Documentation

InfluxDB API reference

This page documents an earlier version of InfluxDB OSS. InfluxDB OSS v2 is the latest stable version. See the equivalent InfluxDB v2 documentation: InfluxDB HTTP API.

The InfluxDB API provides a simple way to interact with the database. It uses HTTP authentication and JWT Tokens. Responses use standard HTTP response codes and JSON format.

To send API requests, you can use the InfluxDB v1 client libraries, the InfluxDB v2 client libraries, Telegraf, or the client of your choice.

If you’re getting started with InfluxDB v1, we recommend using the InfluxDB v1 client libraries and InfluxQL for InfluxDB v3 compatibility.

The following sections assume your InfluxDB instance is running on localhost port 8086 and HTTPS is not enabled. Those settings are configurable.

InfluxDB v3 compatibility

InfluxDB v3 is InfluxDB’s next generation that allows infinite series cardinality without impact on overall database performance, and brings native SQL support and improved InfluxQL performance.

InfluxDB v3 supports the v1 /write and /query HTTP API endpoints. InfluxDB v3 isn’t optimized for Flux.

If you’re getting started with InfluxDB v1, we recommend using the InfluxDB v1 client libraries and InfluxQL. When you’re ready, you can migrate to InfluxDB v3 and continue using the v1 client libraries as you gradually move your query workloads to use the v3 client libraries (and the v3 Flight API).

For more information, see API compatibility and migration guides for InfluxDB v3.

InfluxDB 2.x API compatibility endpoints

InfluxDB 1.8.0 introduced forward compatibility APIs for InfluxDB v2. InfluxDB v2 client libraries are built for the InfluxDB v2 API, but also work with InfluxDB 1.8+.

The following v2 compatible APIs are available:

Endpoint Description
/api/v2/query Query data in InfluxDB 1.8.0+ using the InfluxDB v2 API and Flux
/api/v2/write Write data to InfluxDB 1.8.0+ using the InfluxDB v2 API (compatible with InfluxDB v2 client libraries)
/health Check the health of your InfluxDB instance

/api/v2/query/ HTTP endpoint

The /api/v2/query endpoint accepts POST HTTP requests. Use this endpoint to query data using Flux and InfluxDB v2 client libraries. Flux is the primary language for working with data in InfluxDB v2.

Include the following HTTP headers:

  • Accept: application/csv
  • Content-type: application/vnd.flux
  • If authentication is enabled, provide your InfluxDB username and password:
    Authorization: Token username:password
curl -XPOST localhost:8086/api/v2/query -sS \
  -H 'Accept:application/csv' \
  -H 'Content-type:application/vnd.flux' \
  -d 'from(bucket:"telegraf")
        |> range(start:-5m)
        |> filter(fn:(r) => r._measurement == "cpu")'
curl -XPOST localhost:8086/api/v2/query -sS \
  -H 'Accept:application/csv' \
  -H 'Content-type:application/vnd.flux' \
  -H 'Authorization: Token username:password' \
  -d 'from(bucket:"telegraf")
        |> range(start:-5m)
        |> filter(fn:(r) => r._measurement == "cpu")'

/api/v2/write/ HTTP endpoint

The /api/v2/write endpoint accepts POST HTTP requests. Use this endpoint to write to an InfluxDB 1.8.0+ database using InfluxDB v2 client libraries.

Both InfluxDB 1.x and 2.0 APIs support the same line protocol format for raw time series data. For the purposes of writing data, the APIs differ only in the URL parameters and request headers. InfluxDB v2 uses organizations and buckets instead of databases and retention policies. The /api/v2/write endpoint maps the supplied version 1.8 database and retention policy to a bucket.

Include the following URL parameters:

  • bucket: Provide the database name and retention policy separated by a forward slash (/). For example: database/retention-policy. Empty retention policies map to the default retention policy. database/weekly maps to a database named “database” and retention policy named “weekly”. database/ and database map to a database named “database” and the default retention policy.
  • org: In InfluxDB 1.x, there is no concept of organization. The org parameter is ignored and can be left empty.
  • precision: Precision of timestamps in the line protocol. Accepts ns (nanoseconds), us(microseconds), ms (milliseconds) and s (seconds).

