What is the Waterbutler API

Waterbutler is a file storage abstraction layer developed by the Center for Open Science (COS). It is used in OSF (Open Science Framework) and GakuNin RDM, providing a unified API for file operations across various storage providers (OSF Storage, Amazon S3, Google Drive, Dropbox, etc.).

Main Features

  • File upload and download
  • File/folder creation, deletion, move, and copy
  • Metadata retrieval

Endpoints

  • GakuNin RDM: https://files.rdm.nii.ac.jp/v1
  • OSF: https://files.osf.io/v1

Problem

After uploading a file using the GakuNin RDM Waterbutler API, there are cases where you want to navigate directly to the file’s detail page.

However, since RDM displays shortened project URLs (e.g., https://rdm.nii.ac.jp/qv3xf/), it was unclear how to construct the detail page URL for uploaded files.

Waterbutler API Response

Example Waterbutler API response when uploading a file:

{
  "data": {
    "id": "osfstorage/67dacaa816000900109e1da3",
    "type": "files",
    "attributes": {
      "name": "nft-43-provenance-2025-12-29T13-08-47.zip",
      "kind": "file",
      "path": "/67dacaa816000900109e1da3"
    },
    "links": {
      "download": "https://files.rdm.nii.ac.jp/v1/resources/wzv9g/providers/osfstorage/67dacaa816000900109e1da3",
      "move": "https://files.rdm.nii.ac.jp/v1/resources/wzv9g/providers/osfstorage/67dacaa816000900109e1da3"
    }
  }
}

Solution: Constructing the File Detail URL

The file detail page URL is constructed in the following format:

https://rdm.nii.ac.jp/{nodeId}/files/{provider}/{fileId}
ParameterDescriptionHow to Obtain
nodeIdProject IDThe value specified during upload (e.g., wzv9g)
providerStorage providerThe value specified during upload (e.g., osfstorage)
fileIdFile IDExtracted from data.id in the response (the part after osfstorage/)

Implementation Example (TypeScript)

// Waterbutler API レスポンスからファイルIDを抽出
const data = await response.json();

let fileId: string | undefined;

// data.id から抽出（形式: "osfstorage/67dacaa816000900109e1da3"）
if (data.data?.id) {
  const idParts = data.data.id.split("/");
  if (idParts.length > 1) {
    fileId = idParts[idParts.length - 1];
  }
}

// ファイル詳細URLを構成
const fileDetailUrl = `https://rdm.nii.ac.jp/${nodeId}/files/${provider}/${fileId}`;
// 結果: https://rdm.nii.ac.jp/wzv9g/files/osfstorage/67dacaa816000900109e1da3

Summary

  • Shortened URL (https://rdm.nii.ac.jp/qv3xf/) is the project top page
  • File detail URL is constructed in the format /{nodeId}/files/{provider}/{fileId}
  • fileId is the part of the Waterbutler API response’s data.id after removing provider/