Documents

This page describes the APIs Onshape provides for working with documents.

ℹ️ Onshape API Notes
  • All Onshape API calls must be properly authenticated.
  • For Enterprise accounts, replace cad in URLs with your company domain.
  • Onshape IDs are written as: {did}, {wvmid}, {eid}, {pid}, {otherId}. See Onshape API Intro for information on what these IDs mean and how to obtain them from your documents.
  • Variables for replacement are written as: {variable1} or <variableTwo>. Never include the braces or angle brackets themselves with these variables.
  • Visit the Learning Center's Intro to the Onshape API course for additional instruction and videos.

Examples

See all Document endpoints here: https://cad.onshape.com/glassworks/explorer/#/Document

Create a document

Create a new Onshape document named myDocument.

Endpoint

POST /api/v10/documents

Request Body

{
  "name": "myDocument"
}

Additional optional fields available. See the API Explorer for a full list.

Example

Make sure you are logged into your Onshape account, and then call the createDocument endpoint. In this example, we set the new document name as myDocument.

curl -X 'POST' \
  'https://cad.onshape.com/api/v10/documents' \
  -H 'Accept: application/json;charset=UTF-8; qs=0.09' \
  -H 'Authorization: Basic {credentials}' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json;charset=UTF-8; qs=0.09'  \
  -d '{
        "name": "myDocument"
      }'

import requests 
import json

auth = (access_key, secret_key) # See Authentication guide
headers = {
  'Accept': 'application/json;charset=UTF-8;qs=0.09',
  'Content-Type': 'application/json;charset=UTF-8; qs=0.09'
}

api_url = "https://cad.onshape.com/api/v10/documents/"
queryParams = {}
body = {
  "name": "myDocument"
}

response = requests.post( api_url, 
                          params=queryParams, 
                          json=body, 
                          auth=auth, 
                          headers=headers )
print(json.dumps(response.json(), indent=4))

The new document is created in your Onshape account; the new document ID ({did}) is returned in the response body and appears in the new document’s URL.

Get a document by ID

Search for this public document by document ID (e60c4803eaf2ac8be492c18e).

Endpoint

GET /api/v10/documents/{did}

Example

  1. Call the getDocument endpoint on the document ID of this public document: e60c4803eaf2ac8be492c18e.
    curl -X 'GET' \
  'https://cad.onshape.com/api/v10/documents/e60c4803eaf2ac8be492c18e' \
  -H 'Accept: application/json;charset=UTF-8; qs=0.09' \
  -H 'Authorization: Basic {credentials}' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json;charset=UTF-8; qs=0.09' 

    import requests 
import json

auth = (access_key, secret_key) # See Authentication guide
headers = {
  'Accept': 'application/json;charset=UTF-8;qs=0.09',
  'Content-Type': 'application/json;charset=UTF-8; qs=0.09'
}

api_url = "https://cad.onshape.com/api/v10/documents/e60c4803eaf2ac8be492c18e"
queryParams = {}

response = requests.get(api_url, 
                        params=queryParams, 
                        auth=auth, 
                        headers=headers)
print(json.dumps(response.json(), indent=4))
  2. Scroll to the end of the response and confirm that it matches the information below:
    {
  ...
  "name": "Onshape API Guide",
  "id": "e60c4803eaf2ac8be492c18e",
  "href": "https://cad.onshape.com/api/v10/documents/e60c4803eaf2ac8be492c18e"
}

Get documents by search criteria

ℹ️ NOTE

The Onshape API enables you to search for documents in the same way as the Onshape UI. The filter query parameter corresponds to the search options on the Documents page in the Onshape UI:

You can filter your results to only include Public documents, documents owned by your company, documents you created, etc. The other query parameters available will sort your results, not filter them. The best matches will appear first, followed by partial matches.

To combine multiple filters (for example, all public documents owned by your company), you should filter for one criteria (i.e. "filter": 7 && "ownerId": {ownerId} to retrieve all documents owned by your company), then programmatically remove all results that are not public.

Search for this public document by name ("Onshape API Guide") and owner ID (629677dbd020f032bea73ef7). Return 1 result in the list.

Endpoint

GET /api/v10/documents

Query Parameters

{
  "q": "Onshape API Guide",
  "filter": 7,
  "owner": "{ownerId}",
  "ownerType": 1,
  "sortColumn": "createdAt",
  "sortOrder": "desc",
  "offset": 0,
  "limit": 1
}

Additional optional fields available. See the API Explorer for a full list.

