notion#

Use the Notion API to create/read/update pages, data sources (databases), and blocks.

Setup#

1. Create an integration at https://notion.so/my-integrations
2. Copy the API key (starts with ntn_ or secret_)
3. Store it:

bash

mkdir -p ~/.config/notion
echo "ntn_your_key_here" > ~/.config/notion/api_key

1. Share target pages/databases with your integration (click "..." → "Connect to" → your integration name)

API Basics#

All requests need:

bash

NOTION_KEY=$(cat ~/.config/notion/api_key)
curl -X GET "https://api.notion.com/v1/..." \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $NOTION_KEY" \
  -H "Notion-Version: 2026-03-11" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json"

Note: The Notion-Version header is required. This skill uses 2026-03-11 (latest). In this version, databases are called "data sources" in the API.

Common Operations#

Search for pages and data sources:

bash

curl -X POST "https://api.notion.com/v1/search" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $NOTION_KEY" \
  -H "Notion-Version: 2026-03-11" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"query": "page title"}'

Get page:

bash

curl "https://api.notion.com/v1/pages/{page_id}" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $NOTION_KEY" \
  -H "Notion-Version: 2026-03-11"

Get page content (blocks):

For simple content access, prefer the Markdown API ( GET /v1/pages/{page_id}/markdown). Use the blocks API only when you need low-level block data or unsupported block types.

bash

curl "https://api.notion.com/v1/blocks/{page_id}/children" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $NOTION_KEY" \
  -H "Notion-Version: 2026-03-11"

Create page in a data source:

bash

curl -X POST "https://api.notion.com/v1/pages" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $NOTION_KEY" \
  -H "Notion-Version: 2026-03-11" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "parent": {"database_id": "xxx"},
    "properties": {
      "Name": {"title": [{"text": {"content": "New Item"}}]},
      "Status": {"select": {"name": "Todo"}}
    }
  }'

Query a data source (database):

bash

curl -X POST "https://api.notion.com/v1/data_sources/{data_source_id}/query" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $NOTION_KEY" \
  -H "Notion-Version: 2026-03-11" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "filter": {"property": "Status", "select": {"equals": "Active"}},
    "sorts": [{"property": "Date", "direction": "descending"}]
  }'

Create a data source (database):

bash

curl -X POST "https://api.notion.com/v1/data_sources" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $NOTION_KEY" \
  -H "Notion-Version: 2026-03-11" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "parent": {"page_id": "xxx"},
    "title": [{"text": {"content": "My Database"}}],
    "properties": {
      "Name": {"title": {}},
      "Status": {"select": {"options": [{"name": "Todo"}, {"name": "Done"}]}},
      "Date": {"date": {}}
    }
  }'

Update page properties:

bash

curl -X PATCH "https://api.notion.com/v1/pages/{page_id}" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $NOTION_KEY" \
  -H "Notion-Version: 2026-03-11" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"properties": {"Status": {"select": {"name": "Done"}}}}'

Add blocks to page:

bash

curl -X PATCH "https://api.notion.com/v1/blocks/{page_id}/children" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $NOTION_KEY" \
  -H "Notion-Version: 2026-03-11" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "children": [
      {"object": "block", "type": "paragraph", "paragraph": {"rich_text": [{"text": {"content": "Hello"}}]}}
    ]
  }'

Markdown Page Operations#

Use the Markdown API to read and write page content as plain Markdown — no need to construct block JSON.

