Creating Data Types

Create custom data types for detecting proprietary or organization-specific sensitive data patterns.

Endpoint

POST /api/datatypes

Creates a new custom data type with regex patterns or group configuration.

Authentication

Requires API Key with Admin permission.

Request Body

Field	Type	Required	Description
`type`	string	Yes	Unique type identifier - must be UPPERCASE with underscores (e.g., `EMPLOYEE_ID`, `API_KEY`)
`name`	string	Yes	Display name (1-100 chars)
`description`	string	No	Description (0-128 chars)
`disabled`	boolean	No	Whether type is disabled (default: `false`)
`isGroupDataType`	boolean	Yes	`true` for group types, `false` for regex types
`regexes`	array	Conditional	Required if `isGroupDataType` is `false`
`dataTypes`	string[]	Conditional	Required if `isGroupDataType` is `true` (UUIDs of member types)

Naming Convention: The type field must use UPPERCASE letters with underscores for word separation (e.g., EMPLOYEE_ID, CREDIT_CARD, API_TOKEN). This identifier is used in API URLs and must be unique across all data types.

Regex Object Fields

Field	Type	Description
`regex`	string	Regular expression pattern
`json`	string	Optional JSON-specific pattern
`html`	string	Optional HTML-specific pattern
`valueGroupIndex`	integer	Capture group index for extracted value (0 = full match)

Response

Returns the created data type object with an id field:

Response Format

{
  "id": "550e8400-e29b-41d4-a716-446655440000",
  "type": "EMPLOYEE_ID",
  "name": "Employee ID",
  "description": "Company employee identifier format",
  "disabled": false,
  "isGroupDataType": false,
  "isBuiltIn": false,
  "regexes": [
    {
      "regex": "EMP-[0-9]{6}",
      "json": "",
      "html": "",
      "valueGroupIndex": 0
    }
  ],
  "createdAt": 1704067200,
  "updatedAt": 1704067200
}

Examples

Create Regex Data Type for API Keys

Create a custom regex-based data type to detect API keys.

cURLPythonNode.js

curl -X POST "https://your-shield-host:8080/api/datatypes" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "type": "API_KEY",
    "name": "API Key",
    "description": "Internal API key format",
    "disabled": false,
    "isGroupDataType": false,
    "regexes": [
      {
        "regex": "sk_live_[A-Za-z0-9]{24}",
        "json": "",
        "html": "",
        "valueGroupIndex": 0
      }
    ]
  }'

import requests

BASE_URL = "https://your-shield-host:8080"
HEADERS = {"Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"}

datatype = {
    "type": "API_KEY",
    "name": "API Key",
    "description": "Internal API key format",
    "disabled": False,
    "isGroupDataType": False,
    "regexes": [
        {
            "regex": "sk_live_[A-Za-z0-9]{24}",
            "json": "",
            "html": "",
            "valueGroupIndex": 0
        }
    ]
}

response = requests.post(f"{BASE_URL}/api/datatypes", headers=HEADERS, json=datatype)
print(f"Created data type: {response.json()['id']}")

const axios = require('axios');

const BASE_URL = 'https://your-shield-host:8080';
const HEADERS = { 'Authorization': 'Bearer YOUR_API_KEY' };

const datatype = {
  type: 'api_key',
  name: 'API Key',
  description: 'Internal API key format',
  disabled: false,
  isGroupDataType: false,
  regexes: [
    {
      regex: 'sk_live_[A-Za-z0-9]{24}',
      json: '',
      html: '',
      valueGroupIndex: 0
    }
  ]
};

const response = await axios.post(`${BASE_URL}/api/datatypes`, datatype, { headers: HEADERS });
console.log(`Created data type: ${response.data.id}`);

Create Group Data Type

Create a group that combines multiple data types into one logical unit.

cURLPythonNode.js

# First, get UUIDs of existing types
DATATYPES=$(curl -s -X GET "https://your-shield-host:8080/api/datatypes" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY")

# Extract IDs (replace with actual jq queries for your types)
CC_ID=$(echo $DATATYPES | jq -r '.items[] | select(.type=="credit_card") | .id')
BANK_ID=$(echo $DATATYPES | jq -r '.items[] | select(.type=="bank_account") | .id')

# Create group
curl -X POST "https://your-shield-host:8080/api/datatypes" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d "{
    \"type\": \"financial_pii\",
    \"name\": \"Financial PII\",
    \"description\": \"All financial sensitive data\",
    \"isGroupDataType\": true,
    \"dataTypes\": [\"$CC_ID\", \"$BANK_ID\"]
  }"

import requests

BASE_URL = "https://your-shield-host:8080"
HEADERS = {"Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"}

