Hosting panel REST API for Windows, command line and automation

One REST API for every panel action#

The StackRegent panel is a single-page application that talks to its own REST API. There is no separate, smaller "integration API" with half the features: the endpoints your browser uses are the endpoints your scripts use. Creating a customer, adding a subscription, suspending it for non-payment, adding a mailbox, issuing a Let's Encrypt certificate, running a backup or reading the monitoring figures are all JSON calls over HTTPS on the panel port.

That matters for hosting providers on Windows, where the alternatives are often PowerShell remoting into IIS and editing applicationHost.config by hand. With StackRegent, a billing system, a deployment pipeline or your own support tooling can do the same work the panel does, with the same checks, the same plan limits and the same task log.

The full reference, with authentication, examples and the command line, is on developers.stackregent.com.

Hosting panel REST API for Windows: keys and what they can reach#

API keys are created in the panel:

The level of the key is its scope: a key acts exactly as the login it belongs to and is refused anything outside that account, just as the panel would refuse it. Requests from an administrator account that runs under Restricted Mode Settings are restricted the same way, so a support-staff key cannot change the firewall or install components if that login cannot.

Each key has:

• a Name, for example billing system,
• Allowed from: IP addresses or networks such as 203.0.113.10, 198.51.100.0/24; empty means anywhere, and the panel's IP access restriction still applies,
• Expires: a number of days, or 0 for never.

The key starts with sr_ and is shown once. The panel stores only a SHA-256 fingerprint of it, and the key list shows the first characters, Acts as, Allowed from, Last used and Expires. Deleting a key stops scripts that use it at once. Reseller and customer accounts can hold up to 20 keys, and their keys cannot change passwords, manage API keys or log in as other accounts.

Calling the API#

Send the key as a bearer token or in an X-API-Key header. Requests and answers are JSON:

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer sr_..." https://panel.example.com:9443/api/subscriptions

curl -X POST -H "Authorization: Bearer sr_..." -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
     -d '{"status":"suspended"}' https://panel.example.com:9443/api/subscriptions/12/status

The Examples card on the Remote API page shows these calls with your server's address filled in. Errors come back with an HTTP status of 400 or above and a JSON body with an error message; form-style calls also list the fields that failed, so your integration can show the same validation messages as the panel.

OpenAPI 3 description#

OpenAPI description on the Remote API page, or GET /api/openapi.json with a key, returns an OpenAPI 3 document of every endpoint and its parameters. Load it into Postman, Insomnia, Swagger UI or a code generator to browse the API or generate a client in C#, PHP, Python or Go. The panel has no built-in playground; use curl, your OpenAPI tool or stackregent api on the server.

Billing integration#

Two kinds of billing touch a StackRegent server.

Your customers' hosting. Any billing system that can make HTTPS calls can provision StackRegent accounts: create the customer under /api/clients, add the subscription with a service plan, change the plan on an upgrade with /api/subscriptions/{id}/plan, and suspend or reactivate with /api/subscriptions/{id}/status. Store your billing system's account number in the customer's External ID field so both sides can find each other. Use an administrator key limited with Allowed from to the billing server's address. Resellers can connect their own billing system with a reseller key that reaches only their customers.

Your StackRegent license. Licenses are sold and renewed in the StackRegent store at panel.stackregent.com. The panel checks its key with the store's license server every day, and License Information shows the edition, the subscription limit, the next payment due and the last successful check. When you renew, upgrade to a plan with more accounts or reissue a license in the client area, Check now picks up the change at once. See licensing and updates.

The stackregent command line#

stackregent.exe lives in C:\Program Files\StackRegent\bin. Run it in an elevated command prompt or PowerShell on the server. It does two jobs: automation and recovery.

Because stackregent api needs no stored key, it is the safe way to script the server from Task Scheduler, a configuration-management tool or an RDP session.

Event Manager: run commands on panel events#

Tools & Settings › Event Manager runs a command when something happens in the panel. Add a handler with an Event name such as subscription.created, subscription.* for every action on subscriptions, or * for every event, then a Command, a Priority from 0 (first) to 100 (last) and a Description.

Handlers run as SYSTEM through cmd.exe, appear in Task Manager, and receive the details in environment variables: STACKREGENT_EVENT, STACKREGENT_OBJECT_TYPE, STACKREGENT_ACTION, STACKREGENT_ACTOR, STACKREGENT_IP, STACKREGENT_DETAILS and STACKREGENT_TIME. Typical uses are posting to a chat channel when a subscription is created, adding a new domain to an external monitoring service, or telling a CRM that an account was suspended.

Scheduled tasks for the server and for every subscription#

Tools & Settings › Scheduled Tasks holds server tasks that run as Local System, and lists the tasks of every subscription. Customers have their own Scheduled Tasks page, where tasks run as the subscription's system user inside its resource limits; the plan permission Scheduled tasks management controls it.

Each task is one of three types:

• Command, run with cmd.exe in the webspace folder, for example php httpdocs\artisan schedule:run,
• URL, requested by the panel, with status 400 and above counted as an error,
• PHP script, a path in the webspace with Arguments and a PHP version.

Run offers presets such as Every 5 minutes, Hourly or Daily at 03:00, or Custom (cron expression), and the panel shows the next run times before you save. Send the output by email can be set to Only when the task fails, After every run or Never, and a Time limit ends the task and everything it started. Run Now and History with past output make debugging a cron job a matter of minutes.

Automation that keeps working when you are not watching#

Put the pieces together and a Windows hosting server can run with little manual work: your billing system provisions and suspends through the API, Event Manager hooks tell your other systems what changed, scheduled tasks and scheduled backups run at night, and monitoring alerts email you when something needs a human. Updates can install themselves at night too.

Every StackRegent plan includes the REST API and command line; see pricing. The API reference, key scopes and command reference are on developers.stackregent.com.