Smithsonian Institution website screenshot

Smithsonian Institution

The Smithsonian Institution provides open access APIs to its collections of over 22 million objects, artworks, and natural history specimens from 19 museums, 21 libraries, and 9 research centers. The Open Access API enables developers to search and retrieve collection data, images, and metadata across the world's largest museum and research complex.

Smithsonian Institution publishes 3 APIs on the APIs.io network: Content API, Metrics API, and Search API. Tagged areas include Collections, Cultural Heritage, Museums, Open Data, and Art.

The Smithsonian Institution catalog on APIs.io includes 1 JSON-LD context and 2 Spectral governance rulesets.

Smithsonian Institution’s developer surface includes authentication and 11 more developer resources.

🌐 Visit website 📡 Source on GitHub
43.8/100 developing ▬ flat Agent 31/100 agent aware Full breakdown ↓
scored 2026-07-28 · rubric v0.6
AccessFreemiumSelf serve⚡ Free to try
3 APIs
CollectionsCultural HeritageMuseumsOpen DataArtNatural HistoryResearch

Kin Score

Kin Score Kin Score How this is scored →
scored 2026-07-28 · rubric v0.6
Composite quality — 43.8/100 · developing
Contract Quality 16.7 / 25
Developer Ergonomics 2.2 / 20
Commercial Clarity 7.9 / 20
Operational Transparency 4.8 / 13
Governance 7.0 / 12
Discoverability 7.4 / 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/smithsonian-institution: 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.

Smithsonian Institution Content API

The Content API from Smithsonian Institution — 1 operation(s) for content.

Smithsonian Institution Metrics API

The Metrics API from Smithsonian Institution — 1 operation(s) for metrics.

Smithsonian Institution Search API

The Search API from Smithsonian Institution — 3 operation(s) for search.

Open Collections 1

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

Smithsonian Open Access API

OPEN COLLECTION

Pricing Plans 1

Published pricing tiers and plan structures.

Smithsonian Institution Plans Pricing

3 plans

PLANS

Rate Limits 1

Documented rate limits and quota policies.

Smithsonian Institution Rate Limits

5 limits

RATE LIMITS

FinOps 1

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

Smithsonian Institution Finops

FINOPS

Semantic Vocabularies 1

JSON-LD contexts and semantic vocabularies used across these APIs.

Smithsonian Institution Context

31 classes · 0 properties

JSON-LD

Spectral Rules 2

Spectral governance rulesets for linting and validating these APIs.

Smithsonian Institution API Rules

5 rules · 3 warnings 2 info

SPECTRAL

Smithsonian Institution API Rules

8 rules · 2 errors 6 warnings

SPECTRAL

JSON Schema 1

Standalone JSON Schema definitions for this provider's data models.

Smithsonian Collection Item

7 properties

JSON SCHEMA

JSON Structure 1

JSON Structure definitions describing this provider's data shapes.

Smithsonian Collection Item Structure

0 properties

JSON STRUCTURE

Examples 1

Example request and response payloads for these APIs.

Smithsonian Search Collections Example

2 fields

EXAMPLE

Security Posture 2

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

Smithsonian Institution Authentication

apiKey · 1 scheme

SECURITY

Smithsonian Institution Domain Security

TLSv1.3 · DNSSEC · DMARC

SECURITY

Agentic Access 1

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

Smithsonian Institution Agentic Access

5 operations

5 operations · 0 acting

AGENTIC

Resources

Get Started 1

Portal, sign-up, and the first successful call

Open Access Portal
Open Access Portal

Documentation 1

Reference material describing how the API behaves

Metadata Documentation
Metadata Documentation

Agent Surfaces 1

MCP servers, agent skills, and machine-readable catalogs

AgenticAccess
AgenticAccess

Build 3

SDKs, sample code, and the tooling you integrate with

Developer Tools
Developer Tools
 GitHubOrganization
GitHubOrganization
 Python Client
Python Client

