API v4

The Splits.io API supports retrieving runs, runners, games, and categories, as well as uploading, disowning, and deleting runs and managing races.

Authentication & authorization

Simple auth (run uploads only)

If the only thing you need to do on behalf of users is upload runs, you can do so anonymously then send the user to the "claim URI" in the response's uris.claim_uri field. Sending a logged-in user here will cause the run to be claimed to their account. Sending a logged-out user here will save the secret to browser local storage and prompt the user to sign in to claim the run. They may do so immediately or at any later time.

The user must open the claim URI in their web browser for it to become theirs. If you need to upload runs without this user intervention or want to do more with auth than uploading runs, use the OAuth option.

OAuth (general purpose)

Splits.io supports the standard OAuth2 flow. You can request permission from the user to upload runs to their account or perform other actions on their behalf. If they accept, you will receive an OAuth token which you can include in your API requests in order to perform actions as that user.

The following instructions go into naive-case details about implementing this OAuth support in your application. If you want to learn more about OAuth or need general OAuth troubleshooting help, you can research OAuth2 online. Especially if your application is a website, it's likely that the language you're using has well-established libraries that handle much of the below OAuth flow for you. Look into those solutions first to take the gruntwork out.

In all cases, you'll need to first go to your Splits.io account's settings page and create an application, then refer to the relevant section below.

Note: Once you have an OAuth token, you can use a request like this to retrieve information about it:

GET https://splits.io/oauth/token/info?access_token=YOUR_TOKEN

Scopes

Below is a list of all the possible scopes your application can request along with a brief description. You can specify multiple scopes by separating them with spaces in the auth token request.

Scope	Description	Endpoints
`upload_run`	Upload runs on behalf of the user	`POST https://splits.io/api/v4/runs`
`delete_run`	Delete or disown runs on behalf of the user	`DELETE https://splits.io/api/v4/runs/:run_id` and `DELETE https://splits.io/api/v4/runs/:run_id/user` respectively
`manage_race`	Participate in races and chat on behalf of the user	See Race

Example 1: My application is an app that runs on the user's device

If your application runs locally as an app or program on the user's device, you should use OAuth's authorization code grant flow. This means your application will open the Splits.io authorization page in the user's default browser, and if the user accepts the authorization, Splits.io will give your application a code which you should immediately exchange for an OAuth token using a secure API request.

Configure your program to run a small web server on a port of your choosing, and listen for GET requests to a path of your choosing. In this example, let's say you're listening on port 8000 for requests to /auth/splitsio.
On your Splits.io settings page, set your redirect_uri to something like
```
http://localhost:8000/auth/splitsio
```
When a user wants to grant authorization to your application for their Splits.io account, send them to a URL like this:
```
https://splits.io/oauth/authorize?response_type=code&scope=upload_run&redirect_uri=http://localhost:8000/auth/splitsio&client_id=YOUR_CLIENT_ID
```
If the user authorizes your application, they will be redirected to a URL like
```
http://localhost:8000/auth/splitsio?code=YOUR_CODE
```
which the web server you set up in step 1 should respond to. Give the user a nice-looking HTML page saying to switch back to the application. Have your application strip the code URL parameter for the next step.
Use your code to make this request:
```
POST https://splits.io/oauth/token
```
with this body:
```
grant_type=authorization_code
client_id=YOUR_CLIENT_ID
client_secret=YOUR_CLIENT_SECRET
code=YOUR_CODE
redirect_uri=http://localhost:8000/auth/splitsio
```
which will respond with something like this:
```
{
  "access_token": "0e82e0ac69fed3c6e5044682a9eb94ccded5ace70e84838104a131cb50595cd2",
  "token_type": "bearer",
  "expires_in": 7200,
  "refresh_token": "0e23b095e0d0104ff0642cde71b61d236f3b3865734a0e734714ecd45b25106c",
  "scope": "upload_run",
  "created_at": 1499314941
}
```
Success! access_token is your OAuth token for the user. Use it in your API requests to act on behalf of the user by including this header in your requests:
```
Authorization: Bearer YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN
```
or by including an access_token=YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN parameter.

The access token expires after the duration specified in expires_in (measured in seconds). After it expires, you can retrieve a new one with no user intervention using the returned refresh_token:
```
POST https://splits.io/oauth/token
```
```
grant_type=refresh_token
refresh_token=YOUR_REFRESH_TOKEN
client_id=YOUR_CLIENT_ID
client_secret=YOUR_CLIENT_SECRET
```
This will return a new access token (and a new refresh token -- update yours!) in a body format identical to original grant (above).

This style of expiring access tokens periodically and using refresh tokens to replace them improves security by making it obvious when a user's stolen credentials are in use. See RFC 6749 for more information on refresh tokens.

Example 2: My application is an all-JavaScript website

If your application is an in-browser JavaScript application with little or no logic performed by a backend server, you should use OAuth's implicit grant flow.

On your Splits.io settings page, set your redirect_uri to where you want users to land after going through the authorization flow. For this example, we'll use
```
https://YOUR_WEBSITE/auth/splitsio
```
When a user wants to grant authorization to your application for their Splits.io account, send them to a URL like this:
```
https://splits.io/oauth/authorize?response_type=token&scope=upload_run&redirect_uri=https://YOUR_WEBSITE/auth/splitsio&client_id=YOUR_CLIENT_ID
```
If the user authorizes your application, they will be redirected to a URL like
```
https://YOUR_WEBSITE/auth/splitsio#access_token=YOUR_TOKEN
```
Success! access_token is your OAuth token for the user. Use it in your API requests to act on behalf of the user by including this header in your requests:
```
Authorization: Bearer YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN
```
The access token expires after the duration specified in expires_in (measured in seconds). After it expires, you can retrieve a new one with no user intervention using redirection upon accessing your app, or a hidden iframe to invisibly take the user through the authorization flow. If the user is still authorized, no user interaction will be required and you can strip your new access token from the URL fragment.

