API examples

Some examples how to access the Kimai PAI with different languages

Sync your Kimai data via API to a local database

Tired of exporting Excel to import it into Power BI?

Use this script and let it run every night to sync the delta from last night: https://github.com/kimai/api-sync

Then point your BI solution to the local database.

Using the API to import CSV data with PHP

This example uses the API to import a list of customers, projects and activities from a CSV file.

First create the following composer.json file and run composer install afterwards.

{
    "name": "kimai/api_demo",
    "require": {
        "guzzlehttp/guzzle": "^7.3",
        "symfony/console": "^5.3",
        "league/csv": "^9.7",
        "ext-json": "*"
    }
}

Now create a file with the name importer and adjust the KIMAI_API_* constants to your installation:

#!/usr/bin/env php
<?php
require __DIR__.'/vendor/autoload.php';

define('KIMAI_API_URL', 'https://demo.kimai.org/api/');
define('KIMAI_API_TOKEN', 'api_kitten_super');

use GuzzleHttp\Client;
use League\Csv\Reader;
use Symfony\Component\Console\Helper\ProgressBar;
use Symfony\Component\Console\Input\InputArgument;
use Symfony\Component\Console\Input\InputInterface;
use Symfony\Component\Console\Input\InputOption;
use Symfony\Component\Console\Output\OutputInterface;
use Symfony\Component\Console\SingleCommandApplication;
use Symfony\Component\Console\Style\SymfonyStyle;

(new SingleCommandApplication())
    ->setName('Kimai - Simple activity importer')
    ->setVersion('0.3')
    ->addArgument('file', InputArgument::REQUIRED, 'The CSV file to import')
    ->addOption('delimiter', null, InputOption::VALUE_REQUIRED, 'The delimiter to use (by default comma ",")', ',')
    ->setCode(function (InputInterface $input, OutputInterface $output) {

        $io = new SymfonyStyle($input, $output);

        $file = $input->getArgument('file');
        if (!file_exists($file)) {
            $io->error('Cannot find file: ' . $file);
            return 1;
        }
        if (!is_readable($file)) {
            $io->error('Cannot read file: ' . $file);
            return 2;
        }

        $delimiter = $input->getOption('delimiter');
        if (empty($delimiter)) {
            $io->error('Cannot use empty delimiter');
            return 3;
        }

        $csv = Reader::createFromPath($file, 'r');
        $csv->setDelimiter($delimiter);
        $csv->setHeaderOffset(0);

        $client = new Client([
            'base_uri' => KIMAI_API_URL,
            'verify' => false,
            'headers' => ['Authorization' => 'Bearer ' . KIMAI_API_TOKEN]
        ]);

        $customers = 0;
        $projects = 0;
        $activities = 0;
        $customerIds = [];
        $projectIds = [];
        $activityIds = [];

        $doPost = function (Client $client, string $endpoint, array $data) {
            $response = $client->post($endpoint, ['json' => $data]);

            return json_decode($response->getBody(), true);
        };

        $records = iterator_to_array($csv->getRecords());

        $progressBar = new ProgressBar($output, count($records));

        foreach($records as $record) {
            if (!array_key_exists('Customer', $record)) {
                $io->error('Cannot import row, missing field "Customer" in row: ' . implode($delimiter, $record));
                return 4;
            }
            if (!array_key_exists('Project', $record)) {
                $io->error('Cannot import row, missing field "Project" in row: ' . implode($delimiter, $record));
                return 5;
            }
            if (!array_key_exists('Activity', $record)) {
                $io->error('Cannot import row, missing field "Activity" in row: ' . implode($delimiter, $record));
                return 6;
            }

            $customerName = trim($record['Customer']);
            $projectName = trim($record['Project']);
            $activityName = trim($record['Activity']);

            if (!array_key_exists($customerName, $customerIds)) {
                $customer = $doPost($client, 'customers', ['name' => mb_substr($customerName, 0, 150), 'country' => 'IT', 'currency' => 'EUR', 'timezone' => 'Europe/Rome', 'visible' => true]);
                $customerIds[$customerName] = $customer['id'];
                $customers++;
            }

            $customerId = (int) $customerIds[$customerName];

            if (!array_key_exists($customerId, $projectIds)) {
                $projectIds[$customerId] = [];
            }

            if (!array_key_exists($projectName, $projectIds[$customerId])) {
                $project = $doPost($client, 'projects', ['name' => mb_substr($projectName, 0, 150), 'customer' => $customerId, 'visible' => true]);
                $projectIds[$customerId][$projectName] = $project['id'];
                $projects++;
            }

            $projectId = (int) $projectIds[$customerId][$projectName];

            if (!array_key_exists($projectId, $activityIds)) {
                $activityIds[$projectId] = [];
            }

            if (!array_key_exists($activityName, $activityIds[$projectId])) {
                $activity = $doPost($client, 'activities', ['name' => mb_substr($activityName, 0, 150), 'project' => $projectId, 'visible' => true]);
                $activityIds[$projectId][$activityName] = $activity['id'];
                $activities++;
            }

            $progressBar->advance();
        }

        $progressBar->finish();

        $io->success('Created ' . $customers . ' customers');
        $io->success('Created ' . $projects . ' projects');
        $io->success('Created ' . $activities . ' activities');
    })
    ->run();

Set execute permission chmod +x importer and start it by passing the filename for your CSV ./importer ~/kimai-import.csv, which should be formatted like this:

Customer,Project,Activity
DEMO,FOO,A long activity title
DEMO,FOO,Demand management
DEMO,BAR,Software as a service
DEMO,BAR,Administration
DEMO,BAR,Video conference 
DEMO,BAR,Sales talk
DEMO,Hello world,I see you
DEMO,Hello world,Testing the API

Calling the API with Javascript

If you develop your own plugin and need to use the API for logged-in user, then you don’t have to care about authentication, Kimai will handle it for you.

