Virustotal API

VirusTotal API v3 — Agent Skill

Quick Orientation

VirusTotal (VT) is a threat intelligence platform that aggregates 70+ antivirus engines, 10+ dynamic analysis sandboxes, and numerous other security tools. Its REST API (v3) is the primary programmatic interface. The API is inspired by the JSON:API specification and returns JSON for all requests and responses, including errors.

Base URL: https://www.virustotal.com/api/v3

Authentication: Every request must include the header x-apikey: <YOUR_API_KEY>. Your key is found at https://www.virustotal.com/gui/my-apikey after signing into VirusTotal Community. Never pass the key as a query parameter — always use the header.

# Example: Get a file report by SHA-256
curl --request GET \
  --url https://www.virustotal.com/api/v3/files/{sha256} \
  --header 'x-apikey: YOUR_API_KEY' \
  --header 'accept: application/json'

# Python equivalent
import requests

url = "https://www.virustotal.com/api/v3/files/{sha256}"
headers = {"accept": "application/json", "x-apikey": "YOUR_API_KEY"}
response = requests.get(url, headers=headers)
print(response.json())

Free vs Enterprise — The Most Important Distinction

Almost every decision about what you can build with the VT API depends on which tier you have. The two tiers are Public API (free) and Premium API (paid, also called "Private API" or "VT Enterprise"). Throughout this skill and the VT docs, a 🔒 icon marks enterprise-only endpoints or relationships.

Public API (Free Tier)

Restrictions to emphasize:

• Cannot be used in commercial products or services.
• Cannot be used in business workflows that do not contribute new files.
• Registering multiple accounts to circumvent limits is prohibited.

Premium API (Enterprise Tier)

Additional enterprise capabilities:

• First/last submission dates, submission countries, file prevalence metadata.
• Sandbox behavior reports for Windows PE, DMG, Mach-O, APK.
• Rich relationships: embedded domains/IPs/URLs, carbonblack parents/children, etc.
• VT Graph API for link analysis.
• VT Monitor for software publishers and AV partners.
• User/group/quota management and audit logs.
• Service account management.

Response Format

Successful requests return HTTP 200 with this structure:

{
  "data": <response_data>
}

Where <response_data> is typically an object like:

{
  "type": "file",
  "id": "<sha256>",
  "links": { "self": "https://www.virustotal.com/api/v3/files/<sha256>" },
  "attributes": { ... }
}

For collections (lists), the response includes pagination:

{
  "data": [ ... ],
  "meta": { "cursor": "..." },
  "links": { "self": "...", "next": "..." }
}

Error Format

Errors return the appropriate HTTP status code (4xx for client errors, 5xx for server errors):

{
  "error": {
    "code": "NotFoundError",
    "message": "Resource \"xyz\" not found"
  }
}

Common error codes:

• AuthenticationRequiredError — missing or invalid x-apikey header
• WrongCredentialsError — API key is not valid
• ForbiddenError — insufficient privileges (e.g., free key hitting enterprise endpoint)
• NotFoundError — resource does not exist in VT dataset
• QuotaExceededError — rate limit or daily quota exceeded
• TooManyRequestsError — too many requests in a short period
• TransientError — temporary server issue, retry with backoff

Core Endpoint Categories

For the full endpoint reference with request/response details, read:

• references/endpoints-free.md — All endpoints available to free-tier users
• references/endpoints-enterprise.md — Enterprise-only endpoints (🔒)
• references/objects-and-relationships.md — API object schemas and relationship types

Endpoints Available to Free Users

These are the bread-and-butter endpoints most integrations use:

Files

• POST /files — Upload a file for scanning (max 32MB; use upload URL for larger)
• GET /files/upload_url — Get a URL for uploading files >32MB (up to 650MB)
• GET /files/{id} — Get a file report by hash (MD5, SHA-1, or SHA-256)
• POST /files/{id}/analyse — Request a rescan of a known file
• GET /files/{id}/comments — Get comments on a file
• POST /files/{id}/comments — Add a comment to a file
• GET /files/{id}/votes — Get votes on a file
• POST /files/{id}/votes — Cast a vote on a file
• GET /files/{id}/relationships/{relationship} — Get related objects

URLs

• POST /urls — Submit a URL for scanning
• GET /urls/{id} — Get a URL report (id = base64url of the URL without padding)
• POST /urls/{id}/analyse — Request a rescan
• Comments, votes, and relationships follow the same pattern as files

