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Describing Request Body

The POST, PUT and PATCH requests can have the request body (payload), such as JSON or XML data. In Swagger terms, the request body is called a body parameter. There can be only one body parameter, although the operation may have other parameters (path, query, header).

Note: The payload of the application/x-www-form-urlencoded and multipart/form-data requests is described by using form parameters, not body parameters.

The body parameter is defined in the operation’s parameters section and includes the following:

  • in: body
  • schema that describes the body data type and structure. The data type is usually an object, but can also be a primitive (such as a string or number) or an array.
  • Optional description.
  • The payload name. It is required but ignored (it is used for documentation purposes only).

Object Payload (JSON, etc.)

Section titled “Object Payload (JSON, etc.)”

Many APIs transmit data as an object, such as JSON. schema for an object should specify type: object and properties for that object. For example, the POST /users operation with this JSON body:

{
  "userName": "Trillian",
  "firstName": "Tricia",
  "lastName": "McMillan"
}

can be described as:

paths:
  /users:
    post:
      summary: Creates a new user.
      consumes:
        - application/json
      parameters:
        - in: body
          name: user
          description: The user to create.
          schema:
            type: object
            required:
              - userName
            properties:
              userName:
                type: string
              firstName:
                type: string
              lastName:
                type: string
      responses:
        201:
          description: Created

Note: The name of the body parameter is ignored. It is used for documentation purposes only. For a more modular style, you can move the schema definitions to the global definitions section and refer to them by using $ref:

paths:
  /users:
    post:
      summary: Creates a new user.
      consumes:
        - application/json
      parameters:
        - in: body
          name: user
          description: The user to create.
          schema:
            $ref: "#/definitions/User" # <----------
      responses:
        200:
          description: OK
definitions:
  User: # <----------
    type: object
    required:
      - userName
    properties:
      userName:
        type: string
      firstName:
        type: string
      lastName:
        type: string

Primitive Body

Section titled “Primitive Body”

Want to POST/PUT just a single value? No problem, you can define the body schema type as a primitive, such as a string or number. Raw request:

POST /status HTTP/1.1
Host: api.example.com
Content-Type: text/plain
Content-Length: 42


Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so.

Swagger definition:

paths:
  /status:
    post:
      summary: Updates the status message.
      consumes:
        - text/plain # <----------
      parameters:
        - in: body
          name: status
          required: true
          schema:
            type: string # <----------
      responses:
        200:
          description: Success!

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