OTOBO REST API Guide – Configuration, Endpoints & Examples

OTOBO REST API

In this guide: Activate, configure, and integrate the OTOBO REST API (Generic Interface) into your applications.

Related: Web Services overview · OpenID Connect · Performance tuning · Professional support

In this comprehensive guide, you will learn how to activate, configure, and integrate the OTOBO REST API (part of the Generic Interface) into your own applications.

1. Architecture & Basics

OTOBO provides its Generic Interface via REST and SOAP web services. The REST API communicates via HTTP(S)/JSON and enables:

Ticket Operations: Create, Retrieve, Update, Delete
Article Operations: Post, Manage Attachments
History & Search: Ticket history and complex search queries

Note: A standard installation does not contain preconfigured web services – you create them yourself in the admin module “Processes & Automation → Web Services”.

2. Configuration

2.1 Activate Generic Interface

In the Admin area → SysConfig → GenericInterface.Transport, change to REST (HTTP).
Under AdminGenericInterfaceTransportHTTPREST, set timeouts, host headers, and debug levels.
In GenericInterface.Operation, create and activate the desired operations (e.g., TicketCreate, TicketSearch, TicketGet, TicketUpdate, TicketDelete, TicketHistoryGet).

Add Web Service Web Service Provider

2.2 Base URL & Authentication

Base URL

https://YOUR-SERVER/otobo/nph-genericinterface.pl/Webservice/<YourServiceName>/

Authentication
- OTOBO session cookies
- API keys / tokens (create via SysConfig)
- Always use HTTPS!

Set up REST Requester

3. Endpoints & HTTP Methods (Detail)

For each endpoint, you will find a detailed overview of parameters, possible responses, and practical examples here.

3.1 TicketCreate (POST)

URL: /Webservice/<ServiceName>/TicketCreate Method: POST

Description: Creates a new ticket and simultaneously creates an article.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
SessionID	Integer	Yes¹	Session ID or UserLogin+Password
UserLogin	String	Yes²	Agent login (in combination with password)
Password	String	Yes²	Password (in combination with UserLogin)
Ticket.Title	String	Yes	Subject of the ticket
Ticket.Queue	String	Yes	Queue name or Ticket.QueueID
Ticket.State	String	Yes	Initial state (e.g., `new`)
Ticket.Priority	String	Yes	Priority (e.g., `3 normal`)
Ticket.CustomerUser	String	Yes	Customer email or login
Article.Subject	String	Yes	Subject of the first article
Article.Body	String	Yes	Content of the first article
Article.MimeType	String	Yes	`text/plain` or `text/html`

¹ Either SessionID OR UserLogin+Password required. ² If no SessionID token is available.

Example Request:

POST /Webservice/MyConnectorREST/TicketCreate HTTP/1.1
Host: demo.otobo.org
Content-Type: application/json
X-API-Key: abc123

{
  "Data": {
    "SessionID":  42,
    "Ticket": {
      "Title":        "New Order",
      "Queue":        "Sales",
      "State":        "new",
      "Priority":     "3 normal",
      "CustomerUser": "max.mustermann@example.com"
    },
    "Article": {
      "Subject":  "Purchase Inquiry – Product XY",
      "Body":     "Please provide a price quote…",
      "MimeType": "text/plain"
    }
  }
}

Example Response:

{
  "Success":      1,
  "ErrorMessage": "",
  "Data": {
    "TicketID":     "12345",
    "ArticleID":    "67890"
  }
}

3.2 TicketSearch (GET)

URL: /Webservice/<ServiceName>/TicketSearch Method: GET

Description: Searches for tickets based on various filter criteria.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
UserLogin, Password	String,String	Yes¹	Agent credentials or SessionID²
SessionID	Integer	Yes²	Token for authenticated sessions
Title	String/String[]	No	Wildcard search in title (`%Order%`)
TicketNumber	String/String[]	No	Ticket number(s)
QueueIDs	Integer[]	No	Queue IDs
States	String[]	No	States (`new`, `open`, …)
StateType	String/String[]	No	Open/Closed category
DynamicField_Name.Op	Mixed	No	Dynamic fields with operator (Equals, Like, GreaterThan …)

¹ Either UserLogin+Password OR SessionID. ² If no login pair is provided.

