Invoke-Rest Method

Sends an HTTP or HTTPS request to a RESTful web service.

Syntax

Invoke-RestMethod
      [-Method <WebRequestMethod>]
      [-FollowRelLink]
      [-MaximumFollowRelLink <Int32>]
      [-ResponseHeadersVariable <String>]
      [-UseBasicParsing]
      [-Uri] <Uri>
      [-WebSession <WebRequestSession>]
      [-SessionVariable <String>]
      [-AllowUnencryptedAuthentication]
      [-Authentication <WebAuthenticationType>]
      [-Credential <PSCredential>]
      [-UseDefaultCredentials]
      [-CertificateThumbprint <String>]
      [-Certificate <X509Certificate>]
      [-SkipCertificateCheck]
      [-SslProtocol <WebSslProtocol>]
      [-Token <SecureString>]
      [-UserAgent <String>]
      [-DisableKeepAlive]
      [-TimeoutSec <Int32>]
      [-Headers <IDictionary>]
      [-MaximumRedirection <Int32>]
      [-Proxy <Uri>]
      [-ProxyCredential <PSCredential>]
      [-ProxyUseDefaultCredentials]
      [-Body <Object>]
      [-ContentType <String>]
      [-TransferEncoding <String>]
      [-InFile <String>]
      [-OutFile <String>]
      [-PassThru]
      [-PreserveAuthorizationOnRedirect]
      [-SkipHeaderValidation]
Invoke-RestMethod
      [-Method <WebRequestMethod>]
      [-FollowRelLink]
      [-MaximumFollowRelLink <Int32>]
      [-ResponseHeadersVariable <String>]
      [-UseBasicParsing]
      [-Uri] <Uri>
      [-WebSession <WebRequestSession>]
      [-SessionVariable <String>]
      [-AllowUnencryptedAuthentication]
      [-Authentication <WebAuthenticationType>]
      [-Credential <PSCredential>]
      [-UseDefaultCredentials]
      [-CertificateThumbprint <String>]
      [-Certificate <X509Certificate>]
      [-SkipCertificateCheck]
      [-SslProtocol <WebSslProtocol>]
      [-Token <SecureString>]
      [-UserAgent <String>]
      [-DisableKeepAlive]
      [-TimeoutSec <Int32>]
      [-Headers <IDictionary>]
      [-MaximumRedirection <Int32>]
      [-NoProxy]
      [-Body <Object>]
      [-ContentType <String>]
      [-TransferEncoding <String>]
      [-InFile <String>]
      [-OutFile <String>]
      [-PassThru]
      [-PreserveAuthorizationOnRedirect]
      [-SkipHeaderValidation]
Invoke-RestMethod
      -CustomMethod <String>
      [-FollowRelLink]
      [-MaximumFollowRelLink <Int32>]
      [-ResponseHeadersVariable <String>]
      [-UseBasicParsing]
      [-Uri] <Uri>
      [-WebSession <WebRequestSession>]
      [-SessionVariable <String>]
      [-AllowUnencryptedAuthentication]
      [-Authentication <WebAuthenticationType>]
      [-Credential <PSCredential>]
      [-UseDefaultCredentials]
      [-CertificateThumbprint <String>]
      [-Certificate <X509Certificate>]
      [-SkipCertificateCheck]
      [-SslProtocol <WebSslProtocol>]
      [-Token <SecureString>]
      [-UserAgent <String>]
      [-DisableKeepAlive]
      [-TimeoutSec <Int32>]
      [-Headers <IDictionary>]
      [-MaximumRedirection <Int32>]
      [-Proxy <Uri>]
      [-ProxyCredential <PSCredential>]
      [-ProxyUseDefaultCredentials]
      [-Body <Object>]
      [-ContentType <String>]
      [-TransferEncoding <String>]
      [-InFile <String>]
      [-OutFile <String>]
      [-PassThru]
      [-PreserveAuthorizationOnRedirect]
      [-SkipHeaderValidation]
Invoke-RestMethod
      -CustomMethod <String>
      [-FollowRelLink]
      [-MaximumFollowRelLink <Int32>]
      [-ResponseHeadersVariable <String>]
      [-UseBasicParsing]
      [-Uri] <Uri>
      [-WebSession <WebRequestSession>]
      [-SessionVariable <String>]
      [-AllowUnencryptedAuthentication]
      [-Authentication <WebAuthenticationType>]
      [-Credential <PSCredential>]
      [-UseDefaultCredentials]
      [-CertificateThumbprint <String>]
      [-Certificate <X509Certificate>]
      [-SkipCertificateCheck]
      [-SslProtocol <WebSslProtocol>]
      [-Token <SecureString>]
      [-UserAgent <String>]
      [-DisableKeepAlive]
      [-TimeoutSec <Int32>]
      [-Headers <IDictionary>]
      [-MaximumRedirection <Int32>]
      [-NoProxy]
      [-Body <Object>]
      [-ContentType <String>]
      [-TransferEncoding <String>]
      [-InFile <String>]
      [-OutFile <String>]
      [-PassThru]
      [-PreserveAuthorizationOnRedirect]
      [-SkipHeaderValidation]

