Pcloud

pCloud API Development Skill

Overview

pCloud is a cloud storage service exposing a REST-like HTTP JSON API and a binary protocol. Key capabilities:

• File management — Upload, download, copy, rename, delete, checksum
• Folder operations — Create, list (recursive), rename, delete, copy
• Sharing — Share folders with other users (view/edit permissions)
• Public links — Generate public download/streaming links for files and folders
• Media streaming — Direct file links, video transcoding, audio streaming, HLS
• Archiving — Create/extract ZIP archives server-side
• Thumbnails — Generate image/video thumbnails server-side
• Collections — Organize files into virtual collections
• Trash — List, restore, clear deleted items
• Revisions — List and revert file revisions
• Upload links — Create links allowing others to upload to your account
• Remote upload — Download files from URL directly into pCloud

API Endpoints (Data Centers)

[!IMPORTANT] pCloud operates two data centers. Use the correct hostname based on the user's data location.

After OAuth authorization, the redirect URL includes locationid and hostname parameters indicating which API endpoint to use for that user. Always store and use the correct hostname per user.

Authentication

OAuth 2.0 (Recommended)

Start at: https://my.pcloud.com/oauth2/authorize (US) or https://e.pcloud.com/oauth2/authorize (EU)

Two flows:

1. Code Flow (server apps) — Returns code via redirect → exchange for access_token using oauth2_token

   GET https://my.pcloud.com/oauth2/authorize?
     client_id=APP_ID&
     response_type=code&
     redirect_uri=REDIRECT_URI&
     state=RANDOM
   

   Redirect returns: ?code=XXXXX&locationid=1&hostname=api.pcloud.com Then call oauth2_token with the code + client_secret to get the bearer token.

2. Token Flow (client-side/mobile) — Returns access_token directly in redirect fragment

   GET https://my.pcloud.com/oauth2/authorize?
     client_id=APP_ID&
     response_type=token&
     redirect_uri=REDIRECT_URI
   

   Redirect returns: #access_token=XXXXX&token_type=bearer&locationid=1&hostname=api.pcloud.com

Using Auth Tokens

Pass the access_token as the auth parameter in every API call:

GET https://api.pcloud.com/listfolder?folderid=0&auth=ACCESS_TOKEN

Or use Authorization: Bearer ACCESS_TOKEN header.

Digest Login (Legacy)

1. Call getdigest to get a digest
2. Call userinfo with getauth=1&logout=1&username=EMAIL&digest=DIGEST&passworddigest=SHA1(PASSWORD+SHA1(USERNAME_LOWERCASE)+DIGEST)&authexpire=SECONDS
3. Response contains auth token

HTTP JSON Protocol

Request Format

All methods accept both GET and POST. Base URL: https://api.pcloud.com/METHOD_NAME

# GET request
curl -s -H "Authorization: Bearer TOKEN" "https://api.pcloud.com/listfolder?folderid=0"

# POST request
curl -s -X POST "https://api.pcloud.com/listfolder" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer TOKEN" \
  -d "folderid=0"

Response Format

// Success
{ "result": 0, ... }

// Error
{ "result": 2000, "error": "Log in required." }

File Upload

Use POST with multipart/form-data. Parameters must come before files:

curl -X POST "https://api.pcloud.com/uploadfile" \
  -F "auth=TOKEN" \
  -F "folderid=0" \
  -F "file=@/path/to/file.jpg"

Multiple files can be uploaded in a single request. Set renameifexists=1 to avoid overwriting.

Global Parameters

These optional parameters apply to all methods (omitted from per-method docs):

• auth — Authentication token
• authexpire — Token expiry in seconds (on login)
• authinactiveexpire — Expire after N seconds of inactivity
• device — Device identifier string

Core Concepts

Identifiers

• Folders: folderid (int) or path (string). Root folder is always folderid=0
• Files: fileid (int) or path (string)
• Both folderid/fileid and path are accepted; if both provided, folderid/fileid takes precedence

Metadata Structure

Every file/folder returns a metadata object:

{
  "name": "file.jpg",
  "isfolder": false,
  "fileid": 1729212,
  "parentfolderid": 0,
  "size": 73269,
  "contenttype": "image/jpeg",
  "category": 1,
  "created": "Wed, 02 Oct 2013 14:29:11 +0000",
  "modified": "Wed, 02 Oct 2013 14:29:11 +0000",
  "hash": 10681749967730527559,
  "isshared": false,
  "ismine": true,
  "thumb": true,
  "icon": "image"
}

Categories: 0=uncategorized, 1=image, 2=video, 3=audio, 4=document, 5=archive

Folder metadata includes contents array when returned by listfolder.

Media metadata may include: width, height, duration, fps, videocodec, audiocodec, videobitrate, audiobitrate, audiosamplerate, rotate.

Common Workflows

List folder contents

curl -s -H "Authorization: Bearer TOKEN" "https://api.pcloud.com/listfolder?folderid=0&recursive=1"

Upload a file

curl -s -H "Authorization: Bearer TOKEN" -F "folderid=0" -F "file=@photo.jpg" \
  https://api.pcloud.com/uploadfile

Get download link

curl "https://api.pcloud.com/getfilelink?fileid=123&auth=TOKEN"
# Returns: { "hosts": ["c123.pcloud.com"], "path": "/cfZka..." }
# Download URL: https://c123.pcloud.com/cfZka...

Share a folder

curl "https://api.pcloud.com/sharefolder?folderid=123&mail=user@example.com&permissions=edit&auth=TOKEN"

Create public link

curl "https://api.pcloud.com/getfilepublink?fileid=123&auth=TOKEN"

Detailed References

Load these references as needed:

• All API methods by category: See api-methods.md for complete method reference with parameters and descriptions
• SDK setup and usage: See sdks.md for JavaScript, PHP, Java, Swift, and C SDK details
• Error codes: See error-codes.md for error code table and troubleshooting