Making API requests

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Query requests for the AWS Resource Groups are HTTP or HTTPS requests that use an HTTP verb such as GET or POST.

Resource Groups endpoints

An endpoint is a URL that serves as an entry point for a web service. You can select an appropriate AWS Region endpoint when you make your requests to reduce latency. For information about the endpoints used by Resource Groups, see AWS Resource Groups in the Amazon Web Services General Reference.

Query parameters

Each query request must include some common parameters to handle authentication and selection of an action. For more information, see Common Parameters.

Some API operations take lists of parameters. These lists are specified using the following notation:

param.member.n

Values of n are integers starting from 1. All lists of parameters must follow this notation, including lists that contain only one parameter. A query parameter list looks like the following example.

&attribute.member.1=this
&attribute.member.2=that

Request identifiers

In every response from an AWS Query API, there is a ResponseMetadata element, which contains a RequestId element. This string is a unique identifier that AWS assigns to provide tracking information. Although RequestId is included as part of every response, it isn't listed on the individual API documentation pages to improve readability and to reduce redundancy.

Query API authentication

You can send query requests over either HTTP or HTTPS. Regardless of which protocol you use, you must include a signature in every query request. For more information about creating and including a signature, see Signing AWS API Requests in the Amazon Web Services General Reference.

Available libraries

AWS provides libraries, sample code, tutorials, and other resources for software developers who prefer to build applications using language-specific APIs instead of the command-line tools and Query API. These libraries provide basic functions (not included in the APIs), such as request authentication, request retries, and error handling so that it's easier to get started. Resource Groups libraries and resources are available for the following languages and platforms:

• AWS SDK for Go

• AWS SDK for Java 2.x

• AWS SDK for Java 1.x

• AWS SDK for JavaScript

• AWS SDK for JavaScript in Node.js

• AWS SDK for .NET

• AWS SDK for PHP

• AWS SDK for Python (Boto)

• AWS SDK for Ruby

• AWS SDK for Rust

For more information about libraries and sample code in all languages, see Sample Code & Libraries.

Making API requests using the POST method

If you don't use one of the AWS SDKs, you can make Resource Groups requests over HTTP using the POST request method. The POST method requires that you specify the operation in the header of the request and provide the data for the operation in JSON format in the body of the request.

Header name	Header value
Host	The AWS Resource Groups endpoint. For example: tagging.us-east-1.amazonaws.com
X-Amz-Date	You must provide the timestamp in either the HTTP Date header or the AWS x-amz-date header. Some HTTP client libraries don't let you set the Date header. When an x-amz-date header is present, the system ignores any Date header during the request authentication. The x-amz-date header must be specified in ISO 8601 basic format. For example: 20130315T092054Z
Authorization	The set of authorization parameters that AWS uses to ensure the validity and authenticity of the request. For more information about constructing this header, see Signature Version 4 Signing Process in the Amazon Web Services General Reference.
X-Amz-Target	Specifies the Resource Groups namespace and version, and the operation that you want to perform. ResourceGroupsTaggingAPI_20170126.API_Name Note For the Resource Groups, always use the version 20170126. For example, to call the GetTagValues operation, use the following target value. ResourceGroupsTaggingAPI_20170126.GetTagValues
Content-Type	Specifies the input format. Use the following value. application/json
Accept	Specifies the response format. Use the following value. application/json
Content-Length	Size of the payload in bytes.
Content-Encoding	Specifies the encoding format of the input and output. Use the following value. amz-1.0

The following is an example header for an HTTP request to create a resource group that includes all resources that are tagged Stage=Test. In this example, the Authorization line is word-wrapped here for easier reading. Don't word wrap it in your actual request.

POST / HTTP/1.1
Host: resource-groups.us-east-1.amazonaws.com
X-Amz-Date: 20180112T092034Z
Accept-Encoding: identity
Authorization: AWS4-HMAC-SHA256 Credential=REDACTED/20220113/us-west-2/resource-groups/aws4_request, 
        SignedHeaders=content-encoding;content-length;content-type;host;x-amz-date;x-amz-target, 
        Signature=EXAMPLE5cb91f88f1EXAMPLEa02d3af93dEXAMPLE91e5d03588EXAMPLE88ff1d
Content-Type: application/json
Accept: application/json
Content-Length: 283

{
    "Description": "Resources created for the testing stage.", 
    "Name": "QueryGroup", 
    "ResourceQuery": {
        "Query": "{\"ResourceTypeFilters\":[\"AWS::AllSupported\"],\"TagFilters\":[{\"Key\":\"Stage\",\"Values\":[\"Test\"]}]}",
         "Type": "TAG_FILTERS_1_0"
    }, 
    "Tags": {"Department": "Finance"}
}