Comparison of IBM Cloudant and Apache CouchDB API endpoints

The IBM® Cloudant® for IBM Cloud® and Apache CouchDB 3.x API endpoints, and the methods for accessing them, are described here.

The table shows you which endpoints are present in the CouchDB or IBM Cloudant service.

Some CouchDB endpoints don't have IBM Cloudant equivalents because it wouldn't be meaningful. Similarly, some IBM Cloudant endpoints don't have CouchDB equivalents.

While IBM Cloudant is API-compliant with CouchDB, IBM Cloudant doesn't support URL rewrites from the JavaScript function.

For more information about a specific endpoint on a service, click the corresponding link.

Table 1. Compare IBM Cloudant and Apache CouchDB API endpoints
Endpoint & Links	Description
`GET /` Cloudant, CouchDB	Retrieve meta-information about the instance.
`GET /_active_tasks` Cloudant, CouchDB	Retrieve a list of running tasks.
`GET /_all_dbs` Cloudant, CouchDB	Query a list of all database names in the instance.
`POST /_api/v2/api_keys` Cloudant	Generate an API key.
`GET /_api/v2/db/{db}/_security` Cloudant	Retrieve database permissions information.
`PUT /_api/v2/db/{db}/_security` Cloudant	Modify only Cloudant related permissions to database.
`GET /_api/v2/monitoring` Cloudant	Monitor a specific cluster aspect.
`GET /_api/v2/user/config/cors` Cloudant	Retrieve CORS configuration information.
`PUT /_api/v2/user/config/cors` Cloudant	Modify the CORS configuration.
`GET /_db_updates` CouchDB	List all database events in the instance. The endpoint is not available in IBM Cloudant.
`GET /_membership` Cloudant, CouchDB	Retrieve cluster membership information. Active clusters are indicated in the `cluster_nodes` field, while `all_nodes` has all nodes.
`POST /_replicate` Cloudant, CouchDB	Request, configure, or stop a replication operation. IBM Cloudant documentation references more request body fields (`selector`, `since_seq`).
`PUT /_replicator/{doc_id}` Cloudant, CouchDB	Trigger a replication. IBM Cloudant documentation references more request body fields (`selector`, `since_seq`).
`DELETE /_replicator` Cloudant, CouchDB	Cancel an ongoing replication. IBM Cloudant documentation references more request body fields (`selector`, `since_seq`).
`GET /_scheduler/docs` Cloudant, CouchDB	Monitor the status of a replication that is described by a replication document.
`HEAD /_scheduler/docs` CouchDB	Retrieve the HTTP headers for the status of a replication that is described by a replication document.
`GET /_scheduler/docs/_replicator/$doc_id` Cloudant, CouchDB	Retrieve a replication scheduler document.
`HEAD /_scheduler/docs/_replicator/$doc_id` CouchDB	Retrieve the HTTP headers for a particular replication scheduler document.
`GET /_scheduler/jobs` Cloudant, CouchDB	Retrieve replication scheduler jobs.
`HEAD /_scheduler/jobs` CouchDB	Retrieve the HTTP headers for replication scheduler jobs.
`GET /_scheduler/jobs/{job_id}` Cloudant	Retrieve the state of a single replication task based on its replication ID.
`HEAD /_scheduler/jobs/{job_id}` Cloudant	Retrieve the HTTP headers of a single replication task based on its replication ID.
`POST /_search_analyze` Cloudant, CouchDB	Retrieve the results of analyzer tokenization of the provided sample text.
`GET /_session` Cloudant, CouchDB	Retrieve information about the authenticated user. CouchDB documentation references a query parameter (basic).
`POST /_session` Cloudant, CouchDB	Start a new session for the specified user credentials. Cookie-based user login. CouchDB documentation references an extra query parameter (next).
`DELETE /_session` Cloudant, CouchDB	Retrieve a response that instructs the HTTP client to clear the cookie.
`GET /_utils` CouchDB	Access the built-in Fauxton administration interface.
`GET /_uuids` Cloudant, CouchDB	Request one or more Universally Unique Identifiers (UUIDs).
`GET /favicon.ico` CouchDB	Get the binary content for the favicon.ico site icon.