Example Request:

GET /Webservice/MyConnectorREST/TicketSearch?UserLogin=agent1&Password=secret&Title=%25Order%25 HTTP/1.1
Host: demo.otobo.org

Example Response:

{
  "Success": 1,
  "Data": {
    "TicketID": [1001,1005,1012]
  }
}

3.3 TicketGet (GET)

URL: /Webservice/<ServiceName>/TicketGet Method: GET

Description: Returns detailed ticket data including articles, attachments, and dynamic fields.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
UserLogin, Password	String,String	Yes¹	Agent credentials or SessionID²
SessionID	Integer	Yes²	Token for authenticated sessions
TicketID	String/String[]	Yes	One or more ticket IDs (comma-separated or array)
DynamicFields	Boolean (0/1)	No	1 = Dynamic fields in result, default = 0
Extended	Boolean	No	1 = Extended metadata (e.g., FirstResponse)
AllArticles	Boolean	No	1 = Return all articles
ArticleLimit	Integer	No	Max. number of returned articles
Attachments	Boolean	No	1 = Embed attachments in Base64
GetAttachmentContents	Boolean	No	1 = Also load attachment contents
HTMLBodyAsAttachment	Boolean	No	1 = Attach HTML version of the article as attachment

¹ Either UserLogin+Password OR SessionID. ² If no login pair is provided.

Example Request:

GET /Webservice/MyConnectorREST/TicketGet?SessionID=42&TicketID=12345&AllArticles=1&DynamicFields=1 HTTP/1.1
Host: demo.otobo.org

Example Response (abbreviated):

{
  "Success":1,
  "Data":{
    "Ticket":[{
      "TicketID":12345,
      "TicketNumber":"202501230001",
      "Title":"New Order",
      "State":"open",
      "DynamicField":[{"Name":"Urgency","Value":"high"}],
      "Article":[{
        "ArticleID":67890,
        "Subject":"Purchase Inquiry…",
        "Body":"Please provide a price quote…",
        "Attachment":[{"Filename":"Quote.pdf","Content":"JVBERi0x…="}]
      }]
    }]
  }
}

3.4 TicketUpdate (PUT)

URL: /Webservice/<ServiceName>/TicketUpdate Method: PUT

Description: Updates fields of an existing ticket and optionally creates a new article.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
SessionID	Integer	Yes¹	Token or UserLogin+Password²
TicketID	Integer	Yes	ID of the ticket to update
Ticket.Title	String	No	New title
Ticket.State	String	No	New state
Ticket.Owner	String/ID	No	New owner
Ticket.PendingTime	Hash / Diff	No	New pending time
Article.Subject	String	No	Creates a new article
Article.Body	String	No	Content of the new article
DynamicField…	Array	No	Update dynamic fields
Attachment…	Array	No	Add new attachments

¹ Either SessionID OR UserLogin+Password. ² If no SessionID token is available.

Example Request:

PUT /Webservice/MyConnectorREST/TicketUpdate HTTP/1.1
Host: demo.otobo.org
Content-Type: application/json
X-API-Key: abc123

{
  "Data":{
    "SessionID":42,
    "TicketID":12345,
    "Ticket":{ "State":"pending reminder","PendingTime":{"Diff":1440} },
    "Article":{ "Subject":"Reminder set","Body":"Ticket is being processed." }
  }
}

Example Response:

{ "Success":1, "ErrorMessage":"", "Data":{ "TicketID":12345, "ArticleID":67891 } }

