API Introduction
The Ferndesk API lets you automate documentation workflows and read help center data from your own tools. Start here to create an API key, make your first request, and find the right endpoints in the reference.
You need an API key before you can send requests. Create and manage keys from Settings → Developers → API.
Create an API key
Open Settings, select Developers, then select API. Create a new API key, copy it when it appears, and store it in a secure secrets manager. Ferndesk only shows the full key when it is first created.
If you need step-by-step UI instructions, see Manage API keys.
Authenticate requests
Send your API key as a Bearer token in the Authorization header.
curl -H "Authorization: Bearer fdsk_your_api_key" \
https://api.ferndesk.com/v1/articlesReplace the example key with your own key. Keep API keys secret and revoke any key that is exposed or no longer needed.
Make your first request
A simple first step is listing articles or sections so you can confirm your authentication works.
Use the API reference to find request formats, parameters, and response examples for each endpoint.
What you can do with the API
Read help center content such as articles and sections
Create and manage tasks for documentation work
Work with content programmatically from your own systems
Article content formats
Read article content as contentHtml (the default), contentMarkdown, or contentJson, selected with the ?format= query parameter on the articles endpoints.
File blocks (downloadable files hosted in an article) are nodes of type file with src, name, size, mimeType, and an optional caption. In contentMarkdown a File block renders as a link to the file with its type and size in parentheses, and its caption, if any, on a new paragraph wrapped in underscores.
The API never uploads file bytes. To write a File node, supply an existing Ferndesk-hosted path as src. Images are different: the API uploads image sources automatically, see Image Uploads.
What to read next
Open the API reference for endpoint details and examples. If you are setting up credentials first, review Manage API keys.