This document will walk you through getting the code, building the webapp, and exercising the REST API.
Prerequisites
Fedora requires Java 21 and Maven 3 (only for building the project). Check that you have them installed before proceeding:
$ java -version openjdk 21.0.8 2025-07-15 OpenJDK Runtime Environment Homebrew (build 21.0.8) OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM Homebrew (build 21.0.8, mixed mode, sharing) $ mvn -version Apache Maven 3.6.3 (cecedd343002696d0abb50b32b541b8a6ba2883f) Maven home: /usr/local/opt/apache-maven-3.6.3 Java version: 21.0.8, vendor: Homebrew, runtime: /opt/homebrew/Cellar/openjdk@21/21.0.8/libexec/openjdk.jdk/Contents/Home Default locale: en_US, platform encoding: UTF-8 OS name: "mac os x", version: "15.7.3", arch: "aarch64", family: "mac"
Building Fedora
You can download pre-compiled binaries and run Fedora in an existing Tomcat or Jetty instance, or build Fedora from source (it's not difficult or time consuming).
Clone the latest code from Github:
$ git clone https://github.com/fcrepo/fcrepo.git Cloning into 'fcrepo'... remote: Counting objects: 40152, done. remote: Compressing objects: 100% (12759/12759), done. Receiving objects: 14% (5622/40152), 3.68 MiB | 912 KiB/s [...] $ cd fcrepo
And build the project (the first time you build Fedora may take some time and bandwidth to download all the development dependencies):
Running mvn -Pfast-build clean install builds Fedora quickly by skipping all tests. Run mvn clean install if you want to run the tests.
$ mvn -Pfast-build clean install [INFO] Scanning for projects... [INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [INFO] Reactor Build Order: [INFO] [INFO] Fedora Commons :: Parent POM [pom] [INFO] Fedora Commons [pom] [INFO] Fedora Repository Common Module [bundle] [INFO] Fedora Repository Configurations Module [bundle] [INFO] Fedora Repository Kernel API [bundle] [INFO] Fedora Repository Persistence API Module [bundle] [INFO] Fedora Repository Persistence Common Module [bundle] [INFO] Fedora Repository Kernel Implementation [bundle] [INFO] Fedora Repository Search API [bundle] [INFO] Fedora Repository OCFL Persistence Impl [bundle] [INFO] Fedora Repository Search Impl [bundle] [INFO] Fedora Repository HTTP Commons Module [bundle] [INFO] Fedora Event Serialization [bundle] [INFO] Fedora Repository JMS Module [bundle] [INFO] Fedora Repository Authorization Commons Module [bundle] [INFO] Fedora Repository HTTP API Module [bundle] [INFO] Fedora Repository WebAC Authorization Module [bundle] [INFO] Fedora Repository Deployable Web Application [war] [INFO] Fedora Repository LDP integration tests Module [jar] [INFO] Fedora Repository RDF integration tests Module [jar] [INFO] [INFO] ----------------------< org.fcrepo:fcrepo-parent >---------------------- [INFO] Building Fedora Commons :: Parent POM 6.0.0-SNAPSHOT [1/20] [INFO] --------------------------------[ pom ]--------------------------------- [INFO] [....]
Running the Fedora webapp
The webapp can be run from a bundled instance of jetty. The application will listen on port 8080 by default.
If you would like to run the webapp on a different port, you can add the "jetty.port" option in your maven command (e.g. mvn -Dfcrepo.dynamic.test.port=8181 jetty:run)
$ cd fcrepo-webapp $ mvn jetty:run [...] [INFO] Started Jetty Server [INFO] Starting scanner at interval of 2 seconds.
