HTTP API reference

Daemon REST API over unix socket or TCP for automation and the Go/TypeScript SDKs.

Connect

Unix socket (default CLI path)

curl --unix-socket ~/.grain/grain.sock http://grain/healthz
curl --unix-socket ~/.grain/grain.sock http://grain/vms

TCP (when api: 127.0.0.1:7474 is set — default)

curl -s http://127.0.0.1:7474/healthz
curl -s http://127.0.0.1:7474/openapi.yaml

Auth: if api_token is configured, send Authorization: Bearer <token>. GET /healthz stays open.

Machine-readable schema

Interactive viewer: OpenAPI explorer (Swagger UI on this site)
Served live from a running daemon: GET /openapi.yaml and GET /openapi.json
Static copy on the site: /assets/openapi.yaml
Repo source: api/openapi.yaml

Common routes

Method	Path	Notes
GET	`/healthz`	Liveness
GET	`/info`	Version
GET	`/metrics`	Prometheus text
GET	`/openapi.yaml`	Spec
GET/POST	`/vms`	List / create
GET/DELETE	`/vms/{name}`	Get / delete
POST	`/vms/{name}/start`	Start persistent
POST	`/vms/{name}/shutdown`	Stop
POST	`/vms/{name}/pause`	QMP stop
POST	`/vms/{name}/resume`	QMP cont
POST	`/vms/{name}/suspend`	Free RAM
POST	`/vms/{name}/restore`	From suspended
POST	`/vms/{name}/exec`	Agent exec (`buffered=true\\|false`)
GET	`/vms/{name}/agent/health`	Agent health
GET	`/vms/{name}/stats`	Guest stats
PUT/GET	`/vms/{name}/cp`	File/tar copy
GET/POST/DELETE	`/vms/{name}/fs/*`	readdir, stat, mkdir, remove
POST/DELETE	`/vms/{name}/forwards`	Live TCP forwards
GET/POST/DELETE	`/secrets`	Host secrets
POST	`/vms/{name}/secrets/{secret}`	Inject secret

Create query parameters

Query	Values
`stream=1`	NDJSON create progress
`wait=`	`auto` (empty), `ssh`, `agent`, `userdata`
`timeout=`	Go duration, e.g. `3m`

curl -N --unix-socket ~/.grain/grain.sock \
  -H 'Accept: application/x-ndjson' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"persistent":false}' \
  'http://grain/vms?stream=1&wait=agent&timeout=3m'

SDKs

Prefer typed clients when embedding: