NetPad - Build forms, workflows and manage MongoDB data

Manage NetPad forms, submissions, users, and RBAC. Use when: (1) Creating forms with custom fields, (2) Submitting data to forms, (3) Querying form submissions, (4) Managing users/groups/roles (RBAC), (5) Installing NetPad apps from marketplace. Requires NETPAD_API_KEY for API, or netpad login for CLI.

Michael Lynn@mrlynn

Install

openclaw skills install @mrlynn/netpad

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

bash

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:

bash

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $NETPAD_API_KEY" \
  "https://www.netpad.io/api/v1/..."

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.

bash

# List projects
curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $NETPAD_API_KEY" \
  "https://www.netpad.io/api/v1/projects" | jq '.data[] | {projectId, name}'

Forms

List Forms

bash

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $NETPAD_API_KEY" \
  "https://www.netpad.io/api/v1/forms?status=published&pageSize=50"

Create Form

bash

curl -X POST -H "Authorization: Bearer $NETPAD_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  "https://www.netpad.io/api/v1/forms" \
  -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

bash

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $NETPAD_API_KEY" \
  "https://www.netpad.io/api/v1/forms/{formId}"

Publish Form

bash

curl -X PATCH -H "Authorization: Bearer $NETPAD_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  "https://www.netpad.io/api/v1/forms/{formId}" \
  -d '{"status": "published"}'

Update Form Fields

bash

curl -X PATCH -H "Authorization: Bearer $NETPAD_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  "https://www.netpad.io/api/v1/forms/{formId}" \
  -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

bash

curl -X DELETE -H "Authorization: Bearer $NETPAD_API_KEY" \
  "https://www.netpad.io/api/v1/forms/{formId}"

Submissions

Submit Data

bash

curl -X POST -H "Authorization: Bearer $NETPAD_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  "https://www.netpad.io/api/v1/forms/{formId}/submissions" \
  -d '{
    "data": {
      "name": "John Doe",
      "email": "john@example.com",
      "message": "Hello from the API!"
    }
  }'

List Submissions

bash

# Recent submissions
curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $NETPAD_API_KEY" \
  "https://www.netpad.io/api/v1/forms/{formId}/submissions?pageSize=50"

# With date filter
curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $NETPAD_API_KEY" \
  "https://www.netpad.io/api/v1/forms/{formId}/submissions?startDate=2026-01-01T00:00:00Z"

# Sorted ascending
curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $NETPAD_API_KEY" \
  "https://www.netpad.io/api/v1/forms/{formId}/submissions?sortOrder=asc"

Get Single Submission

bash

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $NETPAD_API_KEY" \
  "https://www.netpad.io/api/v1/forms/{formId}/submissions/{submissionId}"

Delete Submission

bash

curl -X DELETE -H "Authorization: Bearer $NETPAD_API_KEY" \
  "https://www.netpad.io/api/v1/forms/{formId}/submissions/{submissionId}"

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

json

{
  "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

bash

# 1. Create draft
RESULT=$(curl -s -X POST -H "Authorization: Bearer $NETPAD_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  "https://www.netpad.io/api/v1/forms" \
  -d '{"name":"Survey","projectId":"proj_xxx","fields":[...]}')
FORM_ID=$(echo $RESULT | jq -r '.data.id')

# 2. Publish
curl -X PATCH -H "Authorization: Bearer $NETPAD_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  "https://www.netpad.io/api/v1/forms/$FORM_ID" \
  -d '{"status":"published"}'

Export All Submissions

bash

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $NETPAD_API_KEY" \
  "https://www.netpad.io/api/v1/forms/{formId}/submissions?pageSize=1000" \
  | jq '.data[].data'

Bulk Submit

bash

for row in $(cat data.json | jq -c '.[]'); do
  curl -s -X POST -H "Authorization: Bearer $NETPAD_API_KEY" \
    -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
    "https://www.netpad.io/api/v1/forms/{formId}/submissions" \
    -d "{\"data\":$row}"
done

Search Forms

bash

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $NETPAD_API_KEY" \
  "https://www.netpad.io/api/v1/forms?search=contact&status=published"

Helper Script

Use scripts/netpad.sh for common operations:

bash

# 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

json

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

Error

json

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

Environment Variables

bash

# Required for REST API
export NETPAD_API_KEY="np_live_xxx"

# Optional (for local/staging)
export NETPAD_BASE_URL="https://staging.netpad.io/api/v1"

NetPad CLI (@netpad/cli)

Install: npm i -g @netpad/cli

Authentication

bash

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

Marketplace & Packages

bash

# 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

bash

# 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

bash

# 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

bash

# 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

bash

# 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

bash

# 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

NetPad - Build forms, workflows and manage MongoDB data

Install

NetPad

Two Tools

Authentication

Quick Reference

Projects

Forms

List Forms

Create Form

Get Form Details

Publish Form

Update Form Fields

Delete Form

Submissions

Submit Data

List Submissions

Get Single Submission

Delete Submission

Field Types

Field Schema

Common Patterns

Create and Publish Form

Export All Submissions

Bulk Submit

Search Forms

Helper Script

Rate Limits

Response Format

Success

Error

Environment Variables

NetPad CLI (@netpad/cli)

Authentication

Marketplace & Packages

RBAC - Users

RBAC - Groups

RBAC - Roles

RBAC - Assignments

RBAC - Permissions

References

Author

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