`HEAD /{db}` Cloudant, CouchDB	Retrieve the HTTP headers that contain a minimal amount of information about the specified database.
`GET /{db}` Cloudant, CouchDB	Retrieve information about the specified database.
`POST /{db}` Cloudant, CouchDB	Create or modify a document in the specified database by using the supplied JSON document.
`PUT /{db}` Cloudant, CouchDB	Create a database. Database names must start with a lowercase letter and contain only the following characters: lowercase characters (a-z), digits (0-9), any of the characters _, $, (, ), +, -, and /.
`DELETE /{db}` Cloudant, CouchDB	Delete the specified database, and all the documents and attachments contained within it.
`GET /{db}/_all_docs` Cloudant, CouchDB	Query a list of all documents in a database. CouchDB documentation references more query parameters (`end_key`, `endkey_docid`, `end_key_doc_id`, `stale`, `start_key`, `startkey_docid`, `start_key_doc_id`, `update_seq`). For IBM Cloudant, use `GET _all_docs`.
`POST /{db}/_all_docs` Cloudant, CouchDB	Query a list of all documents in a database by using the HTTP `POST` method where the query is submitted as a JSON object in the request body. CouchDB documentation references more query parameters (`end_key`, `endkey_docid`, `end_key_doc_id`, `stale`, `start_key`, `startkey_docid`, `start_key_doc_id`, `update_seq`).
`POST /{db}/_bulk_docs` Cloudant, CouchDB	Create and update multiple documents at the same time within a single request. CouchDB documentation references an extra request object field (`new_edits`).
`POST /{db}/_bulk_get` Cloudant, CouchDB	Retrieve specific revisions or revision histories for multiple documents.
`GET /{db}/_changes` Cloudant, CouchDB	List of changes that are made to documents in the database, including insertions, updates, and deletions. CouchDB includes query parameters (`attachments`, `att_encoding_info`, `last-event-id`, `view`).
`POST /{db}/_changes` Cloudant, CouchDB	List of changes that are made to documents in the database, including insertions, updates, and deletions.
`POST /{db}/_compact` CouchDB	Request compaction of the specified database.
`POST /{db}/_compact/{ddoc}` CouchDB	Compact the view indexes associated with the specified design document.
`HEAD /{db}/_design/{ddoc}` Cloudant, CouchDB	Retrieve the HTTP headers that contain a minimal amount of information about the specified design document.
`GET /{db}/_design/{ddoc}` Cloudant, CouchDB	Retrieve a design document with the specified `doc_id` from the specified database.
`PUT /{db}/_design/{ddoc}` Cloudant, CouchDB	Create a new named design document or create a new revision of the existing design document. IBM Cloudant documentation references an extra request body field (indexes). CouchDB documentation references more request body fields (language, options).
`DELETE /{db}/_design/{ddoc}` Cloudant, CouchDB	Delete the specified document from the database.
`COPY /{db}/_design/{ddoc}` Cloudant, CouchDB	Copy an existing design document to a new or existing one.
`GET /{db}/_design/{ddoc}/_info` Cloudant, CouchDB	Obtain information about the specified design document, including the index, index size, and status of the design document.
`GET /{db}/_design/{ddoc}/_search_info/{index}` Cloudant, CouchDB	Retrieve search index metadata information, such as the size of the index on disk.
`GET /{db}/_design/{ddoc}/_search/{index}` Cloudant, CouchDB	Query an index by using the HTTP `GET` method.
`POST /{db}/_design/{ddoc}/_search/{index}` Cloudant	Query an index by using the HTTP `POST` method where the query is submitted as a JSON object in the request body.
`GET /{db}/_design/{ddoc}/_view/{view}` Cloudant, CouchDB	Execute the view function from the specified design document. CouchDB documentation references more query parameters (conflicts, end_key, end_key_doc_id, attachments, att_encoding_info, sorted, start_key, start_key_doc_id, update_seq).
