API Reference

The StrongDM API allows users of StrongDM to programmatically interact with their organization in StrongDM in order to create, remove, or manage Users, Roles, permissions, Gateways, Relays, resources, and more. The amount of API access afforded to an API key depends entirely on what was granted to the key by the organization’s administrators when the key was created.

The StrongDM API is constructed with gRPC and a request signature model that requires the use of one of the StrongDM SDKs to interface with the API. The SDKs were designed with REST principles in mind. They are built around a set of domain objects, as well as the basic set of REST verbs: Create, Read, Update, and Delete.

The destination for requests directly to the StrongDM API is api.strongdm.com .

Domain Objects #

Domain objects are present in all of the StrongDM SDKs. These domain objects are, in a way, the glossary of the API. Once you’re familiar with them, you’ll better understand what you can do with the API.

How it Works #

The StrongDM API does not rely on bearer tokens alone to protect your requests (and thus your infrastructure). Instead, the StrongDM API requires the use of request signatures modeled on the AWS V4 signing process . This methodology never sends a secret key over the network. If the key isn’t sent, the key cannot be intercepted. Furthermore, this methodology allows StrongDM to validate the time and payload of each API call, protecting against replay attacks or Man in the Middle (MitM) message tampering. The StrongDM SDKs handle the gRPC calls and signing process to ensure a consistent and convenient experience.

Authentication #

Each SDK provides a client that must be constructed with an API ID and Secret (also referred to as your “API key”). This key will also set the client’s permission to manage objects within StrongDM. For instructions on creating your API key, see the API Keys page.

For example, in Python:

def main():
    client = strongdm.Client(<YOUR-ID>,<YOUR-SECRET>)

Requests #

Each domain object is accessible via functions or methods provided by the client.

For example, in Ruby:

users = client.accounts.list("")

Filters #

Many domain objects provide a common filtering language . You can use filters to narrow results from most Read operations when making requests.

For example, in Go:

users, err := client.Accounts().List(ctx, "firstName:Alice")
if err != nil {
  log.Fatal("failed to query accounts:", err)
}

In the example above, only users matching the first name “Alice” will be returned.

Paginate Results #

When making a request with a Read operation that will return many results, the SDK will automatically paginate the results. Depending on the language, pagination may be modeled as a transparent iterator, as in Ruby:

users.each do |user|
    p user
end

or an explicit call to receive the next result, as in Go:

for users.Next() {
    user := users.Value()
    fmt.Println(user)
}

Rate Limits #

Requests are subject to rate limits. Default rate limits are generous, and it’s unlikely that you’ll reach rate limits during normal operations. If you do, however, encounter a rate limit for a valid use case, please notify support@strongdm.com to have your rate limit increased.

The following Python snippet illustrates the expected behavior for a rate-limited call. Note the remaining attribute on the returned RateLimitError , which quantifies the remaining call budget for this time period (in this case, 0 ):

try:
    self.client.roles.get(role.id)
except sdm.errors.RateLimitError as ex:
    self.assertEqual(ex.rate_limit.limit, 1)
    self.assertEqual(ex.rate_limit.remaining, 0)

The StrongDM SDKs #

StrongDM supports the following SDK options:

Additionally, StrongDM’s Terraform provider makes use of the StrongDM API and has a set of Terraform provider examples as well.

The StrongDM API allows for the programmatic management of StrongDM features as well as the resources attached to the organization. You can interact with the API via any of StrongDM’s SDKs or Terraform. The SDK offerings may expand over time, as well. Feel free to use the SDKs to interact with StrongDM from your own software, and contact support@strongdm.com if you have any questions or concerns.

You can find resources and information about the following StrongDM topics in this section:

• Generate API Keys
• StrongDM Binary Verification
• SCIM API Spec