Data.gov

Data.gov CKAN Action API

The CKAN Action API exposes the full Data.gov catalog programmatically. It provides read access to packages (datasets), resources (file/URL distributions), organizations (publishers — federal agencies and sub-agencies), groups (topical categories), tags, and users. The API is a single endpoint family at /api/3/action/{action_name} accepting GET (for simple read calls) and POST (JSON body) for any action. Key actions include package_search, package_show, package_list, organization_list, organization_show, group_list, group_show, tag_list, resource_show, and current_package_list_with_resources. Responses are wrapped in {success, result, help} envelopes. Read access is anonymous; write actions require an API key (Data.gov restricts write access to authorized agency publishers).

GitHub

Documentation

📖
Documentation
https://docs.ckan.org/en/2.11/api/
📖
APIReference
https://catalog.data.gov/api/3/action/help_show

Other Resources

🔗
Standards
https://resources.data.gov/resources/dcat-us/
🔗
APIsJSON
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/data-gov/refs/heads/main/apis.yml

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API entry from apis.yml

apis.yml Raw ↑ 
aid: data-gov:ckan-action-api
name: Data.gov CKAN Action API
tags:
- Catalog
- CKAN
- Datasets
- Open Data
humanURL: https://docs.ckan.org/en/2.11/api/
baseURL: https://catalog.data.gov/api/3/action
properties:
- url: https://docs.ckan.org/en/2.11/api/
  type: Documentation
- url: https://catalog.data.gov/api/3/action/help_show
  type: APIReference
- url: https://resources.data.gov/resources/dcat-us/
  type: Standards
description: The CKAN Action API exposes the full Data.gov catalog programmatically. It provides read
  access to packages (datasets), resources (file/URL distributions), organizations (publishers — federal
  agencies and sub-agencies), groups (topical categories), tags, and users. The API is a single endpoint
  family at /api/3/action/{action_name} accepting GET (for simple read calls) and POST (JSON body) for
  any action. Key actions include package_search, package_show, package_list, organization_list, organization_show,
  group_list, group_show, tag_list, resource_show, and current_package_list_with_resources. Responses
  are wrapped in {success, result, help} envelopes. Read access is anonymous; write actions require an
  API key (Data.gov restricts write access to authorized agency publishers).