raindrop-api

name

raindrop-api

description

This skill provides comprehensive instructions for interacting with the Raindrop.io bookmarks service via its REST API using curl and jq. It covers authentication, CRUD operations for collections, raindrops (bookmarks), tags, highlights, filters, import/export, and backups. Use this skill whenever the user asks to work with their bookmarks from Raindrop.io, including reading, creating, updating, deleting, searching, or organising bookmarks and collections.

Raindrop.io API Skill

This skill enables interaction with the Raindrop.io bookmarks service through its REST API. Use curl and jq for direct REST calls.

Official API documentation: https://developer.raindrop.io/

Authentication

Token Resolution

Resolve the API token in this order:

1. Check environment variable RAINDROP_TOKEN
2. Check if the user has provided a token in the conversation context
3. If neither is available, use AskUserQuestion to request the token from the user

To verify a token exists in the environment:

[ -n "$RAINDROP_TOKEN" ] && echo "Token available" || echo "Token not set"

Quick setup: For personal use or development, generate a test token at https://app.raindrop.io/settings/integrations — open your app and copy the "Test token". Test tokens do not expire.

For full OAuth2 flow details, see the Authentication section below.

Making Authenticated Requests

All requests require the Authorization header with Bearer token:

curl -s -H "Authorization: Bearer $RAINDROP_TOKEN" \
  "https://api.raindrop.io/rest/v1/ENDPOINT"

For POST/PUT requests with JSON body:

curl -s -X POST \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $RAINDROP_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"key": "value"}' \
  "https://api.raindrop.io/rest/v1/ENDPOINT"

Verifying Authentication

Test the token by retrieving the current user:

curl -s -H "Authorization: Bearer $RAINDROP_TOKEN" \
  "https://api.raindrop.io/rest/v1/user" | jq '.user.fullName'

Base URL and Conventions

• Base URL: https://api.raindrop.io/rest/v1/
• Data Format: JSON for all request/response bodies
• Timestamps: ISO 8601 format
• Rate Limit: 120 requests per minute per authenticated user
• CORS: Supported for browser-based apps

Confirmation Requirement

Before executing any destructive action (DELETE, bulk update, move to trash), always ask the user for confirmation using AskUserQuestion. A single confirmation suffices for a logical group of related actions.

Destructive actions include:

• Deleting raindrops, collections, or tags
• Bulk updating or moving raindrops
• Merging or removing tags
• Removing collaborators from shared collections
• Clearing trash

Read-only operations (GET requests) do not require confirmation.

Endpoints Reference

Raindrops (Bookmarks)

Docs: https://developer.raindrop.io/v1/raindrops

Single Raindrop Operations

Operation	Method	Endpoint
Get raindrop	GET	/raindrop/{id}
Create raindrop	POST	/raindrop
Update raindrop	PUT	/raindrop/{id}
Remove raindrop	DELETE	/raindrop/{id}
Upload file	PUT	/raindrop/file
Upload cover	PUT	/raindrop/{id}/cover
Get permanent copy	GET	/raindrop/{id}/cache
Suggest (new URL)	POST	/raindrop/suggest
Suggest (existing)	GET	/raindrop/{id}/suggest

Docs: https://developer.raindrop.io/v1/raindrops/single

Raindrop creation/update fields:

• link (string, required for creation) - Bookmark URL
• title (string) - Bookmark title
• excerpt (string) - Short description
• note (string) - User notes (supports Markdown)
• tags (array of strings) - Tag names
• collection (object) - {"$id": collectionId}
• type (string) - link, article, image, video, document, audio
• important (boolean) - Mark as favourite
• order (number) - Sort order (ascending)
• media (array) - Media/thumbnail info
• highlights (array) - Text highlights
• cover (string) - Cover image URL, or <screenshot> for auto-capture
• pleaseParse (object) - {} to trigger background metadata parsing
• created (string) - ISO 8601 creation date
• lastUpdate (string) - ISO 8601 last update date
• reminder (object) - Reminder settings

Deletion behaviour: Removing a raindrop moves it to Trash (collection ID -99). Removing from Trash deletes permanently.

