API Evangelist enhancements for the Ahrefs API v3

overlay: 1.0.0
info:
  title: API Evangelist enhancements for the Ahrefs API v3
  version: 1.0.0
extends: openapi/_original/ahrefs-openapi-original.json
x-generated: '2026-08-12'
x-method: generated
x-source: >-
  Derived from the harvested spec plus the Ahrefs docs. Records API Evangelist observations as
  x- extensions only; the harvested spec is never mutated. Everything asserted here is evidenced in
  the sibling artifacts named in each action.
actions:
- target: $.info
  update:
    x-apievangelist-profile: https://apis.io/provider/ahrefs
    x-apievangelist-harvested: '2026-08-12'
    x-apievangelist-spec-source: https://docs.ahrefs.com/openapi.json
    x-apievangelist-spec-index: https://docs.ahrefs.com/reference/index.json
    x-apievangelist-per-tool-specs: 13
    x-apievangelist-operations: 148
- target: $.info
  description: >-
    NOTE (API Evangelist): the ahrefs.com marketing site publishes no /openapi.json and api.ahrefs.com
    404s on every spec path. The authoritative machine-readable contract is served from the DOCS host
    at https://docs.ahrefs.com/openapi.json, with one spec per tool under /reference/ and an index at
    /reference/index.json. Consumers looking on the API host will not find it.
  update:
    x-apievangelist-spec-discovery: docs-host-only
- target: $.servers
  update:
  - url: https://api.ahrefs.com/v3
    description: Ahrefs API v3
    x-apievangelist-note: >-
      Single production host. No sandbox host exists; free testing is done against the live host using
      the magic targets/keywords recorded in sandbox/ahrefs-sandbox.yml.
- target: $.components.securitySchemes.http
  update:
    x-apievangelist-note: >-
      The spec models only the static bearer API key. Two OAuth 2.0 surfaces exist outside the spec —
      Ahrefs Connect (scope apiv3-integration-apps) and the hosted MCP server (scope apiv3-mcp,
      discoverable at /.well-known/oauth-authorization-server). See authentication/ and scopes/.
    x-apievangelist-key-lifetime: 1 year
    x-apievangelist-key-max: 1000
- target: $.info
  update:
    x-apievangelist-metering:
      unit: API unit
      formula: max(50, per_row_cost * rows)
      cost_driver: unique field names across select, where and order_by
      response_headers:
      - x-api-rows
      - x-api-units-cost-row
      - x-api-units-cost-total
      - x-api-units-cost-total-actual
      - x-api-cache
      note: >-
        Cost is a first-class part of this contract and is not expressed anywhere in the spec. Any
        client that omits `select` or `limit` pays for it.
      detail: rate-limits/ahrefs-rate-limits.yml
- target: $.info
  update:
    x-apievangelist-rate-limit:
      requests_per_minute: 60
      dynamic_throttling: true
      status: 429
      retry_after_header: false
      ratelimit_headers: false
      note: >-
        GAP — no Retry-After and no RateLimit-* headers on 429, so a client has no runtime signal for
        when to retry.
- target: $.info
  update:
    x-apievangelist-error-model:
      shape: '{"error": "<string>"}'
      rfc9457: false
      codes_registry: false
      statuses:
      - 400
      - 401
      - 403
      - 429
      - 500
      note: >-
        Uniform across all 148 operations, which is good, but the payload carries only free-text prose
        — there is no stable machine-readable error code to branch on. detail: errors/ahrefs-problem-types.yml
- target: $.info
  update:
    x-apievangelist-conventions:
      pagination: offset+limit, no cursor, no total count
      content_negotiation: '`output` query parameter (json|xml), not the Accept header'
      dates: YYYY-MM-DD strings
      money: USD cents — divide by 100
      filtering: JSON `where` expression, URL-encoded
      idempotency: not supported
      detail: conventions/ahrefs-conventions.yml
- target: $.info
  update:
    x-apievangelist-lifecycle:
      current_version: v3
      previous_version_sunset: '2025-11-01'
      sunset_header: false
      deprecation_header: false
      deprecated_operations_in_spec: 0
      status_page: null
      note: >-
        Ahrefs executed a genuine dated deprecation of API v2 but publishes none of it in-band, and
        removes v3 parameters with same-day changelog notice only. detail: lifecycle/ahrefs-lifecycle.yml
- target: $.info
  update:
    x-apievangelist-agent-surface:
      mcp_server: https://api.ahrefs.com/mcp/mcp
      mcp_tools_list: gated
      llms_txt: https://docs.ahrefs.com/llms.txt
      agent_skill: https://github.com/ahrefs/ahrefs-api-skills
      agent_card: null
      crosswalk: mcp/ahrefs-tool-crosswalk.yml
- target: $.tags
  update:
  - name: Public
    x-apievangelist-note: >-
      The only tool documented as usable without an Ahrefs subscription — crawler IPs/ranges and a free
      Domain Rating endpoint. The de facto anonymous entry point to the API.