Domains

• GET /domains/{domain} — Get a domain report
• POST /domains/{domain}/rescan — Request a rescan
• Comments, votes, relationships

IP Addresses

• GET /ip_addresses/{ip} — Get an IP address report
• POST /ip_addresses/{ip}/rescan — Request a rescan
• Comments, votes, relationships

Comments (global)

• GET /comments — Get latest comments across VT
• GET /comments/{id} — Get a specific comment
• DELETE /comments/{id} — Delete your own comment

Analyses & Submissions

• GET /analyses/{id} — Get status/results of a scan analysis
• GET /submissions/{id} — Get a submission object

Search (basic)

• GET /search?query={query} — Basic search for files, URLs, domains, IPs, comments

Enterprise-Only Endpoints (🔒)

These require a premium API key. Attempting them with a free key returns ForbiddenError.

VT Intelligence (Advanced Search)

• GET /intelligence/search?query={query} — Full corpus search with modifiers
• GET /intelligence/search/snippets/{id} — Content search snippets

File Downloads

• GET /files/{id}/download_url — Get a time-limited download URL
• GET /files/{id}/download — Download the actual file bytes

VT Hunting

• Livehunt: CRUD for YARA rulesets, notification retrieval, file downloads
• Retrohunt: Create/manage retrohunt jobs, retrieve matches

VT Feeds

• File, URL, domain, IP, and sandbox analysis feeds (per-minute and hourly batches)

Private Scanning

• Upload and scan files/URLs privately (results not shared with VT community)

Collections (advanced)

• List all collections, export IOCs, export aggregations, search within collections

Zipping Files

• Create password-protected ZIPs of VT files for bulk download

Administration

• User/group/quota management, service accounts, audit logs

VT Monitor

• Software publisher and AV partner endpoints

VT Graph

• Create, search, update, delete graphs; manage viewer/editor permissions

Practical Examples

Example 1: Check if a file hash is malicious (Free)

import requests

API_KEY = "your_api_key_here"
FILE_HASH = "44d88612fea8a8f36de82e1278abb02f"  # EICAR test file MD5

url = f"https://www.virustotal.com/api/v3/files/{FILE_HASH}"
headers = {"x-apikey": API_KEY}
response = requests.get(url, headers=headers)

if response.status_code == 200:
    data = response.json()
    stats = data["data"]["attributes"]["last_analysis_stats"]
    print(f"Malicious: {stats['malicious']}, Undetected: {stats['undetected']}")
elif response.status_code == 404:
    print("File not found in VT database")
else:
    print(f"Error: {response.status_code} - {response.json()}")

Example 2: Submit a URL for scanning (Free)

import requests, base64

API_KEY = "your_api_key_here"
TARGET_URL = "https://example.com"

# Step 1: Submit the URL
headers = {"x-apikey": API_KEY, "content-type": "application/x-www-form-urlencoded"}
response = requests.post(
    "https://www.virustotal.com/api/v3/urls",
    headers=headers,
    data=f"url={TARGET_URL}"
)
analysis_id = response.json()["data"]["id"]

# Step 2: Poll for results
import time
time.sleep(30)  # Wait for analysis to complete

headers = {"x-apikey": API_KEY}
result = requests.get(
    f"https://www.virustotal.com/api/v3/analyses/{analysis_id}",
    headers=headers
)
print(result.json()["data"]["attributes"]["stats"])

# Alternative: look up the URL directly
url_id = base64.urlsafe_b64encode(TARGET_URL.encode()).decode().rstrip("=")
report = requests.get(
    f"https://www.virustotal.com/api/v3/urls/{url_id}",
    headers=headers
)

Example 3: Upload a file for scanning (Free)

import requests

API_KEY = "your_api_key_here"
FILE_PATH = "/path/to/suspicious_file.exe"

# For files <= 32MB, use the direct upload endpoint
with open(FILE_PATH, "rb") as f:
    response = requests.post(
        "https://www.virustotal.com/api/v3/files",
        headers={"x-apikey": API_KEY},
        files={"file": (FILE_PATH, f)}
    )
print(response.json()["data"]["id"])  # Analysis ID to poll later

