core

Name: core API
Brand: Nextcloud Core
Availability: InStock

✓ Official Vendor SpecStorageDocument Managementbasic, bearer68 EndpointsREST

For Agents

Manage Nextcloud self-hosted collaboration features including user profiles, app passwords, search operations, and task processing across your instance.

Quickstart

Get started with core in minutes using your preferred integration method.

# Add to your MCP client config (Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf)
{
  "jentic": {
    "url": "https://api.jentic.com/mcp",
    "auth": "oauth"
  }
}

# Then ask your agent:
"search for files in nextcloud"

# → Jentic returns the GET /events tool with parameter schema, agent executes.

Capabilities

What an agent can do with core API.

Generate and rotate application-specific passwords for secure third-party access

Search across files, contacts, and other Nextcloud resources using unified search providers

Process AI tasks including text generation, image creation, and translation

Retrieve user profiles with customizable visibility fields and action menus

GET STARTED

Start building with core API

Explore with Jentic

View OpenAPI Document

Use Cases

Patterns agents use core API for, with concrete tasks.

★ Secure Third-Party App Integration

Connect external applications to Nextcloud without exposing your main password by generating app-specific passwords. Each app password can be rotated or revoked independently, maintaining security boundaries between integrations. The API handles password creation, rotation, and deletion with built-in confirmation flows for sensitive operations. Perfect for integrating mobile apps, desktop sync clients, or automation tools with your self-hosted Nextcloud.

Create a new app password for a mobile sync client and store the generated token securely

Unified Search Integration

Build search experiences across files, contacts, calendar events, and custom data sources using Nextcloud's provider-based search system. Query multiple search providers in parallel, retrieve ranked results with rich metadata, and access search capabilities for specific content types. The API returns structured results including resource IDs, thumbnails, and action links. Supports both authenticated user search and public share search for guest access scenarios.

Search for documents containing 'Q4 budget' across all available Nextcloud search providers and return the top 10 results with file paths

AI Task Processing Workflows

Leverage Nextcloud's built-in AI capabilities for text processing, image generation, and translation tasks. Submit tasks to the task processing API, poll for completion status, and retrieve results with rich metadata including processing duration and model information. Supports scheduling tasks with specific input parameters, accessing file-based results, and filtering tasks by application context. Integrates with Nextcloud's text-to-image, text processing, and translation services for multi-modal automation.

Submit a text summarization task for a 10-page document, monitor its status, and retrieve the summarized output when complete

User Profile and Directory Access

Retrieve detailed user profiles including display names, email addresses, social media links, and custom profile fields with granular visibility controls. Access user avatars in multiple sizes with automatic theme-aware variants for light and dark modes. The API respects Nextcloud's privacy settings and returns only fields the requesting user has permission to view. Includes autocomplete functionality for user lookups and hover card data for rich user previews in collaborative interfaces.

Retrieve the full profile for user 'alice' including avatar, email, and visible social links, then format for display in a team directory

AI Agent Integration via Jentic

Enable AI agents to interact with self-hosted Nextcloud instances through Jentic's unified API layer. Agents can search files, manage user credentials, process AI tasks, and retrieve profile information without hardcoding Nextcloud server URLs or handling authentication flows directly. Jentic handles credential isolation for app passwords and provides intent-based discovery so agents select the right Nextcloud operation based on natural language goals. Integration takes minutes instead of days of self-hosted API documentation study.

Search for shared documents related to 'project roadmap', retrieve the top match, and summarize the document content using Nextcloud's text processing API

Key Endpoints

68 endpoints — the nextcloud core api provides programmatic access to nextcloud's self-hosted collaboration platform.

METHOD

PATH

DESCRIPTION

GET

/ocs/v2.php/core/getapppassword

Create a new app password

POST

/ocs/v2.php/core/apppassword/rotate

Rotate an existing app password

GET

/ocs/v2.php/search/providers

List all available search providers

POST

/ocs/v2.php/search/providers/{providerId}/search

Execute a search query

GET

/ocs/v2.php/profile/{targetUserId}

Retrieve a user profile

GET

/ocs/v2.php/cloud/capabilities

Get server capabilities and configuration

POST

/ocs/v2.php/taskprocessing/schedule

Schedule an AI task

GET

/ocs/v2.php/taskprocessing/task/{id}

Get task status and results

GET

/ocs/v2.php/core/getapppassword

Create a new app password

POST

/ocs/v2.php/core/apppassword/rotate

Rotate an existing app password

GET

/ocs/v2.php/search/providers

List all available search providers

POST

/ocs/v2.php/search/providers/{providerId}/search

Execute a search query

GET

/ocs/v2.php/profile/{targetUserId}

Retrieve a user profile

Why though Jentic?

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

Credential isolation

Nextcloud app passwords are stored encrypted in the Jentic vault (MAXsystem) and scoped per-instance for self-hosted deployments. Agents receive short-lived access tokens that reference the vault-stored credentials without exposing the app password or server URL in agent context.

