pfSense

pfSense is an open-source firewall and router operating system based on FreeBSD, developed and maintained by Netgate, providing stateful firewall, routing, VPN (IPsec, OpenVPN, WireGuard), captive portal, traffic shaping, and IDS/IPS capabilities for home and enterprise networks. It is available as pfSense Community Edition (CE) and pfSense Plus, both managed via a web UI. The unofficial pfSense-pkg-RESTAPI package adds a REST and GraphQL API with 200+ endpoints under /api/v2 for automating firewall management, authenticated via local users, API keys, or JWT.

pfSense publishes 5 API contracts indexed on the APIs.io network, including Authentication API, Firewall Aliases API, Firewall Apply API, and 2 more. Tagged areas include Firewall, Network Security, Router, VPN, and Open Source.

The pfSense catalog on APIs.io includes 1 Spectral governance ruleset.

pfSense’s developer surface includes authentication, documentation, pricing, engineering blog, and 12 more developer resources.

🌐 Visit website 📡 Profile data on GitHub

33.6/100 thin ▬ flat Agent 22/100 agent aware Front door AI 1/6 silent Heartbeat 22/100 dormant open core · Apache-2.0 Full breakdown ↓
scored 2026-11-06 · rubric v0.27.0 · Show this score on your site →

1 published contract

Firewall Network Security Router VPN Open Source FreeBSDNetgate

What this lets a business do 1

Business capabilities this provider's published APIs can perform, derived from its own contracts. Browse all capabilities →

Cybersecurity Management

BC-620

Firewall AliasesFirewall Rules

POST /firewall/rule POST /firewall/alias

Kin Score

Kin Score How this is scored →
scored 2026-11-06 · rubric v0.27.0

Composite quality — 33.6/100 · thin

Contract Quality 7.7 / 16

Developer Ergonomics 4.0 / 13

Access Clarity 1.4 / 13

Operational Transparency 2.4 / 8

Contract Governance 1.1 / 8

Discoverability 4.3 / 7

Regulatory Posture 2.6 / 15

Open Source Surface 5.0 / 10

Create-or-Update Ergonomics 0.0 / 10

Agent readiness — 22/100 · agent aware

Machine-Readable Contract 18 / 18

Agentic Access Contract 10 / 10

Documented Reversibility 0 / 6

MCP Server 0 / 12

Machine-Readable Auth 10 / 10

Idempotency 0 / 9

Stable Error Semantics 0 / 8

Request/Response Examples 0 / 7

Rate-Limit Signaling 0 / 7

Typed Event Surface 0 / 6

Agent Skills 0 / 5

Well-Known Catalog 0 / 4

Consent & Bot Identity 0 / 3

A2A Agent Card 0 / 8

Dry-Run / Simulate Mode 0 / 4

Delegated User Identity 0 / 6

Protected Resource Metadata 0 / 5

Registration Without a Human 0 / 6

Agentic Commerce Well-Known Document 0 / 5

Pagination 5 / 5

Distinct Operations 3 / 3

MCP Tool Quality 6 / 6

Regulatory Posture applies to this provider. Its tags matched the Horizontal (data, software, accessibility, platform) regime, so Regulatory Posture carries 15 points of the composite. If this regime is wrong for your business, say so on your provider repo — the applicability map is public and we will correct it.

Open Source Surface applies to this provider. This product is open source and we read its repository directly, so Open Source Surface carries 10 points of the composite. It is scored from what the repository actually publishes — a security policy, a contribution guide, a release history, a code of conduct — read live from the provider rather than inferred from our own catalog pointers. This facet adds; nothing was taken away to make room for it. An open-source project is not excused from the commercial facets, because exemption would strip it of the points it does earn. If we have the wrong repository, or this product is not open source, say so on your provider repo and we will drop the facet rather than have you publish against it.

Create-or-Update Ergonomics applies to this provider. This API accepts writes, so it carries 10 points of the composite. It is scored from the published contracts themselves: whether a caller can create-or-update in one call, whether the write accepts a key the caller already holds, and whether the response says which branch ran. Without that, every write needs a search-and-branch in front of it, and the first time that check is skipped a duplicate record is created. Scored against the observed mean rather than raw — a provider at the catalog average is unchanged by this facet, not penalised by it.

The six quality facets above are damped to 65 points between them, because both conditional facets apply and carry 35 points together. That is why each facet's contribution is shown against a damped maximum: raising a quality facet moves the composite by 65% of its nominal weight, not 100%. The full arithmetic is at apis.io/rating/.

