`Collections` represent grouping of documents in the knowledge base, they offer a way to structure information in a nested hierarchy and a level at which read and write permissions can be granted to individual users or groups of users.
openapi: 3.0.0
info:
title: Outline AccessRequests Collections API
description: "# Introduction\n\nThe Outline API is structured in an RPC style. It enables you to\nprogramatically interact with all aspects of Outline’s data – in fact, the\nmain application is built on exactly the same API.\n\nThe API structure is available as an\n[openapi specification](https://github.com/outline/openapi) if that’s your\njam – it can be used to generate clients for most programming languages.\n\n# Making requests\n\nOutline’s API follows simple RPC style conventions where each API endpoint is\na `POST` method on `https://app.getoutline.com/api/:method`. Only HTTPS is\nsupported and all response payloads are JSON.\n\nWhen making `POST` requests, request parameters are parsed depending on\nContent-Type header. To make a call using JSON payload, you must pass\nContent-Type: application/json header, here’s an example using CURL:\n\n```\ncurl https://app.getoutline.com/api/documents.info \\\n-X 'POST' \\\n-H 'authorization: Bearer MY_API_KEY' \\\n-H 'content-type: application/json' \\\n-H 'accept: application/json' \\\n-d '{\"id\": \"outline-api-NTpezNwhUP\"}'\n```\n\nOr, with JavaScript:\n\n```javascript\nconst response = await fetch(\"https://app.getoutline.com/api/documents.info\", {\n method: \"POST\",\n headers: {\n Accept: \"application/json\",\n \"Content-Type\": \"application/json\",\n Authorization: \"Bearer MY_API_KEY\"\n }\n})\n\nconst body = await response.json();\nconst document = body.data;\n```\n\n# Authentication\n\n## API key\n\nYou can create new API keys under **Settings => API & Apps**. Be\ncareful when handling your keys as they allow full access to your data,\nyou should treat them like passwords and they should never be committed to\nsource control.\n\n### Usage\n\nTo authenticate with API, you should supply the API key as a \"Bearer\" token in the `Authorization` header\n(`Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY`).\n\nAPI keys can be revoked at any time by the creating user or an administrator of the workspace. If an API\nkey is revoked, any requests made with that key will return a `401 Unauthenticated` response.\n\n### Format\n\nAll API keys always begin with `ol_api_` followed by a random string of 38 letters and numbers.\n\n## OAuth 2.0\n\nOAuth 2.0 is a widely used protocol for authorization and authentication. It allows users\nto grant third-party _or_ internal applications access to their resources without sharing\ntheir credentials. To use OAuth 2.0 you need to follow these steps:\n\n1. Register your application under **Settings => Applications**\n2. Obtain an access token by exchanging the client credentials for an access token\n3. Use the access token to authenticate requests to the API\n\nSome API endpoints allow unauthenticated requests for public resources and\nthey can be called without authentication.\n\n# Scopes\n\nScopes are used to limit the access of an API key or application to specific resources. For example,\nan application may only need access to read documents, but not write them. Scopes can be global in\nthe case of `read` and `write` scopes, scoped to a namespace, scoped to an API endpoint, or use\nwildcard scopes like `documents.*`. Some examples of scopes that can be used are:\n\n## Global\n\n- `read`: Allows all read actions\n- `write`: Allows all read and write actions\n\n## Namespaced\n\n- `documents:read`: Allows all document read actions\n- `collections:write`: Allows all collection write actions\n\n## Endpoints\n\n- `documents.info`: Allows only one specific API method\n- `documents.*`: Allows all document API methods\n- `users.*`: Allows all user API methods\n\n# Errors\n\nAll successful API requests will be returned with a 200 or 201 status code\nand `ok: true` in the response payload. If there’s an error while making the\nrequest, the appropriate status code is returned with the error message:\n\n```\n{\n \"ok\": false,\n \"error\": \"Not Found\"\n}\n```\n\n# Pagination\n\nMost top-level API resources have support for \"list\" API methods. For instance,\nyou can list users, documents, and collections. These list methods share\ncommon parameters, taking both `limit` and `offset`.