Menus API

Manage menu containers and menu items with com_menus, keeping site and administrator clients separate.

See the introduction for authentication, request formats and error handling.

Routes

Paths are relative to /api/index.php. Enable the corresponding Web Services plugin.

Methods	Path	Controller tasks
GET, POST	/v1/menus/site	menus.displayList, menus.add
GET, PATCH, DELETE	/v1/menus/site/{id}	menus.displayItem, menus.edit, menus.delete
GET, POST	/v1/menus/administrator	menus.displayList, menus.add
GET, PATCH, DELETE	/v1/menus/administrator/{id}	menus.displayItem, menus.edit, menus.delete
GET, POST	/v1/menus/site/items	items.displayList, items.add
GET, PATCH, DELETE	/v1/menus/site/items/{id}	items.displayItem, items.edit, items.delete
GET, POST	/v1/menus/administrator/items	items.displayList, items.add
GET, PATCH, DELETE	/v1/menus/administrator/items/{id}	items.displayItem, items.edit, items.delete
GET	/v1/menus/site/items/types	items.getTypes
GET	/v1/menus/administrator/items/types	items.getTypes

Collection GET lists records; item GET reads one; POST creates; PATCH updates; DELETE removes an eligible record. Some records must first be trashed. Consult individual operation responses for exceptions.

Forms and data

Relevant forms and extension parameter manifests are:

• Menu form (com_menus)
• Item form (com_menus)
• Itemadmin form (com_menus)
• Menu item form selected by the item type.

Joomla selects additional parameter fields according to the extension, client or field type. The OpenAPI specification includes these core parameter variants.

Field	JSON type or role	Meaning
menutype, title	string	Required menu container key and title.
title, menutype, type	string	Required base menu item fields.
parent_id	integer or numeric string	Parent item in the menu tree.
link, request, params	string, object, object	Target and options chosen by item type and component view.
published, home, browserNav	integer or numeric string	Publication, default-page status and browser behaviour.
access, template_style_id	integer or numeric string	Viewing access level and template style.

/menus/site and /menus/administrator hold containers; their /items collections hold links. When creating an administrator menu, send client_id: 1: without it, POST /menus/administrator returns 200 but creates a site menu. Discover item types with /menus/{client}/items/types, whose response has its own shape. A component item loads the target view parameter form. Public SEF URLs depend on ancestry, language and the component router, rather than alias alone.

Write a flat JSON object with these form fields. Do not wrap it in JSON:API data.attributes. Read-only response attributes are not a write template.

Backend server-side requests

Use a unique menutype. This creates a site menu container without items or module assignment.

Joomla HTTPFactory

Use this request in a Joomla component, plugin or console command. Set the API URL, token and record values for the target site. Keep the token in your integration's secret store. HTTP and JSON errors throw exceptions for the calling extension to handle.

<?php
declare(strict_types=1);

use Joomla\Http\HttpFactory;
use Joomla\Uri\Uri;

$siteUrl = 'https://example.org';
$token = 'REPLACE_WITH_YOUR_API_TOKEN';
$headers = [
    'Accept' => 'application/vnd.api+json',
    'Content-Type' => 'application/json',
    'X-Joomla-Token' => $token,
];

$payload = [
    'menutype' => 'api-menu',
    'title' => 'API menu',
    'description' => 'Menu created through the API',
];

$uri = (new Uri($siteUrl))
    ->setPath('/api/index.php/v1/menus/site');
$http = (new HttpFactory())->getHttp(['follow_location' => false]);
$response = $http->post(
    $uri,
    json_encode($payload, JSON_THROW_ON_ERROR), $headers,
    30
);

$status = $response->getStatusCode();
$body = (string) $response->getBody();

if ($status < 200 || $status >= 300) {
    throw new \RuntimeException('HTTP ' . $status . ': ' . $body);
}

$document = json_decode($body, true, 512, JSON_THROW_ON_ERROR);

if (!empty($document['errors'])) {
    throw new \RuntimeException(json_encode($document['errors'], JSON_THROW_ON_ERROR));
}

if (isset($document['success']) && $document['success'] === false) {
    throw new \RuntimeException('The API action reported failure.');
}

echo json_encode($document, JSON_PRETTY_PRINT | JSON_THROW_ON_ERROR), PHP_EOL;

curl

This complete POSIX shell example requires curl 7.76 or later. On Windows, use a compatible shell such as Git Bash or WSL.

API_BASE='https://example.org/api/index.php/v1'
TOKEN='REPLACE_WITH_YOUR_API_TOKEN'

curl --silent --show-error --fail-with-body --include --globoff \
  --request POST \
  --url "$API_BASE/menus/site" \
  --header 'Accept: application/vnd.api+json' \
  --header 'X-Joomla-Token: '"$TOKEN" \
  --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --data-binary @- <<'JSON'
{
  "menutype": "api-menu",
  "title": "API menu",
  "description": "Menu created through the API"
}
JSON

Server-side successful response

HTTP 200 OK, with Content-Type: application/vnd.api+json. The response excerpt below shows the resource structure. Responses can also contain relationships, links and metadata. IDs and values depend on the site.

