Related articles * [Official repositories web interface](/index.php/Official_repositories_web_interface "Official repositories web interface") The [AurJson](https://aur.archlinux.org/rpc.php) interface is a lightweight [RPC](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remote_procedure_call "w:Remote procedure call") interface for the [AUR](/index.php/AUR "AUR"). It utilizes HTTP GET queries as the request format, and [JSON](http://www.json.org/) as the response data exchange format. **Note:** This article describes v5 of the RPC Interface API, as released with AUR v4.2.0 on February 15, 2016. ## Contents * [1 API usage](#API_usage) * [1.1 Query types](#Query_types) * [1.1.1 search](#search) * [1.1.2 info](#info) * [1.2 Return types](#Return_types) * [1.2.1 error](#error) * [1.2.2 search](#search_2) * [1.2.3 info](#info_2) * [1.3 jsonp](#jsonp) * [2 Reference clients](#Reference_clients) * [3 Associated code](#Associated_code) ## API usage ### Query types There are two query types: * search * info #### search Package searches can be performed by issuing requests of the form: ``` /rpc/?v=5&type=search&by=*field*&arg=*keywords* ``` where `*keywords*` is the search argument and `*field*` is one of the following values: * `name` (search by package name only) * `name-desc` (search by package name and description) * `maintainer` (search by package maintainer) The `by` parameter can be skipped and defaults to `name-desc`. Possible return types are `search` and `error`. If a maintainer search is performed and the search argument is left empty, a list of orphan packages is returned. Examples: Search for `foobar`: ``` https://aur.archlinux.org/rpc/?v=5&type=search&arg=foobar ``` Search for packages maintained by `john`: ``` https://aur.archlinux.org/rpc/?v=5&type=search&by=maintainer&arg=john ``` Search with callback: ``` https://aur.archlinux.org/rpc/?v=5&type=search&arg=foobar&callback=jsonp1192244621103 ``` #### info Package information can be performed by issuing requests of the form: ``` /rpc/?v=5&type=info&arg[]=*pkg1*&arg[]=*pkg2*&… ``` where `*pkg1*`, `*pkg2*`, … are the exact matches of names of packages to retrieve package details for. Possible return types are `multiinfo` and `error`. Examples: Info for single `foobar` package: ``` https://aur.archlinux.org/rpc/?v=5&type=info&arg[]=foobar ``` Info for multiple `foobar` and `bar` packages: ``` https://aur.archlinux.org/rpc/?v=5&type=info&arg[]=foo&arg[]=bar ``` ### Return types The return payload is of one format, and currently has three main types. The response will always return a type so that the user can determine if the result of an operation was an error or not. The format of the return payload is: ``` {"version":5,"type":*ReturnType*,"resultcount":0,"results":*ReturnData*} ``` `*ReturnType*` is a string, and the value is one of: * `search` * `multiinfo` * `error` The type of `*ReturnData*` is an array of dictionary objects for the `search` and `multiinfo` `*ReturnType*`, and an empty array for `error` `*ReturnType*`. #### error The error type has an error response string as the return value. An error response can be returned from either a `search` or an `info` query type. Example of `*ReturnType*` `error`: ``` {"version":5,"type":"error","resultcount":0,"results":[],"error":"Incorrect by field specified."} ``` #### search The search type is the result returned from a search request operation. **The actual results of a search operation will be the same as an info request for each result. See the info section.** Example of `*ReturnType*` `search`: ``` {"version":5,"type":"search","resultcount":2,"results":[{"ID":206807,"Name":"cower-git", ...}]} ``` #### info The info type is the result returned from an info request operation. Example of `*ReturnType*` `multiinfo`: ``` { "version":5, "type":"multiinfo", "resultcount":1, "results":[{ "ID":229417, "Name":"cower", "PackageBaseID":44921, "PackageBase":"cower", "Version":"14-2", "Description":"A simple AUR agent with a pretentious name", "URL":"http:\/\/github.com\/falconindy\/cower", "NumVotes":590, "Popularity":24.595536, "OutOfDate":null, "Maintainer":"falconindy", "FirstSubmitted":1293676237, "LastModified":1441804093, "URLPath":"\/cgit\/aur.git\/snapshot\/cower.tar.gz", "Depends":[ "curl", "openssl", "pacman", "yajl" ], "MakeDepends":[ "perl" ], "License":[ "MIT" ], "Keywords":[] }] } ``` ### jsonp If you are working with a javascript page, and need a json callback mechanism, you can do it. You just need to provide an additional callback variable. This callback is usually handled via the javascript library, but here is an example. Example Query: ``` https://aur.archlinux.org/rpc/?v=5&type=search&arg=foobar&callback=jsonp1192244621103 ``` Example Result: ``` /**/jsonp1192244621103({"version":5,"type":"search","resultcount":1,"results":[{"ID":250608,"Name":"foobar2000","PackageBaseID":37068,"PackageBase":"foobar2000","Version":"1.3.9-1","Description":"An advanced freeware audio player (uses Wine).","URL":"http:\/\/www.foobar2000.org\/","NumVotes":39,"Popularity":0.425966,"OutOfDate":null,"Maintainer":"supermario","FirstSubmitted":1273255356,"LastModified":1448326415,"URLPath":"\/cgit\/aur.git\/snapshot\/foobar2000.tar.gz"}]}) ``` This would automatically call the JavaScript function `jsonp1192244621103` with the parameter set to the results of the RPC call. ## Reference clients Sometimes things are easier to understand with examples. A few reference implementations (jQuery, python, ruby) are available at the following url: [https://github.com/cactus/random/tree/2b72a1723bfc8ae64eed6a3c40cb154accae3974/aurjson_examples](https://github.com/cactus/random/tree/2b72a1723bfc8ae64eed6a3c40cb154accae3974/aurjson_examples) ## Associated code * The [python3-aur](https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/python3-aur/) package provides [python](/index.php/Python "Python") modules for interacting with the remote AUR JSON interface, among other AUR services. See [python3-aur](http://xyne.archlinux.ca/projects/python3-aur/) for details.