Copy & paste this code into a new api.html file and open it in your browser. You can execute some sample requests and see the JSON result.

<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
	<meta charset="utf-8">
	<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1, shrink-to-fit=no">
	<title>Kimai - API demo</title>
	<link rel="stylesheet" href="https://stackpath.bootstrapcdn.com/bootstrap/4.3.1/css/bootstrap.min.css">
	<link rel="stylesheet" href="https://getbootstrap.com/docs/4.3/examples/floating-labels/floating-labels.css">
	<link rel="stylesheet" href="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/prism/1.15.0/themes/prism.min.css">
	<link rel="stylesheet" href="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/prism/1.15.0/plugins/line-numbers/prism-line-numbers.min.css">
	<script src="https://code.jquery.com/jquery-3.3.1.min.js"></script>
	<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/popper.js/1.14.7/umd/popper.min.js"></script>
	<script src="https://stackpath.bootstrapcdn.com/bootstrap/4.3.1/js/bootstrap.min.js"></script>
	<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/prism/1.15.0/prism.min.js"></script>
	<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/prism/1.15.0/components/prism-json.min.js"></script>
	<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/prism/1.15.0/plugins/line-numbers/prism-line-numbers.min.js"></script>
	<style>
		body { display: block; }
		.codePreview { margin-top: 30px; }
	</style>
	<script>
        function callKimaiApi(method, successHandler, errorHandler) {
            var domain = $('#inputDomain').val();
            var token = $('#inputToken').val();
            $.ajax({
                url: domain + '/api/' + method,
                type: 'GET',
                beforeSend: function (request) {
                    request.setRequestHeader('Authorization', 'Bearer ' + token);
                },
                headers: {
                    'Authorization': 'Bearer ' + token,
                },
                success: successHandler,
                error: errorHandler
            });
        }

        $(function () {
            $('#loginForm').on('submit', function (event) {
                event.preventDefault();
                event.stopPropagation();
                $('#loginButton').text('Loading...');
                callKimaiApi('version', function (result) {
                        $('#loginButton').text('Success');
                        $('.secret').attr('style', 'display:block');
                        return false;
                    }, function (xhr, err) {
                        $('#loginButton').text('Try again!');
                        $('.secret').attr('style', 'display:none');
                        console.log(xhr);
                        alert('Error occured, see console for details');
                    }
                );
                return false;
            });

            $('button[data-api]').on('click', function (event) {
                event.preventDefault();
                event.stopPropagation();

                var apiMethod = $(this).attr('data-api');
                var breakAttr = $(this).attr('data-attribute-break');
                $('#loginButton').text('Loading...');

                callKimaiApi(
                    apiMethod, 
                    function (result) {
                        $('#loginButton').text('Success!');
                        var jsonBeauty = JSON.stringify(result).trim();
                        if (breakAttr === "true") {
                            jsonBeauty = jsonBeauty.split('","').join('",' + "\n" + '"');
                        }
                        jsonBeauty = jsonBeauty.split('},{').join('},' + "\n" + '{');
                        $('#apiResult').text(jsonBeauty);
                        $('.codePreview').attr('style', 'display:block');
                        Prism.highlightElement(document.getElementById('apiResult'));
                        return false;
                    }, function (xhr, err) {
                        $('#loginButton').text('Sorry, that failed :-(');
                        console.log(xhr);
                        alert('Error occured, see console for details');
                    }
                );
                return false;
            });
        });
	</script>
</head>
<body>
<div class="container">
	<form id="loginForm" class="form-signin">
		<div class="text-center mb-4">
			<h1 class="h3 mb-3 font-weight-normal">Kimai &ndash; API Demo</h1>
			<p>Please provide your API URL and token below</p>
		</div>
		<div class="form-label-group">
			<input type="url" id="inputDomain" class="form-control" placeholder="https://www.example.com/" required
				   autofocus value="https://demo.kimai.org">
			<label for="inputDomain">Kimai base URL (domain + port)</label>
		</div>
		<div class="form-label-group">
			<input type="text" id="inputToken" class="form-control" placeholder="API Token" required value="api_kitten_super">
			<label for="inputToken">API Token</label>
		</div>
		<button class="btn btn-lg btn-primary btn-block" id="loginButton" type="submit">Sign in</button>
	</form>
	<div class="row secret" style="display:none">
		<div class="col-sm text-center">
			<button type="button" class="btn btn-primary" data-api="ping" data-attribute-break="true">Ping</button>
			<button type="button" class="btn btn-secondary" data-api="version" data-attribute-break="true">Version</button>
			<button type="button" class="btn btn-secondary" data-api="plugins" data-attribute-break="true">Plugins</button>
			<button type="button" class="btn btn-primary" data-api="timesheets" data-attribute-break="false">Timesheet</button>
			<button type="button" class="btn btn-primary" data-api="activities" data-attribute-break="false">Activities</button>
			<button type="button" class="btn btn-primary" data-api="projects" data-attribute-break="false">Projects</button>
			<button type="button" class="btn btn-primary" data-api="customers" data-attribute-break="false">Customers</button>
		</div>
	</div>
	<div class="row codePreview" style="display:none">
		<pre class="language-json line-numbers" style="white-space: pre-line">
			<code id="apiResult"></code>
		</pre>
	</div>
</div>
</body>
</html>

Quickstart for Kimai API (JSON / REST) – Access your time-tracking data via the JSON API with Kimai

API examples

Sync your Kimai data via API to a local database

Using the API to import CSV data with PHP

Calling the API with Javascript

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