PolyCMS API Explorer — Interactive REST API Sandbox

What is the API Explorer?

The API Explorer is a built-in developer tool that provides an interactive sandbox for testing all PolyCMS REST API endpoints directly from your admin panel. No need for external tools like Postman — you can test GET, POST, PUT, and DELETE operations with live data right inside your CRM.

Live Demo: You can try the API Explorer on the official demo site at polycms.polyxgo.com/admin/polycms/api_explorer.

How to Access

1. Navigate to Blog > API Explorer in the Perfex CRM admin menu.
2. Make sure the REST API is enabled in Blog > Settings > REST API (see REST API setup guide).
3. Select a resource from the tabs.
4. Choose your HTTP method.
5. Click Send to execute the request.

Supported Resources

The API Explorer provides full interactive testing for all PolyCMS resources:

Key Features

Live CRUD Testing

Execute real API calls against your data with one click. The Explorer auto-generates request bodies with timestamped test data for easy identification. No manual JSON editing required — just click and send.

Multi-Language Code Samples

Switch between cURL, PHP, JavaScript (Fetch API), and Python (requests) with tab-based navigation. Copy the generated code directly into your project. Each code sample is pre-configured with your site's API endpoint and authentication key.

# Example: cURL generated by API Explorer
curl -X GET \
  -H "X-PolyCMS-API-Key: pcms_your_key_here" \
  -H "Accept: application/json" \
  "https://your-site.com/cms/api/v1/posts"

Visual Data Table

Results are rendered in a clean, sortable table with:

• Status badges (Published, Draft)
• Clickable frontend links to preview posts
• Detail inspection modals for full record viewing
• Responsive layout for comfortable browsing

Smart PUT Testing

When testing updates, the Explorer reads the current record title and appends a timestamp — preventing title duplication while making changes clearly visible. This lets you safely test PUT operations on production data without confusion.

Auto-Reload

After any successful POST, PUT, or DELETE operation, the data list automatically refreshes to show the latest state. No manual page refresh needed.

Media Operations

The Media tab in API Explorer integrates with the blog_media database introduced in v1.1.0:

List Media

View all uploaded files from the blog_media database with pagination, search, and MIME filtering. Each record shows filename, path, dimensions, file size, and MIME type.

Upload Media

Test file uploads with the built-in multipart/form-data form. The response includes the new media_id for immediate use as feature_image_id in posts and pages. All uploads go through the 6-layer security pipeline.

Delete Media

Remove files with full cascade cleanup:

1. Physical file + thumbnail deletion from disk
2. blog_media database record removal
3. Automatic clearing of feature_image and feature_image_id from referencing posts/pages

Security

The API Explorer uses your site's configured API key internally. All requests go through the same authentication and rate-limiting pipeline as external API calls, ensuring consistent behavior during testing.

This means:

• Rate limits apply (default: 60 reads / 30 writes per minute)
• All security middleware is active (HTMLPurifier, input sanitization)
• Responses match exactly what external consumers will receive

Who Is This For?

The API Explorer is designed for:

• Plugin Developers building extensions that interact with CMS content
• Theme Developers creating headless frontends with React, Vue, or Next.js
• Integration Engineers connecting PolyCMS to mobile apps, SPA frontends, or third-party services
• QA Teams validating API behavior against specifications

Related Documentation

• PolyCMS REST API Guide — Full API documentation with authentication, endpoints, and security details.
• Building a Custom Plugin — Developer guide for creating plugins that leverage the REST API.
• Hooks & Filters Reference — Extend API behavior with custom hooks.
• Plugin Management — How to manage the API Explorer and other built-in plugins.
• Media Library Guide — Understanding the media system that the API Explorer interacts with.