`POST /{db}/_design/{ddoc}/_view/{view}` Cloudant, CouchDB	Execute the view function from the specified design document. CouchDB documentation references more query parameters (conflicts, end_key, end_key_doc_id, attachments, att_encoding_info, sorted, start_key, start_key_doc_id, update_seq).
`HEAD /{db}/_design/{ddoc}/{attname}` Cloudant, CouchDB	Retrieve the HTTP headers that contain a minimal amount of information about the specified attachment. For IBM Cloudant, use `{attachment_name}` instead of `{attname}`.
`GET /{db}/_design/{ddoc}/{attname}` Cloudant, CouchDB	Retrieve the file attachment associated with the design document.
`PUT /{db}/_design/{ddoc}/{attname}` Cloudant, CouchDB	Upload the supplied content as an attachment to the specified design document.
`DELETE /{db}/_design/{ddoc}/{attname}` Cloudant, CouchDB	Delete the attachment of the specified design document.
`POST /{db}/_ensure_full_commit` CouchDB	Commit any recent changes to the specified database to disk.
`POST /{db}/_explain` Cloudant, CouchDB	Identify which index is being used by a particular query.
`POST /{db}/_find` Cloudant, CouchDB	Find documents that use a declarative JSON querying syntax. IBM Cloudant documentation references more request body fields (r, bookmark).
`GET /{db}/_index` Cloudant, CouchDB	List indexes.
`POST /{db}/_index` Cloudant, CouchDB	Create an index on a database.
`DELETE /{db}/_index/_design/{ddoc}/{type}/{index}` Cloudant, CouchDB	Delete an index.
`GET /{db}/_local/{doc_id}` Cloudant, CouchDB	Get the specified local document.
`PUT /{db}/_local/{doc_id}` Cloudant, CouchDB	Store the specified local document. Local documents aren't replicated to other databases.
`COPY /{db}/_local/{doc_id}` Cloudant, CouchDB	Copy the specified local document.
`DELETE /{db}/_local/{doc_id}` Cloudant, CouchDB	Delete the specified local document.
`POST /{db}/_missing_revs` Cloudant (This endpoint is deprecated. See POST /{db}/_revs_diff.), CouchDB	Retrieve the document revisions from the list that don't exist in the database.
`POST /{db}/_purge` CouchDB	Remove the references to deleted documents from the database.
`POST /{db}/_revs_diff` Cloudant, CouchDB	Given a set of document or revision IDs, retrieve the subset of document or revision IDs that don't correspond to revisions stored in the database.
`GET /{db}/_security` Cloudant, CouchDB	Retrieve the current security object from the specified database.
`PUT /{db}/_security` Cloudant, CouchDB	Set the security object for the specific database.
`GET /{db}/_shards` Cloudant, CouchDB	Retrieve information about the shards in the cluster.
`POST /{db}/_view_cleanup` CouchDB	Remove view index files that are no longer required because of changed views within design documents.
`HEAD /{db}/{docid}` Cloudant, CouchDB	Retrieve the HTTP headers that contain a minimal amount of information about the specified document.
`GET /{db}/{docid}` Cloudant, CouchDB	Retrieve the document specified by the `docid` from the specified database.
`PUT /{db}/{docid}` Cloudant, CouchDB	Create a new named document or create a new revision of the existing document.
`DELETE /{db}/{docid}` Cloudant, CouchDB	Delete the specified document.
`COPY /{db}/{docid}` Cloudant, CouchDB	Copy an existing document to a new or existing document.
`HEAD /{db}/{docid}/{attname}` Cloudant, CouchDB	Retrieve the HTTP headers that contain a minimal amount of information about the specified attachment. For IBM Cloudant, use `{attachment_name}` instead of `{attname}`.
`GET /{db}/{docid}/{attname}` Cloudant, CouchDB	Retrieve the file attachment associated with the document. For IBM Cloudant, use `{attachment_name}` instead of `{attname}`.
`PUT /{db}/{docid}/{attname}` Cloudant, CouchDB	Upload the supplied content as an attachment to the specified document. For IBM Cloudant, use `{attachment_name}` instead of `{attname}`.
`DELETE /{db}/{docid}/{attname}` Cloudant, CouchDB	Delete the attachment associated with the specified doc. For IBM Cloudant, use `{attachment_name}` instead of `{attname}`.