Common API calls
The API token used in API requests to manage WAF content scanning and custom scan expressions must have one of the following permissions:
- Zone WAF Edit
 - Account WAF Edit
 
The following API examples cover basic operations such as enabling and disabling WAF content scanning.
To enable content scanning, use a POST request similar to the following:
curl --request POST \"https://api.cloudflare.com/client/v4/zones/{zone_id}/content-upload-scan/enable" \--header "Authorization: Bearer <API_TOKEN>"To disable content scanning, use a POST request similar to the following:
curl --request POST \"https://api.cloudflare.com/client/v4/zones/{zone_id}/content-upload-scan/disable" \--header "Authorization: Bearer <API_TOKEN>"To obtain the current status of the content scanning feature, use a GET request similar to the following:
curl "https://api.cloudflare.com/client/v4/zones/{zone_id}/content-upload-scan/settings" \--header "Authorization: Bearer <API_TOKEN>"The following API examples cover operations on custom scan expressions for content scanning.
To get a list of existing custom scan expressions, use a GET request similar to the following:
curl "https://api.cloudflare.com/client/v4/zones/{zone_id}/content-upload-scan/payloads" \--header "Authorization: Bearer <API_TOKEN>"{  "result": [    {      "id": "<EXPRESSION_ID>",      "payload": "lookup_json_string(http.request.body.raw, \"file\")"    }  ],  "success": true,  "errors": [],  "messages": []}Use a POST request similar to the following:
curl "https://api.cloudflare.com/client/v4/zones/{zone_id}/content-upload-scan/payloads" \--header "Authorization: Bearer <API_TOKEN>" \--header "Content-Type: application/json" \--data '[  {    "payload": "lookup_json_string(http.request.body.raw, \"file\")"  }]'Use a DELETE request similar to the following:
curl --request DELETE \"https://api.cloudflare.com/client/v4/zones/{zone_id}/content-upload-scan/payloads/{expression_id}" \--header "Authorization: Bearer <API_TOKEN>"Was this helpful?
- Resources
 - API
 - New to Cloudflare?
 - Products
 - Sponsorships
 - Open Source
 
- Support
 - Help Center
 - System Status
 - Compliance
 - GDPR
 
- Company
 - cloudflare.com
 - Our team
 - Careers
 
- 2025 Cloudflare, Inc.
 - Privacy Policy
 - Terms of Use
 - Report Security Issues
 - Trademark