University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Carolina Digital Repository Services API (box-c)

Public, keyless JSON API behind the Carolina Digital Repository, UNC Libraries' institutional repository for digitized special collections, theses, dissertations and research output. GET /services/api/search returns Solr-backed results over 2,102,332 indexed records with faceting, and the same service publishes IIIF Presentation API 3.0 manifests (/services/api/iiif/v3/{id}/manifest) and IIIF Image API 3.0 image information (/services/api/iiif/v3/{id}/info.json). Errors are returned as RFC 7807 application/problem+json. The service is box-c — a Java/Spring application that UNC Libraries itself writes, tests and releases in the open at https://github.com/UNC-Libraries/box-c — so both the deployment and the contract are UNC's own engineering. Some administrative paths (/services/api/status) return 401 and are staff-only. There is no published API reference: the endpoints below were found by probe, and the source repository is the documentation.

GitHub

Documentation

📖
Documentation
https://github.com/UNC-Libraries/box-c

Other Resources

🔗
Website
https://dcr.lib.unc.edu/
🔗
Conformance
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/university-of-north-carolina-at-chapel-hill/refs/heads/main/conformance/university-of-north-carolina-at-chapel-hill-education-standards-conformance.yml
🔗
APIsJSON
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/university-of-north-carolina-at-chapel-hill/refs/heads/main/apis.yml

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/cdr-services-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.

API entry from apis.yml

apis.yml Raw ↑ 
aid: university-of-north-carolina-at-chapel-hill:cdr-services-api
name: Carolina Digital Repository Services API (box-c)
description: 'Public, keyless JSON API behind the Carolina Digital Repository, UNC Libraries'' institutional
  repository for digitized special collections, theses, dissertations and research output. GET /services/api/search
  returns Solr-backed results over 2,102,332 indexed records with faceting, and the same service publishes
  IIIF Presentation API 3.0 manifests (/services/api/iiif/v3/{id}/manifest) and IIIF Image API 3.0 image
  information (/services/api/iiif/v3/{id}/info.json). Errors are returned as RFC 7807 application/problem+json.
  The service is box-c — a Java/Spring application that UNC Libraries itself writes, tests and releases
  in the open at https://github.com/UNC-Libraries/box-c — so both the deployment and the contract are
  UNC''s own engineering. Some administrative paths (/services/api/status) return 401 and are staff-only.
  There is no published API reference: the endpoints below were found by probe, and the source repository
  is the documentation.'
humanURL: https://dcr.lib.unc.edu/aboutRepository
baseURL: https://dcr.lib.unc.edu/services/api
x-operator: institution
x-operator-evidence: 'dcr.lib.unc.edu is under UNC''s own registrable domain and CNAMEs to hawadax.lib.unc.edu
  (152.2.176.62), inside UNC Libraries'' own network. The application serving it, box-c, is authored and
  maintained by UNC Libraries (github.com/UNC-Libraries/box-c, homepage https://dcr.lib.unc.edu/aboutRepository,
  last pushed 2026-08-28). No vendor contract is involved: UNC wrote this one.'
tags:
- Research Repository
- Digital Library
- IIIF
- Search
- Open-Source
tags_raw:
- Research Repository
- Digital Library
- IIIF
- Search
- Open Source
properties:
- type: Documentation
  url: https://github.com/UNC-Libraries/box-c
- type: Website
  url: https://dcr.lib.unc.edu/
- type: Conformance
  url: conformance/university-of-north-carolina-at-chapel-hill-education-standards-conformance.yml