\n\nResponses will echo these parameters in the root `pagination` key, and also\ninclude a `nextPath` key which can be used as a handy shortcut to fetch the\nnext page of results. For example:\n\n```\n{\n ok: true,\n status: 200,\n data: […],\n pagination: {\n limit: 25,\n offset: 0,\n nextPath: \"/api/documents.list?limit=25&offset=25\"\n }\n}\n```\n\n# Rate limits\n\nLike most APIs, Outline has rate limits in place to prevent abuse. Endpoints\nthat mutate data are more restrictive than read-only endpoints. If you exceed\nthe rate limit for a given endpoint, you will receive a `429 Too Many Requests`\nstatus code.\n\nThe response will include a `Retry-After` header that indicates how many seconds\nyou should wait before making another request.\n\n# Policies\n\nMost API resources have associated \"policies\", these objects describe the\ncurrent authentications authorized actions related to an individual resource. It\nshould be noted that the policy \"id\" is identical to the resource it is\nrelated to, policies themselves do not have unique identifiers.\n\nFor most usecases of the API, policies can be safely ignored. Calling\nunauthorized methods will result in the appropriate response code – these can\nbe used in an interface to adjust which elements are visible.\n"
version: 0.1.0
contact:
email: hello@getoutline.com
license:
name: BSD-3-Clause
url: https://github.com/outline/openapi/blob/main/LICENSE
servers:
- url: https://app.getoutline.com/api
description: Cloud hosted
- url: https://{domain}/api
description: Self-hosted on your own server
variables:
domain:
default: example.com
security:
- BearerAuth: []
- OAuth2:
- read
- write
tags:
- name: Collections
description: '`Collections` represent grouping of documents in the knowledge base, they
offer a way to structure information in a nested hierarchy and a level
at which read and write permissions can be granted to individual users or
groups of users.
'
paths:
/collections.info:
post:
tags:
- Collections
summary: Retrieve a collection
description: Retrieve the details of a collection by its unique identifier.
requestBody:
content:
application/json:
schema:
type: object
properties:
id:
type: string
description: Unique identifier for the collection.
format: uuid
required:
- id
responses:
'200':
description: OK
content:
application/json:
schema:
type: object
properties:
data:
$ref: '#/components/schemas/Collection'
policies:
type: array
items:
$ref: '#/components/schemas/Policy'
'401':
$ref: '#/components/responses/Unauthenticated'
'403':
$ref: '#/components/responses/Unauthorized'
'404':
$ref: '#/components/responses/NotFound'
'429':
$ref: '#/components/responses/RateLimited'
operationId: collectionsInfo
/collections.documents:
post:
tags:
- Collections
summary: Retrieve a collections document structure
description: Returns the document structure of a collection as a tree of navigation nodes, representing the hierarchy of documents within the collection.
requestBody:
content:
application/json:
schema:
type: object
properties:
id:
type: string
description: Unique identifier for the collection.
format: uuid
required:
- id
responses:
'200':
description: OK
content:
application/json:
schema:
type: object
properties:
data:
type: array
items:
$ref: '#/components/schemas/NavigationNode'
example: []
'401':
$ref: '#/components/responses/Unauthenticated'
'403':
$ref: '#/components/responses/Unauthorized'
'404':
$ref: '#/components/responses/NotFound'
'429':
$ref: '#/components/responses/RateLimited'
operationId: collectionsDocuments
/collections.list:
post:
tags:
- Collections
summary: List all collections
description: List all collections that the authenticated user has access to.
requestBody:
content:
application/json:
schema:
allOf:
- $ref: '#/components/schemas/Pagination'
- $ref: '#/components/schemas/Sorting'
- type: object
properties:
query:
type: string
description: If set, will filter the results by collection name.
statusFilter:
type: array
items:
$ref: '#/components/schemas/CollectionStatus'
description: An optional array of statuses to filter by.
responses:
'200':
description: OK
content:
application/json:
schema:
type: object
properties:
data:
type: array
items:
$ref: '#/components/schemas/Collection'
pagination:
$ref: '#/components/schemas/Pagination'
policies:
type: array
items:
$ref: '#/components/schemas/Policy'
'401':
$ref: '#/components/responses/Unauthenticated'
'403':
$ref: '#/components/responses/Unauthorized'
'429':
$ref: '#/components/responses/RateLimited'
operationId: collectionsList
/collections.create:
post:
tags:
- Collections
summary: Create a collection
description: Create a new collection with the specified name, description, icon, color, and permission settings. Collections are used to organize documents.