Description

The Invoke-RestMethod cmdlet sends HTTP and HTTPS requests to Representational State Transfer (REST) web services that returns richly structured data.

PowerShell formats the response based to the data type. For an RSS or ATOM feed, PowerShell returns the Item or Entry XML nodes. For JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) or XML, PowerShell converts (or deserializes) the content into objects.

This cmdlet is introduced in Windows PowerShell 3.0.

Examples

Example 1: Get the PowerShell RSS feed

Invoke-RestMethod -Uri https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/powershell/feed/ |

    Format-Table -Property Title, pubDate

<#



Result:



Title                                                                pubDate

-----                                                                -------

Join the PowerShell 10th Anniversary Celebration!                    Tue, 08 Nov 2016 23:00:04 +0000

DSC Resource Kit November 2016 Release                               Thu, 03 Nov 2016 00:19:07 +0000

PSScriptAnalyzer Community Call - Oct 18, 2016                       Thu, 13 Oct 2016 17:52:35 +0000

New Home for In-Box DSC Resources                                    Sat, 08 Oct 2016 07:13:10 +0000

New Social Features on Gallery                                       Fri, 30 Sep 2016 23:04:34 +0000

PowerShellGet and PackageManagement in PowerShell Gallery and GitHub Thu, 29 Sep 2016 22:21:42 +0000

PowerShell Security at DerbyCon                                      Wed, 28 Sep 2016 01:13:19 +0000

DSC Resource Kit September Release                                   Thu, 22 Sep 2016 00:25:37 +0000

PowerShell DSC and implicit remoting broken in KB3176934             Tue, 23 Aug 2016 15:07:50 +0000

PowerShell on Linux and Open Source!                                 Thu, 18 Aug 2016 15:32:02 +0000



#>

This command uses the Invoke-RestMethod cmdlet to get information from the PowerShell Blog RSS feed. The command uses the Format-Table cmdlet to display the values of the Title and pubDate properties of each blog in a table.

Example 2

$Cred = Get-Credential

$Url = "https://server.contoso.com:8089/services/search/jobs/export"

$Body = @{

    search = "search index=_internal | reverse | table index,host,source,sourcetype,_raw"

    output_mode = "csv"

    earliest_time = "-2d@d"

    latest_time = "-1d@d"

}

Invoke-RestMethod -Method 'Post' -Uri $url -Credential $Cred -Body $body -OutFile output.csv

In the above example, a user runs Invoke-RestMethod to perform a POST request on an intranet website in the user's organization.

First, credentials are prompted for and then stored in $Cred and the URL that will be access is defined in $Url .

Next, The $Body variable describes the search criteria, specifies CSV as the output mode, and specifies a time period for returned data that starts two days ago and ends one day ago. The body variable specifies values for parameters that apply to the particular REST API with which Invoke-RestMethod is communicating.

Finally, the Invoke-RestMethod command is run with all variables in place, specifying a path and file name for the resulting CSV output file.

Example 3: Follow relation links

$url = 'https://api.github.com/repos/powershell/powershell/issues'

Invoke-RestMethod $url -FollowRelLink -MaximumFollowRelLink 2

Some REST APIs support pagination via Relation Links per RFC5988 . Instead of parsing the header to get the URL for the next page, you can have the cmdlet do this for you. This example returns the first two pages of issues from the PowerShell GitHub repository

Required Parameters

-NoProxy

Indicates that the cmdlet will not use a proxy to reach the destination.

