sftpgo API key authentication

[romandeployteq]

How to set up sftpgo API key authentication on UI?
There are no examples on sftpgo docs.
I see only "API key authentication" -> "Allow to impersonate the user, in REST API, with an API key"
I tried curl requests with "Authorization: Basic" and "Authorization: Bearer" headers, but simple "username:password" didn't work

[fostermi]

There is no UI for this. To use an API key authentication for a user you'll need to do the following:

1. Update the user profile to allow API key authentication (as you've already discovered).
2. Using the admin credentials, generate an access token using the /api/v2/token endpoint.
3. Use the access token from step 2 with token auth, create an API key for the user using the /api/v2/apikeys endpoint with a json body containing at a minimum name, scope, user as described in the REST API docs. You should get a json response back with an API key for that user.
4. Use the API key with HTTP header X-SFTPGO-API-KEY on the user API endpoint you want to use (for example, list a directory).

[DaniW42]

I had some trouble (due to personal lack of knowledge) to create a n8n workflow for this. Let me share what is working for me so others can copy the steps.

n8n Workflow Breakdown: SFTPGo API Handshake

This documentation provides a guide to rebuilding the three-node authentication sequence used to interact with the SFTPGo API.

---

1. Node: Get Token (The Login)

This node starts the session by exchanging administrative credentials for a session token.

• Node Name: Get Token
• Type: n8n-nodes-base.httpRequest
• Method: GET
• URL: http://sftpgo:8080/api/v2/token
• Authentication: HTTP Basic Auth
  • Setup: Create a credential in n8n with your SFTPGo Admin username and password.
• Output: Returns a JSON object containing the token (JWT).

---

2. Node: Get API Key (The Exchange)

This node swaps the session token for a functional API key.

• Node Name: Get API Key
• Type: n8n-nodes-base.httpRequest
• Method: POST
• URL: http://sftpgo:8080/api/v2/apikeys
• Authentication: HTTP Bearer Auth
  • Expression: Map the token from the "Get Token" node.
• Body Content Type: JSON
• JSON Body:

{
  "name": "sftpgoapikey",
  "scope": 1,
  "admin": "automation"
}

• Output: Returns a JSON object containing the token (JWT).

---

3. Node: HTTP Request (The Action)

This node performs the actual administrative task (like listing users) using the API key generated in the previous step.

• Node Name: List Users
• Type: n8n-nodes-base.httpRequest
• Method: GET
• URL: http://sftpgo:8080/api/v2/users
• Authentication: None (Handled via Header)
• Send Headers: true
• Header Parameters:
  • Name: X-SFTPGO-API-KEY
  • Value: > Action Required: Insert the expression here that references the key output from the "Get API Key" node.
• Output: A JSON array of all SFTPGo users.