Resource Aliases

You can refer to all the resources with their system-generated IDs. In some cases, however, it may be easier to identify resources via more readily available aliases such as email addresses or via identifiers present in the UI. The Core API provides the following methods to make identifying resources simpler for you:

Resource aliases—A subset of resources can be accessed via more human readable aliases, such as an email address or phone number. This means you can make API requests to retrieve or update these resources using identifiers that might be more readily available to you.
Converting UI identifiers to system-generated identifiers—Refer to this section to learn how to take a UI identifier and convert it to its corresponding system-generated ID.

Resource aliases

Syntax

alt:ALIAS_NAME:ALIAS_VALUE

Example
https://api2.frontapp.com/teammates/alt:email:[email protected]

When you include the resource alias in the API endpoint, you will receive an HTTP 20X Success status if the resource exists with the specified alias. If you receive HTTP 404 Not Found, then the resource does not exist.

Supported API resources

You can use an alias for the following resources:

Resource	Alias	Example
Teammates	`email`	`alt:email:@planet-express.com` for the teammate with the email address [email protected]
Channels	`address`	`alt:address:[email protected]` for the channel with the address [email protected]
Contacts	Contacts can be identified with their source and handle. Refer to the list of sources on the Contacts page. You can also identify a contact's source/handles in the `handles` array returned in a Contact response.	`alt:twitter:@leela` for the contact having the twitter handle @leela `alt:phone:+12345678900` for the contact having the phone number +12345678900
Messages	Messages can be identified with their `uid`, which can be obtained from certain endpoints such as Receive custom messages .	`alt:uid:1eab543f84a0785f7b6b8967cck18f4d` for the message with the uid 1eab543f84a0785f7b6b8967cck18f4d
Accounts	Accounts can be identified with their `domain` or external ID (`ext_id`).	`alt:domain:example.com` for the Account with the domain example.com `alt:ext_id:abc123` for the Account with the external ID abc123

Convert UI identifiers to system-generated IDs

❗️
This is method is a useful tip, but is not officially supported
Front may opt to change how UI identifiers relate to system-generated identifiers, so do not build any critical logic based on this conversion.

If you have an identifier you have found in the Front UI via the URL, such as an inbox ID, you can convert this to the system-generated ID necessary for API calls using the following method:

Convert the numeric (base-10) URL ID into a base-36 string.
Attach the resource prefix to the converted string followed by an underscore
- The following are the prefixes for commonly used resources, but you can refer to the response examples in the Core API Reference to identify the prefixes for other resources.
  
  cnv_ → Conversations
  
  tag_ → Tags
  
  msg_ → Messages
  
  tea_ → Teammates
  
  rul_ → Rules
<resource prefix>_<base-36 converted string>

Example

The URL ID of your inbox is 30231326
Converting it to base-36 gives hzyn2
Adding the inbox prefix inb_ results in the system-generated ID necessary for API calls: inb_hzyn2