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Fields

When making a request to the API, you can specify the fields you want to retrieve for each record using the fields parameter. If the parameter isn't included, the response will return a minimal set of default fields for the record(s) being requested. For most endpoints, the id and etag fields are the only default fields returned.

Fields must be provided as a comma-separated list. For example, to request the id, etag, and type fields from the Activites endpoint, the URL would be as follows:

https://app.clio.com/api/v4/activities?fields=id,etag,type

If any requested fields are invalid, the API will return a 400 Bad Request response.

For a complete list of each endpoint's available fields, refer to the "Response" section for each endpoint in the API Reference.

Nested Resources​

Fields can also be specified for nested resources. This can be done by appending curly brackets with a comma separated list of fields to the nested resource. If a nested resource's fields are not specified, its default fields will be returned.

For example, to request Activities and include information about each activity's associated matter, the URL would be as follows:

https://app.clio.com/api/v4/activities?fields=id,etag,type,matter{id,description}

Second level nested resources will only return the default attributes. Attempting to request fields for a second-level nested resource will result a 400 Bad Request.

For example, you can request the client field for a nested matter on an activity like so:

https://app.clio.com/api/v4/activities?fields=id,etag,type,matter{id,description,client}

However, requesting the client's date_of_birth field will result in a 400 Bad Request response:

https://app.clio.com/api/v4/activities?fields=id,etag,type,matter{id,description,client{date_of_birth}}

To retrieve this information, you would need to make a separate request to either the Matters endpoint (requesting the fields client{date_of_birth}) or the Contacts endpoint for that client's ID (requesting the field date_of_birth)

Using the fields parameter in POST/PATCH requests​

The fields parameter can also be included in POST and PATCH requests. If provided, the payload response will include the selected fields. This can be a helpful strategy to save the number of requests your application makes – you don't need to retrieve a record in a separate request after creating or updating it.

As an example: the total field of Activity records is calculated based on the quantity and price fields provided when the record is created. When creating the record, you can request the total field be returned in the response as follows:

curl -X POST \
  "https://app.clio.com/api/v4/activities?fields=id,etag,total" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer WjR8H...dUUul" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"data": { "date": "2022-09-26", "quantity": 7200, "price": 200, "type": "TimeEntry" } }'

The response payload will then look like the following:

{
  "data": {
    "id": 347697,
    "etag": "\"54e3163b889916a68f6d0d2c36334927\"",
    "total": 400.0
  }
}

As with GET requests, if the fields parameter isn't included, the response will return the default fields for the record.

info

The fields parameter cannot be used when making DELETE requests. Deleting a record will always return a 204 No Content response with no body.