Hetzner Cloud API

This is the official API documentation for the Public Hetzner Cloud.

Introduction

The Hetzner Cloud API operates over HTTPS and uses JSON as its data format. The API is a RESTful API and utilizes HTTP methods and HTTP status codes to specify requests and responses.

As an alternative to working directly with our API you may also consider to use:

• Our CLI program hcloud
• Our library for Go
• Our library for Python

Also you can find a list of libraries, tools, and integrations on GitHub.

If you are developing integrations based on our API and your product is Open Source you may be eligible for a free one time €50 (excl. VAT) credit on your account. Please contact us via the the support page on your Cloud Console and let us know the following:

• The type of integration you would like to develop
• Link to the GitHub repo you will use for the Project
• Link to some other Open Source work you have already done (if you have done so)

Getting Started

To get started using the API you first need an API token. Sign in into the Hetzner Cloud Console choose a Project, go to Security → API Tokens, and generate a new token. Make sure to copy the token because it won’t be shown to you again. A token is bound to a Project, to interact with the API of another Project you have to create a new token inside the Project. Let’s say your new token is jEheVytlAoFl7F8MqUQ7jAo2hOXASztX.

You’re now ready to do your first request against the API. To get a list of all Servers in your Project, issue the example request on the right side using curl.

Make sure to replace the token in the example command with the token you have just created. Since your Project probably does not contain any Servers yet, the example response will look like the response on the right side. We will almost always provide a resource root like servers inside the example response. A response can also contain a meta object with information like Pagination.

Example Request

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer jEheVytlAoFl7F8MqUQ7jAo2hOXASztX" \
    https://api.hetzner.cloud/v1/servers

Example Response

{
    "servers": [],
    "meta": {
        "pagination": {
            "page": 1,
            "per_page": 25,
            "previous_page": null,
            "next_page": null,
            "last_page": 1,
            "total_entries": 0
        }
    }
}

Authentication

All requests to the Hetzner Cloud API must be authenticated via a API token. Include your secret API token in every request you send to the API with the Authorization HTTP header.

To create a new API token for your Project, switch into the Hetzner Cloud Console choose a Project, go to Security → API Tokens, and generate a new token.

Example Authorization header

Authorization: Bearer LRK9DAWQ1ZAEFSrCNEEzLCUwhYX1U3g7wMg4dTlkkDC96fyDuyJ39nVbVjCKSDfj

Errors

Errors are indicated by HTTP status codes. Further, the response of the request which generated the error contains an error code, an error message, and, optionally, error details. The schema of the error details object depends on the error code.

The error response contains the following keys:

Example response

{
  "error": {
    "code": "invalid_input",
    "message": "invalid input in field 'broken_field': is too long",
    "details": {
      "fields": [
        {
          "name": "broken_field",
          "messages": ["is too long"]
        }
      ]
    }
  }
}

Error Codes

invalid_input

{
  "error": {
    "code": "invalid_input",
    "message": "invalid input in field 'broken_field': is too long",
    "details": {
      "fields": [
        {
          "name": "broken_field",
          "messages": ["is too long"]
        }
      ]
    }
  }
}

uniqueness_error

{
  "error": {
    "code": "uniqueness_error",
    "message": "SSH key with the same fingerprint already exists",
    "details": {
      "fields": [
        {
          "name": "public_key"
        }
      ]
    }
  }
}

resource_limit_exceeded

{
  "error": {
    "code": "resource_limit_exceeded",
    "message": "project limit exceeded",
    "details": {
      "limits": [
        {
          "name": "project_limit"
        }
      ]
    }
  }
}

Labels

Labels are key/value pairs that can be attached to all resources.

Valid label keys have two segments: an optional prefix and name, separated by a slash (/). The name segment is required and must be a string of 63 characters or less, beginning and ending with an alphanumeric character ([a-z0-9A-Z]) with dashes (-), underscores (_), dots (.), and alphanumerics between. The prefix is optional. If specified, the prefix must be a DNS subdomain: a series of DNS labels separated by dots (.), not longer than 253 characters in total, followed by a slash (/).

Valid label values must be a string of 63 characters or less and must be empty or begin and end with an alphanumeric character ([a-z0-9A-Z]) with dashes (-), underscores (_), dots (.), and alphanumerics between.

The hetzner.cloud/ prefix is reserved and cannot be used.

Example Labels

{
  "labels": {
    "environment":"development",
    "service":"backend",
    "example.com/my":"label",
    "just-a-key":""
  }
}

Label Selector

For resources with labels, you can filter resources by their labels using the label selector query language.

