EPFL Primers API

openapi: 3.2.0
info:
  title: EPFL GETprime Primers API
  description: GETprime is an EPFL-operated public web service from the Gene Expression Core Facility (GECF) that returns validated, genome-wide qPCR primer pairs. It is one of the few institution-operated, publicly documented and unauthenticated APIs EPFL runs outside its news and events estate. EPFL publishes no OpenAPI for it; this document is derived from the published API documentation at https://getprime.epfl.ch/api_documentation and from a live, successful POST executed on 2026-08-19. Note that the documentation shows a JSON request body, but only application/x-www-form-urlencoded was observed to succeed against the live service; a JSON body returned HTTP 500.
  version: 1.0.0
  contact:
    name: EPFL Gene Expression Core Facility (GECF)
    url: https://www.epfl.ch/research/facilities/gene-expression-core-facility/
servers:
- url: https://getprime.epfl.ch
  description: EPFL GETprime, canonical host
security: []
tags:
- name: Primers
paths:
  /primers/search:
    post:
      tags:
      - Primers
      operationId: searchPrimers
      summary: Search validated qPCR primer pairs by gene identifier
      description: Returns the ranked primer pairs GETprime holds for the supplied gene identifier(s), for one organism and one Ensembl release. Verified live on 2026-08-19 with ensembl_version=81, identifiers=mdm1, organism_id=5, limit=2, format=json -> HTTP 200, JSON array.
      requestBody:
        required: true
        content:
          application/x-www-form-urlencoded:
            schema:
              type: object
              required:
              - identifiers
              - organism_id
              - ensembl_version
              properties:
                identifiers:
                  type: string
                  description: Gene identifier or name, e.g. mdm1.
                organism_id:
                  type: integer
                  description: GETprime organism id, e.g. 5 for Homo sapiens.
                ensembl_version:
                  type: integer
                  description: Ensembl release the primers were designed against, e.g. 81.
                limit:
                  type: integer
                  description: Maximum number of primer pairs to return. The documentation states a ceiling of 1000.
                  maximum: 1000
                format:
                  type: string
                  description: Response format.
                  enum:
                  - json
      responses:
        '200':
          description: Ranked primer pairs.
          content:
            application/json:
              schema:
                type: array
                items:
                  $ref: '#/components/schemas/Primer'
        '500':
          description: Internal server error. Observed when the request body is sent as application/json rather than form-encoded.
components:
  schemas:
    Primer:
      type: object
      description: One primer pair record, field set observed in the live 2026-08-19 response.
      properties:
        id:
          type: integer
        gene_id:
          type: string
        gene_name:
          type: string
        transcript_id:
          type: string
        transcript_ids:
          type: string
        nber_transcripts:
          type: integer
        nber_known_transcripts:
          type: integer
        amplicon_length:
          type: integer
        warning_ids:
          type: string
        chr:
          type: string
        fwd_start:
          type: integer
        fwd_stop:
          type: integer
        fwd_strand:
          type: boolean
        fwd_type_def_ids:
          type: string
        fwd_seq:
          type: string
        fwd_tm:
          type: integer
        rev_start:
          type: integer
        rev_stop:
          type: integer
        rev_strand:
          type: boolean
        rev_type_def_ids:
          type: string
        rev_seq:
          type: string
        rev_tm:
          type: integer
        organism_id:
          type: integer
        transcript_specific:
          type: integer
        rank:
          type: integer
        fwd_nber_snps:
          type: integer
        rev_nber_snps:
          type: integer
        downstream_nber_snps:
          type: integer
        upstream_nber_snps:
          type: integer
        fwd_nber_snps_nr:
          type: integer
        rev_nber_snps_nr:
          type: integer
        upstream_nber_snps_nr:
          type: integer
        downstream_nber_snps_nr:
          type: integer
        mapping:
          type:
          - string
          - 'null'
        fwd_exon_regions:
          type: string
        rev_exon_regions:
          type: string
        protein_coding:
          type: boolean
        nber_snps:
          type:
          - string
          - 'null'
        organism_name:
          type: string
        ensembl_version:
          type: integer
        novel:
          type: boolean
x-operator: institution
x-provenance:
  generated: '2026-08-19'
  method: derived
  source: https://getprime.epfl.ch/api_documentation (published EPFL documentation) + live POST to https://getprime.epfl.ch/primers/search on 2026-08-19 returning HTTP 200
  operator_basis: getprime.epfl.ch is under EPFL's own registrable domain epfl.ch and is run by an EPFL core facility