omni-content-builder

Omni Content Builder

Create, update, and manage Omni documents and dashboards programmatically via the REST API — document lifecycle, workbook models, filters, and dashboard content.

Tip: Use omni-model-explorer to understand available fields and omni-content-explorer to find existing dashboards to modify or learn from.

Known Issues & Safe Defaults

• Always test queries before creating a dashboard — run each planned query via POST /api/v1/query/run first, including the filters you intend to use. This catches bad field names, missing joins, and malformed filter expressions before they become broken tiles.
• Chart rendering: Complex chart types may show "No chart available" in the Omni UI if config, visType, or prefersChart are misconfigured. Default to chartType: "table" for reliable rendering, and configure chart visualizations in the Omni UI.
• Every query must include at least one measure — a query with only dimensions produces empty/nonsense tiles (e.g., just months with no data).
• Use identifier not id for all document API calls — .id is null for workbook-type documents and will silently fail.
• Boolean filters may be silently dropped when a pivots array is present (reported Omni bug). If boolean filters aren't applying, remove the pivot and test again.
• Dashboard updates are full replacements — PUT /api/v1/documents/{documentId} replaces the entire document state. Always read the existing document first and modify from there, or you'll lose tiles you didn't include.

Prerequisites

export OMNI_BASE_URL="https://yourorg.omniapp.co"
export OMNI_API_KEY="your-api-key"

API Discovery

When unsure whether an endpoint or parameter exists, fetch the OpenAPI spec:

curl -L "$OMNI_BASE_URL/openapi.json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $OMNI_API_KEY"

Use this to verify endpoints, available parameters, and request/response schemas before making calls.

Dashboard Architecture

Omni dashboards are built from documents (workbooks). Each has:

• A dashboard view (the published, shareable layout)
• One or more query tabs (underlying queries)
• A workbook model (per-dashboard model customizations)

Documents can be created with full query and visualization configurations via queryPresentations. Fine-tuning tile layout is best done in the Omni UI.

Document Management

Create Document (Name Only)

curl

Returns the new document's identifier, workbookId, and dashboardId.

Create Document with Queries and Visualizations

Use queryPresentations to create a document pre-populated with query tabs and visualization configurations.

Doc gap: The create-document API docs mention queryPresentations but don't show the complete structure. This section documents the full format.

Tip: Default to "config": {} for reliable rendering — Omni will auto-generate chart config. For precise chart styling, build a reference dashboard in the UI and read it back via GET /api/v1/documents/{documentId}. See references/queryPresentations.md for complete config examples by chart type (KPI, line, bar, area, pie, scatter, etc.).

Key Parameters (not fully documented elsewhere)

queryPresentation Object Reference

Query Object Reference

The query object within each query presentation uses the same structure as the Query API:

Note: modelId is not needed inside the query object — it's inherited from the document's top-level modelId.

visConfig Object

visConfig belongs inside the query object — not at the queryPresentation level. When passed as a sibling of query, it is silently dropped by the API.

visConfig alone does not control chart rendering. It stores the chart type hint on the query, but the actual rendering is driven by prefersChart, visType, and config at the queryPresentation level.

chartType values:

config Object

The config object at the queryPresentation level defines the actual chart rendering. Its structure varies by chart type — see references/queryPresentations.md for complete config examples by chart type.

The most reliable way to get the correct config for a given chart type is to build the chart in the Omni UI and read it back via GET /api/v1/documents/{documentId}.

Discovering the Full queryPresentation Structure from Existing Dashboards

The most reliable way to learn config, visType, and field names is to read an existing dashboard document:

Step 1: Find a reference dashboard

Step 2: Get its full document

Returns the complete queryPresentations array including topicName, visConfig, config, and the full query object for each tile — use this as the source of truth when recreating or templating dashboards.

Tip: Build a reference dashboard in the Omni UI with the chart types and styling you want, then read it via GET /api/v1/documents/{documentId} to capture the exact queryPresentations structure to use as a template.

Caveats When Reusing queryPresentations

These apply when copying queryPresentations from an existing document (for both creating new dashboards and updating existing ones):

• Strip model_extension_id from each query object — these reference model extensions scoped to the source document and will cause "Chart unavailable" errors.
• Filter to the tiles you want — GET /api/v1/documents/{id} returns all queries including workbook-only tabs not shown on the dashboard. Only include the queryPresentations you want as visible tiles.
• Queries without topicName are valid — SQL-mode and tab-selector queries won't have a topicName. Do not add one.

Rename Document

Set clearExistingDraft: true if the document has an existing draft, otherwise the API returns 409 Conflict.

Delete Document

Soft-deletes the document (moves to Trash).

Move Document

Use "folderPath": null to move to root. scope is optional — auto-computed from the destination folder.

Duplicate Document

Only published documents can be duplicated. Draft documents return 404.

Update Existing Dashboard

Update the tiles, queries, filters, and visualizations on an existing dashboard using PUT /api/v1/documents/{documentId}. This is a full replacement — you must pass the complete desired state of the document, not just the fields you want to change.

Warning: This endpoint only works with dashboard documents. Workbook-only documents are not supported and return 400.

Note: This endpoint is documented at docs.omni.co but may not appear in the OpenAPI spec at /openapi.json yet.

