prometheus/docs/querying/api.md

---
title: HTTP API
sort_rank: 7
---

# HTTP API

The current stable HTTP API is reachable under `/api/v1` on a Prometheus
server. Any non-breaking additions will be added under that endpoint.

## Format overview

The API response format is JSON. Every successful API request returns a `2xx`
status code.

Invalid requests that reach the API handlers return a JSON error object
and one of the following HTTP response codes:

- `400 Bad Request` when parameters are missing or incorrect.
- `422 Unprocessable Entity` when an expression can't be executed
  ([RFC4918](http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc4918#page-78)).
- `503 Service Unavailable` when queries time out or abort.

Other non-`2xx` codes may be returned for errors occurring before the API
endpoint is reached.

The JSON response envelope format is as follows:

```
{
  "status": "success" | "error",
  "data": <data>,

  // Only set if status is "error". The data field may still hold
  // additional data.
  "errorType": "<string>",
  "error": "<string>"
}
```

Input timestamps may be provided either in
[RFC3339](https://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc3339.txt) format or as a Unix timestamp
in seconds, with optional decimal places for sub-second precision. Output
timestamps are always represented as Unix timestamps in seconds.

Names of query parameters that may be repeated end with `[]`.

`<series_selector>` placeholders refer to Prometheus [time series
selectors](basics.md#time-series-selectors) like `http_requests_total` or
`http_requests_total{method=~"(GET|POST)"}` and need to be URL-encoded.

`<duration>` placeholders refer to Prometheus duration strings of the form
`[0-9]+[smhdwy]`. For example, `5m` refers to a duration of 5 minutes.

## Expression queries

Query language expressions may be evaluated at a single instant or over a range
of time. The sections below describe the API endpoints for each type of
expression query.

### Instant queries

The following endpoint evaluates an instant query at a single point in time:

```
GET /api/v1/query
```

URL query parameters:

- `query=<string>`: Prometheus expression query string.
- `time=<rfc3339 | unix_timestamp>`: Evaluation timestamp. Optional.
- `timeout=<duration>`: Evaluation timeout. Optional. Defaults to and
   is capped by the value of the `-query.timeout` flag.

The current server time is used if the `time` parameter is omitted.

The `data` section of the query result has the following format:

```
{
  "resultType": "matrix" | "vector" | "scalar" | "string",
  "result": <value>
}
```

`<value>` refers to the query result data, which has varying formats
depending on the `resultType`. See the [expression query result
formats](#expression-query-result-formats).

The following example evaluates the expression `up` at the time
`2015-07-01T20:10:51.781Z`:

```json
$ curl 'http://localhost:9090/api/v1/query?query=up&time=2015-07-01T20:10:51.781Z'
{
   "status" : "success",
   "data" : {
      "resultType" : "vector",
      "result" : [
         {
            "metric" : {
               "__name__" : "up",
               "job" : "prometheus",
               "instance" : "localhost:9090"
            },
            "value": [ 1435781451.781, "1" ]
         },
         {
            "metric" : {
               "__name__" : "up",
               "job" : "node",
               "instance" : "localhost:9100"
            },
            "value" : [ 1435781451.781, "0" ]
         }
      ]
   }
}
```

### Range queries

The following endpoint evaluates an expression query over a range of time:

```
GET /api/v1/query_range
```

URL query parameters:

- `query=<string>`: Prometheus expression query string.
- `start=<rfc3339 | unix_timestamp>`: Start timestamp.
- `end=<rfc3339 | unix_timestamp>`: End timestamp.
- `step=<duration>`: Query resolution step width.
- `timeout=<duration>`: Evaluation timeout. Optional. Defaults to and
   is capped by the value of the `-query.timeout` flag.

The `data` section of the query result has the following format:

```
{
  "resultType": "matrix",
  "result": <value>
}
```

For the format of the `<value>` placeholder, see the [range-vector result
format](#range-vectors).