Create page with markdown:

bash

curl -X POST "https://api.notion.com/v1/pages" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $NOTION_KEY" \
  -H "Notion-Version: 2026-03-11" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "parent": {"page_id": "xxx"},
    "markdown": "# Meeting Notes\n\nContent here.\n\n- item 1\n- item 2"
  }'

Constraints:

• markdown and children are mutually exclusive in the same request
• If properties.title is omitted, the first # h1 heading becomes the page title
• Requires insert_content capability on the parent
• Only works for pages under a parent page (not a database)

Read page as markdown:

bash

curl "https://api.notion.com/v1/pages/{page_id}/markdown" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $NOTION_KEY" \
  -H "Notion-Version: 2026-03-11"

Response: { "object": "page_markdown", "id": "...", "markdown": "...", "truncated": false, "unknown_block_ids": [] }

• Add ?include_transcript=true to include meeting transcripts
• If truncated: true, fetch remaining blocks using the IDs in unknown_block_ids

Update page markdown:

bash

# Search-and-replace (recommended)
curl -X PATCH "https://api.notion.com/v1/pages/{page_id}/markdown" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $NOTION_KEY" \
  -H "Notion-Version: 2026-03-11" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "command": {
      "type": "update_content",
      "old_str": "old text",
      "new_str": "new text"
    }
  }'

# Full replacement
curl -X PATCH "https://api.notion.com/v1/pages/{page_id}/markdown" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $NOTION_KEY" \
  -H "Notion-Version: 2026-03-11" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "command": {
      "type": "replace_content",
      "new_str": "# New Title\n\nReplaced content."
    }
  }'

Two command types:

• update_content — search-and-replace ( old_str → new_str); fails with validation_error if old_str appears multiple times (add "replace_all_matches": true to override)
• replace_content — replaces all page content with new_str

Both commands return the full updated page markdown. Constraints:

• Matching is case-sensitive
• Operations that would delete child pages/databases are rejected unless "allow_deleting_content": true is set
• Synced pages cannot be updated

Supported Block Types (Markdown)#

Block TypeMarkdown SyntaxParagraphplain textHeading 1–4# through #### Bulleted list item- itemNumbered list item1. itemTo-do- [ ] / - [x]Toggle<details><summary>…</summary>…</details>Quote> quoteCallout<callout>…</callout>Divider---Code block```language … ```Equation$$ equation $$Table<table><tr><td>…</td></tr></table>Image![caption](url)File / Video / Audio / PDF<file src="url">caption</file>Child page<page url="…">title</page>Columns<columns><column>…</column></columns>

Unsupported block types render as <unknown url="..." alt="block_type"/> placeholder tags.

Property Types#

Common property formats for database items:

• Title: {"title": [{"text": {"content": "..."}}]}
• Rich text: {"rich_text": [{"text": {"content": "..."}}]}
• Select: {"select": {"name": "Option"}}
• Multi-select: {"multi_select": [{"name": "A"}, {"name": "B"}]}
• Date: {"date": {"start": "2024-01-15", "end": "2024-01-16"}}
• Checkbox: {"checkbox": true}
• Number: {"number": 42}
• URL: {"url": "https://..."}
• Email: {"email": "a@b.com"}
• Relation: {"relation": [{"id": "page_id"}]}

Key Differences in 2026-03-11#

• Databases → Data Sources: Use /data_sources/ endpoints for queries and retrieval
• Two IDs: Each database now has both a database_id and a data_source_id
  • Use database_id when creating pages ( parent: {"database_id": "..."})
  • Use data_source_id when querying ( POST /v1/data_sources/{id}/query)
• Search results: Databases return as "object": "data_source" with their data_source_id
• Parent in responses: Pages show parent.data_source_id alongside parent.database_id
• Finding the data_source_id: Search for the database, or call GET /v1/data_sources/{data_source_id}

Notes#

• Page/database IDs are UUIDs (with or without dashes)
• The API cannot set database view filters — that's UI-only
• Rate limit: ~3 requests/second average, with 429 rate_limited responses using Retry-After
• Append block children: up to 100 children per request, up to two levels of nesting in a single append request
• Payload size limits: up to 1000 block elements and 500KB overall
• Use is_inline: true when creating data sources to embed them in pages
• markdown field in create/update is mutually exclusive with children
• Markdown pages exceeding ~20,000 blocks will have truncated: true; fetch remaining content using block IDs in unknown_block_ids
• All string matching in update_content is case-sensitive
• In-page \n must be actual newlines in JSON; use single quotes in cURL