Intent-based discovery

Agents search by intent (e.g., 'search nextcloud files' or 'generate app password') and Jentic returns matching Nextcloud operations with their input schemas. The agent can call the right endpoint without studying self-hosted API documentation or hardcoding server-specific paths.

Time to first call

Direct Nextcloud integration: 3-7 days to handle self-hosted URL configuration, app password generation, OCS header requirements, and polling-based task status. Through Jentic: under 1 hour — search, load schema, execute with automatic credential injection.

Related APIs

Alternatives and complements available in the Jentic catalogue.

Alternative

Dropbox API v2

Cloud-hosted file storage and collaboration platform with automatic sync

Choose Dropbox when you prefer fully managed cloud hosting over self-hosted infrastructure. Dropbox offers simpler setup and better mobile app integration, but Nextcloud provides complete data sovereignty and deployment control.

Alternative

Box

Enterprise content management platform with advanced security and compliance features

Choose Box for enterprise deployments requiring granular permission models, legal holds, and compliance certifications. Box provides better governance tooling than Nextcloud but at significantly higher cost and with less customization flexibility.

Alternative

Google Drive API

Google's cloud storage and productivity suite with real-time document collaboration

Choose Google Drive when you need tight integration with Google Workspace (Docs, Sheets, Slides) and your team already uses Gmail. Google Drive offers better real-time collaboration features, but Nextcloud provides full data control and works with any self-hosted infrastructure.

Complementary

Slack

Team communication platform that integrates with Nextcloud for file sharing in conversations

Use alongside Nextcloud to share files, search results, and collaboration links directly in team conversations. Slack's Nextcloud app allows posting files from Nextcloud storage into channels, while agents can use both APIs to automate document sharing workflows.

FAQs

Specific to using core API through Jentic.

What authentication does the Nextcloud Core API use?

The Nextcloud Core API supports both HTTP Basic authentication and Bearer token authentication. For secure third-party integrations, use the app password endpoints to generate application-specific credentials that can be independently rotated or revoked. Jentic stores Nextcloud app passwords encrypted in the MAXsystem vault and provides scoped access tokens to agents, so raw credentials never appear in agent context.

Can I search across files and contacts with the Nextcloud Core API?

Yes. The API provides unified search through the /ocs/v2.php/search/providers endpoint, which lists all available search providers including files, contacts, calendar events, and custom sources. Execute searches via POST /ocs/v2.php/search/providers/{providerId}/search to get ranked results with thumbnails and resource links. Through Jentic, agents can search by intent like 'find shared documents about Q4 planning' without hardcoding provider IDs.

What are the rate limits for the Nextcloud Core API?

Rate limits for the Nextcloud Core API depend on your self-hosted instance configuration. Nextcloud does not enforce global rate limits in the core software, but administrators can configure rate limiting at the web server level using nginx or Apache modules. Check with your Nextcloud server administrator for deployment-specific limits.

How do I process AI tasks with the Nextcloud Core API through Jentic?

Use Jentic to search for 'process text with nextcloud' or 'generate image in nextcloud', then load the schema for POST /ocs/v2.php/taskprocessing/schedule. Submit your task with the required input parameters, then poll GET /ocs/v2.php/taskprocessing/task/{id} for completion status. Jentic handles authentication and returns structured task results including processing duration and file IDs for generated outputs. Install via pip install jentic and sign up at https://app.jentic.com/sign-up.

Can I retrieve user profile information from Nextcloud?

Yes. The GET /ocs/v2.php/profile/{targetUserId} endpoint returns detailed user profiles including display name, email, phone, address, website, and social media links. Profile fields respect Nextcloud's granular visibility settings, returning only information the requesting user has permission to view. Avatar images are available separately via /index.php/avatar/{userId}/{size} with automatic light and dark theme variants.

What AI capabilities are available through the Nextcloud Core API?

The API exposes three AI systems: text processing for summarization and generation via /ocs/v2.php/textprocessing endpoints, text-to-image generation via /ocs/v2.php/text2image endpoints, and translation services via /ocs/v2.php/translation endpoints. Each system supports task scheduling, status polling, and result retrieval. Available task types can be queried via /ocs/v2.php/taskprocessing/tasktypes to discover capabilities like summarization, headline generation, and language translation.

How do I manage app passwords for third-party integrations?

Create app passwords via GET /ocs/v2.php/core/getapppassword which generates a new credential scoped to the requesting application. Rotate existing passwords with POST /ocs/v2.php/core/apppassword/rotate, confirm password changes with PUT /ocs/v2.php/core/apppassword/confirm, and revoke access with DELETE /ocs/v2.php/core/apppassword. Each operation requires the OCS-APIRequest: true header. For one-time access, use GET /ocs/v2.php/core/getapppassword-onetime.