# Reference Schema from Other API

**URL:** <https://community.postman.com/t/reference-schema-from-other-api/26485>\
**Category:** Help Hub\
**Tags:** documentation, collections, openapi, ref, external-file\
**Created:** [August 5, 2021, 4:28pm UTC](https://community.postman.com/t/reference-schema-from-other-api/26485 "2021-08-05T16:28:46Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![austin-poor](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/getpostman/user_avatar/community.postman.com/austin-poor/32/9352_2.png) [@austin-poor](https://community.postman.com/u/austin-poor)\
**Post date:** [August 5, 2021, 4:28pm UTC](https://community.postman.com/t/reference-schema-from-other-api/26485/1 "2021-08-05T16:28:47Z")

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How can I use `$ref` to import schemas from either external YAML files or from another API I’ve documented in Postman?

I want to use [$ref](https://swagger.io/docs/specification/using-ref) to reference schemas defined in another Postman API without needing to publish the API.

Thanks for your help!

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**Author:** ![awafeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/df705f/32.png) [@awafeek](https://community.postman.com/u/awafeek)\
**Post date:** [August 27, 2021, 12:38pm UTC](https://community.postman.com/t/reference-schema-from-other-api/26485/2 "2021-08-27T12:38:22Z")

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I need to do the same, did you managed to figure it out ?

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**Author:** ![miburry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@miburry](https://community.postman.com/u/miburry)\
**Post date:** [August 30, 2021, 7:32pm UTC](https://community.postman.com/t/reference-schema-from-other-api/26485/3 "2021-08-30T19:32:21Z")

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Same. I’ve got a large collection of services which share common objects and this would be REALLY useful. Not as useful as supporting http references, but I’ll take what I can get. This is currently the one thing I’m having trouble convincing management to get an Enterprise license.

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**Author:** ![stuartheriot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b38774/32.png) [@stuartheriot](https://community.postman.com/u/stuartheriot)\
**Post date:** [August 21, 2022, 5:17am UTC](https://community.postman.com/t/reference-schema-from-other-api/26485/4 "2022-08-21T05:17:31Z")

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This is a serious limitation for using Postman as an API design tool. Any plans by the Postman team to support $ref for remote or HTTP reference as per the [Open API Guide](https://swagger.io/docs/specification/using-ref/)?