ArcGIS Enterprise SDK

Current version: 12.1 - May 21, 2026.

The ArcGIS Enterprise Software Development Kit (SDK) enables developers to extend and customize ArcGIS Enterprise. Using the SDK, you can modify the behavior of ArcGIS Server services, integrate external data sources, and implement custom business logic while continuing to use standard ArcGIS clients such as ArcGIS Pro, Map Viewer, and custom applications.

The ArcGIS Enterprise SDK provides three extensibility patterns, each designed for a different type of customization.

• Service interceptors

  Service interceptors allow developers to inspect and modify requests and responses for any REST-based ArcGIS Server service at runtime. They provide a lightweight way to implement custom business logic such as request validation, auditing, access control, response enrichment, and integration with external business systems without modifying the underlying service implementation.

• Custom extensions

  Custom extensions allow developers to implement fine-grained customization of map services and image services.

  • Server Object Interceptors (SOIs) intercept requests to built-in operations of map services and image services, allowing developers to customize their behavior while remaining transparent to clients such as ArcGIS Pro and Map Viewer.
  • Server Object Extensions (SOEs) add new REST or SOAP operations to map services and image services, enabling specialized capabilities that are not provided by the standard ArcGIS Server API.

  Both SOIs and SOEs execute within the ArcGIS Server service runtime and provide direct access to maps, layers, and other server-side resources through fine-grained APIs.

• Custom data feeds

  Custom data feeds allow developers to connect ArcGIS Enterprise to external data sources in real time without requiring data replication or ETL workflows. Developers implement a JavaScript-based data provider that exposes virtually any external data source as a standard ArcGIS feature service, allowing ArcGIS applications to consume external data using familiar feature service workflows while continuing to leverage ArcGIS Enterprise security, sharing, and management capabilities.

Although all three patterns extend ArcGIS Enterprise, they address different scenarios. Service interceptors customize the processing of requests and responses for existing REST services, Custom extensions add or modify the capabilities of map services and image services, and Custom data feeds integrate external data sources as standard ArcGIS feature services. Together, these extensibility patterns enable developers to tailor ArcGIS Enterprise to meet a wide range of integration and customization requirements.

Get started with service interceptors

Get started with custom extensions

Get started with custom data feeds

Prerequisites

The ArcGIS Enterprise SDK is included with your ArcGIS Enterprise license and does not require a separate purchase or authorization.

Developers can build all ArcGIS Enterprise SDK components without an ArcGIS Server deployment. However, because Service Interceptors, Server Object Interceptors (SOIs), Server Object Extensions (SOEs), and Custom Data Feeds (CDFs) execute within ArcGIS Server, a licensed ArcGIS Server deployment is required to deploy, test, and debug these components in a runtime environment.

Before installing the ArcGIS Enterprise SDK, review the System Requirements to verify that you have installed supported versions of the required software.

Development requirements

The required development tools depend on the extensibility pattern you are implementing.

• Developing a service interceptor or Java SOE or Java SOI

  • Java IDE
  • JDK
  • Maven (required since the 10.8.1 release)

• Developing a .NET SOE or SOI

  • Visual Studio
  • .NET Framework

• Develop a Custom Data Feed (CDF)

  • Any IDE or text editor
  • Node.js

Install ArcGIS Enterprise SDK

Follow these steps to download ArcGIS Enterprise SDK:

• Download at My Esri.

  1. Log in to https://my.esri.com website.
  2. Find ArcGIS Enterprise under Downloads tab.
  3. Click the View Downloads button.
  4. Find ArcGIS Enterprise SDK under Developer Tools section and click Download.

Refer to the following installation guides:

• Developing Service interceptors, SOEs, and SOIs in Java
• Developing SOEs and SOIs in .NET
• Developing custom data feeds in Node.js

Service interceptor tutorials

Use the following resources to get started with service interceptors:

• Walkthrough: Quick tour of service interceptor
• Samples: Service interceptor samples

SOE and SOI tutorials

Use the following walkthroughs and samples to get started with Server Object Extensions (SOEs) and Server Object Interceptors (SOIs):

• Walkthrough: How to create and develop a .NET REST SOE
• Walkthrough: How to create and develop a .NET SOI
• Walkthrough: How to create and develop a Java REST SOE
• Walkthrough: How to create and develop a Java SOI
• Sample: SOE and SOI samples

Custom data feed tutorials

Use the following walkthroughs and samples to get started with custom data feeds:

• Walkthrough: Integrate with the Yelp API
• Walkthrough: Create MongoDB CDF with query and editing capabilities
• Sample:Custom data feed samples

Video

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