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Last Updated: 2026-10-10 | Created: 2026-09-13 (v2.0.55)

📡 Stigix API Studio & Live Observability Guide

Target Audience: NOC Engineers, NetOps, SecOps, and Automation Engineers
Applicable Version: Stigix v2.0.55+

🎯 Overview

API Studio is Stigix’s real-time API observability hub and interactive test playground. It bridges the gap between backend background micro-engines (Python SDK scripts, Node.js daemons, VyOS automation) and the web dashboard.

As a NOC or NetOps engineer, you can use API Studio to:

  1. Instantly diagnose API failures between Stigix and external network controllers (Palo Alto Prisma SASE, Strata Cloud Manager, VyOS routers, Cloudflare Workers).
  2. Inspect full HTTP transactions (exact URL, headers, JSON request/response payloads, latency, and status codes).
  3. Replay and debug failing calls in 1 click without opening a terminal or writing Python scripts.
  4. Test and create network objects (e.g. custom SD-WAN appdefs, site queries, router firewall rules) using pre-built presets and automated credential injection.
  5. Generate reproducible automation snippets (cURL, Python prisma_sase, Python requests, Node.js fetch) for escalation tickets or CI/CD pipelines.
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|                                STIGIX API STUDIO                             |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|                                                                             |
|   [ Live API Inspector ]                       [ API Playground & Presets ] |
|   * Real-time SSE event stream                 * Palo Alto SASE Presets     |
|   * Inbound & Outbound logging                 * VyOS Router Presets        |
|   * Python getflow / prisma_apps hooks         * Auto-Authentication        |
|   * 1-Click "Replay in Playground"   ----->    * cURL / Python / JS Export  |
|                                                                             |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+

🧭 Navigation & Layout

To access API Studio:

  1. Open the Stigix Dashboard.
  2. Click the API Studio tab (Live badge) in the top navigation bar.
  3. Toggle between the two sub-views:
    • Live API Inspector: Real-time streaming log of all active transactions.
    • API Playground & Presets: Interactive visual composer and request builder.

1. 🔍 Live API Inspector (Troubleshooting & Telemetry)

The Live API Inspector captures every inbound and outbound HTTP/REST transaction happening across the Stigix node with sub-50ms latency.

Key Controls

Control Description
● Live Streaming / Paused Real-time connection indicator with pulse dot. Click Pause to freeze the stream when analyzing rapid bursts of traffic.
Search Bar Live filter across URLs, paths, methods, status codes, script names (getflow.py, prisma_custom_apps.py), and error strings.
Status Filter Chips Instant filtering by 2xx (Success), 4xx (Client/Auth errors), 5xx (Server errors), or Errors Only.
Source Selector Filter by initiator: Node.js, Python (micro-engines), VyOS API, or Security Probes.
Export JSON Downloads the full transaction log as a formatted JSON file for incident reports and ticketing.
Clear Flushes the current in-memory buffer (500-event FIFO circular buffer).

Log Table Columns

  • Time: Local timestamp of execution.
  • Status: Color-coded HTTP status badge (200 OK 🟢, 401 Unauthorized 🟡, 500 Error 🔴).
  • Method: HTTP verb (GET, POST, PUT, DELETE, PATCH).
  • Source: Indicates direction (↗ Outbound vs ↙ Inbound) and the script name (e.g. getflow.py, prisma_custom_apps.py, api_playground).
  • Path / Endpoint: The target REST path and base domain.
  • Latency: End-to-end execution time in milliseconds (amber if > 1000ms).

2. ⚡ Slide-Over Inspection & 1-Click Replay

Clicking on any row in the log table opens the Detail Drawer with full visibility:

  1. Overview: Exact URL, timestamp, execution duration, and masking status.
  2. Response Body: Formatted, syntax-highlighted JSON returned by the controller.
  3. Request Body: The payload sent by Stigix.
  4. Headers: Both request and response headers (Content-Type, User-Agent, Rate-Limit headers).
  5. cURL Snippet: A pre-formatted, reproducible curl command with 1-click copy.
  6. [⚡ Replay in Playground]: The most powerful NOC tool — immediately clones the URL, method, headers, and body into the API Playground for instant tweaking and re-execution.

3. 🧪 Interactive API Playground & Preset Catalog

The API Playground allows NOC engineers to safely query, test, and manipulate remote APIs without opening SSH terminals.

Preset Catalog

The preset selector includes pre-configured templates for common operational tasks:

A. Palo Alto Prisma SD-WAN (CloudGenix)

  • List All Sites (GET /sdwan/v4.13/api/sites): Fetches all branch & DC sites on the tenant.
  • List ION Elements (GET /sdwan/v3.2/api/elements): Lists all hardware and virtual ION appliances with serial numbers and software versions.
  • List Custom Applications (GET /sdwan/v2.6/api/appdefs): Inspects all custom L7 applications defined in Prisma SD-WAN.
  • Create Custom App Definition (POST /sdwan/v2.6/api/appdefs): Pre-filled JSON schema to register a new TCP/UDP application definition.
  • Query SD-WAN Topology (POST /sdwan/v3.6/api/topology): Queries active SD-WAN overlay topology nodes, links, and VPN peer states.
  • Get Operator & Tenant Profile (GET /sdwan/v2.1/api/profile): Inspects authenticated operator identity, tenant ID, and controller roles.

