Cancer.gov

NCI Genomic Data Commons (GDC) API

The external-facing REST interface for the NCI Genomic Data Commons. Drives the GDC Data Portal and GDC Submission Portal and is open for programmatic access. Provides query, download, and submission endpoints for cancer genomics datasets including TCGA, TARGET, CPTAC, and other NCI-funded genomic programs.

GitHub

Documentation

📖
Documentation
https://docs.gdc.cancer.gov/API/Users_Guide/Getting_Started/

Other Resources

🔗
Reference
https://docs.gdc.cancer.gov/Encyclopedia/pages/REST_API/
🔗
Portal
https://portal.gdc.cancer.gov/

Work with this as data

Every API here is available over the APIs.io API and to AI agents over MCP.

MCP server

One button, every client — Claude, Cursor, VS Code and the rest.

https://apis.io/mcp

Tools for apis

7 MCP tools reach this
  • find_apisBrowse and filter every API in the catalog.
  • get_api_artifactsOne API's artifacts, grouped by type.
  • get_openapiThe primary OpenAPI for this API.
  • find_similar_apisAPIs that look like this one.
  • apis_io_searchSTART HERE — APIs, providers and tags for one query, each with its total.
  • resolveTurn a domain, URL or GitHub org into the provider it belongs to.
  • find_cohortsEvery scored population of providers in the catalog.
All 92 tools

Call it yourself

curl for this page
This API 
curl "https://apis.io/api/v1/apis/gdc-api"
All apis 
curl "https://apis.io/api/v1/apis?limit=25"

Discovery needs no key. Ratings and market analysis are Pro.

Get an API key

Free tier, no email required.

GitHub Google LinkedIn

A second provider on the same verified email joins the account you already have.

API entry from apis.yml

apis.yml Raw ↑ 
aid: cancer-gov:gdc-api
name: NCI Genomic Data Commons (GDC) API
description: The external-facing REST interface for the NCI Genomic Data Commons. Drives the GDC Data
  Portal and GDC Submission Portal and is open for programmatic access. Provides query, download, and
  submission endpoints for cancer genomics datasets including TCGA, TARGET, CPTAC, and other NCI-funded
  genomic programs.
humanURL: https://gdc.cancer.gov/developers/gdc-application-programming-interface-api
baseURL: https://api.gdc.cancer.gov
tags:
- Genomics
- TCGA
- Research Data
properties:
- type: Documentation
  url: https://docs.gdc.cancer.gov/API/Users_Guide/Getting_Started/
- type: Reference
  url: https://docs.gdc.cancer.gov/Encyclopedia/pages/REST_API/
- type: Portal
  url: https://portal.gdc.cancer.gov/