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Agent readiness — checks not met, largest first (exact, from this profile):

MCP Server +12 pts — deployment.mode + probe verdict on the mcp/ manifest, not the pointer; an unprobed slug falls back to authorship
Idempotency +9 pts — OpenAPI mutating operations declare an idempotency key — a header, a request-body property, or a named de-duplication token whose own description says so (verified); else common[].type matches /idempoten/i (documented)
Stable Error Semantics +8 pts — OpenAPI $refs a shared error schema across 4xx/5xx responses (verified), else common[].type includes ErrorCatalog / ErrorCodes / DeclineCodes
A2A Agent Card +8 pts — a2a/-a2a.yml manifest, graded on conformance.grade against A2A 1.0.0
Rate-Limit Signaling +7 pts — OpenAPI responses document X-RateLimit-* / RateLimit headers (verified), else a rate_limits artifact or RateLimits link (documented)
Request/Response Examples +7 pts — share of operations carrying request/response examples; else an Examples / Code Samples link

10 more unmet checks in the Agent Readiness table above.

Kin Score — facets with the most composite points still available (weight × headroom):

Access Clarity scores 10.5 — up to +17.9 composite points
Developer Ergonomics scores 31.0 — up to +13.8 composite points
Contract Quality scores 47.2 — up to +13.2 composite points

Each check links to what satisfies it. Publish the artifact, or tell us where it already lives, and the score moves on the next scoring run.

Improve this rating by publishing the missing artifacts — every area above can be raised, and the full rubric is at apis.io/rating/. Every facet and dimension name above is a link: it opens that measurement's own page — what it means, the exact checks that feed it, how the whole catalog distributes on it, and the providers at the top of it. This rating is computed from the provider profile at artifacts.apis.io/pfsense/apis.yml: open an issue on github.com/api-evangelist/pfsense to ask a question or point us at an artifact you publish. Submit an artifact on GitHub — free → Manage your own listing — the Influence plan, $499/mo →

Markets this provider is in provisional

The Kin Score Market layer reads a provider inside its market: its position, and how deep its integrations go. Depth is only comparable within a position. Provisional and unweighted: not part of the Kin Score or agent readiness.

Market	Position	Depth	Registered MCP server	Declares compatibility
Home Assistant Custom Integrations (HACS)	covered	17.2 (thin)	-	-

Registered MCP server and declares compatibility are report only — not weighted. Undeclared means we found nothing we can read, so there is no number: we never infer integrations.

Standards implemented 2

Standards this provider implements or carries. De facto ones are profiled and measured by the API Commons; formal ones come from the standards directory and are linked by the provider's own tags. The evidence column says how each claim was established — not that it was made.

VPN

tagged — the provider's own APIs.json carries the standard as a tag; implementation not verified

OpenAPI

measured — observed by APIs.io (published)

APIs 5

Individual APIs this provider publishes, each with its own machine-readable definition.

pfSense REST API (pfSense-pkg-RESTAPI)

Community-maintained REST and GraphQL API package for pfSense CE and pfSense Plus exposing 200+ endpoints under /api/v2 for firewall, interface, service, user, and system manage...

pfSense Authentication API

Obtain JWT bearer tokens.

pfSense Firewall Aliases API

Manage firewall aliases.

pfSense Firewall Apply API

Apply pending firewall changes.

pfSense Firewall Rules API

Manage firewall rules.

Open Collections 5

Open, tool-agnostic API collections (OpenAPI-derived and Bruno).

pfSense REST API (pfSense-pkg-RESTAPI) Authentication API

OPEN COLLECTION

pfSense REST API (pfSense-pkg-RESTAPI) Authentication Firewall Aliases API

OPEN COLLECTION

pfSense REST API (pfSense-pkg-RESTAPI) Authentication Firewall Apply API

OPEN COLLECTION

pfSense REST API (pfSense-pkg-RESTAPI) Authentication Firewall Rules API

OPEN COLLECTION

pfSense REST API (pfSense-pkg-RESTAPI)

OPEN COLLECTION

GraphQL 1

GraphQL schemas published by this provider.

pfSense GraphQL API

Community-maintained REST and GraphQL API package for pfSense CE and pfSense Plus exposing 200+ endpoints under /api/v2 for firewall, interface, service, user, and system manage...

GRAPHQL

Spectral Rules 1

Spectral governance rulesets for linting and validating these APIs.

pfSense API Rules

54 rules · 52 errors 1 warnings 1 info

SPECTRAL

Security Posture 3

Authentication, domain security, vulnerability disclosure, and trust-center signals.

