REST queries

REST queries are configured in API Editor for a saved REST connection.

Create a query

1. Open the API builder
2. Click New API in the sidebar to create a draft query
3. Select the API connection to use
4. Enter a clear query name
5. Set HTTP method
6. Enter endpoint path or full URL. Note that full URLs must include the protocol (e.g., https://example.com) and must match the origin (protocol and host) of the datasource base URL.
7. Configure Params, Headers, Body, and Bindings
8. Select an auth config (if required)
9. Click Send
10. Validate request, response, and schema
11. Click Save Query

You can also start from Workspace Settings > Connections > APIs and click Open in API Editor on an existing connection.

Inspecting requests and responses

After clicking Send, the side panel displays the results of your query. You can toggle between two views using the switcher at the top of the panel:

Response view

Displays the status code, execution time, and payload size. You can inspect the raw response body, view the generated schema, and configure a transformer if needed.

Request view

Displays the exact HTTP request that Budibase sent to the endpoint, including the final URL, headers, query parameters, and body.

To protect your security, Budibase automatically sanitizes this preview:

• Credentials: Sensitive headers like Authorization, Cookie, or x-api-key are redacted and displayed as badges (e.g., Auth token or Redacted).
• Environment variables: Any environment variables used in the query are displayed as their variable name (e.g., {{ env.API_KEY }}) rather than their resolved secret value.

Query fields reference

Query lifecycle checklist

Before first use:

1. Send query and confirm status code
2. Inspect the Request to ensure bindings and headers are correctly formed
3. Validate response shape matches expected schema
4. Save query

Before production use:

1. Test with realistic runtime bindings
2. Validate empty-state response behavior
3. Validate error-state handling in app actions

Transformer example (flatten nested response)

const from = data.from
const to = data.to

return {
  fromId: from.id,
  fromSections: from.sections,
  toId: to.id,
  toSections: to.sections,
}

After applying a transformer:

1. Click Send.
2. Confirm schema fields.
3. Save the query.

Common issues

• Missing protocol: Full URLs must include http:// or https:// to be valid. The Send button will be disabled and a warning displayed if the protocol is missing.
• 401/403: wrong or missing auth config.
• 404: wrong path or base URL.
• 400: REST query path must remain on the datasource origin. This occurs if an absolute URL or dynamic binding targets a different origin than the one configured in the datasource.
• 400: Redirect to a different origin is not permitted. Cross-origin redirects are blocked for security to prevent datasource credentials from being sent off-origin.
• 400/422: request payload does not match API contract.
• Empty rows with 200: binding values not populated as expected.
• Schema mismatch in app: query changed but app bindings not updated.

Related guides

• REST API
• REST authentication
• REST bindings (tutorial)
• REST variables
• REST query import
• REST pagination