Quick start - absentify®

This guide walks you through your first call to the absentify API.

The API requires a Plus plan. See the plan feature matrix. If you do not have one yet, subscribe first so you can create an API key.

Step 1: Get your API key

Every request needs an API key. Without it, the API rejects the call. Sign in to the absentify Dashboard and generate a key. If you signed up with email, confirm your address before you create one. See Authentication for how to send the key.

Step 2: Set up authentication

Send the key on every request:

Header name: x-api-key
Header value: Your API key

Step 3: Make your first request

GET /requests lists absence requests that overlap a date range. start and end are required.

import requests

url = "https://api.absentify.com/api/v1/requests"
api_key = "your_api_key_here"

headers = {
    "x-api-key": api_key,
    "Content-Type": "application/json"
}

params = {
    "start": "2026-06-01",
    "end": "2026-06-30"
}

response = requests.get(url, headers=headers, params=params)
print(response.json())

const fetch = require('node-fetch');

const url = "https://api.absentify.com/api/v1/requests?start=2026-06-01&end=2026-06-30";
const apiKey = "your_api_key_here";

const headers = {
    "x-api-key": apiKey,
    "Content-Type": "application/json"
};

fetch(url, { headers })
    .then(response => response.json())
    .then(data => console.log(data))
    .catch(error => console.error('Error:', error));

curl -X GET "https://api.absentify.com/api/v1/requests?start=2026-06-01&end=2026-06-30" \
-H "x-api-key: your_api_key_here" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json"

Replace "your_api_key_here" with the key from step 1. This example returns every request that overlaps June 2026.

Date and time format

Many endpoints accept date or time parameters. Examples include the required start and end parameters when listing requests or absences, and employment_start_date and birthday when creating a member. Always send dates and times in ISO 8601:

You want	Send	Interpreted as
A whole day	`2026-06-01`	`2026-06-01T00:00:00Z` (UTC midnight)
A specific time	`2026-06-01T09:00:00Z`	09:00 UTC
A time in another zone	`2026-06-01T09:00:00+02:00`	07:00 UTC

When you send a time of day, always include a time-zone designator (Z for UTC, or an offset such as +02:00). A value without one is interpreted in the server’s time zone and may shift the result.

Do not use localized date formats such as 01.06.2026 or 06/01/2026. They are not rejected. They are silently misinterpreted. For example, 01.06.2026 is read as 6 January 2026, not 1 June, so the request returns data for the wrong period. Use ISO 8601.

Dates and times in API responses are also ISO 8601 with a UTC Z suffix, for example 2026-06-01T00:00:00.000Z. end is inclusive. start=2026-06-01&end=2026-06-30 returns everything that overlaps June, including absences on 30 June. For /requests, /requests_per_day, and /absences_per_day, the start…end window may span at most 1826 days (5 years). Wider or inverted ranges return 400. Retrieve longer periods in consecutive, smaller windows. See Limits.

Filtering by member or department

List endpoints such as /requests, /requests_per_day, and /absences_per_day accept optional request_member_ids and department_ids filters. Pass multiple IDs as a comma-separated string, for example department_ids=dept1,dept2. Semicolons (;) are also accepted, for backward compatibility.

curl -X GET "https://api.absentify.com/api/v1/requests?start=2026-06-01&end=2026-06-30&department_ids=dept1,dept2" \
-H "x-api-key: your_api_key_here" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json"

To receive leave-type and allowance-type names in a specific language, add locale (for example locale=de). See Localized names.

Next steps

Review Limits for the request rate and the date-range cap.
See Responses for success and error payloads.
See the introduction for allowances and localized names.

​Step 1: Get your API key

​Step 2: Set up authentication

​Step 3: Make your first request

​Date and time format

​Filtering by member or department

​Next steps

Step 1: Get your API key

Step 2: Set up authentication

Step 3: Make your first request

Date and time format

Filtering by member or department

Next steps