Pfsense Authentication

apiKey/http · 3 schemes

SECURITY

Pfsense Domain Security

TLSv1.3 · HSTS · DMARC

SECURITY

Pfsense Vulnerability Disclosure

security.txt · contact published

SECURITY

Agentic Access 1

Recommended x-agentic-access execution contracts for AI agents.

Pfsense Agentic Access

12 operations · 8 acting

AGENTIC

Resources

Documentation 2

Reference material describing how the API behaves

ContributionGuide

ContributionGuide

Documentation

Documentation

Agent Surfaces 1

MCP servers, agent skills, and machine-readable catalogs

AgenticAccess

AgenticAccess

Build 1

SDKs, sample code, and the tooling you integrate with

GitHubOrganization

GitHubOrganization

Access & Security 3

Authentication, authorization, and security posture

VulnerabilityDisclosure

VulnerabilityDisclosure

DomainSecurity

DomainSecurity

Authentication

Authentication

Operate 2

Status, limits, changes, and where to get help

IssueTracker

IssueTracker

Releases

Releases

Commercial 2

Pricing, plans, and the legal terms of use

License

License

Pricing

Pricing

Company 2

The organization behind the API

Website

Website

Blog

Blog

Other 3

Properties that don't map to a standard resource type

CapabilityMap

CapabilityMap

Download

Download

Vendor

Vendor

Source (apis.yml)