3.5 TicketDelete (DELETE)

URL: /Webservice/<ServiceName>/TicketDelete Method: DELETE

Description: Permanently deletes one or more tickets.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
SessionID	Integer	Yes¹	Token or UserLogin+Password²
TicketID	String/Array	Yes	One or more ticket IDs

Example Request:

DELETE /Webservice/MyConnectorREST/TicketDelete?SessionID=42&TicketID=12345 HTTP/1.1
Host: demo.otobo.org

Example Response:

{ "Success":1, "ErrorMessage":"", "Data":{} }

3.6 TicketHistoryGet (GET)

URL: /Webservice/<ServiceName>/TicketHistoryGet Method: GET

Description: Retrieves the history of one or more tickets.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
SessionID	Integer	Yes¹	Token or UserLogin+Password²
TicketID	String/Array	Yes	One or more ticket IDs

Example Request:

GET /Webservice/MyConnectorREST/TicketHistoryGet?SessionID=42&TicketID=12345 HTTP/1.1
Host: demo.otobo.org

Example Response (abbreviated):

{
  "Success": 1,
  "ErrorMessage": "",
  "Data": {
    "TicketID": 12345,
    "History": [
      { "HistoryType": "NewTicket", "Name": "New ticket created", "CreateTime": "2025-01-23 09:15:00" },
      { "HistoryType": "StateUpdate", "Name": "Changed state to open", "CreateTime": "2025-01-23 10:02:11" }
    ]
  }
}

4. Extension & Customization

4.1 WADL Definition

New resources in GenericTicketConnectorREST.wadl:

<resource path="MyTest" id="MyTest">
    <method name="GET" id="GET_MyTest">
        <response status="200">
            <representation mediaType="application/json"/>
        </response>
    </method>
</resource>

4.2 YAML Import

Alternatively via YAML in development/webservices/GenericTicketConnectorREST.yml:

Provider:
  Operation:
    MyTest:
      Description: "Test operation"
      MappingInbound: { }
      MappingOutbound: { }
      Type: Test::Module
Transport:
  Config:
RouteOperationMapping:
  MyTest:
    RequestMethod: [ GET ]
    Route: /MyTest

Add SOAP Provider

5. Error Handling & Logging

Success indicator: Success: 0|1
Error message: ErrorMessage in JSON
Debugging: Set Debug-Level to Debug in the transport dialog → Log entries visible in DB

Webservice Debugger

6. Use Cases

Scenario	Description
Cross-system automation	Create tickets from monitoring tools (Nagios, Zabbix)
Data synchronization	Batch updates of ticket fields from external CRM
Self-service portals	Customers create their own tickets via REST
Mobile apps	Native iOS/Android apps communicate via REST

7. Further UI Elements & Integration

Clone Web Service

Error Handling Module

Conclusion

The OTOBO REST API is flexible, performant, and highly extensible thanks to the Generic Interface. Whether for simple ticket creation or complex workflow automation – with just a few clicks in the admin area and standard JSON requests, you can realize seamless integrations into any IT landscape.

FAQ: OTOBO REST API

Does OTOBO ship with a ready-to-use REST API?

No. A standard installation has no preconfigured web services. You create them yourself under Processes & Automation → Web Services (or import a YAML definition like the one shown above).

How do I authenticate against the OTOBO REST API?

You authenticate either with a SessionID (created via a SessionCreate operation) or by passing UserLogin + Password with each request. Always use HTTPS so credentials and tokens are never sent in clear text.

What is the base URL of the REST API?

https://YOUR-SERVER/otobo/nph-genericinterface.pl/Webservice/<YourServiceName>/. Each operation (e.g. TicketCreate) is then mapped to a route you define in the transport configuration.

Which ticket operations are available?

Out of the box you can configure TicketCreate, TicketSearch, TicketGet, TicketUpdate, TicketDelete, and TicketHistoryGet. You can add custom operations via the GenericInterface.

Is there a Python client for the OTOBO REST API?

Yes — the open-source otobo package provides an async, typed client built on httpx and pydantic. See the quickstart below.