requestBody:
content:
application/json:
schema:
type: object
properties:
name:
type: string
example: Human Resources
description:
type: string
description: A brief description of the collection, markdown supported. Only one of `description` or `data` may be provided.
example: HR documentation is confidential and should be handled with care.
data:
type: object
description: The collection description as a rich-text ProseMirror JSON document. Only one of `description` or `data` may be provided.
permission:
$ref: '#/components/schemas/Permission'
icon:
type: string
description: A string that represents an icon in the outline-icons package or an emoji
color:
type: string
description: A hex color code for the collection icon
example: '#123123'
sharing:
type: boolean
description: Whether public sharing of documents is allowed
example: false
required:
- name
responses:
'200':
description: OK
content:
application/json:
schema:
type: object
properties:
data:
$ref: '#/components/schemas/Collection'
policies:
type: array
items:
$ref: '#/components/schemas/Policy'
'400':
$ref: '#/components/responses/Validation'
'401':
$ref: '#/components/responses/Unauthenticated'
'403':
$ref: '#/components/responses/Unauthorized'
'429':
$ref: '#/components/responses/RateLimited'
operationId: collectionsCreate
/collections.update:
post:
tags:
- Collections
summary: Update a collection
description: Update an existing collection's properties such as name, description, icon, color, sharing settings, or permission level.
requestBody:
content:
application/json:
schema:
type: object
properties:
id:
type: string
format: uuid
name:
type: string
example: Human Resources
description:
type: string
description: A brief description of the collection, markdown supported. Only one of `description` or `data` may be provided.
example: HR documentation is confidential and should be handled with care.
data:
type: object
description: The collection description as a rich-text ProseMirror JSON document. Only one of `description` or `data` may be provided.
permission:
$ref: '#/components/schemas/Permission'
icon:
type: string
description: A string that represents an icon in the outline-icons package or an emoji
color:
type: string
description: A hex color code for the collection icon
example: '#123123'
sharing:
type: boolean
description: Whether public sharing of documents is allowed
example: false
required:
- id
responses:
'200':
description: OK
content:
application/json:
schema:
type: object
properties:
data:
$ref: '#/components/schemas/Collection'
policies:
type: array
items:
$ref: '#/components/schemas/Policy'
'400':
$ref: '#/components/responses/Validation'
'401':
$ref: '#/components/responses/Unauthenticated'
'403':
$ref: '#/components/responses/Unauthorized'
'404':
$ref: '#/components/responses/NotFound'
'429':
$ref: '#/components/responses/RateLimited'
operationId: collectionsUpdate
/collections.add_user:
post:
tags:
- Collections
summary: Add a collection user
description: This method allows you to add a user membership to the specified collection.
requestBody:
content:
application/json:
schema:
type: object
properties:
id:
type: string
description: Identifier for the collection
format: uuid
userId:
type: string
description: Identifier for the user to add to the collection
format: uuid
permission:
$ref: '#/components/schemas/Permission'
required:
- id
- userId
responses:
'200':
description: OK
content:
application/json:
schema:
type: object
properties:
data:
type: object
properties:
users:
type: array
items:
$ref: '#/components/schemas/User'
memberships:
type: array
items:
$ref: '#/components/schemas/Membership'
'400':
$ref: '#/components/responses/Validation'
'401':
$ref: '#/components/responses/Unauthenticated'
'403':
$ref: '#/components/responses/Unauthorized'
'404':
$ref: '#/components/responses/NotFound'
'429':
$ref: '#/components/responses/RateLimited'
operationId: collectionsAddUser
/collections.remove_user:
post:
tags:
- Collections
summary: Remove a collection user
description: This method allows you to remove a user from the specified collection.
requestBody:
content:
application/json:
schema:
type: object
properties:
id:
type: string
description: Identifier for the collection
format: uuid
userId:
type: string
description: Identifier for the user to remove from the collection
format: uuid
required:
- id
- userId
responses:
'200':
description: OK
content:
application/json:
schema:
type: object
properties:
success:
type: boolean
example: true
'400':
$ref: '#/components/responses/Validation'
'401':
$ref: '#/components/responses/Unauthenticated'
'403':
$ref: '#/components/responses/Unauthorized'
'404':
$ref: '#/components/responses/NotFound'
'429':
$ref: '#/components/responses/RateLimited'
operationId: collectionsRemoveUser
/collections.memberships:
post:
tags:
- Collections
summary: List all collection memberships
description: This method allows you to list a collections individual memberships. It's important to note that memberships returned from this endpoint do not include group memberships.