Examples

• Returns all resources that have a env=production label and that don’t have a type=database label:

  env=production,type!=database

• Returns all resources that have a env=testing or env=staging label:

  env in (testing,staging)

• Returns all resources that don’t have a type label:

  !type

Pagination

Responses which return multiple items support pagination. If they do support pagination, it can be controlled with following query string parameters:

• A page parameter specifies the page to fetch. The number of the first page is 1.
• A per_page parameter specifies the number of items returned per page. The default value is 25, the maximum value is 50 except otherwise specified in the documentation.

Responses contain a Link header with pagination information.

Additionally, if the response body is JSON and the root object is an object, that object has a pagination object inside the meta object with pagination information:

Example Pagination

{
    "servers": [...],
    "meta": {
        "pagination": {
            "page": 2,
            "per_page": 25,
            "previous_page": 1,
            "next_page": 3,
            "last_page": 4,
            "total_entries": 100
        }
    }
}

The keys previous_page, next_page, last_page, and total_entries may be null when on the first page, last page, or when the total number of entries is unknown.

Example Pagination Link header

Link: <https://api.hetzner.cloud/v1/actions?page=2&per_page=5>; rel="prev",
      <https://api.hetzner.cloud/v1/actions?page=4&per_page=5>; rel="next",
      <https://api.hetzner.cloud/v1/actions?page=6&per_page=5>; rel="last"

Line breaks have been added for display purposes only and responses may only contain some of the above rel values.

Rate Limiting

All requests, whether they are authenticated or not, are subject to rate limiting. If you have reached your limit, your requests will be handled with a 429 Too Many Requests error. Burst requests are allowed. Responses contain serveral headers which provide information about your current rate limit status.

• The RateLimit-Limit header contains the total number of requests you can perform per hour.
• The RateLimit-Remaining header contains the number of requests remaining in the current rate limit time frame.
• The RateLimit-Reset header contains a UNIX timestamp of the point in time when your rate limit will have recovered and you will have the full number of requests available again.

The default limit is 3600 requests per hour and per Project. The number of remaining requests increases gradually. For example, when your limit is 3600 requests per hour, the number of remaining requests will increase by 1 every second.

Server Metadata

Your Server can discover metadata about itself by doing a HTTP request to specific URLs. The following data is available:

Example: Summary

$ curl http://169.254.169.254/hetzner/v1/metadata

availability-zone: hel1-dc2
hostname: my-server
instance-id: 42
public-ipv4: 1.2.3.4
region: eu-central

Example: Hostname

$ curl http://169.254.169.254/hetzner/v1/metadata/hostname
my-server

Example: Instance ID

$ curl http://169.254.169.254/hetzner/v1/metadata/instance-id
42

Example: Public IPv4

$ curl http://169.254.169.254/hetzner/v1/metadata/public-ipv4
1.2.3.4

Example: Private Networks

$ curl http://169.254.169.254/hetzner/v1/metadata/private-networks

- ip: 10.0.0.2
  alias_ips: [10.0.0.3, 10.0.0.4]
  interface_num: 1
  mac_address: 86:00:00:2a:7d:e0
  network_id: 1234
  network_name: nw-test1
  network: 10.0.0.0/8
  subnet: 10.0.0.0/24
  gateway: 10.0.0.1
- ip: 192.168.0.2
  alias_ips: []
  interface_num: 2
  mac_address: 86:00:00:2a:7d:e1
  network_id: 4321
  network_name: nw-test2
  network: 192.168.0.0/16
  subnet: 192.168.0.0/24
  gateway: 192.168.0.1

Example: Availability Zone

$ curl http://169.254.169.254/hetzner/v1/metadata/availability-zone
hel1-dc2

Example: Region

$ curl http://169.254.169.254/hetzner/v1/metadata/region
eu-central

Sorting

Some responses which return multiple items support sorting. If they do support sorting the documentation states which fields can be used for sorting. You specify sorting with the sort query string parameter. You can sort by multiple fields. You can set the sort direction by appending :asc or :desc to the field name. By default, ascending sorting is used.

Example: Sorting

https://api.hetzner.cloud/v1/actions?sort=status
https://api.hetzner.cloud/v1/actions?sort=status:asc
https://api.hetzner.cloud/v1/actions?sort=status:desc
https://api.hetzner.cloud/v1/actions?sort=status:asc&sort=command:desc

Use this page to mock Hetzner Cloud API in your testing and development.

Run our mock API sample using the open source WireMock library, or in the free edition of WireMock Cloud. You'll have a working API server simulating the behavior of Hetzner Cloud API, which will allow you to keep building and testing even if the actual API you isn't currently available.