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HTTP interface for databases

The HTTP API for databases lets you create and delete databases, list available databases, and get information about specific databases

The HTTP interface for databases provides operations to create and drop individual databases. These are mapped to the standard POST and DELETE HTTP methods. There is also the GET method to retrieve an array of existing databases.

All database management operations can only be accessed via the default _system database and none of the other databases.

Addresses of databases

Any operation triggered via ArangoDB’s RESTful HTTP API is executed in the context of exactly one database. The database name is read from the first part of the request URI path (e.g. /_db/mydb/...). If the request URI does not contain a database name, it defaults to /_db/_system.

To explicitly specify the database in a request, the request URI must contain the database name at the beginning of the path:

http://localhost:8529/_db/mydb/...

The ... placeholder is the actual path to the accessed resource. In the example, the resource is accessed in the context of the mydb database. Actual URLs in the context of mydb could look like this:

http://localhost:8529/_db/mydb/_api/version
http://localhost:8529/_db/mydb/_api/document/test/12345
http://localhost:8529/_db/mydb/myapp/get

Database management operations like listing, creating, and dropping databases can only be executed with the _system database as the context.

Special characters in database names must be properly URL-encoded, e.g. a + b = c needs to be encoded as a%20%2B%20b%20%3D%20c:

http://localhost:8529/_db/a%20%2B%20b%20%3D%20c/_api/version

Database names containing Unicode must be properly NFC-normalized . Non-NFC-normalized names are rejected by the server.

Manage databases

Get information about the current database

GET /_db/{database-name}/_api/database/current

Retrieves the properties of the current database

The response is a JSON object with the following attributes:

name: the name of the current database
id: the id of the current database
path: the filesystem path of the current database
isSystem: whether or not the current database is the _system database
sharding: the default sharding method for collections created in this database
replicationFactor: the default replication factor for collections in this database
writeConcern: the default write concern for collections in this database

Path Parameters

database-name* string
The name of the database.

Query Parameters

HTTP Headers

Responses

200 OK
is returned if the information was retrieved successfully.
400 Bad Request
is returned if the request is invalid.
404 Not Found
is returned if the database could not be found.

Examples

curl --header 'accept: application/json' --dump - 'http://localhost:8529/_api/database/current'

Show output

List the accessible databases

GET /_db/{database-name}/_api/database/user

Retrieves the list of all databases the current user can access without specifying a different username or password.

Path Parameters

database-name* string
The name of a database. Which database you use doesn’t matter as long as the user account you authenticate with has at least read access to this database.

Query Parameters

HTTP Headers

Responses

200 OK
is returned if the list of database was compiled successfully.
400 Bad Request
is returned if the request is invalid.

Examples

curl --header 'accept: application/json' --dump - 'http://localhost:8529/_api/database/user'

Show output

List all databases

GET /_db/_system/_api/database

Retrieves the list of all existing databases

Retrieving the list of databases is only possible from within the _system database.

Responses

200 OK
is returned if the list of database was compiled successfully.
400 Bad Request
is returned if the request is invalid.
403 Forbidden
is returned if the request was not executed in the _system database.

Examples

curl --header 'accept: application/json' --dump - 'http://localhost:8529/_db/_system/_api/database'

Show output

Create a database

POST /_db/_system/_api/database

Creates a new database.

The response is a JSON object with the attribute result set to true.

Creating a new database is only possible from within the _system database.

Request Body application/json object

name* string
Has to contain a valid database name. The name must conform to the selected naming convention for databases. If the name contains Unicode characters, the name must be NFC-normalized . Non-normalized names are rejected.
options object
Optional object which can contain the following attributes:
- replicationFactor integer
  Default replication factor for new collections created in this database. (cluster only)
  Special values:
  "satellite": Replicate the collection to every DB-Server (Enterprise Edition only)
  1: Disable replication
  You can configure the global default with the --cluster.default-replication-factor startup option.
- sharding string (default: "")
  Possible values: "", "flexible", "single"
  The sharding method to use for new collections in this database. (cluster only) Valid values are:
  "" or "flexible": Create a database where collections can be sharded independently.
  "single": Create a OneShard database where all collections have a single shard and all leader shards are co-located on the same DB-Server.
- writeConcern number
  Default write concern for new collections created in this database. It determines how many copies of each shard are required to be in sync on the different DB-Servers. If there are less than these many copies in the cluster, a shard refuses to write. Writes to shards with enough up-to-date copies succeed at the same time, however. The value of writeConcern cannot be greater than replicationFactor.
  If distributeShardsLike is set, the default writeConcern is that of the prototype collection. For SatelliteCollections, the writeConcern is automatically controlled to equal the number of DB-Servers and has a value of 0. Otherwise, the default value is controlled by the --cluster.write-concern startup option, which defaults to 1. (cluster only)
users array of objects
An array of user objects. The users are granted Administrate permissions for the new database. Users that do not exist yet are created. If users is not specified or does not contain any users, the default user root is used to ensure that the new database is accessible after it is created. The root user is created with an empty password should it not exist. Each user object can contain the following attributes:
- active boolean (default: true)
  Whether the user account should be able to log in to the database system.
  The attribute is ignored for users that already exist.
- extra object
  A JSON object with extra user information. It is used by the web interface to store graph viewer settings and saved queries. Should not be set or modified by end users, as custom attributes are not preserved.
- passwd string
  The user password as a string. If not specified, it defaults to an empty string. The attribute is ignored for users that already exist.
- username* string
  Login name of an existing user or one to be created.

Responses

201 Created
is returned if the database was created successfully.
400 Bad Request
is returned if the request parameters are invalid, if a database with the specified name already exists, or if the configured limit to the number of databases has been reached.
403 Forbidden
is returned if the request was not executed in the _system database.
409 Conflict
is returned if a database with the specified name already exists.

Examples

Creating a database named example.

curl -X POST --header 'accept: application/json' --data-binary @- --dump - 'http://localhost:8529/_db/_system/_api/database' <<'EOF'
{
  "name": "example",
  "options": {
    "sharding": "flexible",
    "replicationFactor": 3
  }
}
EOF

Show output

Creating a database named mydb with two users, flexible sharding and default replication factor of 3 for collections that will be part of the newly created database.

curl -X POST --header 'accept: application/json' --data-binary @- --dump - 'http://localhost:8529/_db/_system/_api/database' <<'EOF'
{
  "name": "mydb",
  "users": [
    {
      "username": "admin",
      "passwd": "secret",
      "active": true
    },
    {
      "username": "tester",
      "passwd": "test001",
      "active": false
    }
  ]
}
EOF

Show output

Drop a database

DELETE /_db/_system/_api/database/{database-name}

Drops the database along with all data stored in it.

Dropping a database is only possible from within the _system database. The _system database itself cannot be dropped.

Path Parameters

database-name* string
The name of the database

Query Parameters

HTTP Headers

Responses

200 OK
is returned if the database was dropped successfully.
400 Bad Request
is returned if the request is malformed.
403 Forbidden
is returned if the request was not executed in the _system database.
404 Not Found
is returned if the database could not be found.

Examples

curl -X DELETE --header 'accept: application/json' --dump - 'http://localhost:8529/_db/_system/_api/database/example'

Show output