There's a nice, friendly HTML interface waiting for you at http://localhost:8080/rest/ (the default username and password is fedoraAdmin)
REST API Examples
The REST API documentation provides a full listing of the features and functions of the REST API. Here are some examples to get you started:
$ curl "http://localhost:8080/rest/" -ufedoraAdmin:fedoraAdmin
PREFIX rdf: <http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#>
PREFIX fedora: <http://fedora.info/definitions/v4/repository#>
PREFIX ldp: <http://www.w3.org/ns/ldp#>
<http://localhost:8080/rest/>
fedora:created "2026-01-27T15:13:47.924341Z"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime>;
fedora:lastModified "2026-01-27T15:13:47.924341Z"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime>;
rdf:type ldp:BasicContainer;
rdf:type ldp:Resource;
rdf:type fedora:Resource;
rdf:type fedora:RepositoryRoot;
rdf:type ldp:RDFSource;
rdf:type ldp:Container;
rdf:type fedora:Container;
ldp:contains <http://localhost:8080/rest/b1b6661e-abcb-4b73-ad92-1c888db5ede8>;
fedora:hasTransactionProvider <http://localhost:8080/rest/fcr:tx> .
The REST API supports a variety of RDF serialization formats, including:
$ curl http://localhost:8080/rest/ -H "Accept: application/rdf+xml" -ufedoraAdmin:fedoraAdmin
<rdf:RDF
xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#"
xmlns:fedora="http://fedora.info/definitions/v4/repository#"
xmlns:ldp="http://www.w3.org/ns/ldp#" >
<rdf:Description rdf:about="http://localhost:8080/rest/">
<rdf:type rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/ns/ldp#Container"/>
<rdf:type rdf:resource="http://fedora.info/definitions/v4/repository#Container"/>
<fedora:hasTransactionProvider rdf:resource="http://localhost:8080/rest/fcr:tx"/>
<fedora:created rdf:datatype="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime">2026-01-27T15:13:47.924341Z</fedora:created>
<rdf:type rdf:resource="http://fedora.info/definitions/v4/repository#Resource"/>
<ldp:contains rdf:resource="http://localhost:8080/rest/b1b6661e-abcb-4b73-ad92-1c888db5ede8"/>
<rdf:type rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/ns/ldp#Resource"/>
<fedora:lastModified rdf:datatype="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime">2026-01-27T15:13:47.924341Z</fedora:lastModified>
<rdf:type rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/ns/ldp#RDFSource"/>
<rdf:type rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/ns/ldp#BasicContainer"/>
<rdf:type rdf:resource="http://fedora.info/definitions/v4/repository#RepositoryRoot"/>
</rdf:Description>
</rdf:RDF>
or
$ curl http://localhost:8080/rest/ -H "Accept: application/n-triples" -ufedoraAdmin:fedoraAdmin <http://localhost:8080/rest/> <http://fedora.info/definitions/v4/repository#created> "2026-01-27T15:13:47.924341Z"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime> . <http://localhost:8080/rest/> <http://fedora.info/definitions/v4/repository#lastModified> "2026-01-27T15:13:47.924341Z"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime> . <http://localhost:8080/rest/> <http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#type> <http://www.w3.org/ns/ldp#BasicContainer> . <http://localhost:8080/rest/> <http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#type> <http://www.w3.org/ns/ldp#Resource> . <http://localhost:8080/rest/> <http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#type> <http://fedora.info/definitions/v4/repository#Resource> . <http://localhost:8080/rest/> <http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#type> <http://fedora.info/definitions/v4/repository#RepositoryRoot> . <http://localhost:8080/rest/> <http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#type> <http://www.w3.org/ns/ldp#RDFSource> . <http://localhost:8080/rest/> <http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#type> <http://www.w3.org/ns/ldp#Container> . <http://localhost:8080/rest/> <http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#type> <http://fedora.info/definitions/v4/repository#Container> . <http://localhost:8080/rest/> <http://www.w3.org/ns/ldp#contains> <http://localhost:8080/rest/b1b6661e-abcb-4b73-ad92-1c888db5ede8> . <http://localhost:8080/rest/> <http://fedora.info/definitions/v4/repository#hasTransactionProvider> <http://localhost:8080/rest/fcr:tx> .
