DRAFT: Can You Make API Requests from Within Velocity Templates?

Erik Haake
Erik Haake
  • Updated

Published Date: February 27, 2026

Validated: Yes

Audience: Everyone

Products and Versions Covered: 

  • Cloud/CVC
  • Self-hosted, Replicated - KOTS
  • Jama Connect® version(s)
    • All Jama Connect® versions

IMPORTANT: Access to the REST API is limited to users with a Named Creator Jama Connect license, including endpoints in v1, labs, and SCIM. Users without a Named Creator Jama Connect license, including those with a Creator Float License, do not have access.

Summary

Jama Connect does not support making outbound REST API calls from Velocity (VTL) templates.

Velocity in Jama is a server-side templating engine intended for rendering content (reports, exports, notifications, and similar outputs) using objects and helper classes that Jama explicitly provides to the template context. It is not designed to perform integration logic or external network communication.

While Apache Velocity as a technology can call external services if the host application exposes an HTTP client or Java reflection access to the template, Jama Connect® does not expose:

  • An HTTP/REST helper object (e.g., no $http or $rest client for outbound calls)

  • Java class-loading or reflection access that would allow templates to instantiate networking classes

  • A plugin or admin-configurable mechanism to enable outbound HTTP calls from templates

Classes in the Velocity documentation with names such as RestVersion or RestPageInfo represent REST-style metadata objects already provided to the template for rendering. They are data models with getter methods, not tools for invoking REST endpoints.

This restriction is intentional and aligns with a secure, sandboxed template execution model. Allowing outbound HTTP calls from templates could introduce security risks (e.g., data exposure, server-side request forgery), credential management concerns, and performance/stability issues.

Resolution

Please contact your Customer Success Manager should you wish to pursue custom report creation or to discuss any specific requirements for your organization's workflow.

Additional Resources 

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