{
  "data": {
    "type": "menus",
    "id": "42",
    "attributes": {
      "menutype": "api-menu",
      "title": "API menu",
      "description": "Menu created through the API"
    }
  }
}

Read GET /menus/site/{id}. For item changes, read the item and inspect its public URL independently.

Frontend browser requests

These examples read site menu containers with GET /menus/site. Calling the API from the browser still uses administrator models and ACL. Follow the browser setup and authentication guidance, including loading Joomla's core script for Joomla.request. Replace the site origin and API path, then enter the signed-in operator's personal API token when prompted. Keep shared integration tokens on the server.

Joomla.request

(async () => {
    const token = window.prompt('Enter your personal Joomla API token');

    if (!token) {
        throw new Error('An API token is required.');
    }

    const url = new URL('https://example.org');
    url.pathname = '/api/index.php/v1/menus/site';
    url.search = new URLSearchParams({
        "page[offset]": "0",
        "page[limit]": "20"
    }).toString();

    let xhr;

    try {
        xhr = await Joomla.request({
            url: url.toString(),
            method: 'GET',
            headers: {
                Accept: 'application/vnd.api+json',
                'X-Joomla-Token': token,
            },
            promise: true,
            onBefore(request) {
                request.timeout = 30000;
            },
        });
    } catch (error) {
        // Joomla.request rejects statuses other than 200, including 204.
        if (!(error instanceof XMLHttpRequest)) {
            throw error;
        }

        xhr = error;
    }

    if (xhr.status < 200 || xhr.status >= 300) {
        throw new Error(`HTTP ${xhr.status}: ${xhr.responseText || xhr.statusText}`);
    }

    const text = xhr.responseText;

    const document = text.trim() ? JSON.parse(text) : null;

    if (document?.errors && Object.keys(document.errors).length > 0) {
        throw new Error(JSON.stringify(document.errors));
    }

    if (document?.success === false) {
        throw new Error(document.message || 'The API action reported failure.');
    }

    console.log(document);
    return document;
})();

Native fetch()

(async () => {
    const token = window.prompt('Enter your personal Joomla API token');

    if (!token) {
        throw new Error('An API token is required.');
    }

    const url = new URL('https://example.org');
    url.pathname = '/api/index.php/v1/menus/site';
    url.search = new URLSearchParams({
        "page[offset]": "0",
        "page[limit]": "20"
    }).toString();

    const controller = new AbortController();
    const timeout = window.setTimeout(() => controller.abort(), 30000);
    let response;
    let text;

    try {
        response = await fetch(url, {
            method: 'GET',
            headers: {
                Accept: 'application/vnd.api+json',
                'X-Joomla-Token': token,
            },
            credentials: 'omit',
            redirect: 'error',
            signal: controller.signal,
        });
        text = await response.text();
    } finally {
        window.clearTimeout(timeout);
    }

    if (!response.ok) {
        throw new Error(`HTTP ${response.status}: ${text || response.statusText}`);
    }

    const document = text.trim() ? JSON.parse(text) : null;

    if (document?.errors && Object.keys(document.errors).length > 0) {
        throw new Error(JSON.stringify(document.errors));
    }

    if (document?.success === false) {
        throw new Error(document.message || 'The API action reported failure.');
    }

    console.log(document);
    return document;
})();

Both examples check the HTTP status and API error fields. An empty successful body produces null; a JSON collection has an array in data.

Browser successful response

HTTP 200 OK returns a collection such as:

{
  "data": [
    {
      "type": "menus",
      "id": "42",
      "attributes": {
        "menutype": "api-menu",
        "title": "API menu",
        "description": "Menu created through the API"
      }
    }
  ]
}

This collection excerpt omits other attributes, relationships, links and metadata. An empty result has "data": [].

Errors

These responses apply to server-side and browser clients. Check both HTTP status and response body. Wording depends on the site language, plugins and server configuration. The following examples show possible error responses.

HTTP status	Possible cause
401	Authentication is absent or invalid, or API login is not allowed.
400	Required fields are missing or the menu key is invalid.
403	The user cannot manage this menu client.
404	The menu, item or type cannot be found.

Form validation can produce HTTP 400 Bad Request:

{
  "errors": [
    {
      "title": "Invalid field: Title"
    }
  ]
}

Authentication failure can produce HTTP 401 Unauthorized:

{
  "errors": [
    {
      "title": "Forbidden"
    }
  ]
}

After an interrupted or failed write, read the resource before retrying. Saving may have occurred before a later error.

References

• OpenAPI reference
• Complete OpenAPI specification, including com_menus schemas
• Joomla Web Services Collection for Postman