Include the following HTTP header:

  • Authorization: In InfluxDB v2 uses API Tokens to access the platform and all its capabilities. InfluxDB v1.x uses a username and password combination when accessing the HTTP APIs. Use the Token schema to provide your InfluxDB 1.x username and password separated by a colon (:). For example: Authorization: Token username:password.
curl -XPOST "localhost:8086/api/v2/write?bucket=db/rp&precision=s" \
  --data-raw "mem,host=host1 used_percent=23.43234543 1556896326"
curl -XPOST "localhost:8086/api/v2/write?bucket=db/rp&precision=s" \
  -H 'Authorization: Token <username>:<password>' \
  --data-raw "mem,host=host1 used_percent=23.43234543 1556896326"

/health HTTP endpoint

The /health endpoint accepts Get HTTP requests. Use this endpoint to check the health of your InfluxDB instance.

curl -XGET "localhost:8086/health"
/health endpoint responses
Response code Health Message Status
200 Healthy ready for queries and writes pass
503 Unhealthy fail

InfluxDB 1.x HTTP endpoints

The following InfluxDB 1.x API endpoints are available:

Endpoint Description
/debug/pprof Generate profiles for troubleshooting
/debug/requests Track HTTP client requests to the /write and /query endpoints
/debug/vars Collect internal InfluxDB statistics
/ping Check the status of your InfluxDB instance and your version of InfluxDB
/query Query data using InfluxQL, manage databases, retention policies, and users
/write Write data to a database

/debug/pprof HTTP endpoint

InfluxDB supports the Go net/http/pprof HTTP endpoints, which are useful for troubleshooting. The pprof package serves runtime profiling data in the format expected by the pprof visualization tool.

Definition

curl http://localhost:8086/debug/pprof/

The /debug/pprof/ endpoint generates an HTML page with a list of built-in Go profiles and hyperlinks for each.

Profile Description
block Stack traces that led to blocking on synchronization primitives.
goroutine Stack traces of all current goroutines.
heap Sampling of stack traces for heap allocations.
mutex Stack traces of holders of contended mutexes.
threadcreate Stack traces that led to the creation of new OS threads.

To access one of the /debug/pprof/ profiles listed above, use the following cURL request, substituting <profile> with the name of the profile. The resulting profile is output to a file specified in <path/to/output-file>.

curl -o <path/to/output-file>  http://localhost:8086/debug/pprof/<profile>

In the following example, the cURL command outputs the resulting heap profile to a file:

curl -o <path/to/output-file> http://localhost:/8086/debug/pprof/heap

You can also use the Go pprof interactive tool to access the InfluxDB /debug/pprof/ profiles. For example, to look at the heap profile of a InfluxDB instance using this tool, you would use a command like this:

go tool pprof http://localhost:8086/debug/pprof/heap

For more information about the Go /net/http/pprof package and the interactive pprof analysis and visualization tool, see:

/debug/pprof/all HTTP endpoint

The /debug/pprof/all endpoint is a custom /debug/pprof profile intended primarily for use by InfluxData support. This endpoint generates a profile.tar.gz archive containing text files with the standard Go profiling information and additional debugging data. An optional CPU profile is generated when using the cpu= option followed by a duration in seconds (e.g., cpu=30s).

To create a profile.tar.gz archive, use the following cURL command to generate a profile.tar.gz file for sharing with InfluxData support.

curl -o profiles.tar.gz "http://localhost:8086/debug/pprof/all?cpu=30s"

As the following example shows, the cURL output includes “Time Spent,” the time elapsed (in seconds). After 30 seconds of data has been collected, the results are output to a file.

➜  ~ curl -o profiles.tar.gz "http://localhost:8086/debug/pprof/all?cpu=30s"
  % Total    % Received % Xferd  Average Speed   Time    Time     Time  Current
                                 Dload  Upload   Total   Spent    Left  Speed
100  237k    0  237k    0     0   8025      0 --:--:--  0:00:30 --:--:-- 79588

If using InfluxDB 1.8.3 or earlier, use /debug/pprof/all?cpu=true.

/debug/requests HTTP endpoint

Use this endpoint to track HTTP client requests to the /write and /query endpoints. The /debug/requests endpoint returns the number of writes and queries to InfluxDB per username and IP address.