Example

  1. Make sure you’re logged into your Onshape account, and then form the search query for your call. In this example, we want to locate the Onshape-owned Onshape API Guide document. We only want to return this one document.
  2. Call the getDocuments endpoint:
    curl -X 'GET' \
'https://cad.onshape.com/api/v10/documents?q=Onshape%20API%20Guide&filter=7&owner=629677dbd020f032bea73ef7&ownerType=1&sortColumn=createdAt&sortOrder=desc&offset=0&limit=1' \
  -H 'Accept: application/json;charset=UTF-8; qs=0.09' \
  -H 'Authorization: Basic {credentials}' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json;charset=UTF-8; qs=0.09' 

    import requests 
import json

auth = (access_key, secret_key) # See Authentication guide
headers = {
  'Accept': 'application/json;charset=UTF-8;qs=0.09',
  'Content-Type': 'application/json;charset=UTF-8; qs=0.09'
}

api_url = "https://cad.onshape.com/api/v10/documents"
queryParams = {
    "q": "Onshape API Guide",
    "filter": 7, # search by company owner
    "owner": "629677dbd020f032bea73ef7", # owner company ID
    "ownerType": 1, # company owned
    "sortColumn": "createdAt",
    "sortOrder": "desc",
    "offset": 0,
    "limit": 1
  }

response = requests.get(api_url, 
                        params=queryParams, 
                        auth=auth, 
                        headers=headers)
print(json.dumps(response.json(), indent=4))
  3. In the response, one item should be returned. Scroll to the owner block and confirm that the owner name is "Onshape Training Repo".
    "owner": {
      "type": 1,
      "isEnterpriseOwnedResource": false,
      "image": null,
      "name": "Onshape Training Repo",
      "id": "629677dbd020f032bea73ef7",
      "href": "https://cad.onshape.com/api/v10/companies/629677dbd020f032bea73ef7"
  }

Update document attributes

Make a copy of this public document, and change the name of the new document to My API Doc.

Endpoint

POST /api/v10/documents/{did}

Request Body

{
  "name": "My API Doc",
  "description": "Update document description here."
}

Additional optional fields available. See the API Explorer for a full list.

Example

  1. Make a copy of this public document, and make a note of the new document ID in the URL.
  2. In this example, we’ll change the document name from Onshape API Guide - Copy to My API Doc.
  3. Call the updateDocumentAttributes on new document ID from Step 1. Specify the new document name in the request body.
    curl -X 'POST' \
  'https://cad.onshape.com/api/v10/documents/{did}' \
  -H 'Accept: application/json;charset=UTF-8; qs=0.09' \
  -H 'Authorization: Basic {credentials}' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json;charset=UTF-8; qs=0.09' \
  -d '{
          "name": "My API Doc"
      }'

    import requests 
import json

auth = (access_key, secret_key) # See Authentication guide
headers = {
  'Accept': 'application/json;charset=UTF-8;qs=0.09',
  'Content-Type': 'application/json;charset=UTF-8; qs=0.09'
}

api_url = "https://cad.onshape.com/api/v10/documents/{did}"
queryParams = {}
body = {
  "name": "My API Doc"
}

response = requests.post( api_url, 
                          params=queryParams, 
                          json=body,
                          auth=auth, 
                          headers=headers)
print(json.dumps(response.json(), indent=4))
  4. Navigate to your document in Onshape, and confirm that the document’s name is updated.

Get a list of elements in a document

Get a list of all elements (tabs) in this public document.

Endpoint

GET /api/v10/documents/d/{did}/{wvm}/{wvmid}/elements

Example

  1. Open this public document, and make a note of the document and workspace IDs in the URL.


    • did: e60c4803eaf2ac8be492c18e
    • wvm: w
    • wid: d2558da712764516cc9fec62

  2. Call the getElementsInDocument endpoint on the document and workspace:

    curl -X 'GET' \
  'https://cad.onshape.com/api/v10/documents/d/e60c4803eaf2ac8be492c18e/w/d2558da712764516cc9fec62/elements' \
  -H 'Accept: application/json;charset=UTF-8; qs=0.09' \
  -H 'Authorization: Basic {credentials}' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json;charset=UTF-8; qs=0.09'

    import requests 
import json

auth = (access_key, secret_key) # See Authentication guide
headers = {
  'Accept': 'application/json;charset=UTF-8;qs=0.09',
  'Content-Type': 'application/json;charset=UTF-8; qs=0.09'
}

api_url = "https://cad.onshape.com/api/v10/documents/d/e60c4803eaf2ac8be492c18e/w/d2558da712764516cc9fec62/elements"
queryParams = {}

response = requests.get(api_url, 
                        params=queryParams, 
                        auth=auth, 
                        headers=headers)
print(json.dumps(response.json(), indent=4))

  3. The response returns a code block for each tab in the document. Confirm that your response includes the tab names from the document, including ENG_BLOCK and CRANK:

    [
  {
    "name": "ENG_BLOCK",
    "id": "9ff7abbba6852dc4d0bce252",
    "type": "Part Studio",
    "elementType": "PARTSTUDIO",
    ...
  },
  {
    "name": "CRANK",
    "id": "6bed6b43463f6a46a37b4a22",
    "type": "Part Studio",
    "elementType": "PARTSTUDIO",
    ...
  }
  ...
]

Create a version

Make a copy of this public document, and create a new version in it.

