---
id: examples
title: Quick-start with curl
description: Copy-pasteable curl quick-start for the most common Mattermost API operations.
sidebar_position: 2
sidebar_label: Examples
---

<Eyebrow>Examples</Eyebrow>

Copy-pasteable requests for the most common operations. Replace `your-mattermost-server.com` with your server URL and `<TOKEN>` with a valid personal access token.

## Log in and get a session token

```bash
curl -i -X POST https://your-mattermost-server.com/api/v4/users/login \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{
    "login_id": "user@example.com",
    "password": "yourpassword"
  }'
```

The session token is returned in the `Token` response header.

## Post a message to a channel

```bash
curl -X POST https://your-mattermost-server.com/api/v4/posts \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer <TOKEN>' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{
    "channel_id": "<CHANNEL_ID>",
    "message": "Status update from API"
  }'
```

## Create a channel

```bash
curl -X POST https://your-mattermost-server.com/api/v4/channels \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer <TOKEN>' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{
    "team_id": "<TEAM_ID>",
    "name": "ops-incident-2026-05",
    "display_name": "Ops Incident — 2026-05",
    "type": "O"
  }'
```

## Add a user to a channel

```bash
curl -X POST https://your-mattermost-server.com/api/v4/channels/<CHANNEL_ID>/members \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer <TOKEN>' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{ "user_id": "<USER_ID>" }'
```

## Upload a file

```bash
curl -X POST https://your-mattermost-server.com/api/v4/files \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer <TOKEN>' \
  -F 'channel_id=<CHANNEL_ID>' \
  -F 'files=@./report.pdf'
```

## Trigger a slash command

```bash
curl -X POST https://your-mattermost-server.com/api/v4/commands/execute \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer <TOKEN>' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{
    "channel_id": "<CHANNEL_ID>",
    "command": "/echo Hello from the API"
  }'
```

<Tip>
Every endpoint page in the **[Reference](/api/reference/login)** sidebar includes the equivalent samples in **curl, PowerShell, Python, Node, and Go** — selectable via the language tab strip on the right side of the page.
</Tip>