# Announcing the Formlabs API & Developers forum

**URL:** <https://forum.formlabs.com/t/announcing-the-formlabs-api-developers-forum/40305>\
**Category:** Developers\
**Created:** [October 15, 2024, 2:28pm UTC](https://forum.formlabs.com/t/announcing-the-formlabs-api-developers-forum/40305 "2024-10-15T14:28:37Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![hype](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b9e5f3/32.png) [@hype](https://forum.formlabs.com/u/hype)\
**Post date:** [October 15, 2024, 2:28pm UTC](https://forum.formlabs.com/t/announcing-the-formlabs-api-developers-forum/40305/1 "2024-10-15T14:28:37Z")

</div>

Today we are happy to announce the first version of the Formlabs API! We created this API so you can integrate, automate, and customize your use of Formlabs products in ways that are specific to your use case. Documentation is available in the [Developer Portal section of support.formlabs.com](https://support.formlabs.com/s/article/Formlabs-API-developer-portal)

The Formlabs API comes in two variants:

### 1. [Formlabs Web API](https://support.formlabs.com/s/article/Formlabs-Web-API)

The Formlabs Web API was designed for Web MES/ERP platform integrations where you want to get your printer’s status, consumables, and printing history. It requires printers to be connected to the Internet and registered to Dashboard.

### 2. [Formlabs Local API](https://support.formlabs.com/s/article/Formlabs-Local-API)

For integrations that want to automate job preparation, getting local-network printer status, or send jobs to printers without launching the PreForm graphical user interface. It does not require an Internet connection and works with a local network connection to printers.

We will announce API changes on [this page](https://support.formlabs.com/s/article/Formlabs-API-downloads-and-release-notes) and here in the forum.

We also have documentation about how [PreForm can be launched with command line options](https://support.formlabs.com/s/article/Launching-PreForm-with-Command-Line-Options).

### Python library and example code:

To help you get started, we made a Python library and example applications available on Github: [GitHub - Formlabs/formlabs-api-python: Python library and examples for the Formlabs API](https://github.com/Formlabs/formlabs-api-python)

Because the API uses HTTP for communication, you are not limited to Python and any programming language can be used to make integrations.

### Getting Help and Sharing Feedback:

We want the API to enable you to build anything you want so if a capability is missing or something isn’t easy to use, please share your feedback!

Use the [Developers forum section](https://forum.formlabs.com/c/developers/77) to ask questions about getting set up, debugging issues using the API, or sharing feature requests. If you build something cool we’d love to see it as well!