B. Palo Alto Strata Cloud Manager & Logging Service (SCM / SLS)

  • Query SLS Traffic Logs (POST /logging-service/v2/query): Live query for recent firewall and security traffic logs.

C. VyOS SD-WAN Router

  • Show Network Interfaces (POST /show with {"op": "show", "path": ["interfaces"]}): Query interface IP, link state, and duplex directly from the VyOS REST API.
  • Show IP Route Table (POST /show with {"op": "show", "path": ["ip", "route"]}): Inspect live routing table.

D. Stigix Platform & Probes

  • Get Discovered Topology (GET /api/topology): Real-time underlay mesh topology.
  • System Health & Engine Status (GET /api/system/health): Health matrix across all daemons.
  • Ping Cloudflare Target Worker (GET /__down?bytes=1024): Latency check to cloud edge targets.

Auto-Authentication Selector

You don't need to manually copy OAuth bearer tokens or API keys:

  • Prisma SASE OAuth: Automatically retrieves your client credentials from Stigix Settings / environment, performs the OAuth2 token exchange with Palo Alto Networks, bootstraps the SD-WAN controller session (/sdwan/v2.1/api/profile), injects Authorization: Bearer <token>, X-PAN-TSG-ID, and SDK User-Agent, resolving the regional base URL.
  • VyOS API Key: Automatically pulls the API key and host configured in Stigix VyOS Control.
  • Stigix JWT Token: Injects your current dashboard session authentication.

4. 🛠️ Practical NOC Troubleshooting Scenarios

Scenario 1: Prisma SASE Topology Discovery Fails ("Authentication Failed")

Symptoms: The Topology page shows "Topology Not Configured" or "Authentication Failed" after saving credentials.

NOC Investigation Steps:

  1. Open API Studio → Live API Inspector.
  2. Look for recent requests from Python (getflow.py) to /auth/v1/oauth2/access_token or /sdwan/v4.13/api/sites.
  3. Click the failing transaction row (e.g. 401 Unauthorized or 403 Forbidden).
  4. In the drawer, check the Response Body:
    • 401 Unauthorized: Client ID or Client Secret is mistyped or revoked on apps.paloaltonetworks.com.
    • 403 Forbidden: The Service Account lacks the SD-WAN Administrator role or the TSG ID scope is incorrect.
  5. Click [⚡ Replay in Playground].
  6. Switch to the Code Export tab, copy the cURL snippet, and execute it directly in a terminal to confirm TSG permissions.

Scenario 2: Verifying a Custom App on Prisma SD-WAN

Goal: Verify whether a new TCP port (e.g. port 3200 for SAP ERP) is classified correctly by Prisma SD-WAN.

NOC Steps:

  1. Open API Studio → API Playground.
  2. Select Preset: Prisma SD-WAN - Create Custom App Definition.
  3. In the JSON Body tab, customize the port and app name: 
    {
  "name": "SAP_ERP_PROD",
  "display_name": "SAP ERP Production",
  "app_type": "custom",
  "category": "business_systems",
  "sub_category": "enterprise_resource_planning",
  "tcp_rules": [
    { "port": "3200" }
  ]
}
  4. Ensure Auto Auth is set to Prisma SASE OAuth.
  5. Click Send.
  6. In the Response Inspector on the right, verify status 201 Created and check the returned id.
  7. Switch to the Live API Inspector tab to see the logged transaction.

Scenario 3: Checking VyOS Router Interfaces Remotely

Goal: Confirm if interface eth1 (WAN) is UP on the VyOS router without SSH access.

NOC Steps:

  1. In API Playground, select Preset: VyOS SD-WAN - Show Network Interfaces.
  2. Ensure Auto Auth is set to VyOS API Key.
  3. Click Send.
  4. The Response Inspector immediately formats and displays the JSON output showing interface states, IPs, and link drop statistics.

5. 🔒 Security & Secret Masking Policy

To comply with enterprise security standards and prevent accidental credential leakage in screenshots or screen shares:

  • All sensitive headers (Authorization: Bearer ..., client_secret, x-api-key, password, token) are automatically sanitized before being stored in the buffer or rendered in the UI (***MASKED***).
  • The internal telemetry proxy runs locally within the Stigix container and never leaks plaintext secrets to third-party telemetry providers.
  • Logging occurs entirely in-memory (RAM) and is non-persistent unless explicitly exported via the Export JSON button.

6. 💻 Instant Code Generators

Every request composed in the API Playground can be exported instantly to ready-to-run code by opening the Code Export tab:

  1. cURL: Single command with headers and formatted data payloads.
  2. Python (prisma_sase): Ready-to-paste Python script using Palo Alto's official SDK.
  3. Python (requests): Standalone Python script using standard requests library.
  4. Node.js (fetch): Native modern JavaScript / TypeScript fetch snippet.

Use these snippets to quickly attach reproducible proof to ServiceNow/Jira tickets or provide automation scripts to network engineering teams.