Definition

curl http://localhost:8086/debug/requests

Query string parameters

Query String Parameter Optional/Required Definition
seconds=<integer> Optional Sets the duration (in seconds) over which the client collects information. The default duration is ten seconds.

Examples

Track requests over a ten-second interval
$ curl http://localhost:8086/debug/requests

{
"user1:123.45.678.91": {"writes":1,"queries":0},
}

The response shows that, over the past ten seconds, the user1 user sent one request to the /write endpoint and no requests to the /query endpoint from the 123.45.678.91 IP address.

Track requests over a one-minute interval
$ curl http://localhost:8086/debug/requests?seconds=60

{
"user1:123.45.678.91": {"writes":3,"queries":0},
"user1:000.0.0.0": {"writes":0,"queries":16},
"user2:xx.xx.xxx.xxx": {"writes":4,"queries":0}
}

The response shows that, over the past minute, user1 sent three requests to the /write endpoint from 123.45.678.91, user1 sent 16 requests to the /query endpoint from 000.0.0.0, and user2 sent four requests to the /write endpoint from xx.xx.xxx.xxx.

/debug/vars HTTP endpoint

InfluxDB exposes statistics and information about its runtime through the /debug/vars endpoint, which can be accessed using the following cURL command:

curl http://localhost:8086/debug/vars

Server statistics and information are displayed in JSON format. For information about InfluxDB HTTP server metrics, see the httpd measurement.

Note: The InfluxDB input plugin is available to collect metrics (using the /debug/vars endpoint) from specified Kapacitor instances. For a list of the measurements and fields, see the InfluxDB input plugin README.

/ping HTTP endpoint

The ping endpoint accepts both GET and HEAD HTTP requests. Use this endpoint to check the status of your InfluxDB instance and your version of InfluxDB.

Definition

GET http://localhost:8086/ping
HEAD http://localhost:8086/ping

verbose option

By default, the /ping HTTP endpoint returns a simple HTTP 204 status response to let the client know that the server is running. Default value is false. When verbose option is set to true (/ping?verbose=true), an HTTP 200 status is returned. The verbose=true option is required for Google Cloud Load Balancing health checks.

Example

You can use the /ping endpoint to find the build and version of an InfluxDB instance. The X-Influxdb-Build header field displays the InfluxDB build type, either OSS (open source) or ENT (Enterprise). The X-Influxdb-Version header field displays the InfluxDB version.

~ curl -sl -I http://localhost:8086/ping

HTTP/1.1 204 No Content
Content-Type: application/json
Request-Id: 9c353b0e-aadc-11e8-8023-000000000000
X-Influxdb-Build: OSS
X-Influxdb-Version: 1.8.10
X-Request-Id: 9c353b0e-aadc-11e8-8023-000000000000
Date: Tue, 05 Nov 2018 16:08:32 GMT

Status Codes and Responses

The response body is empty.

HTTP Status Code Description
204 Success! Your InfluxDB instance is up and running.

/query HTTP endpoint

The /query endpoint accepts GET and POST HTTP requests. Use this endpoint to query data and manage databases, retention policies, and users.

Definition

GET http://localhost:8086/query
POST http://localhost:8086/query

Verb usage

Verb Query Type
GET Use for all queries that start with:

SELECT*

SHOW
POST Use for all queries that start with:

ALTER

CREATE

DELETE

DROP

GRANT

KILL

REVOKE

* The only exceptions are SELECT queries that include an INTO clause. Those SELECT queries require a POST request.

Examples

Query data with a SELECT statement
$ curl -G 'http://localhost:8086/query?db=mydb' --data-urlencode 'q=SELECT * FROM "mymeas"'

{"results":[{"statement_id":0,"series":[{"name":"mymeas","columns":["time","myfield","mytag1","mytag2"],"values":[["2017-03-01T00:16:18Z",33.1,null,null],["2017-03-01T00:17:18Z",12.4,"12","14"]]}]}]}

The mymeas measurement has two points. The first point has the timestamp 2017-03-01T00:16:18Z, a myfield value of 33.1, and no tag values for the mytag1 and mytag2 tag keys. The second point has the timestamp 2017-03-01T00:17:18Z, a myfield value of 12.4, a mytag1 value of 12, and a mytag2 value of 14.