Python Client: OpenTicketAI `otobo`

The OpenTicketAI package otobo is an asynchronous Python client for the OTOBO GenericInterface REST API. It uses httpx and pydantic for typed requests, response models, and ticket workflow helpers. See the full OpenTicketAI OTOBO Python SDK documentation for setup details.

Features

Asynchronous HTTP requests using httpx.AsyncClient
Pydantic models for request and response data validation
Full CRUD operations for tickets:
- TicketCreate
- TicketSearch
- TicketGet
- TicketUpdate
- TicketHistoryGet
Error handling via OTOBOError for API errors
Utility method search_and_get to combine search results with detailed retrieval

Installation

Install the package from PyPI:

pip install otobo

Quickstart

Setup OTOBO Webservices:

Create a new web service in OTOBO with the following configuration:

---
Debugger:
  DebugThreshold: debug
  TestMode: '0'
Description: ''
FrameworkVersion: 11.0.5
Provider:
  Operation:
    session-create:
      Description: ''
      IncludeTicketData: '0'
      MappingInbound:
        Type: Simple
      MappingOutbound:
        Type: Simple
      Type: Session::SessionCreate
    ticket-create:
      Description: ''
      IncludeTicketData: '1'
      MappingInbound:
        Type: Simple
      MappingOutbound:
        Type: Simple
      Type: Ticket::TicketCreate
    ticket-get:
      Description: ''
      IncludeTicketData: '0'
      MappingInbound:
        Config:
          KeyMapDefault:
            MapTo: ''
            MapType: Keep
          ValueMapDefault:
            MapTo: ''
            MapType: Keep
        Type: Simple
      MappingOutbound:
        Type: Simple
      Type: Ticket::TicketGet
    ticket-history-get:
      Description: ''
      IncludeTicketData: '0'
      MappingInbound:
        Type: Simple
      MappingOutbound:
        Type: Simple
      Type: Ticket::TicketHistoryGet
    ticket-search:
      Description: ''
      IncludeTicketData: '0'
      MappingInbound:
        Type: Simple
      MappingOutbound:
        Type: Simple
      Type: Ticket::TicketSearch
    ticket-update:
      Description: ''
      IncludeTicketData: '1'
      MappingInbound:
        Type: Simple
      MappingOutbound:
        Type: Simple
      Type: Ticket::TicketUpdate
  Transport:
    Config:
      AdditionalHeaders: ~
      KeepAlive: '1'
      MaxLength: '16000'
      RouteOperationMapping:
        session-create:
          RequestMethod:
            - HEAD
            - OPTIONS
            - PATCH
            - POST
            - PUT
          Route: /session
        ticket-create:
          RequestMethod:
            - HEAD
            - OPTIONS
            - POST
          Route: /ticket
        ticket-get:
          RequestMethod:
            - HEAD
            - OPTIONS
            - POST
          Route: /ticket/get
        ticket-history-get:
          RequestMethod:
            - HEAD
            - OPTIONS
            - POST
          Route: /ticket/history
        ticket-search:
          RequestMethod:
            - HEAD
            - OPTIONS
            - POST
          Route: /ticket/search
        ticket-update:
          RequestMethod:
            - HEAD
            - OPTIONS
            - PATCH
            - PUT
          Route: /ticket
    Type: HTTP::REST
RemoteSystem: ''
Requester:
  Transport:
    Type: HTTP::REST

Create a new Agent

Create a new Otobo Agent with a secure password and give it the permissions needed for the thing you want to accomplish.

