API (REST / NETCONF / gNMI client)

What it does: a built-in client for talking to network gear and controllers through their APIs — REST/RESTCONF, NETCONF, and gNMI — instead of scraping the CLI. You point it at an endpoint, add authentication, send a request, and get back structured data (JSON or XML) you can read, confirm, and export.

What an API is (plain version): most modern gear and controllers — DNA/Catalyst Center, Meraki, firewalls, NetBox, and current switches and routers — expose a programmable interface alongside the CLI. Where the CLI hands you text meant for a person to read, an API hands back structured data meant for a machine: the same answer as named fields you can filter, compare, and store, instead of guessing at screen-scraped columns. That's why automation, monitoring, and source-of-truth systems are built on APIs, not on parsing CLI output.

The three the app speaks:

• REST / RESTCONF — HTTP with JSON (or XML). The common case for controllers and SaaS: Meraki, DNA Center, NetBox.
• NETCONF — XML over SSH (port 830): get-config / edit-config against network devices, with transactional safety.
• gNMI — a gRPC-based get/set and streaming-telemetry interface, for platforms that support it.

How you use it here: choose the protocol, enter the target endpoint and the method (for example a GET), supply credentials — a Bearer token, an API-key header, or SSH credentials for NETCONF — and send. The response comes back structured, so you can verify state, capture evidence, or feed it into a runbook. Authentication comes first: a call fails at the door without a valid token, so set that up before anything else.

Read vs write: reads (GET, get-config) observe only and are safe. Writes (POST/PUT, edit-config, a gNMI set) change the device — know exactly what a call does before you send it, and only run one against gear you're authorized to change.

Related reading in the API & MCP reference section: "How MCP fits together" (how the AI drives these same APIs for you), "NETCONF / RESTCONF", "gNMI (streaming telemetry)", and "API tokens & auth-first".