The same query in the InfluxDB Command Line Interface (CLI) returns the following table:

name: mymeas
time                  myfield  mytag1  mytag2
----                  -------  ------  ------
2017-03-01T00:16:18Z  33.1
2017-03-01T00:17:18Z  12.4     12      14
Query data with a SELECT statement and an INTO clause
$ curl -XPOST 'http://localhost:8086/query?db=mydb' --data-urlencode 'q=SELECT * INTO "newmeas" FROM "mymeas"'

{"results":[{"statement_id":0,"series":[{"name":"result","columns":["time","written"],"values":[["1970-01-01T00:00:00Z",2]]}]}]}

SELECT queries that include and INTO clause require a POST request.

The response shows that InfluxDB writes two points to the newmeas measurement. Note that the system uses epoch 0 (1970-01-01T00:00:00Z) as a null timestamp equivalent.

Create a database
$ curl -XPOST 'http://localhost:8086/query' --data-urlencode 'q=CREATE DATABASE "mydb"'

{"results":[{"statement_id":0}]}

A successful CREATE DATABASE query returns no additional information.

Query string parameters

Query String Parameter Optional/Required Definition
chunked=[true | <number_of_points>] Optional Returns points in streamed batches instead of in a single response. If set to true, InfluxDB chunks responses by series or by every 10,000 points, whichever occurs first. If set to a specific value, InfluxDB chunks responses by series or by that number of points.*
db=<database_name> Required for database-dependent queries (most SELECT queries and SHOW queries require this parameter). Sets the target database for the query.
epoch=[ns,u,µ,ms,s,m,h] Optional Returns epoch timestamps with the specified precision. By default, InfluxDB returns timestamps in RFC3339 format with nanosecond precision. Both u and µ indicate microseconds.
p=<password> Optional if you haven’t enabled authentication. Required if you’ve enabled authentication.** Sets the password for authentication if you’ve enabled authentication. Use with the query string parameter u.
pretty=true Optional Enables pretty-printed JSON output. While this is useful for debugging it is not recommended for production use as it consumes unnecessary network bandwidth.
q=<query> Required InfluxQL string to execute. See also Request Body.
u=<username> Optional if you haven’t enabled authentication. Required if you’ve enabled authentication.* Sets the username for authentication if you’ve enabled authentication. The user must have read access to the database. Use with the query string parameter p.

* InfluxDB does not truncate the number of rows returned for requests without the chunked parameter. That behavior is configurable; see the max-row-limit configuration option for more information.

** The InfluxDB API also supports basic authentication. Use basic authentication if you’ve enabled authentication and aren’t using the query string parameters u and p. See below for an example of basic authentication.

Examples

Query data with a SELECT statement and return pretty-printed JSON
$ curl -G 'http://localhost:8086/query?db=mydb&pretty=true' --data-urlencode 'q=SELECT * FROM "mymeas"'

{
    "results": [
        {
            "statement_id": 0,
            "series": [
                {
                    "name": "mymeas",
                    "columns": [
                        "time",
                        "myfield",
                        "mytag1",
                        "mytag2"
                    ],
                    "values": [
                        [
                            "2017-03-01T00:16:18Z",
                            33.1,
                            null,
                            null
                        ],
                        [
                            "2017-03-01T00:17:18Z",
                            12.4,
                            "12",
                            "14"
                        ]
                    ]
                }
            ]
        }
    ]
}
Query data with a SELECT statement and return second precision epoch timestamps
$ curl -G 'http://localhost:8086/query?db=mydb&epoch=s' --data-urlencode 'q=SELECT * FROM "mymeas"'

{"results":[{"statement_id":0,"series":[{"name":"mymeas","columns":["time","myfield","mytag1","mytag2"],"values":[[1488327378,33.1,null,null],[1488327438,12.4,"12","14"]]}]}]}
Create a database using HTTP authentication

Valid credentials:

$ curl -XPOST 'http://localhost:8086/query?u=myusername&p=mypassword' --data-urlencode 'q=CREATE DATABASE "mydb"'

{"results":[{"statement_id":0}]}

A successful CREATE DATABASE query returns no additional information.

