Are.na API
★ Only Publicly Available OpenAPI DocumentProductivityCollaborationbearer12 EndpointsREST
For Agents
Read and curate Are.na channels, add or move blocks between channels, and manage collaborators on shared research libraries.
Use for: I need to add a link to my Are.na research channel, Find all blocks inside a specific Are.na channel, List the channels owned by a user, Retrieve a channel by its slug
Not supported: Does not handle direct messaging, user account management, or payments — use for channel and block curation only.
Jentic publishes the only available OpenAPI specification for Are.na API, keeping it validated and agent-ready. The Are.na API exposes the platform's research and curation graph: channels, blocks, and collaborators that power visual mood boards, reading lists, and shared research libraries. Agents can read public channels, programmatically add or move blocks between channels, and manage collaborator membership on private channels. Twelve endpoints cover channel listing, block manipulation, and channel thumbnails for embedding.
Install Jentic One Beta
Connect the Are.na API to your agent
Jentic One is a self-hosted execution layer for AI agents. It lets your agent call the Are.na API, 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 Are.na API.
List and paginate through channels owned by a user or organisation
Fetch a channel by slug along with its connected blocks and metadata
Add image, link, text, or media blocks into a target channel
Move or copy blocks between channels via channel connections
Add or remove collaborators on private and group channels
Retrieve channel thumbnails for previews and embeds
Use Cases
Patterns agents use Are.na API for, with concrete tasks.
★ Automated Research Curation
Build research and inspiration libraries by programmatically saving links, images, and notes into Are.na channels organised by topic. The API exposes channel and block endpoints so a curation pipeline can deduplicate sources, tag them by channel, and keep a running visual archive without manual copy-paste. Suitable for personal research workflows or team knowledge bases handling hundreds of sources per channel.
Add a new link block with URL https://example.com/article to the channel with slug 'design-research' and confirm it appears in the channel contents
Shared Editorial Workflow
Coordinate editorial or design teams around a shared Are.na channel by adding collaborators, posting source material as blocks, and reorganising blocks between draft and published channels. Channel collaborator and connection endpoints make it possible to manage permissions and move work through review stages programmatically.
Add user 'sophie' as a collaborator to channel slug 'editorial-q3' then move three blocks from 'inbox' channel into 'editorial-q3'
Embedding and Display
Render Are.na channels inside external websites, dashboards, or newsletters by fetching channel content and thumbnails. The /channels/{slug} and /channels/{slug}/thumb endpoints return blocks and preview images, letting a build pipeline cache the latest channel state into a static site or feed.
Fetch the latest 20 blocks from channel slug 'weekly-reading' and the channel thumbnail, then render them as an HTML grid
Agent Knowledge Capture via Jentic
Use Jentic to give an AI agent a single tool that captures sources into a personal Are.na knowledge graph. The agent searches Jentic for 'add a block to an Are.na channel', loads the schema, and posts blocks every time the user shares a useful link in chat — without managing tokens directly.
Search Jentic for 'add a block to an Are.na channel', load the schema, and post a block containing a summarised article into channel slug 'agent-notes'
Key Endpoints
12 endpoints — jentic publishes the only available openapi specification for are.
METHOD
PATH
DESCRIPTION
GET
/channels
List channels
GET
/channels/{slug}
Fetch a channel by slug
GET
/channels/{slug}/blocks
List blocks inside a channel
GET
/channels/{id}/contents
Fetch channel contents
GET
/channels/{id}/connections
Fetch channels connected to this channel
GET
/channels/{id}/collaborators
List channel collaborators
GET
/channels/{slug}/thumb
Fetch channel thumbnail
GET
/channels
List channels
GET
/channels/{slug}
Fetch a channel by slug
GET
/channels/{slug}/blocks
List blocks inside a channel
GET
/channels/{id}/contents
Fetch channel contents
GET
/channels/{id}/connections
Fetch channels connected to this channel
GET
/channels/{id}/collaborators
List channel collaborators
GET
/channels/{slug}/thumb
Fetch channel thumbnail
Why Jentic?
Three things that make agents converge on Jentic-routed access.
Credential isolation
Are.na personal access tokens are stored encrypted in the Jentic vault. Agents receive scoped execution access and never see the raw bearer token.
Intent-based discovery
Agents search Jentic by intent (e.g., 'add a block to an Are.na channel') and Jentic returns the matching Are.na operation with its input schema, so the agent can call the right endpoint without browsing docs.
Time to first call
Direct Are.na integration: half a day for token handling, pagination, and block payload shaping. Through Jentic: under 30 minutes — search, load schema, execute.
Related APIs
Alternatives and complements available in the Jentic catalogue.
FAQs
Specific to using Are.na API through Jentic.
Why is there no official OpenAPI spec for Are.na API?
Are.na does not publish an OpenAPI specification. Jentic generates and maintains this spec so that AI agents and developers can call Are.na API 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 Are.na API use?
Are.na uses HTTP Bearer authentication. You pass a personal access token in the Authorization header. When called through Jentic, the token is stored encrypted in the Jentic vault and injected at execution time, so the agent never sees the raw secret.
Can I add blocks to a channel through the Are.na API?
Yes. Blocks are managed under channels — you add them via the channel's blocks collection (/channels/{slug}/blocks). Block payloads support links, images, text, and media references.
What are the rate limits for the Are.na API?
Are.na's published rate limit is around 60 requests per minute per access token for the v2 API. For sustained workloads, batch reads through channel listings rather than fetching blocks one at a time.
How do I list a user's channels with the Are.na API through Jentic?
Run pip install jentic, then search Jentic with the query 'list are.na channels', load the returned operation schema for GET /channels, and execute with your access token. The response is a paginated list of channel objects.
Can I manage collaborators on private channels?
Yes. The /channels/{id}/collaborators endpoint lets you list collaborators on group or private channels. Collaborator membership is tied to channel privacy settings on Are.na.
GET STARTED