This style of expiring access tokens periodically improves security by limiting the usability of any stolen credentials.

Example 3: My application is a website

If your application is a website with a backend component, you should use OAuth's authorization code grant flow. This means your website will link the user to the Splits.io authorization page, and if the user accepts the authorization, Splits.io will give your application a code which it will immediately exchange for an OAuth token using a secure API request.

On your Splits.io settings page, set your redirect_uri to where you want users to land after going through the authorization flow. For this example, we'll use
```
https://YOUR_WEBSITE/auth/splitsio
```
When a user wants to grant authorization to your application for their Splits.io account, send them to a URL like this:
```
https://splits.io/oauth/authorize?response_type=code&scope=upload_run&redirect_uri=https://YOUR_WEBSITE/auth/splitsio&client_id=YOUR_CLIENT_ID
```
If the user authorizes your application, they will be redirected to a URL like
```
https://YOUR_WEBSITE/auth/splitsio?code=YOUR_CODE
```
Have your application strip the code URL parameter for the next step.
Use your code to make this request:
```
POST https://splits.io/oauth/token
```
with this body:
```
grant_type=authorization_code
client_id=YOUR_CLIENT_ID
client_secret=YOUR_CLIENT_SECRET
code=YOUR_CODE
redirect_uri=http://localhost:8000/auth/splitsio
```
which will respond with something like this:
```
{
  "access_token": "0e82e0ac69fed3c6e5044682a9eb94ccded5ace70e84838104a131cb50595cd2",
  "token_type": "bearer",
  "expires_in": 7200,
  "refresh_token": "0e23b095e0d0104ff0642cde71b61d236f3b3865734a0e734714ecd45b25106c",
  "scope": "upload_run",
  "created_at": 1499314941
}
```
Success! access_token is your OAuth token for the user. Use it in your API requests to act on behalf of the user by including this header in your requests:
```
Authorization: Bearer YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN
```
The access token expires after the duration specified in expires_in (measured in seconds). After it expires, you can retrieve a new one with no user intervention using the returned refresh_token:
```
POST https://splits.io/oauth/token
```
```
grant_type=refresh_token
refresh_token=YOUR_REFRESH_TOKEN
client_id=YOUR_CLIENT_ID
client_secret=YOUR_CLIENT_SECRET
```
This will return a new access token (and a new refresh token -- update yours!) in a body format identical to original grant (above).

This style of expiring access tokens periodically and using refresh tokens to replace them improves security by making it obvious when a user's stolen credentials are in use. See RFC 6749 for more information on refresh tokens.

Pagination

Some responses are paginated. You can tell by inspecting the Link header in the response, which will look something like this for paginated responses:

link: <https://splits.io/api/v4/games/oot/runs?page=1>; rel="first", <https://splits.io/api/v4/games/oot/runs?page=1>; rel="prev", <https://splits.io/api/v4/games/oot/runs?page=91>; rel="last", <https://splits.io/api/v4/games/oot/runs?page=3>; rel="next"

first refers to the first page, last to the last page, prev to the page before the one being returned, and next to the page after the one being returned. None of these are guaranteed to be present, for example when returning the first page you shouldn't expect a prev or first link to be present.

Resource types

Run

curl https://splits.io/api/v4/runs/:run
curl https://splits.io/api/v4/runs/:run?historic=1

A Run maps 1:1 to an uploaded splits file. Its canonical ID string is a base 36 number, e.g. "1b" "3nm" "1vr", which you should substitite any time you see :run in these docs.

Structure of a Run

Autogenerated JSON Schema documentation

Field	Type	Null?	Description
`id`	string	never	Unique ID for identifying the run on Splits.io. This can be used to construct a user-facing URL or an API-facing one.
`srdc_id`	string	when no associated speedrun.com run	Unique ID for identifying the run on Speedrun.com. This is typically supplied by the runner manually.
`realtime_duration_ms`	number	never	Realtime duration in milliseconds of the run.
`realtime_sum_of_best_ms`	number	never	Realtime sum of best in milliseconds of the run.
`gametime_duration_ms`	number	never	Gametime duration in milliseconds of the run.
`gametime_sum_of_best_ms`	number	never	Gametime sum of best in milliseconds of the run.
`default_timing`	string	never	The timing used for the run. Will be either `real` or `game`.
`program`	string	never	The name of the timer with which the run was recorded. This is typically an all lowercase, no-spaces version of the program name.
`attempts`	number	when not supported by the source timer	The number of run attempts recorded by the timer that generated the run's source file.
`image_url`	string	when not supplied by runner	A screenshot of the timer after a finished run. This is typically supplied automatically by timers which support auto-uploading runs to Splits.io.
`parsed_at`	string	when not yet parsed	The time and date at which this run's source file was finished being parsed by Splits.io. This field conforms to ISO 8601.
`created_at`	string	never	The time and date at which this run's source file was uploaded to Splits.io. This field conforms to ISO 8601.
`updated_at`	string	never	The time and date at which this run was most recently modified on Splits.io (modify events include disowning, adding a video or speedrun.com association, and changing the run's game/category). This field conforms to ISO 8601.
`video_url`	string	when not supplied by runner	A URL for a Twitch, YouTube, or Hitbox video which can be used as proof of the run. This is supplied by the runner.
`game`	Game	when unable to be determined / not supplied by runner	The game which was run. An attempt is made at autodetermining this from the source file, but it can be later changed by the runner.
`category`	[Category][cagegory]	when unable to be determined / not supplied by runner	The category which was run. An attempt is made at autodetermining this from the source file, but it can be later changed by the runner.
`runners`	array of Runners	never	The runner(s) who performed the run, if they claim credit.
`segments`	array of Segments	never	The associated segments for the run.