When you need to bypass the proxy configured in Internet Explorer, or a proxy specified in the environment, use this switch.

Type: SwitchParameter
Position: Named
Default value: None
Accept pipeline input: False
Accept wildcard characters: False
-Uri

Specifies the Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) of the Internet resource to which the web request is sent. This parameter supports HTTP, HTTPS, FTP, and FILE values.

This parameter is required. The parameter name ( -Uri ) is optional.

Type: Uri
Position: 0
Default value: None
Accept pipeline input: False
Accept wildcard characters: False

Optional Parameters

-AllowUnencryptedAuthentication

Allows sending of credentials and secrets over unencrypted connections. By default, supplying -Credential or any -Authentication option with a -Uri that does not begin with https:// will result in an error and the request will abort to prevent unintentionally communicating secrets in plain text over unencrypted connections. To override this behavior at your own risk, supply the -AllowUnencryptedAuthentication parameter.

Warning : Using this parameter is not secure and is not recommended. It is provided only for compatibility with legacy systems that cannot provide encrypted connections. Use at your own risk.

Type: SwitchParameter
Position: Named
Default value: None
Accept pipeline input: False
Accept wildcard characters: False
-Authentication

Specifies the explicit authentication type to use for the request. The default is None . -Authentication cannot be used with -UseDefaultCredentials .

Available Authentication Options:

  • None : This is the default option when -Authentication is not supplied. No explicit authentication will be used.
  • Basic : Requires -Credential . The credentials will be used to send an RFC 7617 Basic Authentication Authorization: Basic header in the format of base64(user:password) .
  • Bearer : Requires -Token . Will send and RFC 6750 Authorization: Bearer header with the supplied token. This is an alias for OAuth
  • OAuth : Requires -Token . Will send and RFC 6750 Authorization: Bearer header with the supplied token. This is an alias for Bearer

Supplying -Authentication will override any Authorization headers supplied to -Headers or included in -WebSession .

Type: WebAuthenticationType
Parameter Sets: None, Basic, Bearer, OAuth
Position: Named
Default value: None
Accept pipeline input: False
Accept wildcard characters: False
-Body

Specifies the body of the request. The body is the content of the request that follows the headers. You can also pipe a body value to Invoke-RestMethod .

The -Body parameter can be used to specify a list of query parameters or specify the content of the response.

When the input is a GET request, and the body is an IDictionary (typically, a hash table), the body is added to the URI as query parameters. For other request types (such as POST), the body is set as the value of the request body in the standard name=value format.

When the body is a form, or it is the output of another Invoke-WebRequest call, PowerShell sets the request content to the form fields.

The -Body parameter may also accept a System.Net.Http.MultipartFormDataContent object. This will facilitate multipart/form-data requests. When a MultipartFormDataContent object is supplied for -Body , any Content related headers supplied to the -ContentType , -Headers , or -WebSession parameters will be overridden by the Content headers of the MultipartFormDataContent object.

Type: Object
Position: Named
Default value: None
Accept pipeline input: True (ByValue)
Accept wildcard characters: False
-Certificate

Specifies the client certificate that is used for a secure web request. Enter a variable that contains a certificate or a command or expression that gets the certificate.

To find a certificate, use Get-PfxCertificate or use the Get-ChildItem cmdlet in the Certificate ( Cert: ) drive. If the certificate is not valid or does not have sufficient authority, the command fails.

Note : This feature may not work on OS platforms where libcurl is configured with a TLS provider other than OpenSSL.

Type: X509Certificate
Position: Named
Default value: None
Accept pipeline input: False
Accept wildcard characters: False
-CertificateThumbprint

Specifies the digital public key certificate (X509) of a user account that has permission to send the request. Enter the certificate thumbprint of the certificate.

Certificates are used in client certificate-based authentication. They can be mapped only to local user accounts; they do not work with domain accounts.

To get a certificate thumbprint, use the Get-Item or Get-ChildItem command in the PowerShell Cert: drive.

Note: This feature is currently only supported on Windows OS platforms.

Type: String
Position: Named
Default value: None
Accept pipeline input: False
Accept wildcard characters: False
-ContentType

Specifies the content type of the web request.

