Getting Started with the Box API

Overview

You can use the Box API to create applications and Web sites that integrate with Box. The Box API is a collection of Web services, which means that you can create Box applications using any modern programming language and operating system on any computer connected to the internet.

Box applications can perform the following functions:

File Management

• Access the complete folder and file structure
• Download, modify, and upload files
• Modify file data such as comments and tags 

Sharing

• Control file and folder access permissions
• Share files to non-Box users
• Generate previews of files stored in Box 

Collaboration

• Access updates from both you and collaborators
• Search across all files in a user's organization 

Initial Setup

Registration

Before you do anything, you'll need to get an API key, since you'll need to pass in your API key with every API call you make. You may register a new application by going to the "Manage a Box Application" page as follows:

From there, select "Create New Application" to begin creating a new Box service.

Once you complete the setup process, that page will provide you with the necessary API key for your app.

Authentication

Now that you have your Box platform service set up,  you will want to get started with the API methods.  The first step to using the Box API in your code is to authenticate a user.  For more information on how to handle this process, please visit our instructional page for authentication.

Starting with Common API Methods

Once you've authenticated the user, you can begin interacting with the user's content on Box. You can view this quick presentation to see how some of the objects in the API correspond to structures in Box. 

To show a complete list of the user's files and folders, you can use the get_account_tree call. This call retrieves an XML document describing the contents of a user's Box account , including files and folders. There are a number of parameters you can include to limit or specify the output of this method.

Once you're familiar with the file/folder hierarchy, you can begin adding and modifying content on Box using our upload and download methods. These methods allow you to access files on Box using standard HTTP POSTs.

All functions available to you with our API can be found on the sidebar to your right (go back to the top).

Need additional assistance? For general programming questions, please refer to StackOverflow and tag relevant questions with 'Box-API'. Otherwise, please feel free to post a question to our forum or email us.