Contentful REST API Guide

Language-agnostic guide for Contentful APIs using HTTP/curl.

Shared References

• Authentication — Token types, auth headers, API base URLs (US/EU)
• HTTP Conventions — Version locking, rate limits, pagination, errors, locale structure

Content Management API (CMA)

Read/write API for managing content, content types, assets, and environments.

Start here: references/content-management/overview.md

• entries.md — CRUD, publish/unpublish, versioning, query parameters
• content-types.md — Define/update content models, field types, validations
• assets.md — Upload, process, publish media files
• environments.md — Create, clone, manage environments and aliases

Content Delivery API (CDA)

Read-only API for fetching published content.

Start here: references/content-delivery/overview.md

• querying.md — Filters, search operators, pagination, ordering
• includes-links.md — Include parameter, link resolution
• localization.md — Locale parameter, fallback chains
• sync.md — Incremental content synchronization

Content Preview API

Draft + published content via same CDA endpoints, different host/token.

Reference: references/content-preview/overview.md

Images API

On-the-fly image transformations via URL parameters. No authentication needed.

Reference: references/images/overview.md

GraphQL API

Query content via GraphQL with CDA tokens.

Reference: references/graphql/overview.md

Quick Reference

# CMA: Create a draft entry
curl -X POST https://api.contentful.com/spaces/{space_id}/environments/{env_id}/entries \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer {cma_token}" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/vnd.contentful.management.v1+json" \
  -H "X-Contentful-Content-Type: blogPost" \
  -d '{"fields":{"title":{"en-US":"Hello"}}}'
# Then publish: PUT .../entries/{id}/published with X-Contentful-Version header

# CDA: Fetch entries
curl "https://cdn.contentful.com/spaces/{space_id}/environments/{env_id}/entries?content_type=blogPost" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer {cda_token}"