Invalid credentials:

$ curl -XPOST 'http://localhost:8086/query?u=myusername&p=notmypassword' --data-urlencode 'q=CREATE DATABASE "mydb"'

{"error":"authorization failed"}
Create a database using basic authentication

The following example uses valid credentials.

$ curl -XPOST -u myusername:mypassword 'http://localhost:8086/query' --data-urlencode 'q=CREATE DATABASE "mydb"'

{"results":[{"statement_id":0}]}

A successful CREATE DATABASE query returns no additional information.

The following example uses invalid credentials.

$ curl -XPOST -u myusername:notmypassword 'http://localhost:8086/query' --data-urlencode 'q=CREATE DATABASE "mydb"'

{"error":"authorization failed"}

Request body

--data-urlencode "q=<InfluxQL query>"

All queries must be URL encoded and follow InfluxQL syntax. Our example shows the --data-urlencode parameter from curl, which we use in all examples on this page.

Options

Request multiple queries

Delimit multiple queries with a semicolon ;.

Submit queries from a file

The API supports submitting queries from a file using a multipart POST request. The queries in the file must be separated a semicolon (;).

Syntax:

curl -F "q=@<path_to_file>" -F "async=true" http://localhost:8086/query
Request query results in CSV format

Syntax:

curl -H "Accept: application/csv" -G 'http://localhost:8086/query' [...]

Note that when the request includes -H "Accept: application/csv", the system returns timestamps in epoch format, not RFC3339 format.

Bind parameters

The API supports binding parameters to particular field values or tag values. Use the syntax $<placeholder_key> as a placeholder in the query, and URL encode the map of placeholder keys to placeholder values in the request body. This allows all InfluxQL queries where the value is customizable—such as field values, function names, or intervals—to be represented using bind parameters.

Query syntax:

--data-urlencode 'q= SELECT [...] WHERE [ <field_key> | <tag_key> ] = $<placeholder_key>'

Map syntax:

--data-urlencode 'params={"<placeholder_key>":[ <placeholder_float_field_value> | <placeholder_integer_field_value> | "<placeholder_string_field_value>" | <placeholder_boolean_field_value> | "<placeholder_tag_value>" ]}'

Delimit multiple placeholder key-value pairs with comma ,.

Examples

Send multiple queries
$ curl -G 'http://localhost:8086/query?db=mydb&epoch=s' --data-urlencode 'q=SELECT * FROM "mymeas";SELECT mean("myfield") FROM "mymeas"'

{"results":[{"statement_id":0,"series":[{"name":"mymeas","columns":["time","myfield","mytag1","mytag2"],"values":[[1488327378,33.1,null,null],[1488327438,12.4,"12","14"]]}]},{"statement_id":1,"series":[{"name":"mymeas","columns":["time","mean"],"values":[[0,22.75]]}]}]}

The request includes two queries: SELECT * FROM "mymeas" and SELECT mean("myfield") FROM "mymeas"'. In the results, the system assigns a statement identifier to each query return. The first query’s result has a statement_id of 0 and the second query’s result has a statement_id of 1.

Request query results in CSV format
$ curl -H "Accept: application/csv" -G 'http://localhost:8086/query?db=mydb' --data-urlencode 'q=SELECT * FROM "mymeas"'

name,tags,time,myfield,mytag1,mytag2
mymeas,,1488327378000000000,33.1,mytag1,mytag2
mymeas,,1488327438000000000,12.4,12,14

The first point has no tag values for the mytag1 and mytag2 tag keys.

Submit queries from a file
curl -F "q=@queries.txt" -F "async=true" 'http://localhost:8086/query'

A sample of the queries in queries.txt:

CREATE DATABASE mydb;
CREATE RETENTION POLICY four_weeks ON mydb DURATION 4w REPLICATION 1;
Bind a parameter in the WHERE clause to specific tag value
$ curl -G 'http://localhost:8086/query?db=mydb' --data-urlencode 'q=SELECT * FROM "mymeas" WHERE "mytag1" = $tag_value' --data-urlencode 'params={"tag_value":"12"}'

{"results":[{"statement_id":0,"series":[{"name":"mymeas","columns":["time","myfield","mytag1","mytag2"],"values":[["2017-03-01T00:17:18Z",12.4,"12","14"]]}]}]}

The request maps $tag_value to 12. InfluxDB stores tag values as strings they and must be double quoted in the request.

