---
title: "KubeSphere API"
keywords: 'Kubernetes, KubeSphere, API'
description: 'The REST API is the fundamental fabric of KubeSphere. This guide shows you how to access the KubeSphere API server.'
linkTitle: "KubeSphere API"
weight: 17200
---

## Architecture

The KubeSphere API server validates and configures data for API objects. The API Server services REST operations and provides the frontend to the cluster's shared state through which all other components interact.

![ks-apiserver](/images/docs/reference/kubesphere-api/ks-apiserver.png)

## Use the KubeSphere API

KubeSphere v3.0 moves the functionalities of **ks-apigateway** and **ks-account** into **ks-apiserver** to make the architecture more compact and clear. In order to use the KubeSphere API, you need to expose **ks-apiserver** to your client.


### Step 1: Expose the KubeSphere API service

If you are going to access KubeSphere inside the cluster, you can skip the following section and just use the KubeSphere API server endpoint **`http://ks-apiserver.kubesphere-system.svc`**.

On the other hand, you need to expose the KubeSphere API server endpoint outside the cluster first.

There are many ways to expose a Kubernetes service. For demonstration purposes, this example uses `NodePort`. Change the service type of `ks-apiserver` to `NodePort` by using the following command.

```bash
$ kubectl -n kubesphere-system patch service ks-apiserver -p '{"spec":{"type":"NodePort"}}'
$ kubectl -n kubesphere-system get svc
NAME            TYPE           CLUSTER-IP      EXTERNAL-IP      PORT(S)              AGE
etcd            ClusterIP      10.233.34.220   <none>           2379/TCP             44d
ks-apiserver    NodePort       10.233.15.31    <none>           80:31407/TCP         49d
ks-console      NodePort       10.233.3.45     <none>           80:30880/TCP         49d
```

Now, you can access `ks-apiserver` outside the cluster through the URL like `http://[node ip]:31407`, where `[node ip]` means the IP address of any node in your cluster.

### Step 2: Generate a token

You need to identify yourself before making any call to the API server. The following example uses the password `P#$$w0rd`. The user needs to issue a request to generate a token as below:

```bash
curl -X POST -H 'Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded' \
 'http://[node ip]:31407/oauth/token' \
  --data-urlencode 'grant_type=password' \
  --data-urlencode 'username=admin' \
  --data-urlencode 'password=P#$$w0rd'
```

{{< notice note >}}

Replace `[node ip]` with your actual IP address.

{{</ notice >}}

If the identity is correct, the server will respond as shown in the following output. `access_token` is the token to access the KubeSphere API Server.

```json
{
 "access_token": "eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJ1c2VybmFtZSI6ImFkbWluIiwidWlkIjoiYTlhNjJmOTEtYWQ2Yi00MjRlLWIxNWEtZTFkOTcyNmUzNDFhIiwidG9rZW5fdHlwZSI6ImFjY2Vzc190b2tlbiIsImV4cCI6MTYwMDg1MjM5OCwiaWF0IjoxNjAwODQ1MTk4LCJpc3MiOiJrdWJlc3BoZXJlIiwibmJmIjoxNjAwODQ1MTk4fQ.Hcyf-CPMeq8XyQQLz5PO-oE1Rp1QVkOeV_5J2oX1hvU",
 "token_type": "Bearer",
 "refresh_token": "eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJ1c2VybmFtZSI6ImFkbWluIiwidWlkIjoiYTlhNjJmOTEtYWQ2Yi00MjRlLWIxNWEtZTFkOTcyNmUzNDFhIiwidG9rZW5fdHlwZSI6InJlZnJlc2hfdG9rZW4iLCJleHAiOjE2MDA4NTk1OTgsImlhdCI6MTYwMDg0NTE5OCwiaXNzIjoia3ViZXNwaGVyZSIsIm5iZiI6MTYwMDg0NTE5OH0.PerssCLVXJD7BuCF3Ow8QUNYLQxjwqC8m9iOkRRD6Tc",
 "expires_in": 7200
}
```

### Step 3: Make the call

If you have everything you need to access the KubeSphere API server, make the call using the access token acquired above as shown in the following example to get the node list:

```bash
$ curl -X GET -H "Authorization: Bearer eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJ1c2VybmFtZSI6ImFkbWluIiwidWlkIjoiYTlhNjJmOTEtYWQ2Yi00MjRlLWIxNWEtZTFkOTcyNmUzNDFhIiwidG9rZW5fdHlwZSI6ImFjY2Vzc190b2tlbiIsImV4cCI6MTYwMDg1MjM5OCwiaWF0IjoxNjAwODQ1MTk4LCJpc3MiOiJrdWJlc3BoZXJlIiwibmJmIjoxNjAwODQ1MTk4fQ.Hcyf-CPMeq8XyQQLz5PO-oE1Rp1QVkOeV_5J2oX1hvU" \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  'http://[node ip]:31407/kapis/resources.kubesphere.io/v1alpha3/nodes'

{
 "items": [
  {
   "metadata": {
    "name": "node3",
    "selfLink": "/api/v1/nodes/node3",
    "uid": "dd8c01f3-76e8-4695-9e54-45be90d9ec53",
    "resourceVersion": "84170589",
    "creationTimestamp": "2020-06-18T07:36:41Z",
    "labels": {
     "a": "a",
     "beta.kubernetes.io/arch": "amd64",
     "beta.kubernetes.io/os": "linux",
     "gitpod.io/theia.v0.4.0": "available",
     "gitpod.io/ws-sync": "available",
     "kubernetes.io/arch": "amd64",
     "kubernetes.io/hostname": "node3",
     "kubernetes.io/os": "linux",
     "kubernetes.io/role": "new",
     "node-role.kubernetes.io/worker": "",
     "topology.disk.csi.qingcloud.com/instance-type": "Standard",
     "topology.disk.csi.qingcloud.com/zone": "ap2a"
    },
    "annotations": {
     "csi.volume.kubernetes.io/nodeid": "{\"disk.csi.qingcloud.com\":\"i-icjxhi1e\"}",
     "kubeadm.alpha.kubernetes.io/cri-socket": "/var/run/dockershim.sock",
     "node.alpha.kubernetes.io/ttl": "0",
     ....
```

{{< notice note >}}

Replace `[node ip]` with your actual IP address.

{{</ notice >}}

## API Reference

The KubeSphere API swagger JSON file can be found in the repository https://github.com/kubesphere/kubesphere/tree/release-3.1/api.

- KubeSphere specified the API [swagger json](https://github.com/kubesphere/kubesphere/blob/release-3.1/api/ks-openapi-spec/swagger.json) file. It contains all the APIs that are only applied to KubeSphere.
- KubeSphere specified the CRD [swagger json](https://github.com/kubesphere/kubesphere/blob/release-3.1/api/openapi-spec/swagger.json) file. It contains all the generated CRDs API documentation. It is same as Kubernetes API objects.

You can explore the KubeSphere API document from [here](https://kubesphere.io/api/kubesphere) as well.