Stanford University is a private research university in Stanford, California. Unusually for a higher-education institution, essentially its entire programmable footprint is genuinely institution-operated rather than a vendor tenancy: every surface listed here runs on a stanford.edu host. Stanford Libraries (SUL-DLSS) publishes five first-party OpenAPI contracts for the Stanford Digital Repository — SDR, DOR Services, Technical Metadata, Preservation Catalog and SURI, 76 operations, Apache 2.0, on its own GitHub org — though the services themselves sit on the internal network. Public and open without credentials are PURL (XML/MODS/IIIF Presentation 2.1 off purl.stanford.edu), the Library Hours JSON:API, and the Registrar's ExploreCourses XML query interface, which reports its own deprecation in every response body. University IT runs the certificate-gated MaIS Registry web services (Account, Person, Student, CourseClass, Privilege, Workgroup) and a metered AI API Gateway keyed to a Stanford billing account. Stanford also publishes signed Shibboleth SAML 2.0 identity-provider metadata at idp.stanford.edu — machine-readable identity federation that most universities never get catalogued. What is missing is equally clear: no OAI-PMH provider was found on any Stanford host, no institution-operated open-data portal, no OAuth scopes, no contact or terms in any contract, no examples on any of the 76 operations, and no unified developer portal spanning the Libraries and University IT surfaces.
Stanford University publishes 5 APIs on the APIs.io network, including SDR API, DOR Services API, Preservation Catalog HTTP API, and 2 more. Tagged areas include University, Higher Education, Education, Research, and United States.
The Stanford University catalog on APIs.io includes 1 JSON-LD context and 1 Spectral governance ruleset.
Stanford University’s developer surface includes API reference, documentation, GitHub presence, authentication, status page, support, code examples, and 29 more developer resources.
UniversityHigher EducationEducationResearchUnited StatesCaliforniaPrivate Research UniversityAssociation of American UniversitiesResearch RepositoryCourse CatalogIdentity FederationLibraryDigital RepositoryArtificial IntelligenceIIIF
Regulatory Posture applies to this provider. Its tags matched the
Education & Research regime, so
Regulatory Posture carries 15 points of the composite.
If this regime is wrong for your business, say so on your
provider repo — the
applicability map is public and we will correct it.
The six quality facets above are damped to 85 points between them,
because the conditional facet above carries the other
15. That is why each facet's contribution is shown against a damped
maximum: raising a quality facet moves the composite by 85% of its nominal
weight, not 100%. The full arithmetic is at apis.io/rating/.
Persistent URLs into the Stanford Digital Repository. GET /{druid} returns HTML, /{druid}.xml returns the cocina publicObject document, /{druid}.mods returns MODS 3.7. Open, no ...
IIIF Presentation (v2.1 stable, v3 alpha) and Image v2 APIs over the Stanford Digital Repository. Manifests served from purl.stanford.edu, image tiles from stacks.stanford.edu. ...
Operating hours for 24 Stanford library locations, answered as a JSON:API document at library-hours.stanford.edu/libraries.json. Open, no credential. Verified live 2026-08-19.
File and image delivery for Stanford Digital Repository content, served from stacks.stanford.edu. Documentation verified live 2026-08-19; access to individual files follows each...
Stanford Digital Repository deposit API. First-party OpenAPI 3.0.0 published by SUL-DLSS under Apache 2.0; 7 paths, 8 operations, bearer auth. Servers are sdr-api-{env}.stanford...
The backend API for the Stanford Digital Repository, and the largest contract Stanford publishes — OpenAPI 3.1.2, 40 paths, 53 operations, Apache 2.0, bearer auth. Validates wri...
Tracks the preservation state of Stanford Digital Repository objects (moab layout). First-party OpenAPI 3.0.0, Apache 2.0, 7 paths, 8 operations, bearer auth. Servers are preser...
Stanford Uniform Resource Identifier service — mints the druids every other SDR surface keys on. First-party OpenAPI 3.0.0, Apache 2.0, 3 paths, 4 operations, and an in-contract...
The Registrar's course catalog, queryable as XML by appending view=xml-20140630 to a search. Open, no credential, and the largest genuinely public dataset Stanford serves — a si...
Signed Shibboleth SAML 2.0 identity-provider metadata, entityID https://idp.stanford.edu/, valid until 2027-08-16. Declares an IDPSSODescriptor, three SSO bindings (HTTP-POST, H...
Direct API access to the large language models hosted in Stanford's own cloud infrastructure behind the AI Playground, for faculty, staff and students building their own AI appl...
University IT's Registry web services — Account, Person, Student, CourseClass, Privilege and Workgroup — over Stanford's consolidated system of record. Documented publicly but g...
