Using SilverBullet APIs to update/add to a page

General
1

I’ve looked at the API page in SilverBullet and, although I’m comfortable with APIs, I’m confused on how to use the SilverBullet API. I would assume a PUT to to add content to index.md would look something like

curl --location --request PUT 'http://192.168.86.43:3000/index.md' \
--header 'Content-Type: text/plain' \
--data '**TEST**'

Is this correct? How would I authorize this? Thanks for any help! Dave

2

I am also interested. Maybe especially how to append to a file.
It would be nice, to build a small quick-capture app in android which can be a share target for other apps as well

3

A quick capture app would be great. I was thinking of a web clipper extension for browsers.

4

So what you’re trying is more or less correct, but the content type for markdown is text/markdown. Authentication headers may be required depending on your setup.

I don’t have access to my laptop right now, but if you look at your browser’s network traffic page, after you edit a file you’ll see a PUT request happen. Look at the headers there or copy it as a curl and you should see what’s going on.

There’s no append operation at the moment.

5

Thanks for the reply Zef, I’ll look at the network traffic. Thanks for the effort you put into SilverBullet, it’s a great app!

6

Regarding authentication, another convenient option is using the SB_AUTH_TOKEN environment variable: Install/Configuration

When you configure that, you can authenticate using a simple Authorization: Bearer <token> header.

7

Thanks to the your look at the network traffic advice I got a PUT working. It works using the cookie for auth eg:

curl 'https://sb.burke.chat/Projects.md' \
  -X 'PUT' \
  -H 'content-type: text/markdown' \
  -H 'cookie: auth_sb_burke_chat=eyJh.........' \
  --data-raw $'[[Klipper & Mainsail on VM]]\n[[NHS Couch to 5k]]\n[[Note Taking Apps]]\n[[Sailing Holiday 2025]]\n[[VPS For Critical Services]]\n[[Silverbullet Backup]]\n[[Winter Break 2024]]\n[[Update Homebox]]\n[[Yuri]]\n[[Weather Station]]\n[[TEST15]]\n'

But when I use the token I created in the environment variable it doesn’t work. Docker compose file:

services:
  silverbullet:
    image: zefhemel/silverbullet
    restart: unless-stopped
    environment:
    - SB_USER=admin:xxxxxxxx
    - SB_AUTH_TOKEN:j3e....
    volumes:
      - ./space:/space
    ports:
      - 3000:3000
  watchtower:
    image: containrrr/watchtower
    volumes:
      - /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock

and curl using the bearer token:

curl 'https://sb.burke.chat/Projects.md' \
  -X 'PUT' \
  -H 'content-type: text/markdown' \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer j3e...' \
  --data-raw $'[[Klipper & Mainsail on VM]]\n[[NHS Couch to 5k]]\n[[Note Taking Apps]]\n[[Sailing Holiday 2025]]\n[[VPS For Critical Services]]\n[[Silverbullet Backup]]\n[[Winter Break 2024]]\n[[Update Homebox]]\n[[Yuri]]\n[[Weather Station]]\n[[TEST16]]\n'

Does the token in the environment variable need to be encrypted or a certain length? I just typed in some randon string. Thanks

8

Strange, have you properly recreated the containers to make sure the new environment variables propagated? Here’s what I just tried and it works:

I run my server via:

SB_USER=zef:zef SB_AUTH_TOKEN=1234 silverbullet ~/tmp

But this is equivalent to what you do with docker compose.

Then I curl:

curl -X PUT -H 'Authorization: Bearer 1234' http://localhost:3000/testzef.md -v --data "Sup"

And it accepts the request and writes the file (when I change 1234 to something else it fails, as it should).

9

Thanks for confirming I’m on the right track. When I updated the docker env variable I did a compose down and then a compose up assuming that would be enough. I’ll keep playing around with it tomorrow, thanks for the help so far.

1 Like
10

I’ve narrowed down the issue. I installed silverbullet via deno and ran the command that you successfully tested

SB_USER=zef:zef SB_AUTH_TOKEN=1234 silverbullet ~/tmp

and I could PUT without an issue. I then tried a https PUT via ngix proxy manager and it also worked

I noticed that when I run docker compose

services:
  silverbullet:
    image: zefhemel/silverbullet
    restart: unless-stopped
    environment:
    - SB_AUTH_TOKEN:1234
    - SB_USER=zef:zef
    volumes:
      - ./space:/space
    ports:
      - 3000:3000
  watchtower:
    image: containrrr/watchtower
    volumes:
      - /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock

the SB_AUTH_TOKEN wasn’t included in the env variables when I inspected docker

"Env": [
    "SB_USER=zef:zef",
    "PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin",
    "DENO_DIR=/deno-dir/",
    "DENO_INSTALL_ROOT=/usr/local",
    "DENO_VERSION=1.41.2",
    "TINI_VERSION=v0.19.0",
    "SB_HOSTNAME=0.0.0.0",
    "SB_FOLDER=/space"
],

Great I thought! I’ve cracked it! I then ran docker from the command line

docker run --restart unless-stopped -e SB_USER=zef:zef -e SB_AUTH_TOKEN:1234 -v ./space:/space -p 3000:3000 zefhemel/silverbullet

and the SB_AUTH_TOKEN is now included

"Env": [
    "SB_USER=admin:zef:zef",
    "SB_AUTH_TOKEN:1234",
    "PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin",
    "DENO_DIR=/deno-dir/",
    "DENO_INSTALL_ROOT=/usr/local",
    "DENO_VERSION=1.41.2",
    "TINI_VERSION=v0.19.0",
    "SB_HOSTNAME=0.0.0.0",
    "SB_FOLDER=/space"
],

But it still doesn’t work :frowning: I don’t know how docker works but could the SB_AUTH_TOKEN not be passed into silverbullet somehow? Thanks

11

I’m not positive, but the issue might be because you’re using : instead of =. If you switch SB_AUTH_TOKEN:1234 to SB_AUTH_TOKEN=1234, does it work?

1 Like
12

Thanks Justyns, you nailed it!

1 Like
13

@daveb or @stephen or anyone else, did you figure out a good Android quick-capture workflow?