---
updatedAt: 2026-07-20T18:55:24.000Z
agentTools:
  projectIndex: https://docs.zesty.io/llms.txt
---

# Instances API

A REST API for interacting with your instance resources.

Every instance created in Zesty.io can be interacted with over https using the instance [API](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Application_programming_interface) (Application Programming Interface). When an instance is created it is assigned a [ZUID](https://github.com/zesty-io/zuid-specification) (Zesty Universal IDentifier). Using this ZUID the instances API can be requested with the following URL pattern.

> Complete API Reference: [Instances API](https://docs.zesty.io/reference/instances-api-reference)

```
https://ZUID.api.zesty.io/v1/
```

The instance API is implemented as a [REST](https://restfulapi.net/) (Representational State Transfer) architecture. It allows for [CRUD](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Create,_read,_update_and_delete) (Create, Read, Update, Delete) operations on the requested instance.

There can be many consumers of the Instances API. For example; the [manager-ui](https://docs.zesty.io/docs/manager-ui/) consumes your instances API to provide it's functionality. Another common example is making instances API requests as part of a [CI/CD](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continuous_integration) (Continuous Integration/Continuous Development) flow.

### Access Permissions

Instance access is restricted by a [roles & permissions](https://docs.zesty.io/docs/roles-permissions/) system. Accessing an instance with the API requires making an authenticated request. Which is a request that includes an `Authentication` header which contains either a [user session or an access token](https://docs.zesty.io/docs/auth-api). Which one you use will depend upon your use case and needs.

> Publishing actions are ***not*** supported with access tokens.

### Responses

All API responses are [JSON](https://www.json.org/json-en.html) (JavaScript Object Notation) format. Although JSON includes the JavaScript language name it is a common format consumable across many programming languages. It acts as a standardized way to pass various data structures over http.

## Tooling

### Node SDK

The [node-sdk](https://www.npmjs.com/package/@zesty-io/sdk) is the primary tool for interacting with Zesty.io platform resources. It can be used to programmatically manage an instance.