canonical: https://jentic.com/apis/are.na/are-na # Are.na API Jentic publishes the only available OpenAPI specification for Are.na API, keeping it validated and agent-ready. The Are.na API exposes the platform's research and curation graph: channels, blocks, and collaborators that power visual mood boards, reading lists, and shared research libraries. Agents can read public channels, programmatically add or move blocks between channels, and manage collaborator membership on private channels. Twelve endpoints cover channel listing, block manipulation, and channel thumbnails for embedding. ## For AI agents Read and curate Are.na channels, add or move blocks between channels, and manage collaborators on shared research libraries. ## Scope Does not handle direct messaging, user account management, or payments - use for channel and block curation only. ## Capabilities - List and paginate through channels owned by a user or organisation - Fetch a channel by slug along with its connected blocks and metadata - Add image, link, text, or media blocks into a target channel - Move or copy blocks between channels via channel connections - Add or remove collaborators on private and group channels - Retrieve channel thumbnails for previews and embeds ## Use cases ### Automated Research Curation Build research and inspiration libraries by programmatically saving links, images, and notes into Are.na channels organised by topic. The API exposes channel and block endpoints so a curation pipeline can deduplicate sources, tag them by channel, and keep a running visual archive without manual copy-paste. Suitable for personal research workflows or team knowledge bases handling hundreds of sources per channel. Example prompt: Add a new link block with URL https://example.com/article to the channel with slug 'design-research' and confirm it appears in the channel contents ### Shared Editorial Workflow Coordinate editorial or design teams around a shared Are.na channel by adding collaborators, posting source material as blocks, and reorganising blocks between draft and published channels. Channel collaborator and connection endpoints make it possible to manage permissions and move work through review stages programmatically. Example prompt: Add user 'sophie' as a collaborator to channel slug 'editorial-q3' then move three blocks from 'inbox' channel into 'editorial-q3' ### Embedding and Display Render Are.na channels inside external websites, dashboards, or newsletters by fetching channel content and thumbnails. The /channels/{slug} and /channels/{slug}/thumb endpoints return blocks and preview images, letting a build pipeline cache the latest channel state into a static site or feed. Example prompt: Fetch the latest 20 blocks from channel slug 'weekly-reading' and the channel thumbnail, then render them as an HTML grid ### Agent Knowledge Capture via Jentic Use Jentic to give an AI agent a single tool that captures sources into a personal Are.na knowledge graph. The agent searches Jentic for 'add a block to an Are.na channel', loads the schema, and posts blocks every time the user shares a useful link in chat - without managing tokens directly. Example prompt: Search Jentic for 'add a block to an Are.na channel', load the schema, and post a block containing a summarised article into channel slug 'agent-notes' ## Key endpoints | Method | Path | Description | | --- | --- | --- | | GET | /channels | List channels | | GET | /channels/{slug} | Fetch a channel by slug | | GET | /channels/{slug}/blocks | List blocks inside a channel | | GET | /channels/{id}/contents | Fetch channel contents | | GET | /channels/{id}/connections | Fetch channels connected to this channel | | GET | /channels/{id}/collaborators | List channel collaborators | | GET | /channels/{slug}/thumb | Fetch channel thumbnail | ## Key resources - **Channels** — List, fetch, and manage channels by id or slug, including connected channels and contents - **Blocks** — Add, fetch, and reference blocks (links, images, text, media) within channels - **Collaborators** — Add and remove collaborators on group or private channels ## Why Jentic - **Setup:** Wiring Are.na by hand means learning its bearer auth and threading channel slugs and ids through its channel and block paths yourself. Through Jentic you install once, import the Are.na API from the API Directory, store the token once, and your agent calls it. - **Permission scoping:** Are.na puts the channel slug or id in the URL path (/channels/{slug}, /channels/{id}/contents), and these operations are read-only, so a rule can pin your agent to reading one channel's blocks, contents, and connections. You choose the operations it may call, so the agent only reads the channels you have added. - **Credential handling:** Your Are.na access token is stored once, encrypted, by your own Jentic One instance and injected at execution time. It never enters the agent's prompt, logs, or context. - **Discovery method:** Agents search Jentic by intent such as 'list blocks in an Are.na channel', and Jentic returns the matching Are.na operation with its input schema so the agent calls the right endpoint without browsing docs. ## Related APIs - **Notion API** — Notion stores structured pages and databases; Are.na stores visual blocks inside channels - **Figshare API** — Figshare hosts research datasets and outputs that can be referenced as blocks inside Are.na channels - **Slack API** — Slack channels capture team chatter; Are.na channels capture the curated artefacts that come out of those conversations ## FAQ ### Why is there no official OpenAPI spec for Are.na API? Are.na does not publish an OpenAPI specification. Jentic generates and maintains this spec so that AI agents and developers can call Are.na API via structured tooling. It is validated against the live API and kept up to date. Get started with Jentic One, the self-hosted execution layer. ### What authentication does the Are.na API use? Are.na uses HTTP Bearer authentication. You pass a personal access token in the Authorization header. When called through Jentic, the token is stored encrypted in your Jentic One instance and injected at execution time, so the agent never sees the raw secret. ### Can I add blocks to a channel through the Are.na API? Yes. Blocks are managed under channels - you add them via the channel's blocks collection (/channels/{slug}/blocks). Block payloads support links, images, text, and media references. ### What are the rate limits for the Are.na API? Are.na's published rate limit is around 60 requests per minute per access token for the v2 API. For sustained workloads, batch reads through channel listings rather than fetching blocks one at a time. ### How do I list a user's channels with the Are.na API through Jentic? Run pip install jentic, then search Jentic with the query 'list are.na channels', load the returned operation schema for GET /channels, and execute with your access token. The response is a paginated list of channel objects. ### Can I manage collaborators on private channels? Yes. The /channels/{id}/collaborators endpoint lets you list collaborators on group or private channels. Collaborator membership is tied to channel privacy settings on Are.na. ### Can I limit what my agent is allowed to do with the Are.na API? Yes. Because you run Jentic One yourself, your own rules decide which Are.na operations and credentials the agent may use, and Are.na puts the channel slug or id in the URL path (/channels/{slug}, /channels/{id}/contents), so a rule can pin the agent to reading a single channel's blocks, contents, and connections. You choose the operations it can call, so you can grant only read access and leave collaborator or block-creation endpoints off the list. The agent then reads just the channels you have added, never touching the raw access token.