If a historic=1 param is included in the request, one additional field will be present:

Field	Type	Null?	Description
`histories`	array of History objects	never	Ordered history objects of all previous runs. The first item is the first run recorded by the runner's timer into the source file. The last item is the most recent one. This field is only nonempty if the source timer records history.

Segment

A Segment maps to a single piece of a run, also called a split. Its canonical ID string is a UUID, e.g. "c198a25f-9f8a-43cd-92ab-472a952f9336", which you should substitite any time you see :segment in these docs.

Segment objects have the following format:

Autogenerated JSON Schema documentation

Field	Type	Null?	Description
`id`	string	never	Internal ID of the segment.
`name`	string	never	Name of the segment. This value is an exact copy of timers' fields.
`display_name`	string	never	Name of the segment without any subsplit-related naming tools.
`segment_number`	number	never	The segment number of the run. (This value starts at 0)
`realtime_start_ms`	number	never	The total elapsed time of the run at the moment when this segment was started in realtime. Provided in milliseconds.
`realtime_duration_ms`	number	never	Realtime duration in milliseconds of the segment.
`realtime_end_ms`	number	never	The total elapsed time of the run at the moment when this segment was finished in realtime (such that the run's duration is equal to the final split's finish time). Provided in milliseconds.
`realtime_shortest_duration_ms`	number	when not known	The shortest duration the runner has ever gotten on this segment in realtime. Provided in milliseconds.
`realtime_gold`	boolean	never	Whether or not this split was the shortest duration the runner has ever gotten on this segment in realtime. This field is shorthand for `realtime_duration_ms == realtime_shortest_duration_ms`.
`realtime_skipped`	boolean	never	Whether or not this split was skipped in realtime -- some timers let the runner skip over a split in case they forgot to hit their split button on time. Beware that a skipped split's duration is considered `0`, and instead is rolled into the following split.
`realtime_reduced`	boolean	never	Whether or not this segment was "reduced" in realtime; that is, had its duration affected by previous splits being skipped.
`gametime_start_ms`	number	never	The total elapsed time of the run at the moment when this segment was started in gametime. Provided in milliseconds.
`gametime_duration_ms`	number	never	Gametime duration in milliseconds of the segment.
`gametime_end_ms`	number	never	The total elapsed time of the run at the moment when this segment was finished in gametime (such that the run's duration is equal to the final split's finish time). Provided in milliseconds.
`gametime_shortest_duration_ms`	number	when not known	The shortest duration the runner has ever gotten on this segment in gametime. Provided in milliseconds.
`gametime_gold`	boolean	never	Whether or not this split was the shortest duration the runner has ever gotten on this segment in gametime. This field is shorthand for `duration == best`.
`gametime_skipped`	boolean	never	Whether or not this split was skipped in gametime -- some timers let the runner skip over a split in case they forgot to hit their split button on time. Beware that a skipped split's duration is considered `0`, and instead is rolled into the following split.
`gametime_reduced`	boolean	never	Whether or not this segment was "reduced" in gametime; that is, had its duration affected by previous splits being skipped.

If a historic=1 param is included in the request, one additional field will be present:

Field	Type	Null?	Description
`histories`	array of History objects	never	Ordered history objects of all previous runs. The first item is the first run recorded by the runner's timer into the source file. The last item is the most recent one. This field is only nonempty if the source timer records history.

History

History objects have the following format.

Field	Type	Null?	Description
`attempt_number`	number	never	The corresponding attempt number this attempt was.
`realtime_duration_ms`	number	never	The realtime duration this attempt took in milliseconds.
`gametime_duration_ms`	number	never	The gametime duration this attempt took in milliseconds.
`started_at`	string	when not known	The date and time of when the attempt started. This field conforms to ISO 8601.
`ended_at`	string	when not known	The date and time of when the attempt ended. This field conforms to ISO 8601.

Getting runs in specific formats

Splits.io can render many different formats other than JSON. To get one, pass an Accept header with the format you want.

`Accept` Header Passed	Return Format	Return `Content-Type`
None	JSON	`application/json`
`application/json`	JSON	`application/json`
`application/splitsio`	Splits.io Exchange Format	`application/splitsio`
`application/wsplit`	WSplit	`application/wsplit`
`application/time-split-tracker`	Time Split Tracker	`application/time-split-tracker`
`application/splitterz`	SplitterZ	`application/splitterz`
`application/livesplit`	LiveSplit	`application/livesplit`
`application/urn`	Urn	`application/urn`
`application/llanfair-gered`	Llanfair-Gered	`application/llanfair-gered`
`application/original-timer`	Original Run File	One of the following `Content-Type`s

If the Accept header is application/original-timer, the source file for the run will be returned as-is, in whatever type it was in at the time of upload. This may even be a format not listed above, as Splits.io can recognize and parse some types that it can't convert into. In only this case, the Content-Type may be one of these addditional values:

application/shitsplit
application/splitty
application/llanfair2
application/facesplit
application/portal-2-live-timer
application/llanfair
application/source-live-timer
application/worstrun

Uploading runs

curl -X POST https://splits.io/api/v4/runs # then...
curl -X POST https://s3.amazonaws.com/splits.io --form file=@/path/to/file # some fields not shown; see below

Uploading runs is a two-step process. Splits.io stores runs on S3, so in the first request you'll tell Splits.io you're about to upload a run, then in the second you'll upload it directly to S3 using some parameters returned from the first. The two-request system is faster for you (the run is transferred once, not twice) and more resilient for us.