Bind a parameter in the WHERE clause to a numerical field value
$ curl -G 'http://localhost:8086/query?db=mydb' --data-urlencode 'q=SELECT * FROM "mymeas" WHERE "myfield" > $field_value' --data-urlencode 'params={"field_value":30}'

{"results":[{"statement_id":0,"series":[{"name":"mymeas","columns":["time","myfield","mytag1","mytag2"],"values":[["2017-03-01T00:16:18Z",33.1,null,null]]}]}]}

The request maps $field_value to 30. The value 30 does not require double quotes because myfield stores numerical field values.

Bind two parameters in the WHERE clause to a specific tag value and numerical field value
$ curl -G 'http://localhost:8086/query?db=mydb' --data-urlencode 'q=SELECT * FROM "mymeas" WHERE "mytag1" = $tag_value AND  "myfield" < $field_value' --data-urlencode 'params={"tag_value":"12","field_value":30}'

{"results":[{"statement_id":0,"series":[{"name":"mymeas","columns":["time","myfield","mytag1","mytag2"],"values":[["2017-03-01T00:17:18Z",12.4,"12","14"]]}]}]}

The request maps $tag_value to 12 and $field_value to 30.

Status codes and responses

Responses are returned in JSON. Include the query string parameter pretty=true to enable pretty-print JSON.

Summary table
HTTP status code Description
200 OK Success! The returned JSON offers further information.
400 Bad Request Unacceptable request. Can occur with a syntactically incorrect query. The returned JSON offers further information.
401 Unauthorized Unacceptable request. Can occur with invalid authentication credentials.

Examples

A successful request that returns data
$ curl -i -G 'http://localhost:8086/query?db=mydb' --data-urlencode 'q=SELECT * FROM "mymeas"'

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Connection: close
Content-Type: application/json
Request-Id: [...]
X-Influxdb-Version: 1.8.10
Date: Wed, 08 Nov 2017 19:22:54 GMT
Transfer-Encoding: chunked

{"results":[{"statement_id":0,"series":[{"name":"mymeas","columns":["time","myfield","mytag1","mytag2"],"values":[["2017-03-01T00:16:18Z",33.1,null,null],["2017-03-01T00:17:18Z",12.4,"12","14"]]}]}]}
A successful request that returns an error
$ curl -i -G 'http://localhost:8086/query?db=mydb1' --data-urlencode 'q=SELECT * FROM "mymeas"'

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Connection: close
Content-Type: application/json
Request-Id: [...]
X-Influxdb-Version: 1.8.10
Date: Wed, 08 Nov 2017 19:23:48 GMT
Transfer-Encoding: chunked

{"results":[{"statement_id":0,"error":"database not found: mydb1"}]}
An incorrectly formatted query
$ curl -i -G 'http://localhost:8086/query?db=mydb' --data-urlencode 'q=SELECT *'

HTTP/1.1 400 Bad Request
Content-Type: application/json
Request-Id: [...]
X-Influxdb-Version: 1.8.10
Date: Wed, 08 Nov 2017 19:24:25 GMT
Content-Length: 76

{"error":"error parsing query: found EOF, expected FROM at line 1, char 9"}
Query data with invalid authentication credentials
$ curl -i  -XPOST 'http://localhost:8086/query?u=myusername&p=notmypassword' --data-urlencode 'q=CREATE DATABASE "mydb"'

HTTP/1.1 401 Unauthorized
Content-Type: application/json
Request-Id: [...]
Www-Authenticate: Basic realm="InfluxDB"
X-Influxdb-Version: 1.8.10
Date: Wed, 08 Nov 2017 19:11:26 GMT
Content-Length: 33

{"error":"authorization failed"}

/write HTTP endpoint

The /write endpoint accepts POST HTTP requests. Use this endpoint to write data to a pre-existing database.

