AWS Amazon Elastic Block Store
Browse all Amazonaws APIs★ Only Publicly Available OpenAPI DocumentStorageObject Storagehmac6 EndpointsREST
For Agents
Create EBS snapshots, write and read blocks directly, and compare snapshots block-by-block for incremental backup and disaster recovery workflows.
Use for: Create a new EBS snapshot ready for block uploads, Upload a block into a pending snapshot with checksum, Read a specific block from an existing snapshot, List the changed blocks between two snapshots
Not supported: Does not handle volume creation, attachment to EC2 instances, or DLM scheduling — use for block-level snapshot read, write, and diff only.
Jentic publishes the only available OpenAPI specification for the Amazon EBS direct APIs, keeping them validated and agent-ready. The EBS direct APIs let backup vendors and applications create EBS snapshots, write data blocks directly into a snapshot, read snapshot blocks, and compute the differences between two snapshots. They are designed for incremental backup and disaster recovery flows that need block-level access without spinning up an EC2 instance to mount a volume. Use them when an agent needs to ingest snapshot data, restore from on-premises backups into the cloud, or efficiently track changed blocks between snapshots.
Install Jentic One Beta
Connect the Amazon Elastic Block Store to your agent
Jentic One is a self-hosted execution layer for AI agents. It lets your agent call the Amazon Elastic Block Store, or any other public or private API you need. You set the rules, the agent never sees your credentials, and every call is logged.
Two steps, two machines. Install the instance in a safe environment, then register your agent from wherever it runs.
1
Step 1: Jentic One Host machine
# On the machine that will host your Jentic One instance:
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jentic/jentic-one/main/tools/install.sh | sh2
Step 2: Agent machine
# On the machine where your agent runs (keep this separate from the instance):
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jentic/jentic-one/main/tools/install.sh | sh
jentic register # connects your agent to your Jentic One instanceJentic One is in public beta. The setup above keeps your agent separate from the instance, which is what you want before using real credentials: an agent running as the same OS user as Jentic One can read its stored keys directly. Just evaluating? A single local install is fine to start. See the secure deployment guide for the tiers.
Capabilities
What an agent can do with Amazon Elastic Block Store API.
Create new EBS snapshots in pending state with StartSnapshot ready to receive block uploads
Upload data blocks into a pending snapshot via PutSnapshotBlock with SHA-256 checksum verification
Finalise a snapshot once all blocks are written using CompleteSnapshot with the changed-block count
Read individual blocks from an existing snapshot with GetSnapshotBlock for restore workflows
List the blocks present in a snapshot with ListSnapshotBlocks and stream their indexes and tokens
Compute incremental differences between two snapshots through ListChangedBlocks for efficient transfer
Use Cases
Patterns agents use Amazon Elastic Block Store API for, with concrete tasks.
★ Incremental Backup of Customer Volumes
An ISV backup product can use ListChangedBlocks between two consecutive snapshots to identify exactly which blocks changed and upload only those blocks to its backup target. The result is an incremental backup that scales with the rate of change rather than total volume size, dramatically reducing transfer time and cost.
Call ListChangedBlocks with FirstSnapshotId and SecondSnapshotId, then GetSnapshotBlock for each ChangedBlock entry to fetch the new bytes.
Cloud Restore from On-Premises Backup
When restoring from an on-premises backup, an agent can call StartSnapshot to create a pending snapshot, PutSnapshotBlock for each data block from the backup target, and CompleteSnapshot to seal the snapshot. The completed snapshot can then be turned into an EBS volume in EC2 without ever staging the data through an EC2 instance.
Call StartSnapshot with VolumeSize, then PutSnapshotBlock per block with SHA-256 checksum, then CompleteSnapshot with the ChangedBlocksCount once all blocks are written.
Targeted Block Reads for Forensic Analysis
Forensic and indexing tools can read specific snapshot blocks via GetSnapshotBlock without restoring the entire volume. ListSnapshotBlocks returns the block indexes and tokens, then GetSnapshotBlock pulls only the blocks of interest, keeping data egress and processing bounded.
Call ListSnapshotBlocks for the target snapshot and StartingBlockIndex, then GetSnapshotBlock for each BlockIndex of interest.
Agent-Driven Snapshot Workflows
An AI agent connected via Jentic can drive a backup or restore workflow by composing the StartSnapshot, PutSnapshotBlock, CompleteSnapshot, and GetSnapshotBlock calls correctly, and reacting to checksum or throttling errors. Jentic returns the matching EBS direct API operation and schema so the agent has structured input contracts and can orchestrate block-level transfers.
