diff --git a/routers/api/v1/repo/file.go b/routers/api/v1/repo/file.go
index 588223c30d..bcef993011 100644
--- a/routers/api/v1/repo/file.go
+++ b/routers/api/v1/repo/file.go
@@ -812,9 +812,10 @@ func GetContentsExt(ctx *context.APIContext) {
 	//   required: true
 	// - name: filepath
 	//   in: path
-	//   description: path of the dir, file, symlink or submodule in the repo
+	//   description: path of the dir, file, symlink or submodule in the repo. Swagger requires path parameter to be "required",
+	//                you can leave it empty or pass a single dot (".") to get the root directory.
 	//   type: string
-	//   required: false
+	//   required: true
 	// - name: ref
 	//   in: query
 	//   description: the name of the commit/branch/tag, default to the repository’s default branch.
@@ -833,6 +834,11 @@ func GetContentsExt(ctx *context.APIContext) {
 	//   "404":
 	//     "$ref": "#/responses/notFound"
 
+	treePath := ctx.PathParam("*")
+	if treePath == "." || treePath == "/" {
+		treePath = ""
+		ctx.SetPathParam("*", treePath)
+	}
 	opts := files_service.GetContentsOrListOptions{TreePath: ctx.PathParam("*")}
 	for includeOpt := range strings.SplitSeq(ctx.FormString("includes"), ",") {
 		if includeOpt == "" {
diff --git a/templates/swagger/v1_json.tmpl b/templates/swagger/v1_json.tmpl
index 62fbda5611..879f59df2e 100644
--- a/templates/swagger/v1_json.tmpl
+++ b/templates/swagger/v1_json.tmpl
@@ -7547,9 +7547,10 @@
           },
           {
             "type": "string",
-            "description": "path of the dir, file, symlink or submodule in the repo",
+            "description": "path of the dir, file, symlink or submodule in the repo. Swagger requires path parameter to be \"required\", you can leave it empty or pass a single dot (\".\") to get the root directory.",
             "name": "filepath",
-            "in": "path"
+            "in": "path",
+            "required": true
           },
           {
             "type": "string",
diff --git a/tests/integration/api_repo_get_contents_test.go b/tests/integration/api_repo_get_contents_test.go
index d95a049b48..0bd378e9cd 100644
--- a/tests/integration/api_repo_get_contents_test.go
+++ b/tests/integration/api_repo_get_contents_test.go
@@ -206,11 +206,25 @@ func testAPIGetContentsExt(t *testing.T) {
 	session := loginUser(t, "user2")
 	token2 := getTokenForLoggedInUser(t, session, auth_model.AccessTokenScopeWriteRepository)
 	t.Run("DirContents", func(t *testing.T) {
-		req := NewRequestf(t, "GET", "/api/v1/repos/user2/repo1/contents-ext/docs?ref=sub-home-md-img-check")
+		req := NewRequestf(t, "GET", "/api/v1/repos/user2/repo1/contents-ext?ref=sub-home-md-img-check")
 		resp := MakeRequest(t, req, http.StatusOK)
 		var contentsResponse api.ContentsExtResponse
 		DecodeJSON(t, resp, &contentsResponse)
 		assert.Nil(t, contentsResponse.FileContents)
+		assert.NotNil(t, contentsResponse.DirContents)
+
+		req = NewRequestf(t, "GET", "/api/v1/repos/user2/repo1/contents-ext/.?ref=sub-home-md-img-check")
+		resp = MakeRequest(t, req, http.StatusOK)
+		contentsResponse = api.ContentsExtResponse{}
+		DecodeJSON(t, resp, &contentsResponse)
+		assert.Nil(t, contentsResponse.FileContents)
+		assert.NotNil(t, contentsResponse.DirContents)
+
+		req = NewRequestf(t, "GET", "/api/v1/repos/user2/repo1/contents-ext/docs?ref=sub-home-md-img-check")
+		resp = MakeRequest(t, req, http.StatusOK)
+		contentsResponse = api.ContentsExtResponse{}
+		DecodeJSON(t, resp, &contentsResponse)
+		assert.Nil(t, contentsResponse.FileContents)
 		assert.Equal(t, "README.md", contentsResponse.DirContents[0].Name)
 		assert.Nil(t, contentsResponse.DirContents[0].Encoding)
 		assert.Nil(t, contentsResponse.DirContents[0].Content)