requestBody:
content:
application/json:
schema:
allOf:
- $ref: '#/components/schemas/Pagination'
- type: object
properties:
id:
type: string
description: Identifier for the collection
format: uuid
query:
type: string
description: Filter memberships by user names
example: jenny
permission:
$ref: '#/components/schemas/Permission'
required:
- id
responses:
'200':
description: OK
content:
application/json:
schema:
type: object
properties:
data:
type: object
properties:
users:
type: array
items:
$ref: '#/components/schemas/User'
memberships:
type: array
items:
$ref: '#/components/schemas/Membership'
pagination:
$ref: '#/components/schemas/Pagination'
'400':
$ref: '#/components/responses/Validation'
'401':
$ref: '#/components/responses/Unauthenticated'
'403':
$ref: '#/components/responses/Unauthorized'
'429':
$ref: '#/components/responses/RateLimited'
operationId: collectionsMemberships
/collections.add_group:
post:
tags:
- Collections
summary: Add a group to a collection
description: This method allows you to give all members in a group access to a collection.
requestBody:
content:
application/json:
schema:
type: object
properties:
id:
type: string
format: uuid
groupId:
type: string
format: uuid
permission:
$ref: '#/components/schemas/Permission'
required:
- id
- groupId
responses:
'200':
description: OK
content:
application/json:
schema:
type: object
properties:
data:
type: object
properties:
collectionGroupMemberships:
type: array
items:
$ref: '#/components/schemas/CollectionGroupMembership'
'400':
$ref: '#/components/responses/Validation'
'401':
$ref: '#/components/responses/Unauthenticated'
'403':
$ref: '#/components/responses/Unauthorized'
'404':
$ref: '#/components/responses/NotFound'
'429':
$ref: '#/components/responses/RateLimited'
operationId: collectionsAddGroup
/collections.remove_group:
post:
tags:
- Collections
summary: Remove a collection group
description: This method allows you to revoke all members in a group access to a collection. Note that members of the group may still retain access through other groups or individual memberships.
requestBody:
content:
application/json:
schema:
type: object
properties:
id:
type: string
description: Identifier for the collection
format: uuid
groupId:
type: string
format: uuid
required:
- id
- groupId
responses:
'200':
description: OK
content:
application/json:
schema:
type: object
properties:
success:
type: boolean
example: true
'400':
$ref: '#/components/responses/Validation'
'401':
$ref: '#/components/responses/Unauthenticated'
'403':
$ref: '#/components/responses/Unauthorized'
'404':
$ref: '#/components/responses/NotFound'
'429':
$ref: '#/components/responses/RateLimited'
operationId: collectionsRemoveGroup
/collections.group_memberships:
post:
tags:
- Collections
summary: List all collection group members
description: This method allows you to list a collections group memberships. This is the list of groups that have been given access to the collection.
requestBody:
content:
application/json:
schema:
allOf:
- $ref: '#/components/schemas/Pagination'
- type: object
properties:
id:
type: string
description: Identifier for the collection
format: uuid
query:
type: string
description: Filter memberships by group names
example: developers
permission:
$ref: '#/components/schemas/Permission'
required:
- id
responses:
'200':
description: OK
content:
application/json:
schema:
type: object
properties:
data:
type: object
properties:
groups:
type: array
items:
$ref: '#/components/schemas/Group'
collectionGroupMemberships:
type: array
items:
$ref: '#/components/schemas/CollectionGroupMembership'
pagination:
$ref: '#/components/schemas/Pagination'
'400':
$ref: '#/components/responses/Validation'
'401':
$ref: '#/components/responses/Unauthenticated'
'403':
$ref: '#/components/responses/Unauthorized'
'429':
$ref: '#/components/responses/RateLimited'
operationId: collectionsGroupMemberships
/collections.delete:
post:
tags:
- Collections
summary: Delete a collection
description: Delete a collection and all of its documents. This action can’t be undone so please be careful.
