Quick Start

1. Create a Dropbox app

Head to the Dropbox App Console and click Create app.

1. Choose Scoped access as the API type.
2. Select the access type your app needs:
   • App folder: Access limited to a single folder in the user’s Dropbox.
   • Full Dropbox: Access to all files and folders in the user’s Dropbox.
3. Name your app and click Create app.

2. Configure permissions

On the Permissions tab of your app’s settings, enable the scopes your app needs:

Click Submit to save your permission changes.

3. Get an access token

For testing, generate a short-lived access token from the Settings tab of your app in the App Console. For production apps, implement the OAuth 2.0 flow.

4. Make your first API call

Begin listing the contents of the root folder:

curl -X POST https://api.dropboxapi.com/2/files/list_folder \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN" \
  --header "Content-Type: application/json" \
  --data '{"path": ""}'

A successful response contains entries:

{
  "entries": [
    {
      ".tag": "folder",
      "name": "Photos",
      "path_lower": "/photos",
      "path_display": "/Photos",
      "id": "id:abc123"
    },
    {
      ".tag": "file",
      "name": "document.pdf",
      "path_lower": "/document.pdf",
      "path_display": "/document.pdf",
      "id": "id:def456",
      "size": 1048576
    }
  ],
  "cursor": "ZtkX9_EHj3x7PMkVuFIhwKYXEpwpLMyVRhQ...",
  "has_more": false
}

5. Upload a file

curl -X POST https://content.dropboxapi.com/2/files/upload \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN" \
  --header "Dropbox-API-Arg: {\"path\": \"/hello.txt\", \"mode\": \"add\"}" \
  --header "Content-Type: application/octet-stream" \
  --data-binary "hello world"

A successful response contains the uploaded file’s metadata:

{
  "client_modified": "2026-08-26T18:29:11Z",
  "content_hash": "bc62d4b80d9e36da29c16c5d4d9f11731f36052c72401a76c23c0fb5a9b74423",
  "id": "id:25N5ksooX-sAAAAAAARFgw",
  "is_downloadable": true,
  "name": "hello.txt",
  "path_display": "/hello.txt",
  "path_lower": "/hello.txt",
  "property_groups": [],
  "rev": "659f765546658021eccc7",
  "server_modified": "2026-08-26T18:29:12Z",
  "size": 11
}

Next steps

• Explore the API Reference for the full list of endpoints.
• Learn about Authorization for production OAuth flows.
• Read about File Access for advanced file operations.