header, where the version follows Semver guidelines. If this header is not specified, Convex will default to the latest version. We recommend using the header to ensure the consumer of this API does not break as the API changes.

GET /api/streaming_import/primary_key_indexes_ready

The primary_key_indexes_ready endpoint takes a list of table names and returns true if the primary key indexes (created by add_primary_key_indexes) on all those tables are ready. If the tables are newly created, the indexes should be ready immediately; however if there are existing documents in the tables, it may take some time to backfill the primary key indexes. The response looks like:

{
  "indexesReady": true
}

PUT /api/streaming_import/add_primary_key_indexes

The add_primary_key_indexes endpoint takes a JSON body containing the primary keys for tables and creates indexes on the primary keys to be backfilled. Note that they are not immediately ready to query - the primary_key_indexes_ready endpoint needs to be polled until it returns True before calling import_airbyte_records with records that require primary key indexes. Also note that Convex queries will not have access to these added indexes. These are solely for use in import_airbyte_records. The body takes the form of a map of index names to list of field paths to index. Each field path is represented by a list of fields that can represent nested field paths.

{
  "indexes": {
    "<table_name>": [["<field1>"], ["<field2>", "<nested_field>"]]
  }
}

Expected API Usage:

1. Add indexes for primary keys by making a request to add_primary_key_indexes.
2. Poll primary_key_indexes_ready until the response is true.
3. Query using the added indexes.

PUT api/streaming_import/clear_tables

The clear_tables endpoint deletes all documents from the specified tables. Note that this may require multiple transactions. If there is an intermediate error only some documents may be deleted. The JSON body to use this API request contains a list of table names:

{
  "tableNames": ["<table_1>", "<table_2>"]
}

POST api/streaming_import/replace_tables

This endpoint is no longer supported. Use api/streaming_import/clear_tables instead.

The replace_tables endpoint renames tables with temporary names to their final names, deleting any existing tables with the final names.

The JSON body to use this API request contains a list of table names:

{
  "tableNames": { "<table_1_temp>": "<table_1>", "<table_2_temp>": "<table_2>" }
}

POST api/streaming_import/import_airbyte_records

The import_airbyte_records endpoint enables streaming ingress into a Convex deployment and is designed to be called from an Airbyte destination connector.

It takes a map of streams and a list of messages in the JSON body. Each stream has a name and JSON schema that will correspond to a Convex table. Streams where records should be deduplicated include a primary key as well, which is represented as a list of lists of strings that are field paths. Records for streams without a primary key are appended to tables; records for streams with a primary key replace an existing record where the primary key value matches or are appended if there is no match. If you are using primary keys, you must call the add_primary_key_indexes endpoint first and wait for them to backfill by polling primary_key_indexes_ready.

Each message contains a stream name and a JSON document that will be inserted (or replaced, in the case of deduplicated sync) into the table with the corresponding stream name. Table names are same as the stream names. Airbyte records become Convex documents.

{
   "tables": {
      "<stream_name>": {
         "primaryKey": [["<field1>"], ["<field2>", "<nested_field>"]],
         "jsonSchema": // see https://json-schema.org/ for examples
      }
   },
   "messages": [{
      "tableName": "<table_name>",
      "data": {} // JSON object conforming to the `json_schema` for that stream
   }]
}

Similar to clear_tables, it is possible to execute a partial import using import_airbyte_records if there is a failure after a transaction has committed.

Expected API Usage:

1. [Optional] Add any indexes if using primary keys and deduplicated sync (see add_primary_key_indexes above).
2. [Optional] Delete all documents in specified tables using clear_tables if using overwrite sync.
3. Make a request to import_airbyte_records with new records to sync and stream information.