aid: pfsense
name: pfSense
description: pfSense is an open-source firewall and router operating system based on FreeBSD, developed and maintained by
  Netgate, providing stateful firewall, routing, VPN (IPsec, OpenVPN, WireGuard), captive portal, traffic shaping, and IDS/IPS
  capabilities for home and enterprise networks. It is available as pfSense Community Edition (CE) and pfSense Plus, both
  managed via a web UI. The unofficial pfSense-pkg-RESTAPI package adds a REST and GraphQL API with 200+ endpoints under /api/v2
  for automating firewall management, authenticated via local users, API keys, or JWT.
type: Index
deliveryModel:
  model: open-core
  license: Apache-2.0
  open_source: true
  commercial: true
  callable_host: false
  label: Open core · an OSS project plus a commercial hosted product
  confidence: high
  source:
  - license
  - openapi
  - pricing
  generated: '2026-08-28'
  method: derived
accessModel:
  pricing: unknown
  onboarding: unknown
  trial: false
  try_now: false
  public: false
  label: Unknown
  confidence: low
  source:
  - authentication
  - security
  generated: '2026-11-06'
  method: derived
image: https://kinlane-images.s3.amazonaws.com/shared/apis-json/icons/pfsense.png
x-docs-platform: sphinx
x-docs-platform-confidence: medium
x-docs-platform-checked: 2026-10-04
tags:
- Firewall
- Network Security
- Router
- VPN
- Open Source
- FreeBSD
- Netgate
tags_raw:
- Firewall
- Network Security
- Router
- VPN
- Open Source
- FreeBSD
- Netgate
- Open-Source
url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/pfsense/refs/heads/main/apis.yml
created: '2026-05-11'
modified: '2026-05-11'
specificationVersion: '0.23'
apis:
- aid: pfsense:rest-api-package
  name: pfSense REST API (pfSense-pkg-RESTAPI)
  description: Community-maintained REST and GraphQL API package for pfSense CE and pfSense Plus exposing 200+ endpoints under
    /api/v2 for firewall, interface, service, user, and system management. Authentication supports local user credentials,
    API keys, and JWT bearer tokens; the base URL is the pfSense instance's own hostname.
  humanURL: https://pfrest.org/
  baseURL: https://pfsense.local/api/v2
  tags:
  - Firewall API
  - Network Automation
  - REST
  - GraphQL
  properties:
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://pfrest.org/
  - type: API Documentation
    url: https://pfrest.org/api-docs/
  - type: GitHubRepository
    url: https://github.com/jaredhendrickson13/pfsense-api
  - type: Contributing
    url: https://pfrest.org/CONTRIBUTING/
  - url: graphql/pfsense-graphql.md
    type: GraphQL
- aid: pfsense:pfsense-authentication-api
  name: pfSense Authentication API
  description: Obtain JWT bearer tokens.
  humanURL: https://pfrest.org/
  baseURL: https://pfsense.local/api/v2
  tags:
  - Authentication
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/pfsense-authentication-api-openapi.yml
- aid: pfsense:pfsense-firewall-aliases-api
  name: pfSense Firewall Aliases API
  description: Manage firewall aliases.
  humanURL: https://pfrest.org/
  baseURL: https://pfsense.local/api/v2
  tags:
  - Firewall Aliases
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/pfsense-firewall-aliases-api-openapi.yml
- aid: pfsense:pfsense-firewall-apply-api
  name: pfSense Firewall Apply API
  description: Apply pending firewall changes.
  humanURL: https://pfrest.org/
  baseURL: https://pfsense.local/api/v2
  tags:
  - Firewall Apply
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/pfsense-firewall-apply-api-openapi.yml
- aid: pfsense:pfsense-firewall-rules-api
  name: pfSense Firewall Rules API
  description: Manage firewall rules.
  humanURL: https://pfrest.org/
  baseURL: https://pfsense.local/api/v2
  tags:
  - Firewall Rules
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/pfsense-firewall-rules-api-openapi.yml
common:
- type: CapabilityMap
  url: capabilities/pfsense-capability-edges.yml
  name: pfSense Business Capability Map
- type: IssueTracker
  url: https://github.com/jaredhendrickson13/pfsense-api/issues
- type: Releases
  url: https://github.com/jaredhendrickson13/pfsense-api/releases
- type: ContributionGuide
  url: https://github.com/pfrest/pfSense-pkg-RESTAPI/blob/master/docs/CONTRIBUTING.md
- type: License
  name: Apache-2.0
  url: https://github.com/jaredhendrickson13/pfsense-api/blob/master/LICENSE
- type: AgenticAccess
  url: agentic-access/pfsense-agentic-access.yml
- type: VulnerabilityDisclosure
  url: security/pfsense-vulnerability-disclosure.yml
- type: DomainSecurity
  url: security/pfsense-domain-security.yml
- type: Authentication
  url: authentication/pfsense-authentication.yml
- type: Website
  url: https://www.pfsense.org/
- type: Documentation
  url: https://docs.netgate.com/pfsense/en/latest/
- type: Pricing
  url: https://www.netgate.com/pfsense-plus-software
- type: Download
  url: https://www.pfsense.org/download/
- type: GitHubOrganization
  url: https://github.com/pfsense
- type: Vendor
  url: https://www.netgate.com/
- url: https://www.netgate.com/blog/rss.xml
  type: Blog
features:
- name: Stateful Firewall
  description: pf-based stateful packet filtering with aliases, schedules, and floating rules for granular network policy.
- name: VPN Services
  description: Built-in IPsec, OpenVPN, and WireGuard VPN servers and clients for site-to-site and remote access connectivity.
- name: Routing and NAT
  description: Static and dynamic routing (FRR, BGP, OSPF via packages) plus full NAT/PAT/1:1 mapping configuration.
- name: Traffic Shaping and QoS
  description: Limiters and HFSC/CBQ/PRIQ queues to prioritize traffic and enforce bandwidth policies per host or service.
- name: IDS/IPS
  description: Snort and Suricata packages for intrusion detection and prevention, with rule subscriptions and per-interface
    configuration.
- name: REST/GraphQL API
  description: Optional pfSense-pkg-RESTAPI package providing programmatic configuration of nearly all pfSense subsystems.
maintainers:
- FN: Kin Lane
  email: kin@apievangelist.com

pfSense API — frequently asked questions

Does pfSense have an API?

Yes. APIs.io lists 5 APIs from pfSense, including pfSense REST API (pfSense-pkg-RESTAPI), pfSense Authentication API and pfSense Firewall Aliases API, and 2 more.

Is there an OpenAPI specification for the pfSense API?

Yes. APIs.io indexes 4 OpenAPI specifications for pfSense, each linked for download from this page.

How do I authenticate with the pfSense API?

pfSense uses bearer-token authentication (apiKey/http · 3 schemes). The details are profiled on APIs.io as Pfsense Authentication.

Is the pfSense API ready for AI agents?

pfSense has a Kin Score of 33.6 out of 100 (thin) and an Agent Readiness score of 21.8 (agent-aware), scored by API Evangelist on 2026-11-06.

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get_provider_toolsEvery MCP tool they ship, with the operation each wraps.
get_provider_evidenceHow each part of their score was established. Free — the basis for a claim should not sit behind it.
get_provider_ratingPRO — composite, band, trend and facet scores.
apis_io_searchSTART HERE — APIs, providers and tags for one query, each with its total.
resolveTurn a domain, URL or GitHub org into the provider it belongs to.
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