zabbix-api

Q: How do I install zabbix-api?

Run npx skills add https://github.com/julianobarbosa/claude-code-skills --skill zabbix-api in your project. The skills CLI detects the agents you use and copies the skill into the right folder. For Claude Code you can also place the skill folder at ~/.claude/skills/zabbix-api/ (personal) or .claude/skills/zabbix-api/ (project).

by julianobarbosaBackend & APIs

Zabbix monitoring system automation via API and Python. Use when: (1) Managing hosts, templates, items, triggers, or host groups, (2) Automating monitoring configuration, (3) Sending data via Zabbix trapper/sender, (4) Querying historical data or events, (5) Bulk operations on Zabbix objects, (6) Maintenance window management, (7) User/permission management

Installs: 121
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Trending rank: —
Security: Not audited

Install

Works with every agent the skills CLI supports.

npx skills add https://github.com/julianobarbosa/claude-code-skills --skill zabbix-api

01
Install
Run the command in your project. The CLI asks which agents to install for.
02
Describe the task
Ask your agent for something this skill covers. It loads zabbix-api automatically when relevant.
03
Review the result
The agent follows the SKILL.md steps, scripts and references bundled with the skill.

SKILL.md

The instructions your agent reads when the skill is triggered.

Zabbix Automation Skill

Overview

This skill provides guidance for automating Zabbix monitoring operations via the API and official Python library zabbix_utils.

Quick Start

Installation

pip install zabbix-utils --break-system-packages

Authentication

from zabbix_utils import ZabbixAPI

# Option 1: Username/password
api = ZabbixAPI(url="https://zabbix.example.com")
api.login(user="Admin", password="zabbix")

# Option 2: API token (Zabbix 5.4+, preferred)
api = ZabbixAPI(url="https://zabbix.example.com")
api.login(token="your_api_token")

# Verify connection
print(api.api_version())

Environment Variables Pattern

import os
from zabbix_utils import ZabbixAPI

api = ZabbixAPI(url=os.environ.get("ZABBIX_URL", "http://localhost/zabbix"))
api.login(token=os.environ["ZABBIX_TOKEN"])

Core API Methods

All APIs follow pattern: api.<object>.<method>() with methods: get, create, update, delete.

Host Operations

# Get hosts
hosts = api.host.get(output=["hostid", "host", "name"],
                     selectInterfaces=["ip"])

# Create host
api.host.create(
    host="server01",
    groups=[{"groupid": "2"}],  # Linux servers
    interfaces=[{
        "type": 1,  # 1=agent, 2=SNMP, 3=IPMI, 4=JMX
        "main": 1,
        "useip": 1,
        "ip": "192.168.1.100",
        "dns": "",
        "port": "10050"
    }],
    templates=[{"templateid": "10001"}]
)

# Update host
api.host.update(hostid="10084", status=0)  # 0=enabled, 1=disabled

# Delete host
api.host.delete("10084")

Template Operations

# Get templates
templates = api.template.get(output=["templateid", "host", "name"],
                             selectHosts=["hostid", "name"])

# Link template to host
api.host.update(hostid="10084",
                templates=[{"templateid": "10001"}])

# Import template from XML
with open("template.xml") as f:
    api.configuration.import_(
        source=f.read(),
        format="xml",
        rules={
            "templates": {"createMissing": True, "updateExisting": True},
            "items": {"createMissing": True, "updateExisting": True},
            "triggers": {"createMissing": True, "updateExisting": True}
        }
    )

Item Operations

# Get items
items = api.item.get(hostids="10084",
                     output=["itemid", "name", "key_"],
                     search={"key_": "system.cpu"})

# Create item
api.item.create(
    name="CPU Load",
    key_="system.cpu.load[percpu,avg1]",
    hostid="10084",
    type=0,  # 0=Zabbix agent
    value_type=0,  # 0=float, 3=integer, 4=text
    delay="30s",
    interfaceid="1"
)

Trigger Operations

# Get triggers
triggers = api.trigger.get(hostids="10084",
                          output=["triggerid", "description", "priority"],
                          selectFunctions="extend")

# Create trigger
api.trigger.create(
    description="High CPU on {HOST.NAME}",
    expression="last(/server01/system.cpu.load[percpu,avg1])>5",
    priority=3  # 0=not classified, 1=info, 2=warning, 3=average, 4=high, 5=disaster
)

Host Group Operations

# Get groups
groups = api.hostgroup.get(output=["groupid", "name"])

# Create group
api.hostgroup.create(name="Production/Web Servers")

# Add hosts to group
api.hostgroup.massadd(groups=[{"groupid": "5"}],
                      hosts=[{"hostid": "10084"}])

Maintenance Windows

import time

# Create maintenance
api.maintenance.create(
    name="Server Maintenance",
    active_since=int(time.time()),
    active_till=int(time.time()) + 3600,  # 1 hour
    hostids=["10084"],
    timeperiods=[{
        "timeperiod_type": 0,  # One-time
        "period": 3600
    }]
)

Events and Problems

# Get current problems
problems = api.problem.get(output=["eventid", "name", "severity"],
                          recent=True)

# Get events
events = api.event.get(hostids="10084",
                       time_from=int(time.time()) - 86400,
                       output="extend")

History Data

# Get history (value_type must match item's value_type)
# 0=float, 1=character, 2=log, 3=integer, 4=text
history = api.history.get(
    itemids="28269",
    history=0,  # float
    time_from=int(time.time()) - 3600,
    output="extend",
    sortfield="clock",
    sortorder="DESC"
)

Zabbix Sender (Trapper Items)

from zabbix_utils import Sender

sender = Sender(server="zabbix.example.com", port=10051)