# First, get UUIDs of existing types
response = requests.get(f"{BASE_URL}/api/datatypes", headers=HEADERS)
types = {t["type"]: t["id"] for t in response.json()["items"]}

# Create group
group = {
    "type": "financial_pii",
    "name": "Financial PII",
    "description": "All financial sensitive data",
    "isGroupDataType": True,
    "dataTypes": [
        types["credit_card"],
        types["bank_account"]
    ]
}

response = requests.post(f"{BASE_URL}/api/datatypes", headers=HEADERS, json=group)
print(f"Created group: {response.json()['id']}")

const axios = require('axios');

const BASE_URL = 'https://your-shield-host:8080';
const HEADERS = { 'Authorization': 'Bearer YOUR_API_KEY' };

// First, get UUIDs of existing types
const response = await axios.get(`${BASE_URL}/api/datatypes`, { headers: HEADERS });
const types = response.data.items.reduce((acc, t) => {
  acc[t.type] = t.id;
  return acc;
}, {});

// Create group
const group = {
  type: 'financial_pii',
  name: 'Financial PII',
  description: 'All financial sensitive data',
  isGroupDataType: true,
  dataTypes: [
    types['credit_card'],
    types['bank_account']
  ]
};

const groupResponse = await axios.post(`${BASE_URL}/api/datatypes`, group, { headers: HEADERS });
console.log(`Created group: ${groupResponse.data.id}`);

JSON-Specific Pattern (JSON Query)

Detect SSN fields in JSON using a JSON query definition. The json field uses a custom query language, not JSONPath.

cURLPythonNode.js

curl -X POST "https://your-shield-host:8080/api/datatypes" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "type": "SSN_JSON",
    "name": "SSN in JSON",
    "description": "Detect SSN fields in JSON content",
    "isGroupDataType": false,
    "regexes": [
      {
        "json": "{\"Search\":{\"Key\":{\"Regex\":\"(?i)ssn|social\"},\"Value\":{\"String\":{\"Regex\":\"\\\\d{3}-\\\\d{2}-\\\\d{4}\"}}}}",
        "valueGroupIndex": 0
      }
    ]
  }'

import requests
import json

BASE_URL = "https://your-shield-host:8080"
HEADERS = {"Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"}

# JSON query definition: Search keys like "ssn" or "social"
json_query = {
    "Search": {
        "Key": {"Regex": "(?i)ssn|social"},
    }
}

datatype = {
    "type": "SSN_JSON",
    "name": "SSN in JSON",
    "description": "Detect SSN fields in JSON content",
    "isGroupDataType": False,
    "regexes": [
        {
            "json": json.dumps(json_query),
            "valueGroupIndex": 0
        }
    ]
}

response = requests.post(f"{BASE_URL}/api/datatypes", headers=HEADERS, json=datatype)
print(f"Created data type: {response.json()['id']}")

const axios = require('axios');

const BASE_URL = 'https://your-shield-host:8080';
const HEADERS = { 'Authorization': 'Bearer YOUR_API_KEY' };

// JSON query definition: Search keys like "ssn" or "social"
const jsonQuery = {
  Search: {
    Key: { Regex: '(?i)ssn|social' },
  }
};

const datatype = {
  type: 'SSN_JSON',
  name: 'SSN in JSON',
  description: 'Detect SSN fields in JSON content',
  isGroupDataType: false,
  regexes: [
    {
      json: JSON.stringify(jsonQuery),
      valueGroupIndex: 0
    }
  ]
};

const response = await axios.post(`${BASE_URL}/api/datatypes`, datatype, { headers: HEADERS });
console.log(`Created data type: ${response.data.id}`);

HTML-Specific Pattern (XPath)

Detect email addresses in HTML anchor href attributes using XPath. The html field is an XPath expression, not regex.

