The API

The API gives you programmatic access to your project's finished articles, so you may build a publishing pipeline for a platform RankYak does not integrate with natively: a custom CMS, an in-house tool, a static site generator, or anything else that can make an HTTP request. This page explains what the API is for and how to manage access. The full endpoint reference lives at docs.rankyak.com, and the API is described by an OpenAPI specification if you would rather work from that.

What the API offers

The API is deliberately small. It lets you list your project's articles and fetch a single article, each with its title, content as HTML and Markdown, meta title and description, slug, header image URL, and publish dates. It also lets you report an article's external URL back to RankYak: the live address where you published it on your own site.

Reporting the external URL matters more than it may first appear. RankYak uses it to mark the article as published, and it is how RankYak locates and verifies your articles when your project takes part in the backlink exchange.

API keys

The API is disabled by default. To enable it, go to Settings, then Integrations, open the Developer zone, and click Enable next to the API. RankYak reveals the project's API key right away, and you may reveal it again later with Show API key. Every request authenticates with this key, passed in the X-Api-Key header.

Each project has its own key, and a key grants access to that project's articles only. You should treat it like a password. If a key is ever exposed, click Regenerate next to it: the old key stops working immediately and a new one takes its place, so remember to update anything that still uses the old key.

Pairing with webhooks

Typically, you should not poll the API to discover new articles. Instead, enable a webhook and RankYak posts each finished article to your endpoint the moment it is ready, using the same payload shape the API returns. A common pipeline receives the article through the webhook, creates the post on your platform, and then calls the API to report the live URL back. With those two pieces in place, a custom integration behaves much like a native one.

Disabling the API

To turn the API off, return to the same Developer zone section and click Disable. All requests are rejected from that moment on. Of course, you may enable the API again at any time.