# Send single value
response = sender.send_value("hostname", "trap.key", "value123")
print(response)  # {"processed": 1, "failed": 0, "total": 1}

# Send multiple values
from zabbix_utils import ItemValue
values = [
    ItemValue("host1", "key1", "value1"),
    ItemValue("host2", "key2", 42),
]
response = sender.send(values)

Zabbix Getter (Agent Query)

from zabbix_utils import Getter

agent = Getter(host="192.168.1.100", port=10050)
response = agent.get("system.uname")
print(response.value)

Common Patterns

Bulk Host Creation from CSV

import csv
from zabbix_utils import ZabbixAPI

api = ZabbixAPI(url="https://zabbix.example.com")
api.login(token="your_token")

with open("hosts.csv") as f:
    for row in csv.DictReader(f):
        try:
            api.host.create(
                host=row["hostname"],
                groups=[{"groupid": row["groupid"]}],
                interfaces=[{
                    "type": 1, "main": 1, "useip": 1,
                    "ip": row["ip"], "dns": "", "port": "10050"
                }]
            )
            print(f"Created: {row['hostname']}")
        except Exception as e:
            print(f"Failed {row['hostname']}: {e}")

Find Hosts Without Template

# Get all hosts
all_hosts = api.host.get(output=["hostid", "host"],
                         selectParentTemplates=["templateid"])

# Filter hosts without specific template
template_id = "10001"
hosts_without = [h for h in all_hosts
                 if not any(t["templateid"] == template_id
                           for t in h.get("parentTemplates", []))]

Disable Triggers by Pattern

triggers = api.trigger.get(
    search={"description": "test"},
    output=["triggerid"]
)
for t in triggers:
    api.trigger.update(triggerid=t["triggerid"], status=1)  # 1=disabled

Item Types Reference

Type	Value	Description
Zabbix agent	0	Active checks
Zabbix trapper	2	Passive, data pushed via sender
Simple check	3	ICMP, TCP, etc.
Zabbix internal	5	Server internal metrics
Zabbix agent (active)	7	Agent-initiated
HTTP agent	19	HTTP/REST API monitoring
Dependent item	18	Derived from master item
Script	21	Custom scripts

Value Types Reference

Type	Value	Description
Float	0	Numeric (float)
Character	1	Character string
Log	2	Log file
Unsigned	3	Numeric (integer)
Text	4	Text

Trigger Severity Reference

Severity	Value	Color
Not classified	0	Gray
Information	1	Light blue
Warning	2	Yellow
Average	3	Orange
High	4	Light red
Disaster	5	Red

Error Handling

from zabbix_utils import ZabbixAPI
from zabbix_utils.exceptions import APIRequestError

try:
    api.host.create(host="duplicate_host", groups=[{"groupid": "2"}])
except APIRequestError as e:
    print(f"API Error: {e.message}")
    print(f"Code: {e.code}")

Debugging

import logging
logging.basicConfig(level=logging.DEBUG)
# Now all API calls will be logged

Scripts Reference

See scripts/ directory for ready-to-use automation:

zabbix-bulk-hosts.py - Bulk host management from CSV
zabbix-maintenance.py - Create/manage maintenance windows
zabbix-export.py - Export hosts/templates to JSON/XML

Best Practices

Use API tokens over username/password when possible
Limit output fields - Always specify output=["field1", "field2"] instead of output="extend"
Use search/filter - Never fetch all objects and filter in Python
Handle pagination - Large result sets may need limit and offset
Batch operations - Use massadd, massupdate for bulk changes
Error handling - Always wrap API calls in try/except
Idempotency - Check if object exists before creating

Gotchas

api.history.get requires the correct history value_type or returns empty: Passing history=0 (float) on an integer item silently returns [] instead of an error. Always read the item's value_type first; the four-way mismatch (0/1/3/4) is the most common "no data" cause.
output="extend" on large queries melts the server: Fetching every field for thousands of hosts or items causes multi-second responses and OOMs the API frontend. Always pass output=["field1","field2"] with only the columns you need — the API has no implicit pagination protection.
Trigger expressions reference host+key, not item IDs: Renaming a host or key breaks every trigger expression that references it, with no warning until evaluation. Use templates and macros ({HOST.HOST}) instead of hardcoded names in expressions.
API token vs session token confusion in zabbix_utils: api.login(token=...) uses a permanent API token (Zabbix 5.4+); api.login(user=..., password=...) issues a session token. Mixing token auth with api.logout() invalidates the permanent token for everyone using it.
massadd does not deduplicate — massupdate replaces: hostgroup.massadd happily adds the same host to a group twice in some versions; hostgroup.massupdate silently removes hosts not in the payload. Read the verb carefully before bulk operations or you'll detach hosts you meant to keep.
maintenance.create with past active_since is accepted but ignored: Backdating a maintenance window does not retroactively suppress alerts that already fired. Set active_since slightly in the future and verify with maintenance.get before assuming alerts are muted.

FAQ

What does the zabbix-api skill do?

How do I install zabbix-api?

Run npx skills add https://github.com/julianobarbosa/claude-code-skills --skill zabbix-api in your project. The skills CLI detects the agents you use and copies the skill into the right folder. For Claude Code you can also place the skill folder at ~/.claude/skills/zabbix-api/ (personal) or .claude/skills/zabbix-api/ (project).

Which AI agents can use zabbix-api?

Any agent that supports the open Agent Skills format (a folder with a SKILL.md file), including Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Gemini CLI, Windsurf, Cline, OpenCode and more.

Is zabbix-api safe to install?

No partner security audit is available yet. Skills can run commands and scripts, so read the SKILL.md and any bundled files before installing.

Who maintains zabbix-api?

It is published by julianobarbosa in julianobarbosa/claude-code-skills. It has 121 recorded installs.