Definition

POST http://localhost:8086/write

Query string parameters

Query String Parameter Optional/Required Description
consistency=[any,one,quorum,all] Optional, available with InfluxDB Enterprise clusters only. Sets the write consistency for the point. InfluxDB assumes that the write consistency is one if you do not specify consistency. See the InfluxDB Enterprise documentation for detailed descriptions of each consistency option.
db=<database> Required Sets the target database for the write.
p=<password> Optional if you haven’t enabled authentication. Required if you’ve enabled authentication.* Sets the password for authentication if you’ve enabled authentication. Use with the query string parameter u.
precision=[n,u,ms,s,m,h] Optional Sets the precision for the supplied Unix time values. InfluxDB assumes that timestamps are in nanoseconds if you do not specify precision.**
rp=<retention_policy_name> Optional Sets the target retention policy for the write. InfluxDB writes to the DEFAULT retention policy if you do not specify a retention policy.
u=<username> Optional if you haven’t enabled authentication. Required if you’ve enabled authentication.* Sets the username for authentication if you’ve enabled authentication. The user must have write access to the database. Use with the query string parameter p.

* The InfluxDB API also supports basic authentication. Use basic authentication if you’ve enabled authentication and aren’t using the query string parameters u and p. See below for an example of basic authentication.

** We recommend using the least precise precision possible as this can result in significant improvements in compression.

Examples

Write a point to the database mydb with a timestamp in seconds
$ curl -i -XPOST "http://localhost:8086/write?db=mydb&precision=s" --data-binary 'mymeas,mytag=1 myfield=90 1463683075'

HTTP/1.1 204 No Content
Content-Type: application/json
Request-Id: [...]
X-Influxdb-Version: 1.8.10
Date: Wed, 08 Nov 2017 17:33:23 GMT
Write a point to the database mydb and the retention policy myrp
$ curl -i -XPOST "http://localhost:8086/write?db=mydb&rp=myrp" --data-binary 'mymeas,mytag=1 myfield=90'

HTTP/1.1 204 No Content
Content-Type: application/json
Request-Id: [...]
X-Influxdb-Version: 1.8.10
Date: Wed, 08 Nov 2017 17:34:31 GMT
Write a point to the database mydb using HTTP authentication

Valid credentials:

$ curl -i -XPOST "http://localhost:8086/write?db=mydb&u=myusername&p=mypassword" --data-binary 'mymeas,mytag=1 myfield=91'

HTTP/1.1 204 No Content
Content-Type: application/json
Request-Id: [...]
X-Influxdb-Version: 1.8.10
Date: Wed, 08 Nov 2017 17:34:56 GMT

Invalid credentials:

$ curl -i -XPOST "http://localhost:8086/write?db=mydb&u=myusername&p=notmypassword" --data-binary 'mymeas,mytag=1 myfield=91'

HTTP/1.1 401 Unauthorized
Content-Type: application/json
Request-Id: [...]
Www-Authenticate: Basic realm="InfluxDB"
X-Influxdb-Version: 1.8.10
Date: Wed, 08 Nov 2017 17:40:30 GMT
Content-Length: 33

{"error":"authorization failed"}
Write a point to the database mydb using basic authentication

Valid credentials:

$ curl -i -XPOST -u myusername:mypassword "http://localhost:8086/write?db=mydb" --data-binary 'mymeas,mytag=1 myfield=91'

HTTP/1.1 204 No Content
Content-Type: application/json
Request-Id: [...]
X-Influxdb-Version: 1.8.10
Date: Wed, 08 Nov 2017 17:36:40 GMT

Invalid credentials:

$ curl -i -XPOST -u myusername:notmypassword "http://localhost:8086/write?db=mydb" --data-binary 'mymeas,mytag=1 myfield=91'

HTTP/1.1 401 Unauthorized
Content-Type: application/json
Request-Id: [...]
Www-Authenticate: Basic realm="InfluxDB"
X-Influxdb-Version: 1.8.10
Date: Wed, 08 Nov 2017 17:46:40 GMT
Content-Length: 33

{"error":"authorization failed"}

Request body

--data-binary '<Data in InfluxDB line protocol format>'

All data must be binary encoded and in the InfluxDB line protocol format. Our example shows the --data-binary parameter from curl, which we will use in all examples on this page. Using any encoding method other than --data-binary will likely lead to issues; -d, --data-urlencode, and --data-ascii may strip out newlines or introduce new, unintended formatting.

Options:

  • Write several points to the database with one request by separating each point by a new line.