requestBody:
content:
application/json:
schema:
type: object
properties:
id:
type: string
format: uuid
required:
- id
responses:
'200':
description: OK
content:
application/json:
schema:
type: object
properties:
success:
type: boolean
example: true
'401':
$ref: '#/components/responses/Unauthenticated'
'403':
$ref: '#/components/responses/Unauthorized'
'404':
$ref: '#/components/responses/NotFound'
'429':
$ref: '#/components/responses/RateLimited'
operationId: collectionsDelete
/collections.export:
post:
tags:
- Collections
summary: Export a collection
description: Triggers a bulk export of the collection in markdown format and their attachments. If documents are nested then they will be nested in folders inside the zip file. The endpoint returns a `FileOperation` that can be queried to track the progress of the export and get the url for the final file.
requestBody:
content:
application/json:
schema:
type: object
properties:
format:
type: string
enum:
- outline-markdown
- json
- html
id:
type: string
format: uuid
required:
- id
responses:
'200':
description: OK
content:
application/json:
schema:
type: object
properties:
data:
type: object
properties:
fileOperation:
$ref: '#/components/schemas/FileOperation'
'401':
$ref: '#/components/responses/Unauthenticated'
'403':
$ref: '#/components/responses/Unauthorized'
'404':
$ref: '#/components/responses/NotFound'
'429':
$ref: '#/components/responses/RateLimited'
operationId: collectionsExport
/collections.export_all:
post:
tags:
- Collections
summary: Export all collections
requestBody:
content:
application/json:
schema:
type: object
properties:
format:
type: string
enum:
- outline-markdown
- json
- html
includeAttachments:
type: boolean
description: Whether to include attachments in the export.
default: true
includePrivate:
type: boolean
description: Whether to include private collections in the export.
default: true
description: Triggers a bulk export of multiple collections and their documents. The endpoint returns a `FileOperation` that can be queried through the fileOperations endpoint to track the progress of the export and get the url for the final file.
responses:
'200':
description: OK
content:
application/json:
schema:
type: object
properties:
data:
type: object
properties:
fileOperation:
$ref: '#/components/schemas/FileOperation'
'401':
$ref: '#/components/responses/Unauthenticated'
'403':
$ref: '#/components/responses/Unauthorized'
'404':
$ref: '#/components/responses/NotFound'
'429':
$ref: '#/components/responses/RateLimited'
operationId: collectionsExportAll
components:
responses:
RateLimited:
description: The request was rate limited.
headers:
Retry-After:
$ref: '#/components/headers/Retry-After'
RateLimit-Limit:
$ref: '#/components/headers/RateLimit-Limit'
RateLimit-Remaining:
$ref: '#/components/headers/RateLimit-Remaining'
RateLimit-Reset:
$ref: '#/components/headers/RateLimit-Reset'
content:
application/json:
schema:
type: object
properties:
ok:
type: boolean
example: false
error:
type: string
example: rate_limit_exceeded
status:
type: number
example: 429
Validation:
description: The request failed one or more validations.
content:
application/json:
schema:
$ref: '#/components/schemas/Error'
NotFound:
description: The specified resource was not found.
content:
application/json:
schema:
$ref: '#/components/schemas/Error'
Unauthenticated:
description: The API key is missing or otherwise invalid.
content:
application/json:
schema:
$ref: '#/components/schemas/Error'
Unauthorized:
description: The current API key is not authorized to perform this action.
content:
application/json:
schema:
$ref: '#/components/schemas/Error'
schemas:
Ability:
description: A single permission granted by a policy
example: true
oneOf:
- type: array
items:
type: string
- type: boolean
FileOperation:
type: object
properties:
id:
type: string
description: Unique identifier for the object.
readOnly: true
format: uuid
type:
type: string
example: export
description: The type of file operation.
readOnly: true
enum:
- import
- export
format:
type: string
description: The file format of the resulting file.
example: outline-markdown
readOnly: true
name:
type: string
description: The name of the file operation, derived from the collection name, document title, or file name.
readOnly: true
state:
type: string
description: The state of the file operation.
example: complete
readOnly: true
enum:
- creating
- uploading
- complete
- error
- expired
error:
type: string
nullable: true
description: An error message if the file operation failed.
readOnly: true
size:
type: string
description: The size of the resulting file in bytes. Returned as a string as the value may exceed the safe integer range.
readOnly: true
example: '2048'
collectionId:
# --- truncated at 32 KB (44 KB total) ---
# Full source: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/outline/refs/heads/main/openapi/outline-collections-api-openapi.yml