API Getting Started

Create an API key, run your first utility request, and execute a saved JSON pipeline.

Forge Json API access is designed for server-side workflows: ingestion jobs, backend routes, scheduled syncs, data cleanup tasks, and LLM preprocessing. This guide starts from a new account and gets you to your first successful API calls.

1. Create an API key

For local development, store the key in your shell or local environment manager:

export FORGEJSON_API_KEY="fje_your_api_key"
export FORGEJSON_BASE_URL="https://forgejson.com"

2. Run your first utility request

Utilities are packaged JSON transformations. The fastest first call is schema.clean-json, which can trim strings and remove null fields from API responses.

curl -X POST "$FORGEJSON_BASE_URL/api/v1/utilities/schema.clean-json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $FORGEJSON_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "inputs": {
      "primary": {
        "user": {
          "name": " Ada ",
          "email": null
        }
      }
    },
    "config": {
      "trimStrings": true,
      "removeNulls": true
    }
  }'

This request uses the ForgeJSON pipeline format.
View the full specification → 

A successful response returns the transformed JSON output:

{
  "success": true,
  "output": {
    "user": {
      "name": "Ada"
    }
  },
  "durationMs": 3,
  "creditsUsed": 1
}

If this request returns 403, create a key with the utilities permission or update the integration to use a key that already has it.

3. Execute a saved JSON pipeline

Saved pipelines are reusable workflows built in the Forge Json pipeline editor. Use them when one utility is not enough, or when your team wants the same transformation to run consistently from the dashboard and from code.

curl -X POST "$FORGEJSON_BASE_URL/api/v1/pipelines/pl_123/run" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $FORGEJSON_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "inputs": {
      "default": {
        "orders": [
          { "id": "A-100", "total": "19.99" }
        ]
      }
    }
  }'

If the pipeline has one input node and you send one input value, Forge Json can route that value to the single input. For multiple input nodes, use input names that match the saved pipeline.

4. Use the API safely in production

• Store keys in a server-side secret manager or deployment environment.
• Use separate keys for development, staging, and production.
• Give each key only the permissions required by that service.
• Log the utilityId or pipelineId with each job so production behavior is auditable.
• Set request timeouts around API calls from your application.
• Validate large payloads before sending them to the API.
• Rotate or revoke keys when teammates, vendors, or deployment targets change.

Troubleshooting

Next steps

• Authentication — API key format, permissions, rate limits, and auth errors
• Utility Execution — request and response details for utility runs
• Pipeline Execution — request and response details for saved pipeline runs