ELM — Edinburgh Language Models API

openapi: 3.2.0
info:
  title: Edinburgh Language Models ELM API
  description: 'ELM is the University of Edinburgh''s own generative-AI access platform, described by its own metadata as "an online platform that delivers generative AI to UK tertiary education." It exposes an OpenAI-compatible HTTP API at https://elm.edina.ac.uk/api/v1 secured with a bearer token.

    This document was reconstructed by PROBING the live service on 2026-08-19. Only what was actually observed is described. Anonymous calls to /api/v1/models and /api/v1/chat/completions both returned HTTP 401 with an OpenAI-shaped error envelope, which is what establishes both the route and the auth scheme. The request and response bodies of the authenticated paths are NOT described here, because they were not observed — the platform publishes no OpenAPI document (/openapi.json and /docs both return the Angular SPA shell, a soft-200).

    Operator note: this is one of the few genuinely institution-ENGINEERED API surfaces in the University of Edinburgh''s public footprint. edina.ac.uk is registered to the EDINA National Data Centre with Domain Owner "University of Edinburgh", and EDINA is a University of Edinburgh centre. Edinburgh is acting as a producer here, not a buyer.'
  version: '1'
  contact:
    name: EDINA, University of Edinburgh
    url: https://information-services.ed.ac.uk/computing/comms-and-collab/elm
  x-operator: institution
  x-operator-evidence: 'edina.ac.uk Domain Owner: University of Edinburgh (Nominet whois); Registered For: EDINA National Data Centre'
  x-access: gated
  x-provenance:
    method: probed
    generated: '2026-08-19'
    source: https://elm.edina.ac.uk/api/v1/models
servers:
- url: https://elm.edina.ac.uk/api/v1
  description: ELM OpenAI-compatible API (probed — 401 without a bearer token)
- url: https://elm.edina.ac.uk
  description: ELM platform root, for the unauthenticated health check
tags:
- name: ELM
  description: Edinburgh Language Models generative-AI gateway
paths:
  /models:
    get:
      tags:
      - ELM
      operationId: listModels
      summary: List the models available to the caller
      description: OpenAI-compatible model listing. Observed 401 without a bearer token; the authenticated response body was not observed and is deliberately not described.
      security:
      - bearerAuth: []
      responses:
        '200':
          description: Model list. NOT OBSERVED — no authenticated probe was made, so no schema is asserted here. Expect the OpenAI /v1/models shape by convention only.
        '401':
          description: Missing or invalid Authorization header (observed)
          content:
            application/json:
              schema:
                $ref: '#/components/schemas/Error'
              example:
                error:
                  code: 401
                  type: invalid_request_error
                  message: Missing or invalid Authorization header
  /chat/completions:
    post:
      tags:
      - ELM
      operationId: createChatCompletion
      summary: Create a chat completion
      description: OpenAI-compatible chat completion endpoint. Observed 401 without a bearer token when posted a minimal JSON body. Request and response schemas are not asserted because they were not observed.
      security:
      - bearerAuth: []
      requestBody:
        required: true
        content:
          application/json:
            schema:
              type: object
              description: Shape not observed. OpenAI chat-completion convention (model, messages) is assumed by the platform's compatibility claim, not verified here.
      responses:
        '200':
          description: Chat completion. NOT OBSERVED — no schema asserted.
        '401':
          description: Missing or invalid Authorization header (observed)
          content:
            application/json:
              schema:
                $ref: '#/components/schemas/Error'
components:
  schemas:
    Error:
      type: object
      description: OpenAI-compatible error envelope (observed verbatim)
      properties:
        error:
          type: object
          properties:
            code:
              type: integer
              example: 401
            type:
              type: string
              example: invalid_request_error
            message:
              type: string
              example: Missing or invalid Authorization header
  securitySchemes:
    bearerAuth:
      type: http
      scheme: bearer
      description: Bearer token issued to University of Edinburgh accounts. There is no public self-service registration; /api redirects (302) to https://elm.edina.ac.uk/login.