SPICA Atlas Projects API

openapi: 3.2.0
info:
  title: SPICA Atlas Projects API
  description: Public JSON API for the SPICA single-cell / spatial atlas hosted by the University of Lausanne (UNIL). Lists current projects with metadata, supports filtering by reference atlas (ref_id), free-text search across metadata fields, pagination, and download of project archives. This specification was reconstructed from the public documentation at https://spica.unil.ch/home/api and confirmed against live responses.
  version: 1.0.0
  contact:
    name: University of Lausanne - SPICA
    url: https://spica.unil.ch/home/api
  x-provenance:
    generated: '2026-09-01'
    method: probed
    source: Reconstructed by API Evangelist from the public SPICA API documentation at https://spica.unil.ch/home/api and confirmed against live responses (/projects.json 200, /projects/query.json 200) on 2026-06-03 and re-probed 2026-09-01. Not published by the University of Lausanne. SPICA is operated by UNIL on its own host.
servers:
- url: https://spica.unil.ch
  description: Production
tags:
- name: Projects
paths:
  /projects/query.json:
    get:
      operationId: queryProjects
      summary: Query projects by reference atlas or free text
      description: Filter projects by reference atlas (ref_id) and/or perform free-text search across metadata fields, with pagination.
      parameters:
      - name: ref_id
        in: query
        required: false
        description: Reference atlas identifier to filter projects.
        schema:
          type: integer
      - name: free_text
        in: query
        required: false
        description: Free-text search across project metadata fields.
        schema:
          type: string
      - name: page
        in: query
        required: false
        description: Page number (1-based).
        schema:
          type: integer
          default: 1
      - name: per_page
        in: query
        required: false
        description: Number of results per page.
        schema:
          type: integer
          default: 1000
      responses:
        '200':
          description: An array of matching project objects.
          content:
            application/json:
              schema:
                type: array
                items:
                  $ref: '#/components/schemas/Project'
      tags:
      - Projects
  /projects/{project_id}/get_file:
    get:
      operationId: downloadProjectFile
      summary: Download a project archive
      description: Download a file (such as the data archive) for a given project.
      parameters:
      - name: project_id
        in: path
        required: true
        description: The project identifier (id or key).
        schema:
          type: string
      - name: type
        in: query
        required: false
        description: The type of file to download (e.g. "archive").
        schema:
          type: string
          example: archive
      responses:
        '200':
          description: The requested file as a binary stream.
          content:
            application/octet-stream:
              schema:
                type: string
                format: binary
      tags:
      - Projects
components:
  schemas:
    Project:
      type: object
      description: A SPICA atlas project and its experimental metadata.
      properties:
        id:
          type: integer
          description: Internal project identifier.
          example: 358
        public_id:
          type: integer
          description: Public-facing project identifier.
          example: 23
        key:
          type: string
          description: Short alphanumeric project key.
          example: ynt5ce
        name:
          type: string
          description: Human-readable project name.
          example: Ekiz_2019
        description:
          type: string
          description: Description of the project / experiment.
          example: Effect of miR-155 KO in T cells from melanoma
        ref_id:
          type: integer
          description: Reference atlas identifier the project belongs to.
          example: 1
        project_attrs:
          type: object
          description: Variable key-value experimental attributes (e.g. condition, timepoints, tissue).
          additionalProperties:
            type: string
          example:
            condition: melanoma (B16)
            timepoints: 9-12 days after tumor injection
        nber_samples:
          type: integer
          description: Number of samples in the project.
          example: 2
        created_at:
          type: string
          format: date-time
          description: Creation timestamp (ISO 8601).
          example: '2021-08-13T08:56:15.939Z'
        updated_at:
          type: string
          format: date-time
          description: Last update timestamp (ISO 8601).
          example: '2026-06-01T03:05:26.019Z'
        url:
          type: string
          format: uri
          description: Canonical URL to the project JSON resource.
          example: http://spica.unil.ch/projects/358.json