# For files > 32MB, first get an upload URL
upload_url_resp = requests.get(
    "https://www.virustotal.com/api/v3/files/upload_url",
    headers={"x-apikey": API_KEY}
)
upload_url = upload_url_resp.json()["data"]
# Then POST the file to that URL instead

Example 4: VT Intelligence search (🔒 Enterprise)

import requests

API_KEY = "your_premium_api_key"

# Search for recently submitted PE files detected by 10+ engines
query = "type:peexe positives:10+ fs:2025-05-01+"
response = requests.get(
    "https://www.virustotal.com/api/v3/intelligence/search",
    headers={"x-apikey": API_KEY},
    params={"query": query, "limit": 20}
)

for item in response.json()["data"]:
    sha256 = item["id"]
    detections = item["attributes"]["last_analysis_stats"]["malicious"]
    print(f"{sha256}: {detections} detections")

# Paginate with cursor
next_link = response.json().get("links", {}).get("next")
if next_link:
    next_page = requests.get(next_link, headers={"x-apikey": API_KEY})

Example 5: Download a malware sample (🔒 Enterprise)

import requests

API_KEY = "your_premium_api_key"
SHA256 = "abc123..."

# Option A: Get download URL (time-limited)
resp = requests.get(
    f"https://www.virustotal.com/api/v3/files/{SHA256}/download_url",
    headers={"x-apikey": API_KEY}
)
download_url = resp.json()["data"]

# Option B: Direct download
resp = requests.get(
    f"https://www.virustotal.com/api/v3/files/{SHA256}/download",
    headers={"x-apikey": API_KEY}
)
with open(f"{SHA256}.bin", "wb") as f:
    f.write(resp.content)

Example 6: Retrieve sandbox behavior for a file (Free, but richer with Enterprise)

import requests

API_KEY = "your_api_key"
SHA256 = "abc123..."

# Get summary of all behavior reports
resp = requests.get(
    f"https://www.virustotal.com/api/v3/files/{SHA256}/behaviour_summary",
    headers={"x-apikey": API_KEY}
)
summary = resp.json()["data"]

# Get individual sandbox reports
resp = requests.get(
    f"https://www.virustotal.com/api/v3/files/{SHA256}/behaviours",
    headers={"x-apikey": API_KEY}
)
for report in resp.json()["data"]:
    sandbox = report["attributes"].get("sandbox_name", "unknown")
    print(f"Sandbox: {sandbox}")

Rate Limiting Best Practices

For free-tier users (4 req/min, 500 req/day):

1. Cache aggressively — VT reports don't change every second. Cache results for at least 15-60 minutes depending on your use case.
2. Batch with sleep — When processing multiple hashes, add a time.sleep(15) between requests to stay safely under 4/min.
3. Check before scanning — Always GET a report first before POSTing a new scan. The file or URL may already be in the database.
4. Use the analysis endpoint wisely — After submitting a scan, poll /analyses/{id} rather than repeatedly hitting the file/URL endpoint.

For enterprise users:

• Your limits are defined by your license. Check GET /users/{id}/api_usage for current consumption.
• Use concurrent requests and the feeds endpoints for large-scale processing.
• Use descriptors_only=true on search endpoints when you only need hashes.

Key Concepts

Objects — Everything in VT is an object with a type, id, attributes, and links. Object types include: file, url, domain, ip_address, comment, analysis, etc.

Relationships — Objects link to each other through relationships. For example, a file has relationships like contacted_domains, dropped_files, behaviours. Many relationship types are enterprise-only (🔒).

Collections — Ordered lists of objects returned by endpoints that produce multiple results. Collections support cursor-based pagination via the cursor parameter.

Descriptors — Lightweight references to objects (just type + id) used for efficient listing without fetching full attributes.

When to Read the Reference Files

Read references/endpoints-free.md when you need:

• Exact endpoint paths, HTTP methods, and parameters for free-tier endpoints
• Request/response examples for specific operations
• Relationship types available on each object for free users

Read references/endpoints-enterprise.md when you need:

• Enterprise-only endpoint details (Intelligence search, Hunting, Feeds, Private Scanning)
• Administration endpoints (user/group/quota management)
• VT Monitor and VT Graph specifics

Read references/objects-and-relationships.md when you need:

• Full attribute schemas for each object type
• Complete relationship map showing which relationships are free vs enterprise
• File object attribute details (PE info, sandbox verdicts, YARA results, etc.)