Australian National University Random Numbers API

openapi: 3.2.0
info:
  title: Anu Random Numbers API
  termsOfService: https://www.anu.edu.au/disclaimer
  x-refined-note:
  - x-lifecycle differs across the merged source definitions and was not carried
  - x-operator-evidence differs across the merged source definitions and was not carried
  - x-provenance differs across the merged source definitions and was not carried
  x-operator: institution
  version: '1.0'
  description: 'Operations tagged Random Numbers across 2 of this provider''s published API definitions: anu-qrng-legacy-openapi.yml, anu-quantum-numbers-openapi.yml. Each path carries the servers of the definition it was published in.'
servers:
- url: https://qrng.anu.edu.au
  description: ANU-hosted legacy service. Deprecated.
- url: https://api.quantumnumbers.anu.edu.au
  description: Production (AWS API Gateway, ANU-operated). Returns 403 {"message":"Forbidden"} without a valid x-api-key.
tags:
- name: Random Numbers
  description: Retrieval of quantum-generated random values.
paths:
  /API/jsonI.php:
    get:
      operationId: getLegacyQuantumRandomNumbers
      summary: Request an array of quantum random numbers (legacy, deprecated)
      deprecated: true
      description: Returns an array of quantum random values. No authentication. Limited to one request per minute per client; over the limit the service returns HTTP 200 with a plain-text message pointing at the AQN service, NOT a 429 and NOT a JSON body — callers must check the content type, not the status code.
      tags:
      - Random Numbers
      parameters:
      - name: length
        in: query
        required: true
        description: Number of values to return. Must be between 1 and 1024.
        schema:
          type: integer
          minimum: 1
          maximum: 1024
          examples:
          - 10
      - name: type
        in: query
        required: true
        description: Data type. uint8 returns integers 0-255, uint16 returns integers 0-65535, hex16 returns hexadecimal characters 00-ff assembled into blocks.
        schema:
          type: string
          enum:
          - uint8
          - uint16
          - hex16
          examples:
          - uint8
      - name: size
        in: query
        required: false
        description: Block size. Only needed for the hex16 data type. Must be between 1 and 1024.
        schema:
          type: integer
          minimum: 1
          maximum: 1024
          examples:
          - 2
      responses:
        '200':
          description: An array of quantum random values, OR — when the one-per-minute rate limit has been tripped — a plain-text refusal served with the same 200 status.
          content:
            application/json:
              schema:
                $ref: '#/components/schemas/LegacyQrngResponse'
              examples:
                uint8:
                  summary: Live response captured 2026-08-19
                  value:
                    type: uint8
                    length: 4
                    data:
                    - 74
                    - 205
                    - 98
                    - 159
                    success: true
            text/html:
              schema:
                type: string
              examples:
                rateLimited:
                  summary: Rate-limit refusal, served as HTTP 200
                  value: The QRNG API is limited to 1 requests per minute. For more requests, please visit https://quantumnumbers.anu.edu.au or contact qrng@anu.edu.au.
    servers:
    - url: https://qrng.anu.edu.au
      description: ANU-hosted legacy service. Deprecated.
  /:
    get:
      operationId: getQuantumRandomNumbers
      summary: Request an array of quantum random numbers
      description: Returns an array of quantum random values of the requested data type and length. For the hexadecimal types the size parameter sets the number of bytes in each returned block. Requests without a valid x-api-key header are rejected by the gateway with 403.
      tags:
      - Random Numbers
      parameters:
      - name: length
        in: query
        required: true
        description: Number of values to return. Must be between 1 and 1024.
        schema:
          type: integer
          minimum: 1
          maximum: 1024
          examples:
          - 10
      - name: type
        in: query
        required: true
        description: Data type of the returned values. uint8 returns integers 0-255, uint16 returns integers 0-65535, hex8 returns hexadecimal characters 00-ff, hex16 returns hexadecimal characters 0000-ffff.
        schema:
          type: string
          enum:
          - uint8
          - uint16
          - hex8
          - hex16
          examples:
          - uint8
      - name: size
        in: query
        required: false
        description: Block size. Only required for the hex8 and hex16 data types; sets the length of each returned block. Must be between 1 and 10.
        schema:
          type: integer
          minimum: 1
          maximum: 10
          examples:
          - 2
      responses:
        '200':
          description: An array of quantum random values.
          content:
            application/json:
              schema:
                $ref: '#/components/schemas/QuantumNumbersResponse'
              examples:
                uint8:
                  summary: Ten integers between 0 and 255
                  value:
                    type: uint8
                    length: 10
                    data:
                    - 74
                    - 205
                    - 98
                    - 159
                    - 3
                    - 241
                    - 88
                    - 17
                    - 130
                    - 62
                    success: true
                hex16:
                  summary: Ten two-byte hexadecimal blocks
                  value:
                    type: hex16
                    length: 10
                    size: 2
                    data:
                    - 4acd
                    - 629f
                    - 03f1
                    - '5811'
                    - 823e
                    - b0c4
                    - 17aa
                    - 9d50
                    - e213
                    - 6f88
                    success: true
        '403':
          description: Missing or invalid API key. Returned by the AWS API Gateway before the service is reached.
          content:
            application/json:
              schema:
                $ref: '#/components/schemas/GatewayError'
              examples:
                forbidden:
                  value:
                    message: Forbidden
        '429':
          description: Request quota for the API key exceeded.
      security:
      - ApiKeyAuth: []
    servers:
    - url: https://api.quantumnumbers.anu.edu.au
      description: Production (AWS API Gateway, ANU-operated). Returns 403 {"message":"Forbidden"} without a valid x-api-key.
components:
  schemas:
    LegacyQrngResponse:
      type: object
      required:
      - type
      - length
      - data
      - success
      properties:
        type:
          type: string
          enum:
          - uint8
          - uint16
          - hex16
        length:
          type: integer
          minimum: 1
          maximum: 1024
        size:
          type: integer
          minimum: 1
          maximum: 1024
        data:
          type: array
          items:
            oneOf:
            - type: integer
            - type: string
        success:
          type: boolean
    GatewayError:
      type: object
      properties:
        message:
          type: string
          description: Gateway-level error message, e.g. "Forbidden".
    QuantumNumbersResponse:
      type: object
      required:
      - type
      - length
      - data
      - success
      properties:
        type:
          type: string
          enum:
          - uint8
          - uint16
          - hex8
          - hex16
          description: Echo of the requested data type.
        length:
          type: integer
          minimum: 1
          maximum: 1024
          description: Echo of the requested array length.
        size:
          type: integer
          minimum: 1
          maximum: 10
          description: Echo of the requested block size. Present for the hexadecimal types.
        data:
          type: array
          description: The quantum random values. Integers for uint8 and uint16; lowercase hexadecimal strings for hex8 and hex16.
          items:
            oneOf:
            - type: integer
            - type: string
        success:
          type: boolean
          description: True when the request was served.
  securitySchemes:
    ApiKeyAuth:
      type: apiKey
      in: header
      name: x-api-key
      description: Free API key issued self-serve after registration at https://quantumnumbers.anu.edu.au. Sent on every request as the x-api-key header.
x-refined-from:
- anu-qrng-legacy-openapi.yml
- anu-quantum-numbers-openapi.yml