---
title: Accessing the PingAccess administrative API
description: Access the PingAccess admin application programming interface (API).
component: pingaccess
version: 9.0
page_id: pingaccess:installing_and_uninstalling_pingaccess:pa_accessing_the_pa_admin_api
canonical_url: https://docs.pingidentity.com/pingaccess/9.0/installing_and_uninstalling_pingaccess/pa_accessing_the_pa_admin_api.html
revdate: January 30, 2026
section_ids:
  steps: Steps
  example: Example:
  accessing-the-interactive-administrative-api-documentation: Accessing the interactive administrative API documentation
  steps-2: Steps
  example-2: Example:
  example-3: Example:
  result: Result:
---

# Accessing the PingAccess administrative API

Access the PingAccess admin application programming interface (API) *(tooltip: \<div class="paragraph">
\<p>A specification of interactions available for building software to access an application or service.\</p>
\</div>)*.

## Steps

* Send an HTTP request *(tooltip: \<div class="paragraph">
  \<p>A client transaction sent over HTTP to the server specifying a request method, such as GET, POST, and DELETE, to execute against a resource or resources on the server.\</p>
  \</div>)* to the following URL: `https://<host>:<admin-port>/pa-admin-api/v3/<api-endpoint>`.

  |   |                                                                        |
  | - | ---------------------------------------------------------------------- |
  |   | You must provide appropriate administrator credentials in the request. |

  ### Example:

  The following cURL command sends a GET request to the `applications` resource to retrieve a list of all defined applications:

  ```shell
  curl -k -u Administrator:Password1 -H "X-Xsrf-Header: PingAccess" https://localhost:9000/pa-admin-api/v3/applications
  ```

  In this example:

  * The **-u Administrator:Password1** parameter sends a basic authentication header, specifying `Administrator` as the username and `Password1` as the password.

  * The **-k** parameter specifies to ignore HTTPS certificate issues.

  * The **-H "X-Xsrf-Header: PingAccess"** parameter sends an `X-XSRF-Header` with the value `PingAccess`.

## Accessing the interactive administrative API documentation

View interactive documentation for the administrative API endpoints.

### Steps

1. Launch your browser and go to `https://<host>:<admin-port>/pa-admin-api/v3/api-docs/`.

   #### Example:

   `https://localhost:9000/pa-admin-api/v3/api-docs/`

   |   |                                                         |
   | - | ------------------------------------------------------- |
   |   | The browser might prompt you to enter your credentials. |

2. Enter the administrator username and password.

3. Use the administrative API to perform a variety of administrative tasks, such as gathering information.

   #### Example:

   To use the interactive administrative API documentation to see all defined applications:

   1. Click to expand the `/applications` endpoint.

   2. Click to expand the `GET` method (`GET /applications`).

   3. Enter values for the parameters or leave them all blank.

   4. Click **Try It Out**.

   #### Result:

   The request Uniform Resource Locator (URL) *(tooltip: \<div class="paragraph">
   \<p>Identifies a resource according to its internet location.\</p>
   \</div>)*, response body, response code, and response headers display.