KoboToolbox Primary API

Name: KoboToolbox Primary API
Brand: KoboToolbox Primary API
Availability: InStock

★ Only Publicly Available OpenAPI DocumentProductivityForms SurveysapiKey, basic171 EndpointsREST

For Agents

Manage KoboToolbox projects, deploy and edit forms, pull survey submissions, manage permissions, and export to REST services across the v2 API.

Connect the KoboToolbox Primary API to your agent

Jentic One is a self-hosted execution layer for AI agents. It lets your agent call the KoboToolbox Primary API, 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 KoboToolbox Primary API.

Create and deploy a KoboToolbox project as a v2 asset

Pull survey submissions from a deployed KoboToolbox project

Edit project content, library questions, and reusable blocks

Manage user, team, and organisation permissions on a project

GET STARTED

Start building with KoboToolbox Primary API

Explore with Jentic

View OpenAPI Document

Jentic publishes the only available OpenAPI specification for KoboToolbox Primary API, keeping it validated and agent-ready. KoboToolbox is the open-source survey and data-collection platform widely used by humanitarian, public-health, and research organisations to design forms, collect responses on mobile devices, and analyse the resulting datasets. The v2 API exposes assets — the unifying concept covering deployed projects, draft projects, library questions, blocks, templates, and collections — alongside survey data, permissions, REST service exports, organisation and team management, library content, and detailed access logs. It does not cover the OpenRosa endpoints, which are documented separately.

Use Cases

Patterns agents use KoboToolbox Primary API for, with concrete tasks.

★ Humanitarian Field Data Pipeline

Run a continuous pipeline from KoboToolbox forms in the field into an analytics warehouse. The /api/v2/assets/{uid_asset}/ family of endpoints exposes the deployed survey and its submissions, while REST service exports push new responses to a downstream URL. Critical for response teams in humanitarian and public-health contexts who collect data offline on mobile devices and need it visible to coordinators within hours.

Pull submissions for asset uid 'aBcDef123' updated in the last hour and write them as JSON rows into the analytics staging bucket.

Research Survey Audit

Audit a research project running on KoboToolbox by combining access logs, asset metadata, and submission counts. /api/v2/access-logs/ and /api/v2/asset_usage/ together produce a defensible record of who saw what and when. Useful for principal investigators preparing for IRB review or for organisations that need a paper trail of data handling decisions.

Export the last 7 days of access logs via /api/v2/access-logs/export/ and produce a per-user summary of project access events.

Project Permissions Automation

Automate permission grants for new collaborators across many KoboToolbox projects. The /api/v2/assets/{uid_asset}/ permission endpoints add and revoke user access, so an HR-driven onboarding flow can give a new staffer the same project view as their team without a manual click-through. Saves coordinators hours when teams expand.

For each new staff member listed in the HR sheet, grant view access to the 5 active project assets they need.

REST Service Export Setup

Configure REST service exports so submissions flow to an external endpoint as soon as enumerators sync from the field. The /api/v2/assets/{uid_asset}/hooks/ endpoint creates the export configuration on a deployed project. This pattern replaces fragile periodic polling with a push-style integration into the team's existing data stack.

Create a REST service hook on asset uid 'aBcDef123' that POSTs new submissions to https://example.com/kobo-incoming.

Agent-Driven Survey Operations via Jentic

Have an AI agent answer field-coordinator questions like 'how many submissions came in this morning' or 'who has access to project X' by calling KoboToolbox through Jentic. The agent searches Jentic for the right v2 operation, loads the schema, and executes with the auth token kept in the Jentic vault. The agent treats the 171-endpoint surface as a discoverable toolkit instead of a docs maze.

Through Jentic, search for 'list KoboToolbox projects', load /api/v2/assets/, and return the count of deployed assets.

Key Endpoints

171 endpoints — jentic publishes the only available openapi specification for kobotoolbox primary api, keeping it validated and agent-ready.

METHOD

PATH

DESCRIPTION

GET

/api/v2/assets/

List assets (projects, library content)

GET

/api/v2/assets/{uid_asset}/

Retrieve a single asset

GET

/api/v2/access-logs/

List access log entries

GET

/api/v2/access-logs/export/

Export access logs

GET

/api/v2/asset_usage/

Read asset usage and storage data

GET

/api/v2/asset_subscriptions/

Manage asset subscriptions

GET

/api/v2/asset_snapshots/

List asset snapshots

GET

/api/v2/assets/

List assets (projects, library content)

GET

/api/v2/assets/{uid_asset}/

Retrieve a single asset

GET

/api/v2/access-logs/

List access log entries

GET

/api/v2/access-logs/export/

Export access logs

GET

/api/v2/asset_usage/

Read asset usage and storage data

Why Jentic?

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

Credential isolation

KoboToolbox API tokens and Basic auth credentials are stored encrypted in the Jentic vault. Agents call /api/v2/assets/, /api/v2/access-logs/, and other endpoints through scoped Jentic tools without holding the raw token.

Intent-based discovery

Agents search by intent (e.g., 'list KoboToolbox projects', 'pull KoboToolbox submissions') and Jentic returns the matching v2 operation from the 171-endpoint surface so the agent picks the right one without crawling the docs.

Time to first call

Direct KoboToolbox integration: 3-5 days to model assets, submissions, and permissions and to handle hook setup. Through Jentic: under 2 hours — search, load, execute.

FAQs

Specific to using KoboToolbox Primary API through Jentic.

Why is there no official OpenAPI spec for KoboToolbox API?

KoboToolbox does not publish an OpenAPI specification — only a Sphinx-rendered narrative reference. Jentic generates and maintains this spec so that AI agents and developers can call KoboToolbox Primary API via structured tooling. It is validated against the live API and kept up to date. Get started at https://app.jentic.com/sign-up.

What authentication does the KoboToolbox API use?

The KoboToolbox v2 API supports HTTP Basic auth and Token authentication. The token is sent in the Authorization header. Through Jentic, the token is held in the Jentic vault and injected at execution time so the agent never sees the raw value.

Can I pull survey submissions through the KoboToolbox API?

Yes. The v2 API treats deployed projects as assets, so submissions are read through the /api/v2/assets/{uid_asset}/ family. For continuous flow rather than polling, configure a REST service hook on the asset to push new submissions to an external endpoint.

What are the rate limits for the KoboToolbox API?

KoboToolbox enforces server-level throttling that varies by deployment (the public kf.kobotoolbox.org instance has tighter limits than self-hosted ones). The spec does not declare a hard number — back off on 429 responses and prefer hooks over tight polling.

How do I list my projects from an AI agent through Jentic?

Search Jentic for 'list KoboToolbox projects', load GET /api/v2/assets/, and execute. Jentic injects the auth token from the vault and the agent receives the asset list including project uid, name, and deployment status.

Does the v2 API cover OpenRosa endpoints?

No. The OpenRosa protocol endpoints used by Collect-style mobile clients are documented separately and are not part of this v2 surface. This spec covers the management, library, and submission-export endpoints under /api/v2/.