If this parameter is omitted and the request method is POST, Invoke-RestMethod sets the content type to application/x-www-form-urlencoded . Otherwise, the content type is not specified in the call.

-ContentType will be overridden when a MultipartFormDataContent object is supplied for -Body .

Type: String
Position: Named
Default value: None
Accept pipeline input: False
Accept wildcard characters: False
-Credential

Specifies a user account that has permission to send the request. The default is the current user.

Type a user name, such as "User01", "Domain01\User01", "User01@Domain.com", or enter a PSCredential object, such as one generated by the Get-Credential cmdlet.

-Credential can be used alone or in conjunction with certain -Authentication options. When used alone, it will only supply credentials to the remote server if the remote server sends an authentication challenge request. When used with -Authentication options, the credentials will be explicitly sent.

Type: PSCredential
Position: Named
Default value: None
Accept pipeline input: False
Accept wildcard characters: False
-CustomMethod

Specifies custom method used for the web request. This can be used with the Request Method required by the endpoint is not an available option on the -Method . -Method and -CustomMethod cannot be used together.

Example:

Invoke-WebRequest -uri ' https://api.contoso.com/widget/ ' -CustomMethod 'TEST'

This makes a TEST HTTP request to the API.

Type: String
Position: Named
Default value: None
Accept pipeline input: False
Accept wildcard characters: False
-DisableKeepAlive

Indicates that the cmdlet sets the KeepAlive value in the HTTP header to False. By default, KeepAlive is True. KeepAlive establishes a persistent connection to the server to facilitate subsequent requests.

Type: SwitchParameter
Position: Named
Default value: None
Accept pipeline input: False
Accept wildcard characters: False
-FollowRelLink

Indicates the cmdlet should follow relation links.

To set how many times to follow relation links, use the -MaximumFollowRelLink parameter.

Type: SwitchParameter
Position: Named
Default value: None
Accept pipeline input: False
Accept wildcard characters: False
-Headers

Specifies the headers of the web request. Enter a hash table or dictionary.

To set UserAgent headers, use the -UserAgent parameter. You cannot use this parameter to specify User-Agent or cookie headers.

Content related headers, such as Content-Type will be overridden when a MultipartFormDataContent object is supplied for -Body .

Type: IDictionary
Position: Named
Default value: None
Accept pipeline input: False
Accept wildcard characters: False
-InFile

Gets the content of the web request from a file.

Enter a path and file name. If you omit the path, the default is the current location.

Type: String
Position: Named
Default value: None
Accept pipeline input: False
Accept wildcard characters: False
-MaximumFollowRelLink

Specifies how many times to follow relation links if -FollowRelLink is used. A smaller value may be needed if the REST api throttles due to too many requests. The default value is [Int32]::MaxValue . A value of 0 (zero) prevents following relation links.

Type: Int32
Position: Named
Default value: Int32.MaxValue
Accept pipeline input: False
Accept wildcard characters: False
-MaximumRedirection

Specifies how many times PowerShell redirects a connection to an alternate Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) before the connection fails. The default value is 5. A value of 0 (zero) prevents all redirection.

Type: Int32
Position: Named
Default value: None
Accept pipeline input: False
Accept wildcard characters: False
-Method

Specifies the method used for the web request. The acceptable values for this parameter are:

  • Default
  • Delete
  • Get
  • Head
  • Merge
  • Options
  • Patch
  • Post
  • Put
  • Trace

The -CustomMethod parameter can be used for Request Methods not listed above.

Type: WebRequestMethod
Parameter Sets: Default, Get, Head, Post, Put, Delete, Trace, Options, Merge, Patch
Position: Named
Default value: None
Accept pipeline input: False
Accept wildcard characters: False
-OutFile

Saves the response body in the specified output file. Enter a path and file name. If you omit the path, the default is the current location.

By default, Invoke-RestMethod returns the results to the pipeline. To send the results to a file and to the pipeline, use the -Passthru parameter.

Type: String
Position: Named
Default value: None
Accept pipeline input: False
Accept wildcard characters: False
-PassThru

Returns the results, in addition to writing them to a file. This parameter is valid only when the -OutFile parameter is also used in the command.

