devRant API overview
DevPlace exposes a second REST protocol under https://devplace.net/api that reproduces the public
devRant API shape on DevPlace data, so legacy devRant clients can run
against this server unchanged. Rants are DevPlace posts, comments and votes are the native
engagement layer, and every devRant action is funnelled through the same audited helpers as the
website (so XP, notifications, and soft-delete all apply).
This reference is split across focused pages:
- Authentication & accounts - login, registration, the token triple.
- Rants - feed, single rant, create, edit, delete, vote, favorite, search.
- Comments - read, post, edit, delete, vote.
- Users & avatars - profiles, username lookup, profile edit, avatars.
- Notifications - the notification feed.
- Client scripts - ready-to-run Python and JavaScript clients.
Base URL and shape
Every endpoint lives under https://devplace.net/api and returns JSON with a success boolean. On
success the payload sits beside it; on a logical failure the response is
{ "success": false, "error": "..." }. HTTP status is 200 for logical failures, except a bad
login which returns 400 (matching devRant). Requests accept parameters as query string
(GET/DELETE) or as a form body or JSON body (POST).
Integer IDs
devRant identifies everything by integer. DevPlace maps those directly onto the auto-increment
id that every table already carries, so rant_id is a post's id, comment_id is a comment's
id, and user_id is a user's id. There is no separate id space to track.
Authentication model
Write operations need the devRant token triple. POST /api/users/auth-token with a username (or
email) and password returns an auth_token object; you then send user_id, token_id, and
token_key with every request. Read endpoints (feed, single rant, search, profiles) work without
authentication. See Authentication & accounts.
Field mapping at a glance
| devRant concept | DevPlace mapping |
|---|---|
rant |
post (topic forced to rant; text is title + body when a title exists) |
tags |
stored verbatim on the post and returned as-is (falls back to [topic]) |
comment |
comment with target_type = post |
vote (1/-1/0) |
upvote / downvote / clear on the native vote layer |
favorite / unfavorite |
bookmark add / remove |
user_avatar |
a real PNG rendered from the username (see Users & avatars) |
profile.skills |
derived from the user bio (DevPlace has no separate skills field) |
Availability
The protocol is toggled by the devrant_api_enabled site setting (default on); when off, every
/api path returns 404. Legacy clients hard-coded to devrant.com reach this server only
through host routing (DNS / reverse-proxy), which is an infrastructure concern.