Claris FileMaker Admin API Guide

The FileMaker Admin API is an application programming interface (API) that allows web services to perform administrative tasks on FileMaker Cloud and FileMaker Server through scripting instead of using Admin Console. Because this API conforms to Representational State Transfer (REST) architecture, the Admin API is a REST API.

The Admin API returns data in JavaScript Object Notation (JSON), a text format that is commonly used with REST APIs because JSON is independent of specific programming language formats.

To use the Admin API:

  1. Write code that uses Admin API calls to perform administrative tasks.

  2. Test that Admin API access is working correctly.

  3. Monitor your results by reviewing the gateway.log file for FileMaker Cloud, the event.log file for FileMaker Cloud upload and update API calls, or the fac.log file for FileMaker Server. You can download the gateway.log, event.log, and fac.log files from Admin Console. See FileMaker Server Help.

Note  To access data in hosted databases, see FileMaker Data API Guide.

About this guide

This guide provides information about using FileMaker Admin API version 2 (v2) to perform administrative tasks on FileMaker Cloud and FileMaker Server. (To learn about FileMaker Admin API version 1 (v1), see FileMaker Admin API Reference, installed with supported products.)

This guide assumes you are experienced with:

  • using FileMaker Pro to upload databases. See FileMaker Pro Help.

  • using FileMaker Server or FileMaker Cloud to host and manage databases. See FileMaker Server Help or FileMaker Cloud Help.

  • using REST APIs in server-side applications or web services that call POST, GET, PATCH, PUT, and DELETE methods with data in JSON format. You can use any programming languages or tools you choose.

Notes 

  • FileMaker Cloud is a service that provides access in the cloud to custom apps that use FileMaker Pro, FileMaker Go, and FileMaker WebDirect. FileMaker Cloud uses the Claris ID integrated sign-on system to authenticate users and is offered directly from Claris International Inc.

  • This guide uses Admin Console to refer to Admin Console for FileMaker Server and FileMaker Cloud, unless describing a particular product.

  • Custom app, solution, database, and file are all terms for what you create and work with using FileMaker products.

  • This guide uses access token to refer to the JSON Web Token required for authentication.