Type: SwitchParameter
Position: Named
Default value: No output
Accept pipeline input: False
Accept wildcard characters: False
-PreserveAuthorizationOnRedirect

Indicates the cmdlet should preserve the Authorization header, when present, across redirections.

By default, the cmdlet strips the Authorization header before redirecting. Specifying this parameter disables this logic for cases where the header needs to be sent to the redirection location.

Type: SwitchParameter
Position: Named
Default value: None
Accept pipeline input: False
Accept wildcard characters: False
-Proxy

Uses a proxy server for the request, rather than connecting directly to the Internet resource. Enter the URI of a network proxy server.

Type: Uri
Position: Named
Default value: None
Accept pipeline input: False
Accept wildcard characters: False
-ProxyCredential

Specifies a user account that has permission to use the proxy server that is specified by the -Proxy parameter. The default is the current user.

Type a user name, such as "User01" or "Domain01\User01", "User@Domain.Com", or enter a PSCredential object, such as one generated by the Get-Credential cmdlet.

This parameter is valid only when the -Proxy parameter is also used in the command. You cannot use the -ProxyCredential and -ProxyUseDefaultCredentials parameters in the same command.

Type: PSCredential
Position: Named
Default value: None
Accept pipeline input: False
Accept wildcard characters: False
-ProxyUseDefaultCredentials

Indicates that the cmdlet uses the credentials of the current user to access the proxy server that is specified by the -Proxy parameter.

This parameter is valid only when the -Proxy parameter is also used in the command. You cannot use the -ProxyCredential and -ProxyUseDefaultCredentials parameters in the same command.

Type: SwitchParameter
Position: Named
Default value: None
Accept pipeline input: False
Accept wildcard characters: False
-ResponseHeadersVariable

Creates a Response Headers Dictionary and saves it in the value of the specified variable. The the keys of the dictionary will contain the field names of the Response Header returned by the web server and the values will be the respective field values.

Type: String
Aliases: RHV
Position: Named
Default value: None
Accept pipeline input: False
Accept wildcard characters: False
-SessionVariable

Specifies a variable for which this cmdlet creates a web request session and saves it in the value. Enter a variable name without the dollar sign ( $ ) symbol.

When you specify a session variable, Invoke-WebRequest creates a web request session object and assigns it to a variable with the specified name in your PowerShell session. You can use the variable in your session as soon as the command completes.

Unlike a remote session, the web request session is not a persistent connection. It is an object that contains information about the connection and the request, including cookies, credentials, the maximum redirection value, and the user agent string. You can use it to share state and data among web requests.

To use the web request session in subsequent web requests, specify the session variable in the value of the -WebSession parameter. PowerShell uses the data in the web request session object when establishing the new connection. To override a value in the web request session, use a cmdlet parameter, such as -UserAgent or -Credential . Parameter values take precedence over values in the web request session.

You cannot use the -SessionVariable and -WebSession parameters in the same command.

Type: String
Aliases: SV
Position: Named
Default value: None
Accept pipeline input: False
Accept wildcard characters: False
-SkipCertificateCheck

Skips certificate validation checks. This includes all validations such as expiration, revocation, trusted root authority, etc.

Warning : Using this parameter is not secure and is not recommended. This switch is only intended to be used against known hosts using a self-signed certificate for testing purposes. Use at your own risk.

Type: SwitchParameter
Position: Named
Default value: None
Accept pipeline input: False
Accept wildcard characters: False
-SkipHeaderValidation

Indicates the cmdlet should add headers to the request without validation.

This switch should be used for sites that require header values that do not conform to standards. Specifying this switch disables validation to allow the value to be passed unchecked. When specified, all headers are added without validation.

This will disable validation for values passed to both the -Headers and -UserAgent parameters.

Type: SwitchParameter
Position: Named
Default value: None
Accept pipeline input: False
Accept wildcard characters: False
-SslProtocol

Sets the SSL/TLS protocols that are permissible for the web request. By default all, SSL/TLS protocols supported by the system are allowed. -SslProtocol allows for limiting to specific protocols for compliance purposes.

-SslProtocol uses the WebSslProtocol Flag Enum. It is possible to supply more than one protocol using flag notation or combining multiple WebSslProtocol options with -bor , however supplying multiple protocols is not supported on all platforms.

