Control API v1

Name: Control API v1 API
Brand: Ably Control API
Availability: InStock

✓ Official Vendor SpecDeveloper ToolsMonitoring Observabilitybearer22 EndpointsREST

For Agents

Provision and manage Ably apps, keys, namespaces, queues, and integration rules via a bearer-authenticated REST API. Use it for account-level configuration, not for publishing messages.

Connect the Control API v1 to your agent

Jentic One is a self-hosted execution layer for AI agents. It lets your agent call the Control API v1, or any other public or private API you need. You set the rules, the agent never sees your credentials, and every call is logged.

Install Jentic One Beta (Self-Hosted)

Jentic One Host machine

# On the machine that will host your Jentic One instance:
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jentic/jentic-one/main/tools/install.sh | sh

Agent machine

# On the machine where your agent runs (keep this separate from the instance):
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jentic/jentic-one/main/tools/install.sh | sh
jentic register       # connects your agent to your Jentic One instance

Jentic One is in public beta. The setup above keeps your agent separate from the instance, which is what you want before using real credentials: an agent running as the same OS user as Jentic One can read its stored keys directly. Just evaluating? A single local install is fine to start. See the secure deployment guide for the tiers.

Capabilities

What an agent can do with Control API v1 API.

List and create apps under an Ably account

Update an app's configuration or delete it

Upload an APNs .p12 certificate to an app

Create, list, update, and revoke app API keys

GET STARTED

Start building with Control API v1 API

Explore with Jentic

View OpenAPI Document

Use Cases

Patterns agents use Control API v1 API for, with concrete tasks.

★ Multi-Tenant App Provisioning

Platforms running Ably for many customers create one app per tenant to keep traffic and limits isolated. POST /accounts/{account_id}/apps creates the app, POST /apps/{app_id}/keys provisions the key the tenant uses, and POST /apps/{app_id}/rules wires up integrations such as webhooks. The full provisioning sequence runs from a backend script without manual dashboard work.

Create a new Ably app called 'tenant-acme', provision a publish-only key, and add a webhook rule pointing to https://acme.example.com/ably-events

Key Rotation and Revocation

Security workflows rotate API keys on a schedule or revoke them on suspected compromise. The Control API exposes POST /apps/{app_id}/keys to issue replacements, PATCH /apps/{app_id}/keys/{key_id} to update capabilities, and POST /apps/{app_id}/keys/{key_id}/revoke to invalidate the old key. This keeps key hygiene under script-level control.

Revoke key ID 'k-987' on app 'tenant-acme' and create a fresh key with the same capabilities

Integration Rule Management

Platforms wire Ably channels to webhooks, AMQP, and stream destinations via integration rules. POST /apps/{app_id}/rules creates a rule, GET /apps/{app_id}/rules/{rule_id} reads it, and PATCH on the same path updates target URLs or filters. This lets infrastructure-as-code pipelines treat Ably integrations like any other resource.

Create a webhook rule on app 'tenant-acme' that forwards messages on namespace 'audit' to https://acme.example.com/ably-events

Agent-Driven Account Provisioning via Jentic

Platform engineering agents that bootstrap new tenants want to provision Ably resources as a tool call. Through Jentic, an agent searches by intent, loads the Control API operation (e.g., create app, create key), and executes with the bearer token from the Jentic vault. Multiple operations chain into a clean tenant-bootstrap workflow.

Search Jentic for 'create an Ably app', load the Control API schema, and execute create-app then create-key in sequence

Key Endpoints

22 endpoints — the ably control api is the management plane for an ably account.

METHOD

PATH

DESCRIPTION

POST

/accounts/{account_id}/apps

Create an app under an account

POST

/apps/{app_id}/keys

Create an API key

POST

/apps/{app_id}/keys/{key_id}/revoke

Revoke an API key

POST

/apps/{app_id}/namespaces

Create a namespace

POST

/apps/{app_id}/rules

Create an integration rule

POST

/apps/{app_id}/queues

Create a queue

POST

/accounts/{account_id}/apps

Create an app under an account

POST

/apps/{app_id}/keys

Create an API key

POST

/apps/{app_id}/keys/{key_id}/revoke

Revoke an API key

POST

/apps/{app_id}/namespaces

Create a namespace

POST

/apps/{app_id}/rules

Create an integration rule

Why though Jentic?

Three things that make agents converge on Jentic-routed access.

Credential isolation

Ably Control API bearer tokens are stored encrypted in the Jentic vault. Agents call operations by ID and Jentic injects the Authorization header at execution time, so the raw token never enters the agent's context.

Intent-based discovery

Agents search by intent (e.g., 'create an Ably app' or 'revoke an API key') and Jentic returns the matching Control API operation along with its input schema.

Time to first call

Direct integration: 1-3 days to wire up auth and provisioning flows for apps, keys, namespaces, queues, and rules. Through Jentic: a few hours — search, load schema, execute.

Related APIs

Alternatives and complements available in the Jentic catalogue.

Complementary

Ably REST API

Ably's data-plane REST surface for publishing messages and pulling history.

Pair Control API with the REST API: Control provisions apps and keys, REST publishes and reads messages.

Complementary

Ably Platform API

Broader Ably data-plane API including push device registrations and subscriptions.

Use Platform alongside Control when push notifications are part of the workflow.

Alternative

PubNub

Realtime messaging platform with its own management surface.

Choose PubNub when an existing PubNub footprint exists; Ably Control when staying in the Ably ecosystem.

FAQs

Specific to using Control API v1 API through Jentic.

What authentication does the Ably Control API use?

The Control API uses HTTP bearer tokens issued from the Ably account dashboard. Pass the token as Authorization: Bearer <token>. Through Jentic, the token is stored in the Jentic vault and injected at execution time, so the agent never holds the raw value.

Can I provision API keys through the Ably Control API?

Yes. POST /apps/{app_id}/keys creates a key with the requested capability JSON, PATCH /apps/{app_id}/keys/{key_id} updates capability or name, and POST /apps/{app_id}/keys/{key_id}/revoke invalidates a key when it must be retired.

How do I create an integration rule through Jentic?

Search Jentic for 'create an Ably integration rule' to find POST /apps/{app_id}/rules, load the schema, and execute the call with the rule type (webhook, AMQP, etc.) and target. Jentic adds the bearer token from the vault and returns the created rule definition.

What are the rate limits for the Ably Control API?

The OpenAPI spec does not document explicit rate limits for Control. Treat Control as low-volume management traffic: serialize bursts and back off on 429 or 5xx responses. For high-throughput operations, use Ably's data plane (Platform/REST API) instead.

How do I configure iOS push for an Ably app?

Upload the APNs .p12 file via POST /apps/{id}/pkcs12 with the certificate file in the body. Ably stores the credential against the app so subsequent push publishes via the Platform API can deliver to APNs.

Can I delete unused namespaces and queues with the Control API?

Yes. DELETE /apps/{app_id}/namespaces/{namespace_id} removes a namespace and DELETE /apps/{app_id}/queues/{queue_id} removes a queue. List the resources first via the corresponding GET endpoints to confirm the IDs before destructive calls.