---
title: "API"
publishedAt: "2026-04-29"
author: "Maximilian Kaske"
description: "A typed JSON-over-HTTP API powered by ConnectRPC — every endpoint the dashboard uses, with a fully typed Node SDK on top."
category: "Product"
faq:
  - question: "Should I use the SDK or call the API directly?"
    answer: "Use the Node SDK if you're writing TypeScript or JavaScript — it handles auth, retries, and types for every endpoint. Call the API directly via curl or your language's HTTP client if you're outside the JS ecosystem; ConnectRPC means responses are plain JSON over HTTP."
  - question: "Is the API REST or RPC?"
    answer: "It's ConnectRPC — JSON over HTTP, but with a typed RPC contract instead of REST conventions. Every method is a POST to /rpc/openstatus.v1.<Service>/<Method>. You can call it from curl exactly like you'd call a REST endpoint."
  - question: "How do I authenticate?"
    answer: "Pass the x-openstatus-key header on every request. Generate a key from Settings → API Tokens — the same key works for the CLI, Terraform provider, and MCP server."
  - question: "Do you publish an OpenAPI spec?"
    answer: "Yes. The full schema is browsable at api.openstatus.dev/openapi and is the source of truth for the Node SDK and any generated clients."
---

The openstatus API is a typed, JSON-over-HTTP layer powered by [ConnectRPC](/blog/migrating-from-zod-openapi-to-connectrpc). Every action the dashboard performs is reachable from the API — same workspace, same audit log, same single API key.

## Quickstart

```bash
curl https://api.openstatus.dev/rpc/openstatus.v1.MonitorService/ListMonitors \
  -H "x-openstatus-key: os_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{}'
```

Generate a key from **Settings → API Tokens**.

## What you can do

- Manage monitors, status pages, status reports, maintenance windows, and notification channels.
- Build dashboards or in-app integrations on top of typed JSON responses.
- Use a single key across the API, CLI, Terraform, and MCP server.
- Inspect the full schema in the [OpenAPI explorer](https://api.openstatus.dev/openapi).

## Node SDK

The [openstatus Node SDK](https://github.com/openstatusHQ/sdk-node) is a fully typed TypeScript and JavaScript client for the API — no hand-written `fetch` calls, no codegen step. Works in Node and Deno.

```bash
npm i @openstatus/sdk-node
```

```ts
import { Openstatus } from "@openstatus/sdk-node";

const client = new Openstatus({ apiKey: process.env.OPENSTATUS_API_KEY });

const monitors = await client.monitors.list();
await client.statusReports.create({ /* ... */ });
```

[Reach out](mailto:ping@openstatus.dev) if you want us to port it to another language.

## Auth & audit

Pass `x-openstatus-key` on every request. The token is the same one the CLI, Terraform provider, and MCP server share.

Every mutation lands in the audit log under `actor_type = 'api'`, so you can trace any change back to a key, a user, and a transport.

## Other surfaces

- Want a terminal interface or YAML config? See the [CLI](/tooling/cli).
- Managing infrastructure in HCL? Use the [Terraform provider](/tooling/terraform).
- Want Claude or ChatGPT to call your workspace? See the [MCP server](/tooling/mcp-server).

## Reference

Full schema and methods in the [API reference](https://api.openstatus.dev/openapi). SDK docs at [jsr.io/@openstatus/sdk-node](https://jsr.io/@openstatus/sdk-node).