Multiple Raindrop Operations

Operation	Method	Endpoint
Get raindrops	GET	/raindrops/{collectionId}
Create multiple	POST	/raindrops
Update multiple	PUT	/raindrops/{collectionId}
Remove multiple	DELETE	/raindrops/{collectionId}
Export	GET	/raindrops/{collectionId}/export.{format}

Docs: https://developer.raindrop.io/v1/raindrops/multiple

collectionId values:

• 0 - All raindrops
• -1 - Unsorted
• -99 - Trash
• Any positive integer - Specific collection

Query parameters for GET /raindrops/{collectionId}:

• sort - Sort order: -created (default), created, score, -sort, title, -title, domain, -domain
• perpage - Results per page (max 50)
• page - Page number (0-indexed)
• search - Search query (see references/search-operators.md)
• nested - Boolean, include child collection bookmarks

Bulk update fields (PUT with ids array or search query):

• important (boolean)
• tags (array) - Appends tags; empty array clears all
• media (array) - Appends; empty array clears
• cover (string) - URL or <screenshot>
• collection (object) - {"$id": collectionId} to move

Export formats: csv, html, zip

Collections

Docs: https://developer.raindrop.io/v1/collections

Operation	Method	Endpoint
List root collections	GET	/collections
List child collections	GET	/collections/childrens
Get collection	GET	/collection/{id}
Create collection	POST	/collection
Update collection	PUT	/collection/{id}
Upload cover	PUT	/collection/{id}/cover
Delete collection	DELETE	/collection/{id}
Delete multiple	DELETE	/collections
Reorder/expand all	PUT	/collections
Merge collections	PUT	/collections/merge
Remove empty	PUT	/collections/clean
Empty trash	DELETE	/collection/-99
System collection counts	GET	/user/stats
Search covers/icons	GET	/collections/covers/{text}
Featured covers	GET	/collections/covers

Docs: https://developer.raindrop.io/v1/collections/methods

Collection fields:

• title (string) - Collection name
• view (string) - Display style: list, simple, grid, masonry
• public (boolean) - Public accessibility
• parent (object) - {"$id": parentCollectionId} for nesting
• sort (number) - Sort position
• cover (array) - Cover image URLs
• expanded (boolean) - Whether subcollections are expanded
• color (string) - Collection colour

System collections (non-removable):

• ID -1 - "Unsorted"
• ID -99 - "Trash"

Access levels (access.level):

• 1 - Read only
• 2 - Collaborator (write)
• 3 - Collaborator (write + manage)
• 4 - Owner

For sharing/collaborators, see references/collections-sharing.md.

Tags

Docs: https://developer.raindrop.io/v1/tags

Operation	Method	Endpoint
Get tags	GET	/tags/{collectionId}
Rename tag	PUT	/tags/{collectionId}
Merge tags	PUT	/tags/{collectionId}
Remove tag(s)	DELETE	/tags/{collectionId}

collectionId: Omit or use 0 for tags from all collections.

Get tags response:

{
  "result": true,
  "items": [{"_id": "tagname", "count": 42}]
}

Rename tag:

curl -s -X PUT \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $RAINDROP_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"replace": "new-name", "tags": ["old-name"]}' \
  "https://api.raindrop.io/rest/v1/tags/0"

Merge tags (same endpoint, multiple tags in array):

curl -s -X PUT \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $RAINDROP_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"replace": "merged-name", "tags": ["tag1", "tag2", "tag3"]}' \
  "https://api.raindrop.io/rest/v1/tags/0"

Remove tags:

curl -s -X DELETE \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $RAINDROP_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"tags": ["tag-to-remove"]}' \
  "https://api.raindrop.io/rest/v1/tags/0"

Highlights

Docs: https://developer.raindrop.io/v1/highlights

Operation	Method	Endpoint
Get all highlights	GET	/highlights
Get collection highlights	GET	/highlights/{collectionId}
Get raindrop highlights	GET	/raindrop/{id}
Add highlight	PUT	/raindrop/{id}
Update highlight	PUT	/raindrop/{id}
Delete highlight	PUT	/raindrop/{id}

For details, see references/highlights.md.

