National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)

National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) Metadata API

The Metadata API from National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) — 1 operation(s) for metadata.

Documentation GitHub OpenAPI

Operations 1

GET /metadata/naid-availability/naid/{naId} Get digital object IDs by matching Ancestry metadata in partner-metadata index.

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/national-archives-and-records-administration-nara--metadata-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 form to fill in. Signing in shares your email address with us — we store it to create your key and to recognise you if you sign in with another provider. See our Privacy Policy and Terms.

GitHub Google LinkedIn

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

OpenAPI Specification

openapi: 3.2.0
info:
  title: NextGen Catalog Accounts Metadata API
  version: 0.2.0
  description: "\nThis is the NextGen Catalog API application made with Express and documented with Swagger.\n\nThis API requires the use of an API key in order to access. Once you have obtained an API key, you can pass the API key into a REST API call in the x-api-key header of the request. For example, the request might look like\n\n    curl --location --request GET 'https://catalog.archives.gov/api/v2/records/search?q=constitution'\n    --header 'Content-Type: application/json'\n    --header 'x-api-key: API_KEY'\n\nwhere API_KEY is the key string of your API key.\n\nFor write operations, in addition to the API key, a user ID in the format of a Universally Unique Identifier (UUID) is required in the body of the request. For example, a request to POST a tag might look like:\n\n    curl --location --request POST 'https://catalog.archives.gov/api/v2/tags'\n    --header 'Content-Type: application/json'\n    --data-raw '{\n    \"tag\": \"example tag\",\n    \"targetNaId\": 1667751,\n    \"userId\": \"USER_UUID\"\n    }'\nwhere USER_UUID is the UUID of the user.\n\nPlease contact O&M at Catalog_API@nara.gov for an API Key."
servers:
- url: https://catalog.archives.gov/api/v2/
tags:
- name: Metadata
paths:
  /metadata/naid-availability/naid/{naId}:
    get:
      summary: Get digital object IDs by matching Ancestry metadata in partner-metadata index.
      description: Returns a list of digital object IDs that match the given naid in the partner-metadata index.
      tags:
      - Metadata
      parameters:
      - name: naId
        in: path
        required: true
        schema:
          type: string
        description: The naid to search for in the partner-metadata index.
      responses:
        '200':
          description: A list of digital object IDs.
          content:
            application/json:
              schema:
                type: object
                properties:
                  ids:
                    type: array
                    items:
                      type: string
                    description: List of matching digital object IDs.
        '400':
          description: Bad Request. Invalid naid provided.
        '404':
          description: No matching records found.
        '500':
          description: Internal server error.