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API General Q&A

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Erin Gough
Updated

This article reviews and answers common questions asked about Filevine’s API.

How are Changes to the API Communicated?

"Non-breaking" changes—changes that are additive, like adding "source":"button" to the payload—are not typically communicated. 

"Breaking" changes—changes that alter how a user codes the API—are typically communicated through the What's New section in the developer documentation: https://filevine.stoplight.io/docs/v2-us/31e991e1bfac1-filevine-api-v2 

What is the Rate Limit For API Requests?

Note: Over the course of 2025, rate limits to the legacy API Gateway are gradually decreasing. As of January 31, 2025 new customer environments have a default rate limit of 272 requests per endpoint per minute. Further decreases will be evaluated and communicated each month.

The current rate limit for the majority of endpoints is 320 requests per endpoint per minute. This is not the case for billing endpoints and report endpoints:

  • endpoints related to billing: 250 requests per endpoint per minute 
  • endpoints related to reports and project vitals: 5 requests per endpoint per minute
  • endpoints related to Get Folder List: 50 requests per minute

Rate limits are per key, not per endpoint, unless the endpoint has a lower rate limit. For example, if you call three different endpoints, the collective rate limit is 320 requests per key per minute, unless one of the endpoints has a lower limit.

This rate limiting applies for the legacy API portal. Learn more about rate limiting details for the new API Gateway. 

How Can I Safely Test API Call Functionality?

As long as you are changing the least amount of data possible and adhering to how the functionality works throughout our documentation, no API actions or consequences should be unexpected.

However, you can use the following suggestions to ensure confidence in your testing:

  • Create a test project in the system with the project type you are trying to test. This should apply ALL currently configured team permissions to the object. Then, perform your API testing on that "test data" instead of affecting anything globally. Remember, it's best not to perform any API calls that have global consequences, just actions that edit specific objects that can be routinely automated, such as a project.
  • Use the developer tools in your browser. If you're uncomfortable with understanding the flow of multiple API calls to perform an action, you can open your browser's developer tools, select the network tab with preserve log checked, and perform the actions you are trying to automate. The request/response may not be fully the same or applicable (all internal API calls are subject to change at any time with no communication), but you can look at some fields that are adjusted when performing that action in UI, and see if the applicable fields you saw in the request body apply to fields in the API documentation. If there is still further confusion about field definitions that aren't documented, you can ask support for specific field clarification. 
  • Take a periodic look at the Q&A section of our API support documentation, which is routinely updated with new information: https://support.filevine.com/hc/en-us/sections/28543097895835-API 

You can also test the API call structure from the testing tool within our documentation.

Can You Run a DocGen?

Currently, you cannot run a DocGen using API, as there isn’t an endpoint for this function. Because the Document Generation functionality would run a report for each API call, rate limiting and timeouts would be highly likely. 

Instead, you can use Mass Doc Generation, which allows you to generate the same document across multiple projects. Learn more about Mass Doc Generation.

Can I Update an Obsolete Field?

Yes, the API can be used to update obsolete fields. You can leave them marked as obsolete. 

To remove an obsolete field from your section, you can update the field using NULL and then remove the field from the template in Filevine.

How Do I Update Custom Contact Data?

First, get the tab IDs and custom fields. You can use the "Get Custom Contacts Metadata" API to get the custom tab IDs and custom data fields or "Get Custom Contact Tab" API to search by contact ID.

Next, to update a custom field (ex.dateOfIncident), you must format the body as such:

"selector": "custom.dateOfIncident",
"action": "UPDATE",
"value"; "2024-01-01"

Note: You must use "custom." at the beginning of the selector name. 

Please note that you cannot update a custom contact date field to a value that is not a valid date, meaning you cannot clear the value or set it to “NULL.”

How do I Pull in All Items from a Collections Section on a Project?

Follow these steps to ensure you have all the proper variables:

  1. https://filevine.stoplight.io/docs/v2-us/7803d492558cf-get-project-type-list: Perform a GET to /ProjectTypes to retrieve the Project Type ID of the project type that the collections section exists on.
  2. https://filevine.stoplight.io/docs/v2-us/6a38a5c808dbb-get-project-type-sections-list: Perform a GET to /ProjectTypes/{projectTypeId}/sections, replacing {projectTypeId} with the value you received from Step 1.
  3. (Optional) If you know the name of the section (ie: Depositions), then you can send the call from Step 2 with a "name":"Depositions" query parameter.
  4. Find the correct section you are looking for in the response (using the name field for reference), and save the SectionSelector value.
  5. https://filevine.stoplight.io/docs/v2-us/3bf29e87af677-get-project-collection-item-list: You should now be able to perform a GET to /Projects/{projectId}/Collections/{selector}, where you'll input the value you pulled from Step 4 as the {selector} value.

Note: Step 2 will provide you with a boolean value for the field IsCollection. If this value is not true, this will not work and you'll have to follow the steps for a static section.

How Do I Send a Text Through Filevine’s API?

Filevine does not have an endpoint to send text messages. If you want to set up texting through the API, you can follow these general recommendations:

  1. Utilize the third-party tool Twilio to register a phone number. This number would reside in your own Twilio account and not Filevine's.
  2. Automations would need to be set up to create a note in Filevine when a text is sent to and from your registered phone number. The third-party tool Workato has the functionality to handle this and can be utilized based on expertise with the tool or technical resources available to develop this integration.

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