The first request will return a body like

{
  "status": 201,
  "message": "Run reserved. Use the included presigned request to upload the file to S3, with an additional `file` field containing the run file.",
  "id": "rez",
  "claim_token": "pBeUPBM9IaWqbaF11ocUksXS",
  "uris": {
    "api_uri": "https://splits.io/api/v4/runs/rez",
    "public_uri": "https://splits.io/rez",
    "claim_uri": "https://splits.io/rez?claim_token=pBeUPBM9IaWqbaF11ocUksXS"
  },
  "presigned_request": {
    "method": "POST",
    "uri": "https://s3.amazonaws.com/splits.io",
    "fields": {
      "key": "splits/rez",
      "policy": "gibberish",
      "x-amz-credential": "other gibberish",
      "x-amz-algorithm": "more gibberish",
      "x-amz-date": "even more gibberish",
      "x-amz-signature": "most gibberish"
    }
  }
}

The above example would have your second request look like

# Uploads must be multipart requests (in curl: -F or --form, NOT -d or --data)
curl -X POST https://s3.amazonaws.com/splits.io \
  --form key="splits/rez" \
  --form policy="gibberish" \
  --form x-amz-credential="other gibberish" \
  --form x-amz-algorithm="more gibberish" \
  --form x-amz-date="even more gibberish" \
  --form x-amz-signature="most gibberish" \
  --form file='Your run here, e.g. a JSON object if using the Splits.io Exchange Format'

Or if your run is a file on disk, the last line would instead be:

  --form file=@/path/to/file

Note: Parameter order matters! Follow the order above if you're getting errors.

This is called a presigned request. Each field above except file is directly copied from the response of the first request. You don't need to care about the contents of the fields; they serve as authorization for you to upload a file to S3. Each presigned request can only be made once.

File Format

The preferred format for uploading run files is the Splits.io Exchange Format, which is a standard JSON schema not specific to any one timer. Splits.io also knows how to parse some proprietary timer formats via livesplit-core, documented in the FAQ.

Replacing source files

Occasionally you may want to update an existing run's source file to a newer version, such as when a runner splits and you are reporting splits in realtime (like in a race). You can do this using the same two-request system as above but changing your method and path to

PUT https://splits.io/api/v4/run/:run/source_file

and following the same steps as above to upload to S3. Splits.io will automatically parse the new file and update the run.

Note: When uploading in-progress source files in the Splits.io Exchange Format include all splits as normal, but do not include the endedAt field for unreached segments.

Splitting

# Non-race runs
curl -X POST https://splits.io/api/v4/runs/:run/splits \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"split": {"realtime_end_ms": 123456, "gametime_end_ms:" 123456}}'

# Race runs
curl -X POST https://splits.io/api/v4/races/:race/entries/:entry/splits?more=1
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"split": {"realtime_end_ms": 123456, "gametime_end_ms:" 123456}}'

If you want to split an in-progress run without re-uploading the entire thing (as in Uploading runs -> Replacing source files above), you can split using this endpoint.

This is a relatively handsfree endpoint. It will find the first segment without a time recorded, and attach the given realtime_end_ms and/or gametime_end_ms to it; each representing the total number of elapsed milliseconds in the entire run at the time the segment was completed. Other fields like golds, durations, and starts will be calculated automatically.

If you want to skip a split, just submit null for both realtime_duration_ms and gametime_duration_ms.

If you need more control over your segments than this endpoint provides, you should instead replace the run's source file entirely (see Uploading runs -> Replacing source files above).

Race runs vs non-race runs

At the top of this section there are two equivalent splitting endpoints listed; one for normal runs and one for race runs.

A race run is just a Run which will be completed as part of a Race. To associate the two, upload the run as normal and link it with an Entry using the Entry update endpoint.

Do not use the "normal run" splitting endpoint for race runs, as this will cause the race to be unaware of updates as the user splits.

Blind or semi-blind runs

If the runner is doing a run or race where you don't know how many splits there are going to be, just pass more=1 with each split. Splits.io will continuously create new segments as you split in a way that displays nicely on the run and race pages. You can even start splitting without associating a Run with the Entry; a new Run will be created and linked for you, and the first call to the split endpoint will create and immediately end the first segment.

When splitting like this and you're ready to perform the final split, just split without more=1. This will be the final split. On race runs, this will also mark the user's race Entry as finished. (Alternatively, you can use the Entry API to set finished_at, and this will perform the final split in the linked Run.)

Converting runs

# Uploads must be multipart requests (-F or --form, not -d or --data)
curl -X POST https://splits.io/api/v4/convert?format=livesplit --form file=@/path/to/file

When converting between timer formats, the file and program parameters must be included. If you are converting a LiveSplit file and would like to include the history, then the historic=1 parameter can also be included. The JSON format is outputted as described above in the form of a .json file.