Endpoint

POST /api/v10/documents/d/{did}/versions

Request Body

{
  "documentId": "{did}",
  "name": "newVersion1",
  "workspaceId": "{wid}"
}

Additional optional fields available. See the API Explorer for a full list.

Example

  1. Make a copy of this public document, and make a note of the new document and workspace IDs in the URL.
  2. Call the createVersion endpoint on the document ID from Step 1. You must also specify the document ID and workspace ID in the request body, along with a name for the version:
    curl -X 'POST' \
  'https://cad.onshape.com/api/v10/documents/d/{did}/versions' \
  -H 'accept: application/json;charset=UTF-8; qs=0.09' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json;charset=UTF-8; qs=0.09' \
  -d '{
      "documentId": "{did}",
      "name": "newVersion1",
      "workspaceId": "{wid}"
      }'

    import requests 
import json

auth = (access_key, secret_key) # See Authentication guide
headers = {
  'Accept': 'application/json;charset=UTF-8;qs=0.09',
  'Content-Type': 'application/json;charset=UTF-8; qs=0.09'
}

api_url = "https://cad.onshape.com/api/v10/documents/d/{did}/versions"
queryParams = {}
body = {
  "documentId": "{did}",
  "name": "newVersion1",
  "workspaceId": "{wid}"
}

response = requests.post( api_url, 
                          params=queryParams, 
                          json=body,
                          auth=auth, 
                          headers=headers)
print(json.dumps(response.json(), indent=4))
  3. Navigate to your document and open the Versions and history graph. Confirm that newVersion1 appears in the history.

Get document versions

Get a list of all versions in a document. Complete the Create a version example above before beginning this one.

Endpoint

GET /api/v10/documents/d/{did}/versions

Query Parameters

{
  "offset": 0,
  "limit": 0
}

Example

  1. Complete the Create a version example above.
  2. Call the getDocumentVersions endpoint your document ID:
    curl -X 'GET' \
  'https://cad.onshape.com/api/v10/documents/d/{did}/versions?offset=0&limit=0' \
  -H 'Accept: application/json;charset=UTF-8; qs=0.09' \
  -H 'Authorization: Basic {credentials}' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json;charset=UTF-8; qs=0.09'

    import requests 
import json

auth = (access_key, secret_key) # See Authentication guide
headers = {
  'Accept': 'application/json;charset=UTF-8;qs=0.09',
  'Content-Type': 'application/json;charset=UTF-8; qs=0.09'
}

api_url = "https://cad.onshape.com/api/v10/documents/d/{did}/versions"
queryParams = {
  "offset": 0,
  "limit": 0
}

response = requests.get(api_url, 
                        params=queryParams, 
                        auth=auth, 
                        headers=headers)
print(json.dumps(response.json(), indent=4))
  3. Scroll to the end of the response and confirm that you see the newVersion1 version you created:
    "documentId": "{did}",
"thumbnail": null,
"microversion": "{mid}",
"parents": null,
"name": "newVersion1",
"id": "{vid}",
"href": null

Delete a document

Delete a document. Complete the Create a document example above before beginning this one.

Endpoint

DELETE /api/10/documents/{did}

Query Parameters

{
  "forever": "false"
}

Example

  1. Complete the Create a document example above.
  2. Call the deleteDocument endpoint on the document ID from the Create a document tutorial:
    curl -X 'DELETE' \
  'https://cad.onshape.com/api/v10/documents/{did}?forever=false' \
  -H 'Accept: application/json;charset=UTF-8; qs=0.09' \
  -H 'Authorization: Basic {credentials}' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json;charset=UTF-8; qs=0.09'

    import requests 
import json

auth = (access_key, secret_key) # See Authentication guide
headers = {
  'Accept': 'application/json;charset=UTF-8;qs=0.09',
  'Content-Type': 'application/json;charset=UTF-8; qs=0.09'
}

api_url = "https://cad.onshape.com/api/v10/documents/{did}"
queryParams = {
  "forever" : "false"
}

response = requests.delete( api_url, 
                            params=queryParams, 
                            auth=auth, 
                            headers=headers )
print(response)
  3. Your console should return a 200 response. Return to your Onshape account and confirm that the document has been deleted.

Additional Resources