The following example evaluates the expression `up` over a 30-second range with
a query resolution of 15 seconds.

```json
$ curl 'http://localhost:9090/api/v1/query_range?query=up&start=2015-07-01T20:10:30.781Z&end=2015-07-01T20:11:00.781Z&step=15s'
{
   "status" : "success",
   "data" : {
      "resultType" : "matrix",
      "result" : [
         {
            "metric" : {
               "__name__" : "up",
               "job" : "prometheus",
               "instance" : "localhost:9090"
            },
            "values" : [
               [ 1435781430.781, "1" ],
               [ 1435781445.781, "1" ],
               [ 1435781460.781, "1" ]
            ]
         },
         {
            "metric" : {
               "__name__" : "up",
               "job" : "node",
               "instance" : "localhost:9091"
            },
            "values" : [
               [ 1435781430.781, "0" ],
               [ 1435781445.781, "0" ],
               [ 1435781460.781, "1" ]
            ]
         }
      ]
   }
}
```

## Querying metadata

### Finding series by label matchers

The following endpoint returns the list of time series that match a certain label set.

```
GET /api/v1/series
```

URL query parameters:

- `match[]=<series_selector>`: Repeated series selector argument that selects the
  series to return. At least one `match[]` argument must be provided.
- `start=<rfc3339 | unix_timestamp>`: Start timestamp.
- `end=<rfc3339 | unix_timestamp>`: End timestamp.

The `data` section of the query result consists of a list of objects that
contain the label name/value pairs which identify each series.

The following example returns all series that match either of the selectors
`up` or `process_start_time_seconds{job="prometheus"}`:

```json
$ curl -g 'http://localhost:9090/api/v1/series?match[]=up&match[]=process_start_time_seconds{job="prometheus"}'
{
   "status" : "success",
   "data" : [
      {
         "__name__" : "up",
         "job" : "prometheus",
         "instance" : "localhost:9090"
      },
      {
         "__name__" : "up",
         "job" : "node",
         "instance" : "localhost:9091"
      },
      {
         "__name__" : "process_start_time_seconds",
         "job" : "prometheus",
         "instance" : "localhost:9090"
      }
   ]
}
```

### Querying label values

The following endpoint returns a list of label values for a provided label name:

```
GET /api/v1/label/<label_name>/values
```

The `data` section of the JSON response is a list of string label names.

This example queries for all label values for the `job` label:

```json
$ curl http://localhost:9090/api/v1/label/job/values
{
   "status" : "success",
   "data" : [
      "node",
      "prometheus"
   ]
}
```

## Expression query result formats

Expression queries may return the following response values in the `result`
property of the `data` section. `<sample_value>` placeholders are numeric
sample values. JSON does not support special float values such as `NaN`, `Inf`,
and `-Inf`, so sample values are transferred as quoted JSON strings rather than
raw numbers.

### Range vectors

Range vectors are returned as result type `matrix`. The corresponding
`result` property has the following format:

```
[
  {
    "metric": { "<label_name>": "<label_value>", ... },
    "values": [ [ <unix_time>, "<sample_value>" ], ... ]
  },
  ...
]
```

### Instant vectors

Instant vectors are returned as result type `vector`. The corresponding
`result` property has the following format:

```
[
  {
    "metric": { "<label_name>": "<label_value>", ... },
    "value": [ <unix_time>, "<sample_value>" ]
  },
  ...
]
```

### Scalars

Scalar results are returned as result type `scalar`. The corresponding
`result` property has the following format:

```
[ <unix_time>, "<scalar_value>" ]
```

### Strings

String results are returned as result type `string`. The corresponding
`result` property has the following format:

```
[ <unix_time>, "<string_value>" ]
```

## Targets

The following endpoint returns an overview of the current state of the
Prometheus target discovery:

```
GET /api/v1/targets
```

Both the active and dropped targets are part of the response.
`labels` represents the label set after relabelling has occurred.
`discoveredLabels` represent the unmodified labels retrieved during service discovery before relabelling has occurred.

```json
$ curl http://localhost:9090/api/v1/targets
{
  "status": "success",                                                                                                                                [3/11]
  "data": {
    "activeTargets": [
      {
        "discoveredLabels": {
          "__address__": "127.0.0.1:9090",
          "__metrics_path__": "/metrics",
          "__scheme__": "http",
          "job": "prometheus"
        },
        "labels": {
          "instance": "127.0.0.1:9090",
          "job": "prometheus"
        },
        "scrapeUrl": "http://127.0.0.1:9090/metrics",
        "lastError": "",
        "lastScrape": "2017-01-17T15:07:44.723715405+01:00",
        "health": "up"
      }
    ],
    "droppedTargets": [
      {
        "discoveredLabels": {
          "__address__": "127.0.0.1:9100",
          "__metrics_path__": "/metrics",
          "__scheme__": "http",
          "job": "node"
        },
      }
    ]
  }
}
```