cURLPythonNode.js

curl -X POST "https://your-shield-host:8080/api/datatypes" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "type": "EMAIL_HTML",
    "name": "Email in HTML Links",
    "description": "Detect email addresses in href attributes",
    "isGroupDataType": false,
    "regexes": [
      {
        "html": "//a/@href",
        "valueGroupIndex": 0
      }
    ]
  }'

import requests

BASE_URL = "https://your-shield-host:8080"
HEADERS = {"Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"}

datatype = {
    "type": "EMAIL_HTML",
    "name": "Email in HTML Links",
    "description": "Detect email addresses in href attributes",
    "isGroupDataType": False,
    "regexes": [
        {
            "html": "//a/@href",  # XPath: all href attributes in anchor tags
            "valueGroupIndex": 0
        }
    ]
}

response = requests.post(f"{BASE_URL}/api/datatypes", headers=HEADERS, json=datatype)
print(f"Created data type: {response.json()['id']}")

const axios = require('axios');

const BASE_URL = 'https://your-shield-host:8080';
const HEADERS = { 'Authorization': 'Bearer YOUR_API_KEY' };

const datatype = {
  type: 'EMAIL_HTML',
  name: 'Email in HTML Links',
  description: 'Detect email addresses in href attributes',
  isGroupDataType: false,
  regexes: [
    {
      html: '//a/@href',  // XPath: all href attributes in anchor tags
      valueGroupIndex: 0
    }
  ]
};

const response = await axios.post(`${BASE_URL}/api/datatypes`, datatype, { headers: HEADERS });
console.log(`Created data type: ${response.data.id}`);

Multi-Format Detection (Separate Rules)

Detect the same pattern across multiple content types using separate regex rule objects.

cURLPythonNode.js

curl -X POST "https://your-shield-host:8080/api/datatypes" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "type": "API_TOKEN",
    "name": "API Token",
    "description": "Detect API tokens in any content type",
    "isGroupDataType": false,
    "regexes": [
      {
        "regex": "sk_live_[A-Za-z0-9]{24}",
        "valueGroupIndex": 0
      },
      {
        "json": "{\"Search\":{\"String\":{\"Regex\":\"sk_live_[A-Za-z0-9]{24}\"}}}",
        "valueGroupIndex": 0
      },
      {
        "html": "//code",
        "valueGroupIndex": 0
      }
    ]
  }'

import requests
import json

BASE_URL = "https://your-shield-host:8080"
HEADERS = {"Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"}

datatype = {
    "type": "API_TOKEN",
    "name": "API Token",
    "description": "Detect API tokens in any content type",
    "isGroupDataType": False,
    "regexes": [
        # Rule 1: Plain text detection
        {
            "regex": "sk_live_[A-Za-z0-9]{24}",
            "valueGroupIndex": 0
        },
        # Rule 2: JSON-specific detection
        {
            "json": json.dumps({
                "Datatype": None,
                "Search": {"String": {"Regex": "sk_live_[A-Za-z0-9]{24}"}}
            }),
            "valueGroupIndex": 0
        },
        # Rule 3: HTML-specific detection (in <code> tags)
        {
            "html": "//code",  # XPath: all <code> elements
            "valueGroupIndex": 0
        }
    ]
}

response = requests.post(f"{BASE_URL}/api/datatypes", headers=HEADERS, json=datatype)
print(f"Created data type: {response.json()['id']}")

const axios = require('axios');

const BASE_URL = 'https://your-shield-host:8080';
const HEADERS = { 'Authorization': 'Bearer YOUR_API_KEY' };

const datatype = {
  type: 'API_TOKEN',
  name: 'API Token',
  description: 'Detect API tokens in any content type',
  isGroupDataType: false,
  regexes: [
    // Rule 1: Plain text detection
    {
      regex: 'sk_live_[A-Za-z0-9]{24}',
      valueGroupIndex: 0
    },
    // Rule 2: JSON-specific detection
    {
      json: JSON.stringify({
        Datatype: null,
        Search: { String: { Regex: 'sk_live_[A-Za-z0-9]{24}' } }
      }),
      valueGroupIndex: 0
    },
    // Rule 3: HTML-specific detection (in <code> tags)
    {
      html: '//code',  // XPath: all <code> elements
      valueGroupIndex: 0
    }
  ]
};

const response = await axios.post(`${BASE_URL}/api/datatypes`, datatype, { headers: HEADERS });
console.log(`Created data type: ${response.data.id}`);

Error Responses

Status Code	Description	Solution
`400`	Invalid request body	Check field validation requirements
`401`	Invalid or expired API key	Verify authentication
`403`	Insufficient permissions	Key needs Admin permission
`409`	Data type identifier already exists	Use a unique type identifier

List Data Types - Query all data types
Update Data Types - Modify existing data types
Regex Guidelines - Best practices for regex patterns
Obfuscations API - Configure masking for these types

Creating Data Types

Endpoint

Authentication

Request Body

Regex Object Fields

Response

Examples

Error Responses

Related Topics