Introduction

Backly provides a stateless HTTP JSON API (api.back.ly) for the use of third-parties to interact with the service programatically on behalf of its users.

Authentication and authorization

The API uses OAuth to authenticate and allow users to authorize your app to access the API for them.

Encryption

It's strongly recommended that you use the API over a secure connection to protect the secrecy of your connection and your authorization tokens.

Example request

An example request for creating a Backly link:

POST /links HTTP/1.1
Host: api.back.ly
Authorization: Bearer ...
Accept: application/json
Content-Type: application/json
...

{
  "advert": "abc123",
  "url": "http://example.com?page=123#section"
}

Obtaining Access

The API is free to use. To apply for access contact us at support@back.ly, or come and chat with us in-app!

Using the API

The Backly API returns data in JSON format and accepts either JSON or URL-encoded input for POSTed data.

You must include an Accept: application/json header to ensure the JSON formatting of any error responses because the response will be formatted in HTML by default.