Cisco Nexus Dashboard Authentication API

openapi: 3.2.0
info:
  title: Cisco NX-API REST Authentication API
  description: RESTful API for programmatic access to Cisco Nexus 3000 and 9000 Series switches. NX-API REST exposes the NX-OS Data Management Engine (DME) object model over HTTP/HTTPS, enabling configuration management, operational state retrieval, and real-time event subscriptions using managed objects (MOs) organized in a hierarchical Management Information Tree (MIT). All objects are addressed by Distinguished Names (DNs) and support JSON and XML encodings.
  version: 10.5.0
  contact:
    name: Cisco DevNet Support
    url: https://developer.cisco.com/site/support/
    email: support@cisco.com
  license:
    name: Cisco DevNet
    url: https://developer.cisco.com/site/license/
  x-documentation:
  - title: NX-API REST SDK User Guide
    url: https://developer.cisco.com/docs/cisco-nexus-3000-and-9000-series-nx-api-rest-sdk-user-guide-and-api-reference/latest/
  - title: Nexus Model Reference
    url: https://developer.cisco.com/docs/nexus-model/latest/
  - title: NX-OS Programmability Guide
    url: https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/dcn/nx-os/nexus9000/105x/programmability/cisco-nexus-9000-series-nx-os-programmability-guide-105x.html
  x-provenance:
    method: derived
    authored_by: API Evangelist
    derived_on: '2026-08-19'
    first_party: false
    provider_published: false
    source: Modelled from the provider's public HTML documentation.
    note: 'Not published by the provider. Probed 2026-08-19: no anonymously fetchable first-party contract. Served by each customer''s own switch via NX-API; no central spec.'
servers:
- url: https://{switchIp}/api
  description: Cisco Nexus switch NX-API REST endpoint
  variables:
    switchIp:
      default: 192.168.1.1
      description: Management IP address or hostname of the Nexus switch
security:
- cookieAuth: []
tags:
- name: Authentication
  description: Session authentication and token management via aaaLogin and aaaLogout
paths:
  /aaaLogin.json:
    post:
      operationId: authenticateUser
      summary: Authenticate and Obtain Session Cookie
      description: Authenticates a user against the NX-OS local or remote AAA database and returns a session cookie (APIC-cookie) used for subsequent API requests. The cookie has a configurable idle timeout (default 600 seconds).
      tags:
      - Authentication
      security: []
      requestBody:
        required: true
        content:
          application/json:
            schema:
              type: object
              required:
              - aaaUser
              properties:
                aaaUser:
                  type: object
                  required:
                  - attributes
                  properties:
                    attributes:
                      type: object
                      required:
                      - name
                      - pwd
                      properties:
                        name:
                          type: string
                          description: Username for authentication
                          examples:
                          - admin
                        pwd:
                          type: string
                          format: password
                          description: Password for authentication
            example:
              aaaUser:
                attributes:
                  name: admin
                  pwd: Cisco123!
      responses:
        '200':
          description: Authentication successful
          headers:
            Set-Cookie:
              description: Session cookie (APIC-cookie) for subsequent requests
              schema:
                type: string
          content:
            application/json:
              schema:
                $ref: '#/components/schemas/AaaLoginResponse'
        '401':
          description: Authentication failed - invalid credentials
          content:
            application/json:
              schema:
                $ref: '#/components/schemas/ErrorResponse'
      x-microcks-operation:
        delay: 0
        dispatcher: FALLBACK
  /aaaLogout.json:
    post:
      operationId: logoutUser
      summary: Terminate Authenticated Session
      description: Ends the current authenticated session and invalidates the session cookie.
      tags:
      - Authentication
      requestBody:
        required: true
        content:
          application/json:
            schema:
              type: object
              properties:
                aaaUser:
                  type: object
                  properties:
                    attributes:
                      type: object
                      properties:
                        name:
                          type: string
                          description: Username of the session to terminate
      responses:
        '200':
          description: Logout successful
          content:
            application/json:
              schema:
                $ref: '#/components/schemas/ImDataResponse'
      x-microcks-operation:
        delay: 0
        dispatcher: FALLBACK
components:
  schemas:
    ImDataResponse:
      type: object
      description: Standard NX-API REST response wrapper
      properties:
        totalCount:
          type: string
          description: Total number of managed objects in the response
          example: example_value
        imdata:
          type: array
          description: Array of managed object results
          items:
            type: object
          example: []
    ErrorResponse:
      type: object
      description: Error response from NX-API REST
      properties:
        imdata:
          type: array
          items:
            type: object
            properties:
              error:
                type: object
                properties:
                  attributes:
                    type: object
                    properties:
                      code:
                        type: string
                        description: Numeric error code
                      text:
                        type: string
                        description: Human-readable error message
          example: []
    AaaLoginResponse:
      type: object
      properties:
        totalCount:
          type: string
          example: example_value
        imdata:
          type: array
          items:
            type: object
            properties:
              aaaLogin:
                type: object
                properties:
                  attributes:
                    type: object
                    properties:
                      token:
                        type: string
                        description: Authentication token (also set as cookie)
                      refreshTimeoutSeconds:
                        type: string
                        description: Session idle timeout in seconds
                      userName:
                        type: string
                        description: Authenticated username
          example: []
  securitySchemes:
    cookieAuth:
      type: apiKey
      in: cookie
      name: APIC-cookie
      description: Session cookie obtained from the /api/aaaLogin endpoint. The cookie has a configurable idle timeout (default 600 seconds) and must be included in all subsequent requests.