api
The govinfo api is intended to provide data users with a simple means to programmatically access govinfo content and metadata, which is stored in self-describing packages. This initial release provides functionality to retrieve lists of packages added or modified within a given time frame, summary metadata for packages, direct access to content and metadata formats, and equivalent granule information.
Interactive documentation using the OpenAPI/swagger specification is available at https://api.govinfo.gov/docs.
Keys
This API requires the use of an API.data.gov key - signup here. If you already have one, go to the /docs page, click on Authorize, and enter your key. Then you can make all the requests normally.
You can send your API key in a few different ways. See api.data.gov for more information on key usage.
Versioning
One of the API's design goals is to minimize breaking changes, but we are implementing versioning to allow users to specify the version required. We have not determined the number of versions that we plan to support at this time, but it will be based on usage and we will communicate with known users prior to deprecating any version.
If no version is specified in requests, the latest version of the api will be provided.
Issues
See Issues to submit an issue or comment on future development priorities.
See the labels below for additional information:
- Features - list of features that are currently under consideration by the govinfo team. Your feedback is welcome!
- Upcoming - list of features that are currently under development and will be available in our next release. May also be tagged with a release label (Month Year) e.g. "July 2018".
About the Data
Data available in the API represents official publications from all three branches of the Federal Government as made available on GPO's govinfo. For more information about the data that's available from govinfo, see our about page and learn what's available.
Quickstart
samples
Collections Service |sample | formatted
Base collections request |https://api.govinfo.gov/collections?api_key=DEMO_KEY
This request will provide a json list of the collections available within our system, including a collectionCode
, collectionName
, packageCount
, and granuleCount
(as applicable). All json response are returned in a minified format.
Collection update
The following request allows you to specify a collection and get a list of packageIds that have been added or modified within the specified time period. collectionCode
and startDate
are required, as are offset
and pageSize
. Optionally, you can include the endDate
. Currently, we are not limiting the pageSize
, but we may restrict this based on performance needs.
Note: There is a 10000 item limit on collections responses. This means that if your update range is too broad, you may need to narrow it down using the
endDate
parameter. Example
startDate/endDate usage
startDate
and endDate
are parameters used to search against the lastModified
value for the individual packages. This represents the time that this package was added or updated - equivalent to the value listed in the sitemaps. It is not the equivalent to Date Published, Date Issued, or Date Ingested in MODS.
sample | formatted
Congressional Bills with startDate only (BILLS) |sample | formatted
Congressional Bills with endDate |sample | formatted
Congressional Record (CREC) |https://api.govinfo.gov/collections/CREC/2018-07-01T00:00:00Z?offset=0&pageSize=10&api_key=DEMO_KEY
sample | formatted
United States Court Opinions (USCOURTS) |samples
Packages service |This service allows you to specify a govinfo packageId
and retrieve available forms of content and metadata. A /summary
json response is available that includes links and basic metadata about the package - generally equivalent to the information available on the details page for that package.
From the summary, you can get access to all available content and metadata formats for a package. Here is a sample download section for the BILLS-115hr1625enr example below, including a link to the related Billstatus package:
"download": {
"txtLink": "https://api.govinfo.gov/packages/BILLS-115hr1625enr/htm",
"xmlLink": "https://api.govinfo.gov/packages/BILLS-115hr1625enr/xml",
"pdfLink": "https://api.govinfo.gov/packages/BILLS-115hr1625enr/pdf",
"modsLink": "https://api.govinfo.gov/packages/BILLS-115hr1625enr/mods",
"premisLink": "https://api.govinfo.gov/packages/BILLS-115hr1625enr/premis",
"zipLink": "https://api.govinfo.gov/packages/BILLS-115hr1625enr/zip"
},
"related": {
"billStatusLink": "https://www.govinfo.gov/bulkdata/BILLSTATUS/115/hr/BILLSTATUS-115hr1625.xml"
},
sample | formatted
Congressional Bills (BILLS) |https://api.govinfo.gov/packages/BILLS-115hr1625enr/summary?api_key=DEMO_KEY
sample | formatted
Congressional Record (CREC) |https://api.govinfo.gov/packages/CREC-2018-01-03/summary?api_key=DEMO_KEY
sample | formatted
Federal Register (FR) |https://api.govinfo.gov/packages/FR-2018-04-12/summary?api_key=DEMO_KEY
Granule lists
You can also get a list of available granules for a specified package by adding /granules
, offset
and pageSize
sample | formatted
Congressional Hearings (CHRG) |https://api.govinfo.gov/packages/CHRG-107shrg82483/granules?offset=0&pageSize=10&api_key=DEMO_KEY
sample | formatted
Congressional Record (CREC) |https://api.govinfo.gov/packages/CREC-2018-01-03/granules?offset=0&pageSize=100&api_key=DEMO_KEY
sample | formatted
Federal Register (FR) |https://api.govinfo.gov/packages/FR-2018-04-12/granules?offset=0&pageSize=100&api_key=DEMO_KEY
This provides a list of titles, granuleIds and links to the granule summary, where you can access all available content and metadata formats, including the zip.
Granules
Similar to the package summary, you can retrieve a json summary for any granule, which will return basic metadata as well as links to all available content and metadata.
sample | formatted
Congressional Record (CREC) |sample | formatted
Federal Register (FR) |https://api.govinfo.gov/packages/FR-2018-04-12/granules/2018-07777/summary?api_key=DEMO_KEY