Last Updated: 3/11/2026

Getting Started with Box OpenAPI

Overview

The Box OpenAPI 3.0 Specification provides a comprehensive description of the Box Platform API. This guide will help you understand how to use the OpenAPI specification effectively.

What is OpenAPI?

OpenAPI (formerly known as Swagger) is a specification for machine-readable interface files for describing, producing, consuming, and visualizing RESTful web services. The Box OpenAPI specification allows you to:

• Generate client SDKs in multiple programming languages
• Explore the API using tools like Swagger UI or Postman
• Validate requests and responses against the specification
• Generate documentation automatically

Available Specifications

Latest Specification

The main openapi.json file in the root directory contains the latest description of the Box Platform API. This file is maintained for backward compatibility with existing integrations.

Versioned Specifications

Starting in 2025, Box introduced API versioning. Versioned specifications are available in the openapi directory:

• openapi.json  - Contains all APIs from before versioning was introduced
• openapi-v2025.0.json  - Contains APIs introduced in version 2025.0

For more information about Box API versioning, see the Box API Versioning Strategy .

Using the Specification

Download the Specification

You can download the OpenAPI specification directly from GitHub:

# Download the latest specification
curl -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/box/box-openapi/main/openapi.json
 
# Download a specific version
curl -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/box/box-openapi/main/openapi/openapi-v2025.0.json

Generate Client Code

Use the OpenAPI Generator  to create client libraries:

# Install OpenAPI Generator
npm install @openapitools/openapi-generator-cli -g
 
# Generate a Python client
openapi-generator-cli generate -i openapi.json -g python -o ./box-python-client
 
# Generate a JavaScript client
openapi-generator-cli generate -i openapi.json -g javascript -o ./box-js-client

Explore with Swagger UI

You can visualize and interact with the API using Swagger UI:

1. Go to Swagger Editor 
2. Click File → Import URL
3. Enter: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/box/box-openapi/main/openapi.json
4. Explore the endpoints and try out API calls

Import into Postman

1. Open Postman
2. Click Import
3. Select Link and paste: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/box/box-openapi/main/openapi.json
4. Postman will create a collection with all Box API endpoints

Next Steps

• Read the Contributing Guide to learn how to contribute to this specification
• Check the Box Developer Documentation  for detailed API guides
• Review the Code of Conduct before contributing
• Explore the API Reference  for endpoint details

Support

For questions about the Box API:

• Visit the Box Developer Forum 
• Check the Box Developer Documentation 
• Report issues in the GitHub repository