## Alertmanagers

The following endpoint returns an overview of the current state of the
Prometheus alertmanager discovery:

```
GET /api/v1/alertmanagers
```

Both the active and dropped Alertmanagers are part of the response.

```json
$ curl http://localhost:9090/api/v1/alertmanagers
{
  "status": "success",
  "data": {
    "activeAlertmanagers": [
      {
        "url": "http://127.0.0.1:9090/api/v1/alerts"
      }
    ],
    "droppedAlertmanagers": [
      {
        "url": "http://127.0.0.1:9093/api/v1/alerts"
      }
    ]
  }
}
```

## Status

Following status endpoints expose current Prometheus configuration.

### Config

The following endpoint returns currently loaded configuration file:

```
GET /api/v1/status/config
```

The config is returned as dumped YAML file. Due to limitation of the YAML
library, YAML comments are not included.

```json
$ curl http://localhost:9090/api/v1/status/config
{
  "status": "success",
  "data": {
    "yaml": "<content of the loaded config file in YAML>",
  }
}
```

### Flags

The following endpoint returns flag values that Prometheus was configured with:

```
GET /api/v1/status/flags
```

All values are in a form of "string".

```json
$ curl http://localhost:9090/api/v1/status/flags
{
  "status": "success",
  "data": {
    "alertmanager.notification-queue-capacity": "10000",
    "alertmanager.timeout": "10s",
    "log.level": "info",
    "query.lookback-delta": "5m",
    "query.max-concurrency": "20",
    ...
  }
}
```

*New in v2.2*

## TSDB Admin APIs
These are APIs that expose database functionalities for the advanced user. These APIs are not enabled unless the `--web.enable-admin-api` is set.

We also expose a gRPC API whose definition can be found [here](https://github.com/prometheus/prometheus/blob/master/prompb/rpc.proto). This is experimental and might change in the future.

### Snapshot
Snapshot creates a snapshot of all current data into `snapshots/<datetime>-<rand>` under the TSDB's data directory and returns the directory as response.
It will optionally skip snapshotting data that is only present in the head block, and which has not yet been compacted to disk.

```
POST /api/v1/admin/tsdb/snapshot?skip_head=<bool>
```

```json
$ curl -XPOST http://localhost:9090/api/v1/admin/tsdb/snapshot
{
  "status": "success",
  "data": {
    "name": "20171210T211224Z-2be650b6d019eb54"
  }
}
```

The snapshot now exists at `<data-dir>/snapshots/20171210T211224Z-2be650b6d019eb54`

*New in v2.1*

### Delete Series
DeleteSeries deletes data for a selection of series in a time range. The actual data still exists on disk and is cleaned up in future compactions or can be explicitly cleaned up by hitting the Clean Tombstones endpoint.

If successful, a `204` is returned.

```
POST /api/v1/admin/tsdb/delete_series
```

URL query parameters:

- `match[]=<series_selector>`: Repeated label matcher argument that selects the series to delete. At least one `match[]` argument must be provided.
- `start=<rfc3339 | unix_timestamp>`: Start timestamp. Optional and defaults to minimum possible time.
- `end=<rfc3339 | unix_timestamp>`: End timestamp. Optional and defaults to maximum possible time.

Not mentioning both start and end times would clear all the data for the matched series in the database.

Example:

```json
$ curl -X DELETE \                                                              
  -g 'http://localhost:9090/api/v1/series?match[]=up&match[]=process_start_time_seconds{job="prometheus"}'
```
*New in v2.1*

### Clean Tombstones
CleanTombstones removes the deleted data from disk and cleans up the existing tombstones. This can be used after deleting series to free up space.

If successful, a `204` is returned.

```
POST /api/v1/admin/tsdb/clean_tombstones
```

This takes no parameters or body.

```json
$ curl -XPOST http://localhost:9090/api/v1/admin/tsdb/clean_tombstones
```

*New in v2.1*