1. Configure the client

from otobo import TicketOperation, OTOBOClientConfig
from otobo import AuthData

config = OTOBOClientConfig(
    base_url="https://your-otobo-server/nph-genericinterface.pl",
    service="OTOBO",
    auth=AuthData(UserLogin="user1", Password="SecurePassword"),
    operations={
        TicketOperation.CREATE.value: "ticket",
        TicketOperation.SEARCH.value: "ticket/search",
        TicketOperation.GET.value: "ticket/get",
        TicketOperation.UPDATE.value: "ticket",
        TicketOperation.HISTORY_GET.value: "ticket/history",
    }
)

2. Initialize the client

import logging
from otobo import OTOBOClient

logging.basicConfig(level=logging.INFO)


client = OTOBOClient(config)

3. Create a ticket

from otobo import (TicketOperation, OTOBOClientConfig, AuthData, TicketSearchParams, TicketCreateParams,
                   TicketHistoryParams, TicketUpdateParams, \
                   TicketGetParams, OTOBOClient, OTOBOTicketCreateResponse)

payload = TicketCreateParams(
    Ticket={
        "Title": "New Order",
        "Queue": "Sales",
        "State": "new",
        "Priority": "3 normal",
        "CustomerUser": "customer@example.com"
    },
    Article={
        "Subject": "Product Inquiry",
        "Body": "Please send pricing details...",
        "MimeType": "text/plain"
    }
)

response: OTOBOTicketCreateResponse = await client.create_ticket(payload)
print(response.TicketID, response.TicketNumber)

4. Search and retrieve tickets

from otobo import TicketSearchParams, TicketGetParams

search_params = TicketSearchParams(Title="%Order%")
search_res = await client.search_tickets(search_params)
ids = search_res.TicketID

for ticket_id in ids:
    get_params = TicketGetParams(TicketID=ticket_id, AllArticles=1)
    details = await client.get_ticket(get_params)
    print(details.Ticket[0])

5. Update a ticket

from otobo import TicketUpdateParams

update_params = TicketUpdateParams(
    TicketID=response.TicketID,
    Ticket={"State": "closed"}
)
await client.update_ticket(update_params)

6. Get ticket history

from otobo import TicketHistoryParams

history_params = TicketHistoryParams(TicketID=str(response.TicketID))
history_res = await client.get_ticket_history(history_params)
print(history_res.History)

7. Combined search and get

from otobo import FullTicketSearchResponse

full_res: FullTicketSearchResponse = await client.search_and_get(search_params)

License

Frequently asked questions

How do you enable the OTOBO REST API?

Create and activate a web service in Admin → Web Services using the Generic Interface with the HTTP::REST transport.

Which ticket operations are commonly used?

TicketCreate, TicketUpdate, TicketGet, TicketSearch, and TicketHistoryGet are typical REST operations for integrations.

How is REST API authentication handled?

Integrations usually authenticate with a dedicated technical user (SessionCreate or BasicAuth), configured on the web service.

OTOBO REST API Guide – Configuration, Endpoints & Examples

1. Architecture & Basics

2. Configuration

2.1 Activate Generic Interface

2.2 Base URL & Authentication

3. Endpoints & HTTP Methods (Detail)

3.1 TicketCreate (POST)

3.2 TicketSearch (GET)

3.3 TicketGet (GET)

3.4 TicketUpdate (PUT)

3.5 TicketDelete (DELETE)

3.6 TicketHistoryGet (GET)

4. Extension & Customization

4.1 WADL Definition

4.2 YAML Import

5. Error Handling & Logging

6. Use Cases

7. Further UI Elements & Integration

Clone Web Service

Error Handling Module

Conclusion

FAQ: OTOBO REST API

Does OTOBO ship with a ready-to-use REST API?

How do I authenticate against the OTOBO REST API?

What is the base URL of the REST API?

Which ticket operations are available?

Is there a Python client for the OTOBO REST API?

Python Client: OpenTicketAI otobo

Features

Installation

Quickstart

Setup OTOBO Webservices:

Create a new Agent

1. Configure the client

2. Initialize the client

3. Create a ticket

4. Search and retrieve tickets

5. Update a ticket

6. Get ticket history

7. Combined search and get

License

Frequently asked questions

Python Client: OpenTicketAI `otobo`