• Introduction
• Supported versions
  • Version v4
  • Version v10
  • Which Version Should I Use?
  • Deprecation of the manually written SDK
• Installing
• Getting Started
  • With sdk_gen module (recommended)
  • With manual SDK (deprecated)
• Authentication
• Using both sdk_gen and manual legacy SDK simultaneously
• Documentation
• Migration guides
• Versioning
  • Version schedule
• Contributing
• FIPS 140-2 Compliance
• Questions, Bugs, and Feature Requests?
• Copyright and License

We are excited to introduce the v4 major release of the Box Node SDK, designed to elevate the developer experience and streamline your integration with the Box Content Cloud.

With this SDK version, alongside the existing box-node-sdk codebase, we’re introducing a new sdk-gen module which gives you access to:

1. Full API Support: The new generation of Box SDKs empowers developers with complete coverage of the Box API ecosystem. You can now access all the latest features and functionalities offered by Box, allowing you to build even more sophisticated and feature-rich applications.
2. Rapid API Updates: Say goodbye to waiting for new Box APIs to be incorporated into the SDK. With our new auto-generation development approach, we can now add new Box APIs to the SDK at a much faster pace (in a matter of days). This means you can leverage the most up-to-date features in your applications without delay.
3. Embedded Documentation: We understand that easy access to information is crucial for developers. With our new approach, we have included comprehensive documentation for all objects and parameters directly in the source code of the SDK. This means you no longer need to look up this information on the developer portal, saving you time and streamlining your development process.
4. Enhanced Convenience Methods: Our commitment to enhancing your development experience continues with the introduction of convenience methods. These methods cover various aspects such as chunk uploads, classification, and much more.
5. Seamless Start: The new SDKs integrate essential functionalities like authentication, automatic retries with exponential backoff, exception handling, request cancellation, and type checking, enabling you to focus solely on your application's business logic.

Embrace the new generation of Box SDKs and unlock the full potential of the Box Content Cloud.

To enhance developer experience, we have introduced the new generated codebase through the sdk-gen module. The sdk-gen module is available in two major supported versions: v4 and v10.

In v4 of the Box Node SDK, we are introducing a version that consolidates both the manually written package (legacy SDK) and the generated SDK (currently in v10, formerly known as box-typescript-sdk-gen) into a single SDK package for improved usability and maintenance. This allows developers to use both modules within a single project.

The codebase for v4 of the Box Node SDK is currently available in the combined-sdk branch. Migration guide for migrating from manually written SDK to generated SDK can be found here.

Version v4 is intended for:

• Existing developers of the Box Node SDK v3 who want to access new API features while keeping their current codebase largely unchanged.
• Existing developers who are in the process of migrating to sdk-gen module, but do not want to move all their code to the new module immediately.

Starting from v10, the SDK is built entirely on the generated sdk-gen module, which fully and exclusively replaces the old boxsdk module. The codebase for v10 of the Box Node SDK is currently available in the sdk-gen branch.

Version v10 is intended for:

• New users of the Box Node SDK.
• Developers already working with the generated Box TypeScript SDK previously available under the Box TypeScript SDK Gen repository.

For full guidance on SDK versioning, see the Box SDK Versioning Guide.

The manual module of box-node-sdk will be marked as deprecated, will receive only bug fixes and security patches, and reach end of support in 2027.

All new features and functionality will be provided exclusively in the sdk-gen module.

To install Box Node SDK v4 version that consolidates both the manual written package (legacy SDK) and the generated SDK (sdk-gen), run the command:

npm install --save box-node-sdk@^4

Supported Node versions are 18 and above.

Important: In version v4, the manually written SDK is available in the box-node-sdk module, and the generated SDK is available in the box-node-sdk/sdk-gen module.

To get started with the SDK, get a Developer Token from the Configuration page of your app in the Box Developer Console. Developer Tokens are short-lived and expire after 60 minutes, which is good for testing but not for production use. To learn about other authentication methods, see the Authentication section below.

The examples below demonstrate how to authenticate with Developer Token and print names of all items inside a root folder.

