Get the code representation of a workbook (Beta)

This documentation describes one or more public beta features that are in development. Beta features are subject to quick, iterative changes; therefore the current user experience in the Sigma service can differ from the information provided in this page.

This page should not be considered official published documentation until Sigma removes this notice and the beta flag on the corresponding feature(s) in the Sigma service. For the full beta feature disclaimer, see Beta features.

You can retrieve a code representation of an existing workbook by calling the Get a workbook endpoint with the workbookId for the workbook and the query parameter includeContents=true.

This document provides step-by-step instructions for using this endpoint to retrieve the representation of an existing workbook. For more information on working with workbooks programmatically, see Manage workbooks as code.

The workbook code representation does not support all workbook features. Unsupported features are silently dropped when you make a request to the Get a workbook endpoint. If you use a representation from that endpoint to create or update another workbook from code, it does not include the dropped features, even if they were present in the original workbook.

User requirements

The ability to retrieve a code representation of a workbook requires the following:

You must have developer credentials for the Sigma API. For more information, see Get started with the Sigma REST API.
You must be the document owner or be granted at least Can view access to the workbook.

Generate API client credentials and an API access token

To start, you must generate credentials for the Sigma API. These credentials are used to retrieve an access token, which is required to make requests to the API.

For step-by-step instructions on generating developer credentials in Sigma and using them to authenticate to the Sigma API, see the instructions in Generate client credentials.

Identify the workbook and retrieve the workbook ID

To retrieve the code representation of an existing workbook, you must know the unique workbookId for that workbook. After you identify the workbook you want to retrieve the representation for, you can call the List workbooks endpoint to retrieve the workbookId:

Go to your Home page.
In the navigation menu, select Documents.
Click the Document type filter and select Workbooks.

The list of your workbooks appears.
Identify the workbook you want to retrieve the representation for by name, owner, or other details.

Make a GET request to the List workbooks endpoint like the following:

List workbooks request format

curl --request GET \
    --url <base_url>/v2/workbooks \
    --header 'Authorization: Bearer <access_token>' \
    --header 'accept:application/json' \
    --header 'content-type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded'

The response includes a list of workbooks in your organization, in the following format:

List workbooks response format

{
  "entries": [
    {
      "workbookId": "<workbookId>",
      "workbookUrlId": "<workbookUrlId>",
      "createdBy": "<userId>",
      "updatedBy": "<userId>",
      "createdAt": "<timestamp>",
      "updatedAt": "<timestamp>",
      "name": "<workbookName>",
      "url": "<workbookUrl>",
      "path": "<folderPath>",
      "latestVersion": "<versionNumber>",
      "ownerId": "<userId>"
    },
    {
      "workbookId": "<workbookId>",
      "workbookUrlId": "<workbookUrlId>",
      "createdBy": "<userId>",
      "updatedBy": "<userId>",
      "createdAt": "<timestamp>",
      "updatedAt": "<timestamp>",
      "name": "<workbookName>",
      "tags": [
        {
          "versionTagId": "<versionTagId>",
          "name": "<tagName>",
          "taggedWorkbookId": "<workbookId>",
          "workbookTaggedAt": "<timestamp>",
          "sourceWorkbookVersion": "<versionNumber>"
        }
      ],
      "url": "<workbookUrl>",
      "path": "<folderPath>",
      "latestVersion": "<versionNumber>",
      "ownerId": "<userId>"
    }
  ],
  "hasMore": <boolean>,
  "total": <number>,
  "nextPage": null
}

Identify the workbook you want to retrieve the representation for, and copy the workbookId to pass to the Get a workbook endpoint.

Retrieve the representation

Using the workbookId, make a GET request to the Get a workbook endpoint with the query parameter includeContents=true, using the following format:

Get a workbook representation request format

curl --request GET \
    --url '<base_url>/v2/workbooks/<workbookId>?includeContents=true' \
    --header 'Authorization: Bearer <access_token>' \
    --header 'accept: application/json'

The response body contains the workbook metadata, the documentVersion the representation was read from, and the code representation of the workbook in the contents field.

To receive the response as YAML instead of JSON, add the query parameter format=yaml or the header Accept: application/yaml:

Get a workbook representation as YAML request format

curl --request GET \
    --url '<base_url>/v2/workbooks/<workbookId>?includeContents=true&format=yaml' \
    --header 'Authorization: Bearer <access_token>'

To retrieve an earlier version of the representation, add the documentVersion query parameter. Without it, the endpoint returns the most recently published version. A documentVersion that does not exist returns a 404 error.

To see an example of a workbook representation along with the instructions used to create it in the Sigma UI, see Example representation: Workbook with a table.