Using Microsoft Graph Explorer to Resolve a SharePoint Site by Path (and Why It Matters)

When you build automation against SharePoint Online (console apps, Azure Functions, Power Automate alternatives, SPFx utilities, migration tools, etc.), one of the first practical problems is: how do I reliably identify the target site?

Microsoft Graph solves this with a simple and extremely useful pattern:

Resolve a site using its hostname + server-relative path, then use the returned Site id for all next calls.

This article explains the request you ran in Graph Explorer, what the response means, and why this step is a “must-have” in real automation.

1) The core request: “Give me the Site object for this URL”

Instead of guessing IDs, Graph lets you resolve the site by URL path:

Request (v1.0)

GET https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/sites/contoso.sharepoint.com:/sites/DevSite

Where:

• contoso.sharepoint.com is the tenant hostname (generic placeholder)
• /sites/DevSite is the site path (server-relative)
• :/ syntax indicates “resolve by path”

Typical success response (simplified)

{
  "@odata.context": "https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/$metadata#sites/$entity",
  "id": "contoso.sharepoint.com,aaaaaaaa-bbbb-cccc-dddd-eeeeeeeeeeee,ffffffff-1111-2222-3333-444444444444",
  "name": "DevSite",
  "displayName": "DevSite",
  "webUrl": "https://contoso.sharepoint.com/sites/DevSite",
  "createdDateTime": "2024-10-17T10:35:16Z",
  "lastModifiedDateTime": "2026-01-06T14:47:53Z",
  "siteCollection": { "hostname": "contoso.sharepoint.com" }
}

2) Why this is important (the “real-world” reason)

A) URLs are human-friendly; IDs are automation-friendly

In SharePoint, people copy/paste URLs. Automation needs stable identifiers.

The Site id returned by Graph is what you should store and reuse, because:

• It’s unique across the tenant
• It’s resilient compared to “stringly-typed” URL parsing logic
• Many Graph APIs expect {site-id} next

B) This is the gateway to almost everything else

Once you have the Site id, you can reliably call:

Lists

GET https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/sites/{site-id}/lists

A specific list

GET https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/sites/{site-id}/lists/{list-id}

Document libraries / drives

GET https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/sites/{site-id}/drives

Default drive items

GET https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/drives/{drive-id}/root/children

This is why “resolve site” is commonly the Step 0 of any SharePoint automation.

3) What Graph Explorer is really proving for you

Graph Explorer is useful because it validates three critical things quickly:

1. Your path is correct (hostname + /sites/... path)
2. Your identity has permission to see the site via Graph
3. The Graph endpoint behaves as expected (returns a Site entity with id)

This is the fastest way to debug issues before you write code.

4) Common pitfalls and troubleshooting

Pitfall 1: “No resource was found matching this query”

This usually means one of these is wrong:

• Wrong hostname (typo, wrong tenant)
• Wrong path (site name misspelled)
• Missing leading slash /sites/...
• The site is under a different managed path (e.g., /teams/...)

Try both patterns if applicable:

GET https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/sites/contoso.sharepoint.com:/sites/DevSite
GET https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/sites/contoso.sharepoint.com:/teams/TeamA

Pitfall 2: Spaces and special characters

If your site path contains spaces or special characters, URL-encode it:

• Space becomes %20

Example:

GET https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/sites/contoso.sharepoint.com:/sites/Project%20Alpha

Pitfall 3: Permission mismatch (works in browser, fails in code)

Graph Explorer may be using delegated permissions and interactive login.
Your console app (app-only) might require different permissions and admin consent.

5) Minimum permissions (high-level guidance)

What you need depends on your auth model:

Delegated (user login)

Often used in Graph Explorer and interactive tools.

• You must ensure the signed-in user can access the site in SharePoint
• And that Graph delegated scopes are granted for what you want to do

App-only (client credentials)

Common for unattended console jobs / scheduled tasks.

• Requires app permissions and admin consent
• In many orgs, this is tightly controlled (for good reason)

Practical takeaway:
Use Graph Explorer to confirm the endpoint and path first, then align your app permissions to match your runtime model.

6) Recommended pattern in production code

Even if the user provides a full URL, your code should follow this logic:

1. Extract:
   • hostname: contoso.sharepoint.com
   • site path: /sites/DevSite (or /teams/...)
2. Resolve the site via Graph
3. Use the returned site.id for:
   • Lists, drives, items, pages, etc.

This is clean, deterministic, and prevents a huge class of “it works on my machine” errors.

Step-by-step summary

Technical summary (quick reference)

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