Access & Security 3

Authentication, authorization, and security posture

DomainSecurity
DomainSecurity
 Authentication
Authentication
 API Key Registration
API Key Registration

Company 2

The organization behind the API

LinkedIn
LinkedIn
 Website
Website

Other 1

Properties that don't map to a standard resource type

Data Repository
Data Repository

Source (apis.yml)

apis.yml Raw ↑ 
aid: smithsonian-institution
name: Smithsonian Institution
description: The Smithsonian Institution provides open access APIs to its collections of over 22 million objects, artworks,
  and natural history specimens from 19 museums, 21 libraries, and 9 research centers. The Open Access API enables developers
  to search and retrieve collection data, images, and metadata across the world's largest museum and research complex.
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
image: https://kinlane-images.s3.amazonaws.com/shared/apis-json/icons/smithsonian-institution.png
tags:
- Collections
- Cultural Heritage
- Museums
- Open Data
- Art
- Natural History
- Research
created: '2024-12-25'
modified: '2026-05-19'
url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/smithsonian-institution/refs/heads/main/apis.yml
specificationVersion: '0.19'
apis:
- aid: smithsonian-institution:smithsonian-institution-content-api
  name: Smithsonian Institution Content API
  description: The Content API from Smithsonian Institution — 1 operation(s) for content.
  humanURL: https://www.si.edu/openaccess/devtools
  baseURL: https://edan.si.edu/openaccess
  tags:
  - Content
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/smithsonian-institution-content-api-openapi.yml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://www.si.edu/openaccess/devtools
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://edan.si.edu/openaccess/docs/
  - type: GitHubRepository
    url: https://github.com/Smithsonian/smithsonian-openaccess
  - type: Signup
    url: https://api.data.gov/signup
- aid: smithsonian-institution:smithsonian-institution-metrics-api
  name: Smithsonian Institution Metrics API
  description: The Metrics API from Smithsonian Institution — 1 operation(s) for metrics.
  humanURL: https://www.si.edu/openaccess/devtools
  baseURL: https://edan.si.edu/openaccess
  tags:
  - Metrics
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/smithsonian-institution-metrics-api-openapi.yml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://www.si.edu/openaccess/devtools
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://edan.si.edu/openaccess/docs/
  - type: GitHubRepository
    url: https://github.com/Smithsonian/smithsonian-openaccess
  - type: Signup
    url: https://api.data.gov/signup
- aid: smithsonian-institution:smithsonian-institution-search-api
  name: Smithsonian Institution Search API
  description: The Search API from Smithsonian Institution — 3 operation(s) for search.
  humanURL: https://www.si.edu/openaccess/devtools
  baseURL: https://edan.si.edu/openaccess
  tags:
  - Search
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/smithsonian-institution-search-api-openapi.yml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://www.si.edu/openaccess/devtools
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://edan.si.edu/openaccess/docs/
  - type: GitHubRepository
    url: https://github.com/Smithsonian/smithsonian-openaccess
  - type: Signup
    url: https://api.data.gov/signup
common:
- type: AgenticAccess
  url: agentic-access/smithsonian-institution-agentic-access.yml
- type: DomainSecurity
  url: security/smithsonian-institution-domain-security.yml
- type: Authentication
  url: authentication/smithsonian-institution-authentication.yml
- type: LinkedIn
  url: https://www.linkedin.com/company/smithsonian-institution
- type: Website
  url: https://www.si.edu/
- type: Open Access Portal
  url: https://www.si.edu/openaccess
- type: Developer Tools
  url: https://www.si.edu/openaccess/devtools
- type: GitHubOrganization
  url: https://github.com/Smithsonian
- type: Data Repository
  url: https://github.com/Smithsonian/OpenAccess
- type: API Key Registration
  url: https://api.data.gov/signup
- type: Python Client
  url: https://github.com/Smithsonian/smithsonian-openaccess
- type: Metadata Documentation
  url: https://edan.si.edu/openaccess/docs/
maintainers:
- FN: Kin Lane
  email: kin@apievangelist.com