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Access Scenarios Guide

Overview

The Scenarios API for Access Control enables our customers to programmatically retrieve and control their Verkada-managed scenarios, such as lockdowns.

These APIs are great for integrating Verkada with third-party applications that need to control scenarios.

About Scenarios

In the API, lockdowns are represented as scenarios—named entities that define a specific emergency response. Each scenario includes a type field that identifies its intended use. Currently, “lockdown” is the only supported scenario type.

API Endpoints

Using the Scenarios API

Getting Started

Refer to the Quick Start Guide for instructions on generating a Verkada API key and making your first API requests.

For the Access Scenarios API, you must use an API key that has Read/Write permissions for the Access Control endpoints.

Before Access Scenarios can be controlled using APIs, you must first enable this capability in Verkada Command. Setup instructions can be found in our support article on Manage Lockdowns and Scenarios via API.

Example Use Case

Activate and Release Lockdowns from Third-Party Software

Enable third-party software to activate and release Access Scenarios within your organization. For example, trigger a Verkada lockdown in response to an emergency detected by an external emergency response system.

Example integration steps for this use case:

  • Step 1 - Retrieve your Verkada Access Control scenarios: Call the Get Access Scenarios API to get a list of scenarios in your organization and their IDs, optionally filtered by site ID, scenario ID, or type.
  • Step 2 - Activate lockdown scenario: When an emergency is triggered—either automatically or manually—in third-party emergency management software, call the Activate Access Scenario API using the ID of the appropriate lockdown scenario (obtained in step 1 above). The lockdown will be initiated immediately.
  • Step 3 - Release lockdown scenario: When the emergency is marked as over or resolved in third-party emergency management software, call the Release Access Scenario API using the ID of the appropriate lockdown scenario (obtained in step 1 above). The lockdown will be released immediately.