Note : This feature may not work on OS platforms where libcurl is configured with a TLS provider other than OpenSSL.

Type: WebSslProtocol
Parameter Sets: Default, Tls, Tls11, Tls12
Position: Named
Default value: None
Accept pipeline input: False
Accept wildcard characters: False
-TimeoutSec

Specifies how long the request can be pending before it times out. Enter a value in seconds. The default value, 0, specifies an indefinite time-out.

A Domain Name System (DNS) query can take up to 15 seconds to return or time out. If your request contains a host name that requires resolution, and you set -TimeoutSec to a value greater than zero, but less than 15 seconds, it can take 15 seconds or more before a WebException is thrown, and your request times out.

Type: Int32
Position: Named
Default value: None
Accept pipeline input: False
Accept wildcard characters: False
-Token

The OAuth or Bearer token to include in the request. -Token is required by certain -Authentication options. It cannot be used independently.

-Token takes a SecureString containing the token. To supply the token manually use the following:

Invoke-RestMethod -Uri $uri -Authentication OAuth -Token (Read-Host -AsSecureString)

Type: SecureString
Position: Named
Default value: None
Accept pipeline input: False
Accept wildcard characters: False
-TransferEncoding

Specifies a value for the transfer-encoding HTTP response header. The acceptable values for this parameter are:

  • Chunked
  • Compress
  • Deflate
  • GZip
  • Identity
Type: String
Parameter Sets: chunked, compress, deflate, gzip, identity
Position: Named
Default value: None
Accept pipeline input: False
Accept wildcard characters: False
-UseBasicParsing

This parameter has been deprecated. Beginning with PowerShell 6.0.0, all Web requests use basic parsing only. This parameter is included for backwards compatibility only and any use of it will have no affect on the operation of the cmdlet.

Type: SwitchParameter
Position: Named
Default value: None
Accept pipeline input: False
Accept wildcard characters: False
-UseDefaultCredentials

Indicates that the cmdlet uses the credentials of the current user to send the web request. This cannot be used with -Authentication or -Credential and may not be supported on all platforms.

Type: SwitchParameter
Position: Named
Default value: None
Accept pipeline input: False
Accept wildcard characters: False
-UserAgent

Specifies a user agent string for the web request.

The default user agent is similar to Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Microsoft Windows 10.0.15063; en-US) PowerShell/6.0.0 with slight variations for each operating system and platform.

To test a website with the standard user agent string that is used by most Internet browsers, use the properties of the PSUserAgent class, such as Chrome, FireFox, InternetExplorer, Opera, and Safari.

For example, the following command uses the user agent string for Internet Explorer

Invoke-RestMethod -Uri http://website.com/ -UserAgent ([Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.PSUserAgent]::InternetExplorer)

Type: String
Position: Named
Default value: None
Accept pipeline input: False
Accept wildcard characters: False
-WebSession

Specifies a web request session. Enter the variable name, including the dollar sign ( $ ).

To override a value in the web request session, use a cmdlet parameter, such as -UserAgent or -Credential . Parameter values take precedence over values in the web request session. Content related headers, such as Content-Type , will be also be overridden when a MultipartFormDataContent object is supplied for -Body .

Unlike a remote session, the web request session is not a persistent connection. It is an object that contains information about the connection and the request, including cookies, credentials, the maximum redirection value, and the user agent string. You can use it to share state and data among web requests.

To create a web request session, enter a variable name (without a dollar sign) in the value of the -SessionVariable parameter of an Invoke-WebRequest command. Invoke-WebRequest creates the session and saves it in the variable. In subsequent commands, use the variable as the value of the -WebSession parameter.

You cannot use the -SessionVariable and -WebSession parameters in the same command.

Type: WebRequestSession
Position: Named
Default value: None
Accept pipeline input: False
Accept wildcard characters: False

Inputs

System.Object

You can pipe the body of a web request to Invoke-RestMethod .

Outputs

System.Int64, System.String, System.Xml.XmlDocument

The output of the cmdlet depends upon the format of the content that is retrieved.

Outputs

PSObject

If the request returns JSON strings, Invoke-RestMethod returns a PSObject that represents the strings.

Notes

Some features may not be available on all platforms.