Support for Dynamic External API Data in Pages

[bridgeyuwa]

Describe the feature you'd like

I would like BookStack to support API-driven content, allowing pages, books, or chapters to dynamically pull and display structured data from external APIs. Users could configure an API endpoint and optionally use template placeholders to map fields from the API into BookStack pages. This would enable automatic updates from the external source without manual content duplication.

Describe the benefits this would bring to existing BookStack users

• Makes BookStack a dynamic documentation platform, suitable for integrating with LMSs, academic datasets, or other structured data sources.
• Reduces manual content management and duplication.
• Expands use cases to include education platforms, course catalogs, timetables, syllabi, and other structured data portals.

Can the goal of this request already be achieved via other means?

No

Currently, BookStack cannot natively pull or display data from external APIs. While you can manually create pages or update them via BookStack’s REST API, there is no built-in method to automatically fetch, map, and render structured external data into pages. The logical theme system, while useful for certain customizations like custom commands or social login, does not provide the necessary hooks to intercept or modify page rendering, so it cannot achieve this functionality either. The requested feature would introduce a direct way to integrate external API data, which is not possible with the existing system.

Have you searched for an existing open/closed issue?

• [x] I have searched for existing issues and none cover my fundamental request

How long have you been using BookStack?

Over 5 Years

Additional context

• Current REST API in BookStack is only for accessing internal BookStack data, not consuming external sources.
• Scheduled refresh or on-demand updates could be included to keep API-driven pages up-to-date.
• Optional caching could improve performance for frequently accessed pages.
• Example use-case: A platform like Studynexus maintains a central API of institutions, programs, syllabi, timetables, and catchment areas. With this feature, BookStack could automatically display this data in a structured, browsable format.