*Overview › Get started*

# Overview

> Filmo exposes the records of a rental company, such as contacts, items, orders, invoices and crew, through a REST API and an MCP server for AI assistants.

Both use the same API key, the same scopes and the same rate limits. Use them to connect a CRM, send web-form requests into Filmo, mirror inventory, sync the schedule or let an assistant look things up.

## What the platform includes

- **[REST API](https://docs.filmo.io/rest-api/overview)**: HTTPS and JSON. Every operation has a page, with its scope, parameters and responses, and the full OpenAPI document is downloadable.
- **[MCP server](https://docs.filmo.io/mcp/overview)**: Every operation of the API is also a tool for AI assistants, with the same authentication and the same scopes.
- **[Workflows](https://docs.filmo.io/workflows/overview)**: List the workflows of the account and start the ones with a manual trigger.
- **[App SDK](https://docs.filmo.io/sdk/overview)** (Soon): An upcoming SDK for building external applications in your own environment with Filmo's components, backend and API.

The reference describes 170 operations behind 59 scopes. The API does not send webhooks: to follow changes you poll for what changed, as [Syncing data](https://docs.filmo.io/rest-api/guides/syncing-data) explains.

## Before you start

- [An administrator](https://docs.filmo.io/concepts/permissions) of the Filmo account creates the API key, and the key acts as that administrator. If you are not one, the [quickstart](https://docs.filmo.io/quickstart#not-an-admin) says what to ask for.
- Filmo must have switched the API and MCP on for the environment your account lives in. That is a switch on Filmo's side, not a setting an administrator of the account changes. The API and MCP are included in any paid plan and are not an add-on, but the modules with add-ons need them: [`GET /api/v1/account`](https://docs.filmo.io/rest-api/endpoint-reference/account/get-the-account) lists the add-ons the account has today, and a resource behind an add-on that is not listed answers 402 [`addon_required`](https://docs.filmo.io/rest-api/errors/addon_required). See [Plans and add-ons](https://docs.filmo.io/concepts/plans-and-add-ons).
- A free trial (14 days, no card) is a good way to try the API: an administrator can create keys and connect OAuth and MCP, and the trial unlocks all add-ons. When it ends, endpoints behind an add-on answer 402, and unless the account has been converted to a paid subscription its data is purged about 30 days after the end. Check [`trial`](https://docs.filmo.io/rest-api/objects/account#response-trial) before you build on a trial.
- This documentation is public. Only the key is restricted, and a key is shown once, when it is created.

The rate limits are the same for every plan. To see which add-ons your account has, check your subscription in Filmo ([Your subscription](https://www.filmo.io/help/reference/account-and-settings/your-filmo-subscription/your-subscription)).

## Choose where to start

- **[Make a first call](https://docs.filmo.io/quickstart)**: Create a key and read your account in a few minutes, in cURL, PowerShell, Node or Python.
- **[Connect an assistant](https://docs.filmo.io/mcp/quickstart)**: Point an AI client at the MCP server and choose what it may do.
- **[What v1 can and cannot do](https://docs.filmo.io/further-reading/capabilities-and-limits)**: What each resource supports, the hard limits and what is not in v1.
- **[Go live](https://docs.filmo.io/rest-api/guides/going-live)**: The checklist before an integration touches production data.

Building for many rental companies, as a software vendor? Read [Multi-account integrations](https://docs.filmo.io/rest-api/guides/multi-account-integrations). The concepts that every integration meets are [accounts and tenancy](https://docs.filmo.io/concepts/accounts-and-tenancy), [records and ids](https://docs.filmo.io/concepts/records-and-ids), [statuses](https://docs.filmo.io/concepts/statuses) and [permissions](https://docs.filmo.io/concepts/permissions).

## Stability

The contract is versioned. Changes within v1 are additive; breaking changes follow the notice periods in [Versioning](https://docs.filmo.io/rest-api/guides/versioning). Ignore properties and values you do not know, so additive changes do not break you.

Business-sensitive data such as costs, margins and access codes is not published by design; see [Excluded data](https://docs.filmo.io/further-reading/excluded-data). For help, see [Support](https://docs.filmo.io/further-reading/support).

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Canonical URL: https://docs.filmo.io/overview  
Last updated: 2026-10-09