Create a new object
$ curl http://localhost:8080/rest/ -X POST -v -ufedoraAdmin:fedoraAdmin
* Host localhost:8080 was resolved.
* IPv6: ::1
* IPv4: 127.0.0.1
* Trying [::1]:8080...
* Connected to localhost (::1) port 8080
* Server auth using Basic with user 'fedoraAdmin'
> POST /rest/ HTTP/1.1
> Host: localhost:8080
> Authorization: Basic ZmVkb3JhQWRtaW46ZmVkb3JhQWRtaW4=
> User-Agent: curl/8.7.1
> Accept: */*
>
* Request completely sent off
< HTTP/1.1 201 Created
< Server: Jetty(12.0.23)
< Date: Tue, 10 Feb 2026 18:46:09 GMT
< Set-Cookie: JSESSIONID=node0cdnc4sr1fc1nwcs8ugpa0cgs3.node0; Path=/
< Expires: Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 GMT
< Set-Cookie: rememberMe=deleteMe; Path=/; Max-Age=0; Expires=Mon, 09-Feb-2026 18:46:09 GMT; SameSite=lax
< ETag: W/"CF8599030A6F81D2D5B8D84D9ED4B288"
< X-State-Token: A767E30089197FB4132C4DD3DFB8BA88
< Last-Modified: Tue, 10 Feb 2026 18:46:09 GMT
< Link: <http://localhost:8080/rest/e3267c81-256a-46c7-ae16-e1f316791368>; rel="timegate"
< Link: <http://localhost:8080/rest/e3267c81-256a-46c7-ae16-e1f316791368>; rel="original"
< Link: <http://localhost:8080/rest/e3267c81-256a-46c7-ae16-e1f316791368/fcr:versions>; rel="timemap"
< Link: <http://www.w3.org/ns/ldp#BasicContainer>; rel="type"
< Link: <http://www.w3.org/ns/ldp#Resource>; rel="type"
< Link: <http://fedora.info/definitions/v4/repository#Resource>; rel="type"
< Link: <http://mementoweb.org/ns#OriginalResource>; rel="type"
< Link: <http://mementoweb.org/ns#TimeGate>; rel="type"
< Link: <http://www.w3.org/ns/ldp#RDFSource>; rel="type"
< Link: <http://www.w3.org/ns/ldp#Container>; rel="type"
< Link: <http://fedora.info/definitions/v4/repository#Container>; rel="type"
< Link: <http://localhost:8080/rest/e3267c81-256a-46c7-ae16-e1f316791368/fcr:acl>; rel="acl"
< Location: http://localhost:8080/rest/e3267c81-256a-46c7-ae16-e1f316791368
< Content-Type: text/plain
< Content-Length: 63
<
* Connection #0 to host localhost left intact
http://localhost:8080/rest/e3267c81-256a-46c7-ae16-e1f316791368
$ curl http://localhost:8080/rest/e3267c81-256a-46c7-ae16-e1f316791368 -ufedoraAdmin:fedoraAdmin
PREFIX rdf: <http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#>
PREFIX fedora: <http://fedora.info/definitions/v4/repository#>
PREFIX ldp: <http://www.w3.org/ns/ldp#>
<http://localhost:8080/rest/e3267c81-256a-46c7-ae16-e1f316791368>
fedora:created "2026-02-10T18:46:09.334476Z"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime>;
fedora:lastModified "2026-02-10T18:46:09.334476Z"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime>;
fedora:createdBy "fedoraAdmin";
fedora:lastModifiedBy "fedoraAdmin";
rdf:type ldp:BasicContainer;
rdf:type ldp:Resource;
rdf:type fedora:Resource;
rdf:type ldp:RDFSource;
rdf:type ldp:Container;
rdf:type fedora:Container;
fedora:hasParent <http://localhost:8080/rest/> .
Delete an object
$ curl -X DELETE http://localhost:8080/rest/e3267c81-256a-46c7-ae16-e1f316791368 -ufedoraAdmin:fedoraAdmin