Update Workflow

Step 1 — Read the existing document to get its current state:

This returns the full document including queryPresentations, filterConfig, filterOrder, modelId, name, and other fields. Use this as your starting point.

Step 2 — Modify the response as needed:

• To add a tile: append a new entry to the queryPresentations array
• To remove a tile: remove it from the queryPresentations array
• To edit a tile: modify the relevant entry's query, config, fields, etc.
• To update filters: modify filterConfig and filterOrder

Step 3 — PUT the updated document:

The queryPresentations array uses the same structure as document creation — see above.

Required Fields

Optional Fields

Caveats

• Full replacement: Every queryPresentation you include becomes a tile. Any tile you omit from the array is removed. Always start from the existing document's queryPresentations and modify from there.
• Draft conflict: Published documents with existing drafts return 409 unless clearExistingDraft: true is set.
• See also Caveats When Reusing queryPresentations (e.g., stripping model_extension_id).

Updating a Dashboard's Model

Push custom dimensions and measures to a specific dashboard by writing to its workbook model. This is a two-step flow:

Step 1 — get the document to find its workbook_id:

Step 2 — POST YAML to the workbook model:

fileName must be "model", "relationships", or end with .view or .topic. The yaml value is a YAML string (not a JSON object). Writing to a workbook model skips git sync entirely — authorization is still checked against the underlying shared model's permissions.

Dashboard Filters

Get Current Filters

Update Filters

Filters can be updated via two approaches:

1. PUT /api/v1/documents/{documentId} (recommended) — update filters as part of a full document update. Include filterConfig and filterOrder alongside queryPresentations and other required fields. See the Update Existing Dashboard section.
2. PATCH /api/v1/dashboards/{id}/filters — partial filter update. Has been reported to return 405 or 500 in some configurations.

For new dashboards, the most reliable way is to include filterConfig and filterOrder in the initial POST /api/v1/documents call. See references/filterConfig.md for complete examples of each filter type.

The keys in filterConfig (e.g., "date_filter") are arbitrary IDs — they must match the entries in filterOrder. To learn the exact filter structure, read filters from an existing dashboard with GET /api/v1/dashboards/{dashboardId}/filters.

Filter Types

Date Range (relative) — type: "date", kind: "TIME_FOR_INTERVAL_DURATION", requires fieldName

Date Range (absolute) — type: "date", kind: "WITHIN_RANGE", requires fieldName

String Dropdown — type: "string", kind: "EQUALS", requires fieldName, values: []

Boolean Toggle — type: "boolean", requires fieldName

Hidden Filter — any filter with "hidden": true (applied but not visible)

Critical: Every filter MUST include fieldName with the fully qualified field name (e.g., "order_items.created_at"). Without it, the filter won't bind to any column. For date filters, do NOT include a timeframe bracket in fieldName.

Controls (separate from filters)

Controls change what fields or granularity tiles display. They go in a controls array (NOT in filterConfig), but their IDs are included in filterOrder.

Time Frame Switcher — type: "FIELD_SELECTION", kind: "TIMEFRAME" with options array

Field Switcher — type: "FIELD_SELECTION", kind: "FIELD" with options array

See references/filterConfig.md for complete filter and control examples.

URL Patterns

After creating or finding content, always provide the user a direct link:

The identifier comes from the document's identifier field in API responses (not id, which is null for workbooks).

Recommended Build Workflows

API-First (Full Programmatic Creation)

1. Discover fields — use omni-model-explorer to find topic + fields
2. Test each query — run every query you plan to include via POST /api/v1/query/run (using omni-query) before building the dashboard. Include the same filters you plan to use in filterConfig as query-level filters to confirm they parse correctly. This catches field name typos, missing join paths, bad filter expressions, and permission errors before they become broken tiles.
3. Create document — single POST /api/v1/documents with queryPresentations + filterConfig + filterOrder all in one call
4. Share the link — return {OMNI_BASE_URL}/dashboards/{identifier} to the user
5. Refine in UI — tile layout, chart styling, and advanced config are best done in the Omni UI

Update Existing Dashboard

1. Find the dashboard — use omni-content-explorer or GET /api/v1/documents to locate it
2. Read its current state — GET /api/v1/documents/{documentId} to get the full document including queryPresentations, filterConfig, etc.
3. Modify — add, remove, or edit entries in the queryPresentations array; update filterConfig/filterOrder as needed
4. PUT the update — PUT /api/v1/documents/{documentId} with the complete modified document and clearExistingDraft: true
5. Share the link — return {OMNI_BASE_URL}/dashboards/{identifier} to the user

UI-First (Hybrid Approach)

1. Prepare the Model — use omni-model-builder for shared fields, or update-model for dashboard-specific fields
2. Build in UI — add tiles, choose viz types, arrange the grid, set filters
3. Iterate via API — update model fields, extract queries for reuse

Dashboard Downloads

Docs Reference

• Documents API · Update Document · Dashboard Filters · Dashboard Downloads · Query API · Schedules API · Visualization Types

Related Skills

• omni-model-explorer — understand available fields
• omni-model-builder — create shared model fields
• omni-query — test queries before adding to dashboards
• omni-content-explorer — find existing dashboards to learn from
• omni-embed — embed dashboards you've built in external apps