Runner

curl https://splits.io/api/v4/runners?search=:runner
curl https://splits.io/api/v4/runner # authenticated runner
curl https://splits.io/api/v4/runners/:runner
curl https://splits.io/api/v4/runners/:runner/runs
curl https://splits.io/api/v4/runners/:runner/pbs
curl https://splits.io/api/v4/runners/:runner/games
curl https://splits.io/api/v4/runners/:runner/categories

A Runner is a user who has at least one run tied to their account. Its canonical ID string is their Splits.io username all-lowercased, e.g. "glacials", "batedurgonnadie", "snarfybobo", which you should substitite any time you see :runner in these docs.

Users with zero runs are not discoverable using the API.

Structure of a Runner

Autogenerated JSON Schema documentation

Field	Type	Null?	Description
`id`	string	never	The unique ID of the user.
`twitch_id`	string	when not linked	The Twitch ID of the user.
`twitch_name`	string	when not linked	The Twitch name of the user.
`display_name`	string	never	The display name of the user.
`name`	string	never	The Splits.io username of the user.
`avatar`	string	never	The avatar of the user.
`created_at`	string	never	The time and date at which this user first authenticated with Splits.io. This field conforms to ISO 8601.
`updated_at`	string	never	The time and date at which this user was most recently modified on Splits.io. This field conforms to ISO 8601.

Game

curl https://splits.io/api/v4/games?search=:game
curl https://splits.io/api/v4/games/:game
curl https://splits.io/api/v4/games/:game/categories
curl https://splits.io/api/v4/games/:game/categories?filter=nonempty # Only return categories with runs
curl https://splits.io/api/v4/games/:game/runs
curl https://splits.io/api/v4/games/:game/runners

A Game is a collection of information about a game, and a container for Categories. Its canonical ID string is its Speedrun.com shortname, e.g. "sms", "sm64", "portal", which you should substitite any time you see :game in these docs.

Games are created automatically when a run is uploaded with an unidentified game name. They try to associate themselves with a Speedrun.com game when created, but the association is not guaranteed.

When searching for games, it is possible to pass in a game ID. If a game with this ID exists, it will be prepended to the search response array.

Structure of a Game

Autogenerated JSON Schema documentation

Field	Type	Null?	Description
`id`	string	never	The unique ID of the game.
`name`	string	never	The full title of the game, like "Super Mario Sunshine".
`shortname`	string	when not known	A shortened title of the game, like "sms". Where possible, this name tries to match with those on SpeedRunsLive and/or Speedrun.com.
`created_at`	string	never	The time and date at which this game was created on Splits.io. This field conforms to ISO 8601.
`updated_at`	string	never	The time and date at which this game was most recently modified on Splits.io. This field conforms to ISO 8601.
`categories`	array of Categories	never	The known speedrun categories for this game.
`srdc_id`	string	when not known	The ID this game holds on speedrun.com, if present and known.
`cover_url`	string	when not known	The URL for this game's box art, if known.

Race

curl https://splits.io/api/v4/races
curl https://splits.io/api/v4/races?historic=1
curl https://splits.io/api/v4/races/:race
curl https://splits.io/api/v4/races/:race/entries
curl https://splits.io/api/v4/races/:race/chat

A Race is a live competition between multiple Runners who share a start time for their run. Its canonical ID string is a UUID, e.g. "c198a25f-9f8a-43cd-92ab-472a952f9336", which you should substitite any time you see :race in these docs.

Nearly all race endpoints require user authorization based on the flow described below in the Authentication & authorization section.

Structure of a Race

Autogenerated JSON Schema documentation

Field	Type	Null?	Description
`id`	string	never	The unique ID of the Race.
`path`	string	never	The user-friendly URL to the Race, to be given to a user when necessary.
`game`	Game	when not provided by the creator	The game being raced.
`category`	Category	when not provided by the creator	The category being raced.
`visibility`	string	never	The permission set for the Race. (`"public"`, `"invite_only"`, or `"secret"`)
`join_token`	string	always, except creation response	The token needed to join the race if it's invite-only or secret. Only provided to the owner as a response to creation.
`notes`	string	when not provided by creator	Any notes associated with the Race.
`owner`	Runner	never	The Runner who created the Race.
`entries`	array of Entries	never	All Entries currently in the Race.
`chat_messages`	array of Chat Messages	never	Chat messages for the Race. Only present when fetching the Race individually.
`attachments`	array of Attachments	never	Any attachments supplied by the race creator for the benefit of other entrants (e.g. for randomizers).
`started_at`	string	when the race has not started	The time and date at which this Race was started on Splits.io. This field conforms to ISO 8601.
`created_at`	string	never	The time and date at which this Race was created on Splits.io. This field conforms to ISO 8601.
`updated_at`	string	never	The time and date at which this Race was most recently modified on Splits.io. This field conforms to ISO 8601.

Attachment

Attachments have the following structure:

Field	Type	Can it be null?	Description
`id`	string	never	The unique ID of the attachment.
`created_at`	string	never	The time and date at which this attachment was created on Splits.io. This field conforms to ISO 8601.
`filename`	string	never	The filename of the attachment.
`url`	string	never	The URL from which the attachment can be downloaded.

Fetching Races

curl https://splits.io/api/v4/races

This endpoint return a list of active Races of their type. A Race is active if it

is in progress, or
has had some activity in the last 30 minutes, or
has at least two entries.

If you wish to retrieve a listing of previous completed races, pass historic=1 to the request. This response will be paginated unlike the active races version.

Fetching a single Race

curl https://splits.io/api/v4/races/:race

Get information about a Race. To view information about secret Races, a join_token parameter must also be provided.

Status Codes	Success?	Description
202	Yes	Race schema will be returned.
403	No	This Race is not viewable by the current user because they lack a valid join token.
404	No	No Race found with the provided id.

