DVIDS API website screenshot

DVIDS API

The Defense Visual Information Distribution Service (DVIDS) API provides programmatic access to over 1.8 million U.S. military news, photos, video, audio, publications, and unit assets. The API is implemented as JSON over HTTP and integration is possible from any language that can make an HTTP request and parse JSON responses.

DVIDS API publishes 3 APIs on the APIs.io network: Asset API, Search API, and Unit API. Tagged areas include Media, Defense, Government, and Search.

DVIDS API’s developer surface includes authentication, documentation, engineering blog, and 4 more developer resources.

🌐 Visit website 📡 Source on GitHub
37.6/100 thin ▬ flat Agent 31/100 agent aware Full breakdown ↓
scored 2026-07-28 · rubric v0.6
AccessFreemiumSelf serve⚡ Free to try
3 APIs
MediaDefenseGovernmentSearch

Kin Score

Kin Score Kin Score How this is scored →
scored 2026-07-28 · rubric v0.6
Composite quality — 37.6/100 · thin
Contract Quality 15.5 / 25
Developer Ergonomics 4.3 / 20
Commercial Clarity 7.9 / 20
Operational Transparency 4.1 / 13
Governance 0.0 / 12
Discoverability 6.5 / 10
Agent readiness — 31/100 · agent aware
Machine-Readable Contract 18 / 18
Agentic Access Contract 10 / 10
MCP Server 0 / 12
Machine-Readable Auth 10 / 10
Idempotency 0 / 9
Stable Error Semantics 0 / 8
Request/Response Examples 0 / 7
Rate-Limit Signaling 7 / 7
Typed Event Surface 0 / 6
Agent Skills 0 / 5
Well-Known Catalog 0 / 4
Consent & Bot Identity 0 / 3
A2A Agent Card 0 / 8
Dry-Run / Simulate Mode 0 / 4
Improve this rating by publishing the missing artifacts — every area above can be raised, and the full rubric is at apis.io/rating/. This rating is computed from github.com/api-evangelist/dvids-api: open an issue to ask a question, or submit a pull request to add artifacts. Want it done for you? Prioritized profiling — $2,500 →

APIs 3

Individual APIs this provider publishes, each with its own machine-readable definition.

DVIDS API Asset API

Retrieve and relate individual assets

DVIDS API Search API

Full-text search across DVIDS assets

DVIDS API Unit API

Search and retrieve military units

Open Collections 1

Open, tool-agnostic API collections (OpenAPI-derived and Bruno).

DVIDS API

OPEN COLLECTION

Pricing Plans 1

Published pricing tiers and plan structures.

Dvids Api Plans Pricing

3 plans

PLANS

Rate Limits 1

Documented rate limits and quota policies.

Dvids Api Rate Limits

5 limits

RATE LIMITS

FinOps 1

Cost, billing, and metering signals for API financial operations.

Dvids Api Finops

FINOPS

Security Posture 3

Authentication, domain security, vulnerability disclosure, and trust-center signals.

Dvids Api Authentication

apiKey · 1 scheme

SECURITY

Dvids Api Domain Security

TLSv1.3 · HSTS · DNSSEC · DMARC

SECURITY

Dvids Api Vulnerability Disclosure

Hackerone · security.txt · contact published

SECURITY

Agentic Access 1

Recommended x-agentic-access execution contracts for AI agents.

Dvids Api Agentic Access

4 operations

4 operations · 0 acting

AGENTIC

Resources

Documentation 1

Reference material describing how the API behaves

Documentation
Documentation

Agent Surfaces 1

MCP servers, agent skills, and machine-readable catalogs

AgenticAccess
AgenticAccess

Access & Security 3

Authentication, authorization, and security posture

VulnerabilityDisclosure
VulnerabilityDisclosure
 DomainSecurity
DomainSecurity
 Authentication
Authentication

Company 2

The organization behind the API

Website
Website
 Blog
Blog

Source (apis.yml)

apis.yml Raw ↑ 
aid: dvids-api
name: DVIDS API
description: The Defense Visual Information Distribution Service (DVIDS) API provides programmatic access to over 1.8 million
  U.S. military news, photos, video, audio, publications, and unit assets. The API is implemented as JSON over HTTP and integration
  is possible from any language that can make an HTTP request and parse JSON responses.
type: Index
accessModel:
  pricing: freemium
  onboarding: self-serve
  trial: false
  try_now: true
  public: false
  label: Freemium · Self-serve signup
  confidence: high
  source:
  - plans
  - authentication
  generated: '2026-07-22'
  method: derived
position: Consumer
access: 3rd-Party
image: https://kinlane-images.s3.amazonaws.com/shared/apis-json/icons/dvids-api.png
tags:
- Media
- Defense
- Government
- Search
created: '2025-05-02'
modified: '2026-05-19'
url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/dvids-api/refs/heads/main/apis.yml
specificationVersion: '0.19'
apis:
- aid: dvids-api:dvids-api-asset-api
  name: DVIDS API Asset API
  description: Retrieve and relate individual assets
  humanURL: https://api.dvidshub.net/
  baseURL: https://api.dvidshub.net
  tags:
  - Asset
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/dvids-api-asset-api-openapi.yml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://api.dvidshub.net/docs
  - type: Asset API
    url: https://api.dvidshub.net/docs/asset_api
  - type: Search API
    url: https://api.dvidshub.net/docs/search_api
  - type: Unit API
    url: https://api.dvidshub.net/docs/unit_api
- aid: dvids-api:dvids-api-search-api
  name: DVIDS API Search API
  description: Full-text search across DVIDS assets
  humanURL: https://api.dvidshub.net/
  baseURL: https://api.dvidshub.net
  tags:
  - Search
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/dvids-api-search-api-openapi.yml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://api.dvidshub.net/docs
  - type: Asset API
    url: https://api.dvidshub.net/docs/asset_api
  - type: Search API
    url: https://api.dvidshub.net/docs/search_api
  - type: Unit API
    url: https://api.dvidshub.net/docs/unit_api
- aid: dvids-api:dvids-api-unit-api
  name: DVIDS API Unit API
  description: Search and retrieve military units
  humanURL: https://api.dvidshub.net/
  baseURL: https://api.dvidshub.net
  tags:
  - Unit
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/dvids-api-unit-api-openapi.yml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://api.dvidshub.net/docs
  - type: Asset API
    url: https://api.dvidshub.net/docs/asset_api
  - type: Search API
    url: https://api.dvidshub.net/docs/search_api
  - type: Unit API
    url: https://api.dvidshub.net/docs/unit_api
common:
- type: AgenticAccess
  url: agentic-access/dvids-api-agentic-access.yml
- type: VulnerabilityDisclosure
  url: security/dvids-api-vulnerability-disclosure.yml
- type: DomainSecurity
  url: security/dvids-api-domain-security.yml
- type: Authentication
  url: authentication/dvids-api-authentication.yml
- type: Website
  url: https://www.dvidshub.net
- type: Documentation
  url: https://api.dvidshub.net/docs
- url: https://www.dvidshub.net/rss/news
  type: Blog
maintainers:
- FN: Kin Lane
  email: kin@apievangelist.com