API reference

Black Duck APIs offer a convenient way to retrieve ad-hoc information from Black Duck or to perform automated review or workflows. However, customers looking to build out customized views or dashboards using bulk data from Black Duck would be best served by using the Black Duck Reporting DB schema.

Tip: Although APIs offer a way to do most functions that Black Duck UI can do, you might choose the Black Duck Bridge command line interface or an SCM integration for building tests or automation into your pipeline.

After tests run, APIs can help with the following:

Generate and download a notices file or SBOM
Collate component copyright information
Automatically assign issues to developers
Add comments to Pull Requests with Black Duck data

To explore what Black Duck SCA APIs have to offer:

Access the REST API documentation found in Black Duck SCA by opening the Help menu from the top navigation bar and selecting REST API Developers Guide.
Visit the REST API documentation directly at https://<Black Duck Server URL>/api-doc/public.html.

Black Duck REST API Python bindings

This Python library provides a streamlined interface to interact with Black Duck APIs, enabling customers to efficiently automate and customize their workflows. This library is distributed as an open-source extension of Black Duck and is licensed under the Apache 2.0 license.

For more details or to contribute, visit the Black Duck API Python bindings GitHub repository.

Downloading the Black Duck API Specification

Black Duck provides the capability to download the full API specification using either a Postman collection or an OpenAPI Specification (OAS). These options allow customers to directly import the documentation into tools like Postman, simplifying the process of working with the APIs.

Postman Collection: You can generate a Postman collection from the API documentation by downloading the postman-collection-public.json file from /api-doc/postman-collection-public.json. This file can be imported into Postman to interact with the Black Duck APIs.
OpenAPI Specification (OAS): Similarly, the OpenAPI Specification can be generated via the /api-doc/openapi3-public.json endpoint. This allows you to explore and document the Black Duck API with tools that support OAS.

Integrating Black Duck with Business Intelligence tools

Black Duck offers a Reporting Database (Reporting DB) interface that enables seamless integration with Business Intelligence (BI) tools, such as PowerBI. This interface provides customers with the flexibility to generate custom reports, visualize data, and build comprehensive dashboards that reflect key performance indicators (KPI) and risk management views.

To accelerate the integration process, Black Duck provides sample reports specifically designed for use with PowerBI. These templates serve as an efficient starting point for customers, allowing them to quickly build customizable dashboards using data from Black Duck's Reporting DB.

For more details, visit Black Duck Dashboards using Microsoft Power BI.