Creating a new Race

curl -X POST https://splits.io/api/v4/races \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"race": {"game_id": "123", "category_id": "456", "notes": "Bingo\n\nCome join!", "visibility": "public"}'

Create a new Race, specifying any of the fields listed in Updating a Race below.

Invite-only Races can be seen by anyone but only joined with a join_token; secret Races can only be seen or joined with a join_token. The join token is returned after creation. You can build it into a user-friendly link:

https://splits.io/races/:race?join_token=:join_token

This link is effectively the password for the Race. The Race owner can always view this link on the Race's page on Splits.io.

The only required parameter between all types is the Game or Category being raced. Attachments cannot be specified at creation and must take place as a separate action afterwards.

Status Codes	Success?	Description
201	Yes	Successfully created, a Race schema will be returned.
400	No	An error occured while creating the Race. `error` will contain a human-readable error message.
401	No	Access token is either blank, expired, invalid, or not attached to a user.

Updating a Race

curl -X PATCH https://splits.io/api/v4/races/:race

Update one or more fields of the Race. This endpoint requires that the authenticated user is the creator of the Race.

Field	Type	Required?	Description
`visibility`	string	yes	One of `public`, `invite_only`, or `secret`
`game_id`	string	no	The ID of the game being raced, or `null` if the race spans multiple games.
`category_id`	string	no	The ID of the category being raced, or `null` if it's not an RTA category (e.g. bingo).
`notes`	string	no	Longform text displayed on the race page. The first line will be appended to the title.

Status Codes	Success?	Description
200	Yes	Successfully updated. A Race schema will be returned.
400	No	An error occured while saving the Race. `error` will contain a human-readable error message.
401	No	Access token is either blank, expired, invalid, or not attached to a user or the owner of the race.
403	No	The Race has already been started and cannot be updated.

Races can only be updated before they have started. Races cannot be deleted. Once one becomes inactive for 1 hour it will naturally disappear from the listings.

Entry

curl           https://splits.io/api/v4/races/:race/entries/:entry
curl -X POST   https://splits.io/api/v4/races/:race/entries
curl -X PATCH  https://splits.io/api/v4/races/:race/entries/:entry
curl -X DELETE https://splits.io/api/v4/races/:race/entries/:entry

An Entry represents a Runner's participation in a Race or a ghost of a past Run. Its canonical ID string is a UUID, e.g. "61db2b30-e024-45c5-b188-e9986ff1c89c", which you should substitite any time you see :entry in these docs.

All Entry endpoints require an access token.

Structure of an Entry

Autogenerated JSON Schema documentation

Field	Type	Null?	Description
`id`	string	never	The unique ID of the Entry.
`runner`	Runner	never	The user represented by this Entry.
`creator`	Runner	never	The user that created this Entry; can be different from `runner` if the Entry is a ghost.
`run`	Run	when not supplied by the timer	The Run linked to the current Entry. It has more detailed info about this runner's run, such as splits and history.
`ghost`	boolean	never	Whether the Entry represents a past recording of a run (`true`) or a real user that has entered into the race explicitly (`false`).
`readied_at`	string	when the Entry isn't ready	The time and date at which this Entry readied up in the Race. This field conforms to ISO 8601.
`finished_at`	string	when the Entry has not finished	The time and date at which this Entry finished this Race. This field conforms to ISO 8601.
`forfeited_at`	string	when the Entry has not forfeited	The time and date at which this Entry forfeited from this Race. This field conforms to ISO 8601.
`created_at`	string	never	The time and date at which this Entry was created on Splits.io. This field conforms to ISO 8601.
`updated_at`	string	never	The time and date at which this Entry was most recently modified on Splits.io. This field conforms to ISO 8601.

Fetching an Entry

curl -H 'Authorization: Bearer YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN' https://splits.io/api/v4/races/:race/entries/:entry

Get information about an Entry in a Race.

Possible Status Codes	Success?	Description
200	Yes	The Entry exists; returns an Entry.
401	No	Access token is either blank, expired, invalid, or not attached to a user.
404	No	The Entry for the given Race does not exist.

Creating an Entry

curl -X POST https://splits.io/api/v4/races/:race/entries \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN' \

Join a Race. There are no required arguments, however you can supply any parameters specified below in Updating an Entry, e.g.

{"entry": {"run_id": "gcb"}}

To make a ghost entry, simply supply a run_id of a Run on Splits.io that has already completed. The Entry will automatically become a ghost, inheriting the Run's time, splits, and runner. The authenticated user will be assigned as the Entry's creator.

If the Race is invite-only or secret, you must supply a join_token. The join_token should be at the top-level, not within an entry object.

Status Codes	Success?	Description
201	Yes	Successfully created; returns an Entry.
400	No	An error occured while creating the Entry. The `error` key will contain a user-friendly error message.
401	No	Access token is either blank, expired, invalid, or not attached to a user.
403	No	This Race is not joinable by the current user because they lack a valid join token.

Updating an Entry

curl -X PATCH https://splits.io/api/v4/races/:race/entries/:entry \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"entry": {"readied_at": "2019-06-17T03:40:48.123Z"}}'

Change an Entry. Valid parameters are readied_at, finished_at, forfeited_at, and run_id.