The SDK provides an BoxDeveloperTokenAuth class, which allows you to authenticate using your Developer Token. Use instance of BoxDeveloperTokenAuth to initialize BoxClient object. Using BoxClient object you can access managers, which allow you to perform some operations on your Box account.

import { BoxClient, BoxDeveloperTokenAuth } from 'box-node-sdk/sdk-gen';

async function main(token) {
  let auth = new BoxDeveloperTokenAuth({ token });
  let client = new BoxClient({ auth });
  let entries = (await client.folders.getFolderItems('0')).entries;
  entries.forEach((entry) => console.log(entry.name));
}

main('INSERT YOUR DEVELOPER TOKEN HERE');

From version v4, we are adding support for ESM modules, and keeping support for CommonJS modules. For each class in the package are exported as a default export, and you can import them using the following syntax:

Using import syntax:

import BoxSDK from 'box-node-sdk';

Using require syntax:

const BoxSDK = require('box-node-sdk').default;

Then, you can use the SDK to make API calls. For example:

// Initialize the SDK with your app credentials
var sdk = new BoxSDK({
  clientID: 'CLIENT_ID',
  clientSecret: 'CLIENT_SECRET',
});

// Create a basic API client, which does not automatically refresh the access token
var client = sdk.getBasicClient('DEVELOPER_TOKEN');

// Get your own user object from the Box API
// All client methods return a promise that resolves to the results of the API call,
// or rejects when an error occurs
client.users
  .get(client.CURRENT_USER_ID)
  .then((user) => console.log('Hello', user.name, '!'))
  .catch((err) => console.log('Got an error!', err));

Both the manual and sdk-gen modules support multiple authentication methods, including Developer Token, OAuth 2.0, Client Credentials Grant, and JSON Web Token (JWT).

You can find detailed instructions and example code for each authentication method in the following documentation:

• Authentication for the sdk-gen module
• Authentication for the manual SDK

With v4 of the Box Python SDK, you can use both the sdk-gen and manual modules in the same project.

import BoxSDK from 'box-node-sdk';
import { BoxClient, BoxDeveloperTokenAuth } from 'box-node-sdk/sdk-gen';

// Using the generated SDK (recommended)
const newAuth = new BoxDeveloperTokenAuth({ token: 'DEVELOPER_TOKEN' });
const newClient = new BoxClient({ auth: newAuth });
const newFolderItems = await newClient.folders.getFolderItems('0');

// Using the manual legacy SDK (deprecated)
const legacySdk = new BoxSDK({ clientID: 'id', clientSecret: 'secret' });
const manualClient = legacySdk.getBasicClient('DEVELOPER_TOKEN');
const manualFolderItems = await manualClient.folders.getItems('0');

// Both clients can be used in the same application

Full documentation of the available functionality, along with example code can be found:

• for the sdk-gen module in the sdk-gen directory.
• for the manual SDK in the manual directory.

Migration guides which help you to migrate to supported major SDK versions can be found here.

We use a modified version of Semantic Versioning for all changes. See version strategy for details which is effective from 30 July 2022.

Currently, we support versions v10 and v4 of the SDK. New features and functionality are added to v10, while the manually written portion of v4 receives bug fixes and security updates only.

A current release is on the leading edge of our SDK development, and is intended for customers who are in active development and want the latest and greatest features.
Instead of stating a release date for a new feature, we set a fixed minor or patch release cadence of maximum 2-3 months (while we may release more often). At the same time, there is no schedule for major or breaking release. Instead, we will communicate one quarter in advance the upcoming breaking change to allow customers to plan for the upgrade.

We always recommend that all users run the latest available minor release for whatever major version is in use. We highly recommend upgrading to the latest SDK major release at the earliest convenient time and before the EOL date.

For information on how to contribute to this project, please see the Contribution guidelines.

The Box Node SDK allows the use of FIPS 140-2 validated SSL libraries, such as OpenSSL 3.0. However, some actions are required to enable this functionality.

By default, the version of OpenSSL Node.js includes is not FIPS enabled. Therefore, if you want to use OpenSSL 3.0 with FIPS, you need to build OpenSSL 3.0 with FIPS enabled and then build Node.js use the shared OpenSSL 3.0 library.

According to Node.js OpenSSL Strategy document, you can use the OpenSSL 3.0 from Node.js v16 or later.

Need to contact us directly? Browse the issues tickets! Or, if that doesn't work, file a new one and we will get back to you. If you have general questions about the Box API, you can post to the Box Developer Forum.

Copyright 2025 Box, Inc. All rights reserved.

Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at

http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0

Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations under the License.