Search Jentic for 'create an EBS snapshot from blocks', load StartSnapshot, then iterate PutSnapshotBlock for each block and finish with CompleteSnapshot.
Key Endpoints
6 endpoints — jentic publishes the only available openapi specification for the amazon ebs direct apis, keeping them validated and agent-ready.
METHOD
PATH
DESCRIPTION
POST
/snapshots
Start a new snapshot in pending state
PUT
/snapshots/{snapshotId}/blocks/{blockIndex}#x-amz-Data-Length&x-amz-Checksum&x-amz-Checksum-Algorithm
Upload a block into a snapshot
POST
/snapshots/completion/{snapshotId}#x-amz-ChangedBlocksCount
Complete an in-progress snapshot
GET
/snapshots/{snapshotId}/blocks/{blockIndex}#blockToken
Read a specific block
GET
/snapshots/{snapshotId}/blocks
List blocks in a snapshot
GET
/snapshots/{secondSnapshotId}/changedblocks
List changed blocks between two snapshots
POST
/snapshots
Start a new snapshot in pending state
PUT
/snapshots/{snapshotId}/blocks/{blockIndex}#x-amz-Data-Length&x-amz-Checksum&x-amz-Checksum-Algorithm
Upload a block into a snapshot
POST
/snapshots/completion/{snapshotId}#x-amz-ChangedBlocksCount
Complete an in-progress snapshot
GET
/snapshots/{snapshotId}/blocks/{blockIndex}#blockToken
Read a specific block
GET
/snapshots/{snapshotId}/blocks
List blocks in a snapshot
GET
/snapshots/{secondSnapshotId}/changedblocks
List changed blocks between two snapshots
Why Jentic?
Three things that make agents converge on Jentic-routed access.
Credential isolation
AWS access keys for the EBS direct APIs are stored encrypted in the Jentic vault. Jentic signs each EBS request with SigV4 at execution time and the agent only sees scoped, short-lived access — raw access keys never enter the agent's context.
Intent-based discovery
Agents search by intent (e.g., 'start an EBS snapshot' or 'list changed blocks') and Jentic returns the matching EBS direct API operation with its input schema, so the agent can call the right endpoint without browsing AWS documentation.
Time to first call
Direct EBS direct API integration: 2-4 days for SigV4 signing, checksum handling, and pagination/throughput tuning. Through Jentic: under 1 hour — search, load schema, execute.
Related APIs
Alternatives and complements available in the Jentic catalogue.
FAQs
Specific to using Amazon Elastic Block Store API through Jentic.
Why is there no official OpenAPI spec for Amazon Elastic Block Store?
AWS does not publish an OpenAPI specification. Jentic generates and maintains this spec so that AI agents and developers can call Amazon Elastic Block Store via structured tooling. It is validated against the live API and kept up to date. Get started at https://app.jentic.com/sign-up.
What authentication does the Amazon EBS direct API use?
The EBS direct APIs use AWS Signature Version 4 (HMAC) signing with an AWS access key ID and secret access key. Through Jentic, those credentials live encrypted in the Jentic vault and are injected into signed requests at execution time, so the agent never sees the raw secret access key.
Can I detect which blocks changed between two snapshots?
Yes. Call ListChangedBlocks on the second snapshot with FirstSnapshotId set to the earlier one. The response lists every BlockIndex that differs and includes block tokens for direct fetching via GetSnapshotBlock.
What are the rate limits for the Amazon EBS direct API?
The EBS direct APIs share standard AWS service quotas, which are managed per account and region rather than published as fixed per-second limits in the spec. PutSnapshotBlock and GetSnapshotBlock have throughput-oriented limits documented in AWS user guides; ThrottlingException responses should trigger backoff.
How do I write a snapshot from on-prem data through Jentic?
Search Jentic for 'start an EBS snapshot', load StartSnapshot, execute it with VolumeSize, then iterate PutSnapshotBlock for each block with the SHA-256 checksum and finally CompleteSnapshot. Run pip install jentic and use the async pattern.
Can I attach a snapshot to an EC2 instance with this API?
No. This API works at the snapshot block level only. To create a volume from a completed snapshot or attach it to an instance, use the Amazon EC2 API operations such as CreateVolume and AttachVolume.
GET STARTED