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Calling the AFT! REST API directly to trigger a job

If you need to trigger an AFT! job from a script or tool that cannot run the aft start command, you can call the REST API directly. All you need is an API key and the name of the script you want to run.

Create the API key in the AFT! web UI under API Keys, and make sure its IP allow-list includes the machine making the request.

Windows (PowerShell)

Minimal example:

$headers = @{ "X-API-Key" = "your-api-key-here" }
$body    = @{ scriptName = "My Backup Job" } | ConvertTo-Json

Invoke-RestMethod -Method POST `
    -Uri "https://127.0.0.1:44399/v1/jobs" `
    -Headers $headers `
    -ContentType "application/json" `
    -Body $body `
    -SkipCertificateCheck

With parameters:

$headers = @{ "X-API-Key" = "your-api-key-here" }
$body    = @{
    scriptName = "My Backup Job"
    params     = @{ destination = "/archive/2026"; character = "goofy" }
} | ConvertTo-Json -Depth 3

Invoke-RestMethod -Method POST `
    -Uri "https://127.0.0.1:44399/v1/jobs" `
    -Headers $headers `
    -ContentType "application/json" `
    -Body $body `
    -SkipCertificateCheck
Linux/MacOS

Minimal example:

curl -sk -X POST https://127.0.0.1:44399/v1/jobs \
  -H "X-API-Key: your-api-key-here" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"scriptName":"My Backup Job"}'

With parameters:

curl -sk -X POST https://127.0.0.1:44399/v1/jobs \
  -H "X-API-Key: your-api-key-here" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"scriptName":"My Backup Job","params":{"destination":"/archive/2026","character":"goofy"}}'
Request-body reference
Field Type Description
scriptName string Name of the stored script to run (case-insensitive). Use this in new integrations.
scriptId string Script ID. Kept for backward compatibility with AFT! v3 integrations; prefer scriptName.
filePath string Path to a .syncjs file on disk. Alternative to scriptName/scriptId.
params object Named parameters passed to the script as a flat key/value object.

Exactly one of scriptName, scriptId, or filePath must be provided. On success the API returns 201 Created with a job info object containing the job ID, which you can use to poll GET /v1/adm/jobs/{id} for status.

The -SkipCertificateCheck / -sk flags are needed when AFT! is using a self-signed TLS certificate, which is the default for local installations.

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