The server API is relatively small. The client primarily communicates with the server for file “CRUD” (Create, Read, Update, Delete) style operations.

All API requests from the client will always set the X-Sync-Mode request header set to true. The server will use this fact to distinguish between requests coming from the client and regular e.g. GET requests from the browser (through navigation) and redirect appropriately (for instance to the UI URL associated with a specific .md file).

File system

The space file system is exposed under the /.fs prefix:

  • GET /.fs will return a full listing of all files in your space including metadata like when the file was last modified, as well as permissions in JSON format. This is primarily used for sync purposes with the client.
  • GET /.fs/*: Reads and returns the content of the file at the given path. This means that if you GET /.fs/index.md you will receive the content of your index page. If the optional X-Get-Meta request header is set, the server does not need to return the body of the file (but it can). The GET _response_ will have a few additional SB-specific headers:
    • (optional) X-Last-Modified the last modified time of the file as a UNIX timestamp in ms since the epoch (as coming from Data.now()). This timestamp has to match the lastModified listed for this file in /.fs otherwise syncing issues may occur. When this header is missing, frequent polling-based sync will be disabled for this file.
    • (optional) X-Created the created time of the file as a UNIX timestamp in ms since the epoch (as coming from Data.now()).
    • (optional) X-Permission: either rw or ro which will change whether the editor opens in read-only or edit mode. When missing, ro is assumed.
    • (optional) X-Content-Length: which will be the same as Content-Length except if the request was sent with a X-Get-Meta header and the body is not returned (then Content-Length will be 0 and X-Content-Length will be the size of the file)
  • PUT /.fs/*: The same as GET except that it takes the body of the request and writes it to a file.
  • DELETE /.fs/*: Again the same, except this will delete the given file.

RPC

Some functionality is exposed as RPC calls

  • GET /.ping: Returns 200 if the server is available
  • POST /.shell: Run a shell command on the server side and return the result
  • * /.proxy/<uri>: Proxy a HTTP request (to avoid CORS issues)

Client

  • GET /.config: Retrieve client configuration, JSON with the following keys:
    • readOnly: Run the client in read-only mode
    • spaceFolderPath: Path of the space (used to prefix client database names to support switching space folders)
    • indexPage: name of the index page
  • GET /.client/*: Retrieve files implementing the client
  • GET /* (every other path) will serve the HTML of the SilverBullet UI