> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.zapnito.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Get started with the Zapnito API

> Use the API when your systems need to ask Zapnito for data or make changes in your community. Send your first request in minutes.

With the API, **your system sends a request to Zapnito**. Use it when you want to look something up or change something in your community, such as finding a user, adding someone to a group or publishing content.

## When to use the API

* You need to read or update data on demand.
* You want to run a task on a schedule, such as a nightly sync.
* You are acting on something that happened in your own system.

If you want Zapnito to tell you when something happens instead, use [webhooks](/getting-started/webhooks).

## Send your first request

<Steps>
  <Step title="Validate your API token">
    Send a `GET` request to the ping endpoint. Replace `YOUR_API_TOKEN` with your token and `https://your-community.zapnito.com` with your community's domain.

    ```bash title="Validate your API key" theme={null}
    curl "https://your-community.zapnito.com/api/v1/ping" \
      -H "Authorization: Token token=YOUR_API_TOKEN" \
      -H "Content-Type: application/json; charset=utf-8"
    ```

    A valid token returns `200 OK`. See [authentication](/api/v1/authentication) if you get a `401 Unauthorized`.
  </Step>

  <Step title="List some users">
    Use the same token to call a resource endpoint.

    ```bash title="List users" theme={null}
    curl "https://your-community.zapnito.com/api/v1/users?page=1&per_page=5" \
      -H "Authorization: Token token=YOUR_API_TOKEN" \
      -H "Content-Type: application/json; charset=utf-8"
    ```
  </Step>
</Steps>

## Next steps

* [API overview](/api/v1/overview): the base URL and every resource.
* [Pagination](/api/v1/pagination) and [responses and errors](/api/v1/errors): handle large result sets and failures.


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