Filters

Docs: https://developer.raindrop.io/v1/filters

curl -s -H "Authorization: Bearer $RAINDROP_TOKEN" \
  "https://api.raindrop.io/rest/v1/filters/{collectionId}" | jq '.'

Use 0 for all collections. Returns aggregated counts for broken links, duplicates, favourites, untagged items, tags, and content types.

Query parameters:

• tagsSort - -count (default) or _id (alphabetical)
• search - Additional search filter

User

Docs: https://developer.raindrop.io/v1/user

Operation	Method	Endpoint
Get current user	GET	/user
Update user	PUT	/user

Import

Docs: https://developer.raindrop.io/v1/import

Operation	Method	Endpoint
Parse URL	GET	/import/url/parse?url={url}
Check URL existence	POST	/import/url/exists
Parse HTML bookmark file	POST	/import/file

Backups

Docs: https://developer.raindrop.io/v1/backups

Operation	Method	Endpoint
List backups	GET	/backups
Download backup	GET	/backup/{id}.{format}
Generate new backup	GET	/backup

Formats: html or csv

Authentication: OAuth2 Flow

Docs: https://developer.raindrop.io/v1/authentication/token

For apps accessing other users' data (not personal use), use the full OAuth2 flow:

Step 1: Authorise

Direct users to:

https://raindrop.io/oauth/authorize?client_id=YOUR_CLIENT_ID&redirect_uri=YOUR_REDIRECT_URI&response_type=code

Step 2: Exchange Code for Token

curl -s -X POST "https://raindrop.io/oauth/access_token" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "code": "AUTH_CODE",
    "client_id": "YOUR_CLIENT_ID",
    "client_secret": "YOUR_CLIENT_SECRET",
    "redirect_uri": "YOUR_REDIRECT_URI",
    "grant_type": "authorization_code"
  }' | jq '.'

Response:

{
  "access_token": "...",
  "refresh_token": "...",
  "expires_in": 1209599,
  "token_type": "Bearer"
}

Step 3: Refresh Token

Access tokens expire after two weeks. Refresh with:

curl -s -X POST "https://raindrop.io/oauth/access_token" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "client_id": "YOUR_CLIENT_ID",
    "client_secret": "YOUR_CLIENT_SECRET",
    "refresh_token": "YOUR_REFRESH_TOKEN",
    "grant_type": "refresh_token"
  }' | jq '.'

Error Handling

Check HTTP status codes:

• 200 - Success
• 204 - Success, no content
• 400 - Bad request
• 401 - Authentication failed (check token)
• 403 - Forbidden (insufficient permissions)
• 404 - Resource not found
• 429 - Rate limited (120 req/min exceeded)
• 5xx - Server error

Example with Error Handling

response=$(curl -s -w "\n%{http_code}" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $RAINDROP_TOKEN" \
  "https://api.raindrop.io/rest/v1/raindrops/0")

http_code=$(echo "$response" | tail -1)
body=$(echo "$response" | sed '$d')

if [ "$http_code" -ge 200 ] && [ "$http_code" -lt 300 ]; then
  echo "$body" | jq '.'
else
  echo "Error: HTTP $http_code"
  echo "$body"
fi

Common Patterns

List All Bookmarks in a Collection

curl -s -H "Authorization: Bearer $RAINDROP_TOKEN" \
  "https://api.raindrop.io/rest/v1/raindrops/COLLECTION_ID?perpage=50" | jq '.items[] | {title, link}'

Create a Bookmark

curl -s -X POST \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $RAINDROP_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "link": "https://example.com",
    "title": "Example Site",
    "tags": ["reference", "example"],
    "collection": {"$id": COLLECTION_ID},
    "pleaseParse": {}
  }' \
  "https://api.raindrop.io/rest/v1/raindrop" | jq '.'