Field	Type	Null?	Description
`run_id`	string	when not set by you	The Run ID corresponding to the splits for this Race. See: replacing source files.
`readied_at`	ISO 8601 string	when the runner isn't ready	The timestamp when this runner readied up, if at all.
`finished_at`	ISO 8601 string	when the runner hasn't finished	The timestamp when this runner finished the Race, if at all.
`forfeited_at`	ISO 8601 string	when the runner hasn't forfeited	The timestamp when this runner forfeited the Race, if at all.

An attached entry.run_id (optional) will associate the given Run with the Entry in order to display splits. The run should not be a completed run when you attach it. You can continuously update the Run as the user splits to keep the race page up-to-date for stats and comparison purposes.

The timestamps support three decimal places of precision. They serve as pseudo-booleans; they are the source of truth for whether a runner is ready/finished/forfeited (null for no; non-null for yes).

You may optionally set these by passing the string "now"; this is a special string which will make the backend use the current time. The travel time from you to Splits.io will affect the timestamp, so we don't recommend doing this for finished_at where accuracy is important.

To unset one of these fields (e.g. to unready the runner), simply set it to null. Make sure your JSON encoder does not filter the key out, as this is different from not passing the key at all.

Status Codes	Success?	Description
200	Yes	Successfully updated. An Entry schema will be returned.
400	No	An error occured while updating the Entry. The `error` key will contain a user-friendly error message.
401	No	Access token is either blank, expired, invalid, or not attached to a user.
403	No	Access token is valid but its user does not have access to this Entry.
404	No	No Race found or Entry found for the associated user.

Deleting an Entry

curl -X DELETE -H 'Authorization: Bearer YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN' https://splits.io/api/v4/races/:race/entries/:entry

Leave a Race. A Race that has already started cannot be left, only finished or forfeited.

Status Codes	Success?	Description
200	Yes	Successfully deleted.
401	No	Access token is either blank, expired, invalid, or not attached to a user.
403	No	Access token is valid but its user does not have access to this Entry.
404	No	No Race found or Entry found for the associated user.
409	No	An error occured while deleting the Entry. The `error` key will contain a user-friendly error message.

Chat Message

curl https://splits.io/api/v4/races/:race/chat

A Chat Message is a shortform message sent by a user to a Race. The user does not have to be entered into the Race in order to send a Chat Message to it.

Structure of a Chat Message

Autogenerated JSON Schema documentation

Field	Type	Null?	Description
`body`	string	never	The contents of the message.
`from_entrant`	boolean	never	Boolean indicating whether the sender was in the race when the message was sent.
`created_at`	string	never	The time and date at which this message was created on Splits.io. This field conforms to ISO 8601.
`updated_at`	string	never	The time and date at which this message was most recently modified on Splits.io. This field conforms to ISO 8601.
`user`	Runner	never	The Runner that sent the message.

Fetching chat for a race

curl https://splits.io/api/v4/races/:race/chat

Status Codes	Success?	Description
200	Yes	A paginated array of all the chat messages for the Race.
403	No	User does not have permission to read chat from this Race.
404	No	No Race found for the ID given.

Creating a Chat Message

curl -X POST https://splits.io/api/v4/races/:race/chat \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"chat_message": {"body": "a message body here"}}'

Send a Chat Message to a Race. All fields except body are inferred from your access token.

Status Codes	Success?	Description
201	Yes	Successfully created; returns a Chat Message
400	No	An error occured while creating the message. The `error` key will contain a user-friendly error message.
403	No	User does not have permission to send chat to this Race.
404	No	No Race found for the ID given.

WebSockets

Splits.io broadcasts updates to Races in realtime over WebSockets. We use WebSockets only to push changes from Splits.io to clients; to send data the other way, you must use the REST APIs above.

Why can't I use WebSockets to write data?

To use WebSockets bidirectionally, clients need to do a lot of legwork. They have to nonce request messages to tell responses apart. They need to wait indefinitely for a response to every message they send. They have to handle the possibilities that a sent response might not arrive; that a delivered request might not be processed; that a response can error because of them, or because of the server; that they get rate limited; that their authentication expires; that a user expects to see any issues in the console; and many more.

All these needs are solved by HTTP. It's free. It doesn't sound like much, but trust us -- we built Races to be handled 100% over WebSockets, and got so many headaches re-implementing what were effectively basic features of HTTP or REST that we switched the nearly-complete implementation to the read-only WebSockets version you see today.

As for the advantages of a persistent connection, HTTP/2 solves this problem transparently! It keeps the TCP socket between client and server open during multiple requests. (Yes, we support HTTP/2!)

We use a light layer on top of WebSockets called Action Cable. This layer is so light that you can use vanilla WebSockets without noticing it's there; but if you happen to be using JavaScript, you might opt to use the Action Cable JavaScript library to simplify your code a bit.

In all examples below, we'll provide instructions for consuming Splits.io WebSockets using vanilla JavaScript as well as the Action Cable library. The vanilla JS instructions can roughly translate to whatever language you're using.

Note: To assist languages that use strongly-typed schemas, Splits.io WebSocket fields that can hold one of multiple object types are double-encoded (its value is a string containing more JSON). What you might expect to look like

{
  "type": "confirm_subscription",
  "identifier": {"channel": "Api::V4::GlobalRaceChannel"},
}

might instead look like

{
  "type": "confirm_subscription",
  "identifier": "{\"channel\":\"Api::V4::GlobalRaceChannel\"}",
}

If you're not using a language with strongly-typed schemas, just decode the embedded JSON again.

Connecting

Connecting with vanilla JavaScript

const websocket = new WebSocket("wss://splits.io/api/cable")
// Splits.io's reply: {"type": "welcome"}

websocket.onmessage = function(event) {
  const msg = JSON.parse(event.data)
  switch(msg.type) {
    case 'welcome':
      console.log('Connected!')
      break;
    case 'ping':
      // ...
      break;
  }
}

Connecting is as easy as opening the socket and listening for messages.

