NetPad

Manage forms, submissions, users, and RBAC via CLI and REST API.

Two Tools

Tool

Install

Purpose

netpad CLI	npm i -g @netpad/cli	RBAC, marketplace, packages
REST API	curl + API key	Forms, submissions, data

Authentication

export NETPAD_API_KEY="np_live_xxx"  # Production
export NETPAD_API_KEY="np_test_xxx"  # Test (can submit to drafts)

All requests use Bearer token:

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $NETPAD_API_KEY" \
  ""

---

Quick Reference

Task

Endpoint

Method

List projects	/projects	GET
List forms	/forms	GET
Create form	/forms	POST
Get form	/forms/{formId}	GET
Update/publish form	/forms/{formId}	PATCH
Delete form	/forms/{formId}	DELETE
List submissions	/forms/{formId}/submissions	GET
Create submission	/forms/{formId}/submissions	POST
Get submission	/forms/{formId}/submissions/{id}	GET
Delete submission	/forms/{formId}/submissions/{id}	DELETE

---

Projects

Forms belong to projects. Get project ID before creating forms.

# List projects
curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $NETPAD_API_KEY" \
  "" | jq '.data[] | {projectId, name}'

---

Forms

List Forms

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $NETPAD_API_KEY" \
  ""

Create Form

curl -X POST -H "Authorization: Bearer $NETPAD_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  "" \
  -d '{
    "name": "Contact Form",
    "description": "Simple contact form",
    "projectId": "proj_xxx",
    "fields": [
      {"path": "name", "label": "Name", "type": "text", "required": true},
      {"path": "email", "label": "Email", "type": "email", "required": true},
      {"path": "phone", "label": "Phone", "type": "phone"},
      {"path": "message", "label": "Message", "type": "textarea"}
    ]
  }'

Get Form Details

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $NETPAD_API_KEY" \
  ""

Publish Form

curl -X PATCH -H "Authorization: Bearer $NETPAD_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  "" \
  -d '{"status": "published"}'

Update Form Fields

curl -X PATCH -H "Authorization: Bearer $NETPAD_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  "" \
  -d '{
    "fields": [
      {"path": "name", "label": "Full Name", "type": "text", "required": true},
      {"path": "email", "label": "Email Address", "type": "email", "required": true},
      {"path": "company", "label": "Company", "type": "text"},
      {"path": "role", "label": "Role", "type": "select", "options": [
        {"value": "dev", "label": "Developer"},
        {"value": "pm", "label": "Product Manager"},
        {"value": "exec", "label": "Executive"}
      ]}
    ]
  }'

Delete Form

curl -X DELETE -H "Authorization: Bearer $NETPAD_API_KEY" \
  ""

---

Submissions

Submit Data

curl -X POST -H "Authorization: Bearer $NETPAD_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  "" \
  -d '{
    "data": {
      "name": "John Doe",
      "email": "john@example.com",
      "message": "Hello from the API!"
    }
  }'

List Submissions

# Recent submissions
curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $NETPAD_API_KEY" \
  ""

# With date filter
curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $NETPAD_API_KEY" \
  ""

# Sorted ascending
curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $NETPAD_API_KEY" \
  ""

Get Single Submission

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $NETPAD_API_KEY" \
  ""

Delete Submission

curl -X DELETE -H "Authorization: Bearer $NETPAD_API_KEY" \
  ""

---

Field Types

Type

Description

Validation

text	Single line text	minLength, maxLength, pattern
email	Email address	Built-in validation
phone	Phone number	Built-in validation
number	Numeric input	min, max
date	Date picker	-
select	Dropdown	options: [{value, label}]
checkbox	Boolean	-
textarea	Multi-line text	minLength, maxLength
file	File upload	-

Field Schema

{
  "path": "fieldName",
  "label": "Display Label",
  "type": "text",
  "required": true,
  "placeholder": "Hint text",
  "helpText": "Additional guidance",
  "options": [{"value": "a", "label": "Option A"}],
  "validation": {
    "minLength": 1,
    "maxLength": 500,
    "pattern": "^[A-Z].*",
    "min": 0,
    "max": 100
  }
}