Search Bookmarks

# Search across all collections
curl -s -H "Authorization: Bearer $RAINDROP_TOKEN" \
  "https://api.raindrop.io/rest/v1/raindrops/0?search=YOUR_QUERY" | jq '.items[] | {title, link}'

# Search with tag filter
curl -s -H "Authorization: Bearer $RAINDROP_TOKEN" \
  "https://api.raindrop.io/rest/v1/raindrops/0?search=%23tagname" | jq '.items[] | {title, link}'

See references/search-operators.md for the complete search query syntax.

Move Bookmark to a Collection

curl -s -X PUT \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $RAINDROP_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"collection": {"$id": TARGET_COLLECTION_ID}}' \
  "https://api.raindrop.io/rest/v1/raindrop/RAINDROP_ID" | jq '.'

Get All Tags

curl -s -H "Authorization: Bearer $RAINDROP_TOKEN" \
  "https://api.raindrop.io/rest/v1/tags/0" | jq '.items[] | {tag: ._id, count}'

Create a Collection

curl -s -X POST \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $RAINDROP_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"title": "My Collection", "view": "list"}' \
  "https://api.raindrop.io/rest/v1/collection" | jq '.'

List All Collections (Root + Children)

# Root collections
curl -s -H "Authorization: Bearer $RAINDROP_TOKEN" \
  "https://api.raindrop.io/rest/v1/collections" | jq '.items[] | {id: ._id, title}'

# Child collections
curl -s -H "Authorization: Bearer $RAINDROP_TOKEN" \
  "https://api.raindrop.io/rest/v1/collections/childrens" | jq '.items[] | {id: ._id, title, parent: .parent."$id"}'

Paginate Through All Bookmarks

page=0
while true; do
  response=$(curl -s -H "Authorization: Bearer $RAINDROP_TOKEN" \
    "https://api.raindrop.io/rest/v1/raindrops/0?perpage=50&page=$page")

  count=$(echo "$response" | jq '.items | length')
  echo "$response" | jq '.items[] | {title, link}'

  if [ "$count" -lt 50 ]; then
    break
  fi
  page=$((page + 1))
done

Export Bookmarks

# Export all bookmarks as CSV
curl -s -H "Authorization: Bearer $RAINDROP_TOKEN" \
  "https://api.raindrop.io/rest/v1/raindrops/0/export.csv" -o bookmarks.csv

# Export as HTML
curl -s -H "Authorization: Bearer $RAINDROP_TOKEN" \
  "https://api.raindrop.io/rest/v1/raindrops/0/export.html" -o bookmarks.html

Check if URL Already Saved

curl -s -X POST \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $RAINDROP_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"urls": ["https://example.com"]}' \
  "https://api.raindrop.io/rest/v1/import/url/exists" | jq '.'

Pagination

Raindrop uses page-based pagination (not cursor-based):

• page - Page number (0-indexed)
• perpage - Items per page (max 50, default 25 for highlights)

When the number of items returned is less than perpage, you have reached the last page.

Nested Collection Structure

Collections are organised hierarchically. Reconstructing the full sidebar requires:

1. GET /user - Returns groups array with collection ordering
2. GET /collections - Root collections
3. GET /collections/childrens - Nested collections

Root collection sort order is persisted in the user's groups[].collections array. Child collection sort order is stored in the collection's sort field.

Additional Reference

For detailed documentation on specific topics, consult:

• references/search-operators.md - Search query syntax and operators
• references/collections-sharing.md - Collection sharing and collaborators
• references/highlights.md - Highlight management

Workflow Summary

1. Resolve token - Environment, context, or ask user
2. Verify authentication - Test with GET /user
3. Read operations - Execute directly without confirmation
4. Write operations - Ask for confirmation before executing
5. Handle pagination - Loop with page number until items < perpage
6. Parse responses - Use jq to extract and format data