Note: Supply an access_token field in the URL to access the authenticated user's secret races.

Once connected you'll receive a timestamped ping every ~3 seconds:

{
  "type": "ping",
  "message": 1561095929
}

You do not need to reply to pings. However if you don't get one for an extended period of time you should assume network conditions have killed your connection, and attempt to re-establish it.

Connecting with Action Cable

import actioncable from "@rails/actioncable"

const cable = actioncable.createConsumer("wss://splits.io/api/cable")

This initiates the socket; it will be lazily connected in the next step.

Subscribing to channels

To receive updates from Splits.io, you first have to tell it what you want updates about. You do this by subscribing to channels.

There are two channel types:

Channel	Required params	Optional params	Description
GlobalRaceChannel	none	`state`	high-level information about all Races
RaceChannel	`race_id`	`state`, `join_token`	detailed information about one Race

There is one GlobalRaceChannel and n RaceChannels (one for each Race). You can be subscribed to any number of channels at once, and they all stream over the same WebSocket connection.

If you pass state=1 when subscribing, you will get a dump of the current state of the world for that channel. You can use this to e.g. populate UIs when they first load.

Subscribing to a channel with vanilla JavaScript

websocket.send(JSON.stringify({
  command: 'subscribe',
  identifier: JSON.stringify({
    channel: 'Api::V4::GlobalRaceChannel'
  })
}))

/* Splits.io's reply:
{
  "type": "confirm_subscription",
  "identifier": "{
    \"channel\": \"Api::V4::GlobalRaceChannel\"
  }"
}
*/

websocket.send(JSON.stringify({
  command: 'subscribe',
  identifier: JSON.stringify({
    channel:    "Api::V4::RaceChannel",
    race_id:    "11902182-aead-44c6-a7b8-e526951564b1",
    join_token: "hzT5Fp6tX96wt2omLmRn4RHT"
  })
}))

/* Splits.io's reply:
{
  "type": "confirm_subscription",
  "identifier": "{
    \"channel\":    \"Api::V4::RaceChannel\",
    \"race_id\":    \"11902182-aead-44c6-a7b8-e526951564b1\",
    \"join_token\": \"hzT5Fp6tX96wt2omLmRn4RHT\"
  }",
}
*/

Subscribing to a channel with Action Cable

cable.subscriptions.create("Api::V4::GlobalRaceChannel", {
  connection() {
    // Called when the subscription is ready
  },

  disconnected() {
    // Called when the subscription has been terminated by the server
  },

  received(data) {
    switch(data.type) {
      // See below for GlobalRaceChannel message types
      case '...':
        // ...
        break;
    }
  }
})

cable.subscriptions.create(
  {
    channel: "Api::V4::RaceChannel",
    race_id: "c198a25f-9f8a-43cd-92ab-472a952f9336",
  },
  {
    connected: () => {
      // Called when the subscription is ready
    },

    disconnected: () => {
      // Called when the subscription has been terminated by the server
    },

    received: data => {
      switch(data.type) {
        // See below for RaceChannel message types
        case '...':
          // ...
          break
      }
    }
  }
)

Message content & types

identifier is the exact string you received when initiating the subscription, so you can compare it directly to determine how the message needs to be handled.

message is an object that contains the changes Splits.io is notifying you about. Note that the message object does not require extra deserialization.

{
  "identifier": "...",
  "message": {
    "type": "string identifier",
    "data": {
      "message": "human-readable description of what changed",
      ...
    }
  }
}

data contains fields specific to the type of message (message.type):

Message type	Applicable channels	Description	Extra Fields
`"race_created"`	GlobalRaceChannel	A new Race was created	`race`
`"global_state"`	GlobalRaceChannel	State of the world (in response to `state=1`)	`races`
`"race_updated"`	RaceChannel	A property of the race has changed	`race`
`"new_message"`	RaceChannel	A chat message was sent to the Race	`chat_message`
`"new_attachment"`	RaceChannel	An attachment was added to the Race	`race`
`"race_state"`	RaceChannel	State of the Race (in response to `state=1`)	`race`
`"race_not_found"`	RaceChannel	No Race found for the given ID	none
`"race_invalid_join_token"`	RaceChannel	The join token is not valid for the Race	none
`"race_start_scheduled"`	both	The/a Race is starting in a few seconds	`race`
`"race_ended"`	both	The/a Race has finished	`race`
`"race_entries_updated"`	both	An entry was created, changed, or deleted	`race`
`"fatal_error"`	both	An error occured when processing the message	none
`"connection_error"`	both	Received when connecting to cable with an invalid oauth token	none

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api.md

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API v4

Authentication & authorization

Simple auth (run uploads only)

OAuth (general purpose)

Scopes

Pagination

Resource types

Run

Segment

History

File Format

Replacing source files

Race runs vs non-race runs

Blind or semi-blind runs

Runner

Game

Category

Race

Attachment

Entry

Chat Message

WebSockets

Connecting

Subscribing to channels

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api.md

File metadata and controls

API v4

Authentication & authorization

Simple auth (run uploads only)

OAuth (general purpose)

Scopes

Pagination

Resource types

Run

Segment

History

File Format

Replacing source files

Race runs vs non-race runs

Blind or semi-blind runs

Runner

Game

Category

Race

Attachment

Entry

Chat Message

WebSockets

Connecting

Subscribing to channels