  • Write points from a file with the @ flag. The file should contain a batch of points in the InfluxDB line protocol format. Individual points must be on their own line and separated by newline characters (\n). Files containing carriage returns will cause parser errors.

    We recommend writing points in batches of 5,000 to 10,000 points. Smaller batches, and more HTTP requests, will result in sub-optimal performance.

Examples

Write a point to the database mydb with a nanosecond timestamp
$ curl -i -XPOST "http://localhost:8086/write?db=mydb" --data-binary 'mymeas,mytag=1 myfield=90 1463683075000000000'

HTTP/1.1 204 No Content
Content-Type: application/json
Request-Id: [...]
X-Influxdb-Version: 1.8.10
Date: Wed, 08 Nov 2017 18:02:57 GMT
Write a point to the database mydb with the local server’s nanosecond timestamp
$ curl -i -XPOST "http://localhost:8086/write?db=mydb" --data-binary 'mymeas,mytag=1 myfield=90'

HTTP/1.1 204 No Content
Content-Type: application/json
Request-Id: [...]
X-Influxdb-Version: 1.8.10
Date: Wed, 08 Nov 2017 18:03:44 GMT
Write several points to the database mydb by separating points with a new line
$ curl -i -XPOST "http://localhost:8086/write?db=mydb" --data-binary 'mymeas,mytag=3 myfield=89 1463689152000000000
mymeas,mytag=2 myfield=34 1463689152000000000'

HTTP/1.1 204 No Content
Content-Type: application/json
Request-Id: [...]
X-Influxdb-Version: 1.8.10
Date: Wed, 08 Nov 2017 18:04:02 GMT
Write several points to the database mydb from the file data.txt
$ curl -i -XPOST "http://localhost:8086/write?db=mydb" --data-binary @data.txt

HTTP/1.1 204 No Content
Content-Type: application/json
Request-Id: [...]
X-Influxdb-Version: 1.8.10
Date: Wed, 08 Nov 2017 18:08:11 GMT

A sample of the data in data.txt:

mymeas,mytag1=1 value=21 1463689680000000000
mymeas,mytag1=1 value=34 1463689690000000000
mymeas,mytag2=8 value=78 1463689700000000000
mymeas,mytag3=9 value=89 1463689710000000000

Status codes and responses

In general, status codes of the form 2xx indicate success, 4xx indicate that InfluxDB could not understand the request, and 5xx indicate that the system is overloaded or significantly impaired. Errors are returned in JSON.

Summary table
HTTP status code Description
204 No Content Success!
400 Bad Request Unacceptable request. Can occur with an InfluxDB line protocol syntax error or if a user attempts to write values to a field that previously accepted a different value type. The returned JSON offers further information.
401 Unauthorized Unacceptable request. Can occur with invalid authentication credentials.
404 Not Found Unacceptable request. Can occur if a user attempts to write to a database that does not exist. The returned JSON offers further information.
413 Request Entity Too Large Unaccetable request. It will occur if the payload of the POST request is bigger than the maximum size allowed. See max-body-size parameter for more details.
500 Internal Server Error The system is overloaded or significantly impaired. Can occur if a user attempts to write to a retention policy that does not exist. The returned JSON offers further information.

Examples

A successful write
HTTP/1.1 204 No Content
Write a point with an incorrect timestamp
HTTP/1.1 400 Bad Request
[...]
{"error":"unable to parse 'mymeas,mytag=1 myfield=91 abc123': bad timestamp"}
Write an integer to a field that previously accepted a float
HTTP/1.1 400 Bad Request
[...]
{"error":"field type conflict: input field \"myfield\" on measurement \"mymeas\" is type int64, already exists as type float"}
Write a point with invalid authentication credentials
HTTP/1.1 401 Unauthorized
[...]
{"error":"authorization failed"}
Write a point to a database that doesn’t exist
HTTP/1.1 404 Not Found
[...]
{"error":"database not found: \"mydb1\""}
Send a request body that is too large
HTTP/2 413 Request Entity Too Large
[...]
{"error":"Request Entity Too Large"}
Write a point to a retention policy that doesn’t exist
HTTP/1.1 500 Internal Server Error
[...]
{"error":"retention policy not found: myrp"}

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