---

Common Patterns

Create and Publish Form

# 1. Create draft
RESULT=$(curl -s -X POST -H "Authorization: Bearer $NETPAD_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  "" \
  -d '{"name":"Survey","projectId":"proj_xxx","fields":[...]}')
FORM_ID=$(echo $RESULT | jq -r '.data.id')

# 2. Publish
curl -X PATCH -H "Authorization: Bearer $NETPAD_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  "" \
  -d '{"status":"published"}'

Export All Submissions

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $NETPAD_API_KEY" \
  "" \
  | jq '.data[].data'

Bulk Submit

for row in $(cat data.json | jq -c '.[]'); do
  curl -s -X POST -H "Authorization: Bearer $NETPAD_API_KEY" \
    -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
    "" \
    -d "{\"data\":$row}"
done

Search Forms

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $NETPAD_API_KEY" \
  ""

---

Helper Script

Use scripts/netpad.sh for common operations:

# Make executable
chmod +x scripts/netpad.sh

# Usage
./scripts/netpad.sh projects list
./scripts/netpad.sh forms list published
./scripts/netpad.sh forms create "Contact Form" proj_xxx
./scripts/netpad.sh forms publish frm_xxx
./scripts/netpad.sh submissions list frm_xxx
./scripts/netpad.sh submissions create frm_xxx '{"name":"John","email":"john@example.com"}'
./scripts/netpad.sh submissions export frm_xxx > data.jsonl
./scripts/netpad.sh submissions count frm_xxx

---

Rate Limits

Limit

Value

Requests/hour	1,000
Requests/day	10,000

Headers: X-RateLimit-Limit, X-RateLimit-Remaining, X-RateLimit-Reset

---

Response Format

Success

{
  "success": true,
  "data": { ... },
  "pagination": {"total": 100, "page": 1, "pageSize": 20, "hasMore": true},
  "requestId": "uuid"
}

Error

{
  "success": false,
  "error": {
    "code": "VALIDATION_ERROR",
    "message": "Description",
    "details": {}
  },
  "requestId": "uuid"
}

---

Environment Variables

# Required for REST API
export NETPAD_API_KEY="np_live_xxx"

# Optional (for local/staging)
export NETPAD_BASE_URL=""

---

NetPad CLI (@netpad/cli)

Install: npm i -g @netpad/cli

Authentication

netpad login              # Opens browser
netpad whoami             # Check auth status
netpad logout             # Clear credentials

Marketplace & Packages

# Search for apps
netpad search "helpdesk"

# Install an app
netpad install @netpad/helpdesk-app

# List installed
netpad list

# Create new app scaffold
netpad create-app my-app

# Submit to marketplace
netpad submit ./my-app

RBAC - Users

# List org members
netpad users list -o org_xxx

# Add user
netpad users add user@example.com -o org_xxx --role member

# Change role
netpad users update user@example.com -o org_xxx --role admin

# Remove user
netpad users remove user@example.com -o org_xxx

RBAC - Groups

# List groups
netpad groups list -o org_xxx

# Create group
netpad groups create "Engineering" -o org_xxx

# Add user to group
netpad groups add-member grp_xxx user@example.com -o org_xxx

# Delete group
netpad groups delete grp_xxx -o org_xxx

RBAC - Roles

# List roles (builtin + custom)
netpad roles list -o org_xxx

# Create custom role
netpad roles create "Reviewer" -o org_xxx --base viewer --description "Can review submissions"

# View role details
netpad roles get role_xxx -o org_xxx

# Delete custom role
netpad roles delete role_xxx -o org_xxx

RBAC - Assignments

# Assign role to user
netpad assign user user@example.com role_xxx -o org_xxx

# Assign role to group
netpad assign group grp_xxx role_xxx -o org_xxx

# Remove assignment
netpad unassign user user@example.com role_xxx -o org_xxx

RBAC - Permissions

# List all permissions
netpad permissions list -o org_xxx

# Check user's effective permissions
netpad permissions check user@example.com -o org_xxx

---

References

• references/api-endpoints.md — Complete REST API endpoint docs
• references/cli-commands.md — Full CLI command reference

---

Author

Michael Lynn — Principal Staff Developer Advocate at MongoDB

• 🌐 Website: [mlynn.org]()
• 🐙 GitHub: [@mrlynn]()
• 💼 LinkedIn: [linkedin.com/in/mlynn]()