API over the Community Academic Profiles directory (18,000+ faculty, students, postdocs and staff). The interactive console at cap.stanford.edu/cap-api/console redirects to auth...
aid: stanford
name: Stanford University
x-type: university
x-category: Private Research University
description: 'Stanford University is a private research university in Stanford, California. Unusually for a higher-education
institution, essentially its entire programmable footprint is genuinely institution-operated rather than a vendor tenancy:
every surface listed here runs on a stanford.edu host. Stanford Libraries (SUL-DLSS) publishes five first-party OpenAPI
contracts for the Stanford Digital Repository — SDR, DOR Services, Technical Metadata, Preservation Catalog and SURI, 76
operations, Apache 2.0, on its own GitHub org — though the services themselves sit on the internal network. Public and open
without credentials are PURL (XML/MODS/IIIF Presentation 2.1 off purl.stanford.edu), the Library Hours JSON:API, and the
Registrar''s ExploreCourses XML query interface, which reports its own deprecation in every response body. University IT
runs the certificate-gated MaIS Registry web services (Account, Person, Student, CourseClass, Privilege, Workgroup) and
a metered AI API Gateway keyed to a Stanford billing account. Stanford also publishes signed Shibboleth SAML 2.0 identity-provider
metadata at idp.stanford.edu — machine-readable identity federation that most universities never get catalogued. What is
missing is equally clear: no OAI-PMH provider was found on any Stanford host, no institution-operated open-data portal,
no OAuth scopes, no contact or terms in any contract, no examples on any of the 76 operations, and no unified developer
portal spanning the Libraries and University IT surfaces.'
type: Index
accessModel:
pricing: free
onboarding: request
trial: false
try_now: false
public: partial
label: Mixed — open library data, gated administrative and AI surfaces
confidence: high
source:
- plans
- authentication/stanford-authentication.yml
generated: '2026-08-19'
method: probed
position: Producer
access: 1st-Party
image: https://kinlane-images.s3.amazonaws.com/shared/apis-json/icons/stanford.png
url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/stanford/refs/heads/main/apis.yml
tags:
- University
- Higher Education
- Education
- Research
- United States
- California
- Private Research University
- Association of American Universities
- Research Repository
- Course Catalog
- Identity Federation
- Library
- Digital Repository
- Artificial Intelligence
- IIIF
created: '2026-06-03'
modified: '2026-08-19'
specificationVersion: '0.23'
x-coverage:
state: covered
reason: institution_operated_surfaces_verified
detail: 'Every surface in this profile was probed live on 2026-08-19 and every one resolves to a host under stanford.edu
— the operator axis came back `institution` for all fifteen entries, with zero tenant and zero vendor attributions. No
Figshare, Pure, Ex Libris, Dataverse or Symplectic contract is or was attributed to Stanford. Five first-party OpenAPI
contracts were recovered from the sul-dlss GitHub org and judged institution-operated by their own servers[] (all *.stanford.edu)
and info.title, not by where they were fetched. Three genuine absences are recorded rather than padded: OAI-PMH is not
present (six verb=Identify probes, all 404), ORCID could not be evidenced, and there is no institution-operated open-data
portal. Three discovery applications — searchworks, exhibits and earthworks — sit behind an F5/Shape bot defense that
returns a 200 JavaScript challenge to any client; they are LIVE for humans and unreadable to us, which is a limitation
of the probe, not a finding about Stanford.'
evidence:
- url: https://idp.stanford.edu/metadata.xml
status: 200
note: signed SAML 2.0 EntityDescriptor with shibmd:Scope stanford.edu
- url: https://library-hours.stanford.edu/libraries.json
status: 200
note: JSON:API document, 24 library locations
- url: https://purl.stanford.edu/bb157hs6068.xml
status: 200
note: cocina-models/0.127.0 publicObject
- url: https://purl.stanford.edu/bb157hs6068/iiif/manifest
status: 200
note: IIIF Presentation 2.1 manifest
- url: https://explorecourses.stanford.edu/search?view=xml-20140630&q=CS106A&academicYear=20242025
status: 200
note: live course XML; body carries <deprecated>true</deprecated>
- url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sul-dlss/dor-services-app/main/openapi.yml
status: 200
note: OpenAPI 3.1.2, servers dor-services-{env}.stanford.edu
- url: https://uit.stanford.edu/service/ai-api-gateway
status: 200
note: AI API Gateway service page
- url: https://uit.stanford.edu/developers/apis
status: 200
note: MaIS Registry developer documentation
- url: https://purl.stanford.edu/oai?verb=Identify
status: 404
note: no OAI-PMH provider — one of six negative probes
- url: https://searchworks.stanford.edu/?q=maps&search_field=search
status: 200
note: F5/Shape bot challenge body, not the application — blocked to automated clients
apis:
- aid: stanford:library-purl
name: Stanford Libraries PURL API
x-operator: institution
description: Persistent URLs into the Stanford Digital Repository. GET /{druid} returns HTML, /{druid}.xml returns the cocina
publicObject document, /{druid}.mods returns MODS 3.7. Open, no credential. Verified live 2026-08-19.
humanURL: https://api.library.stanford.edu/docs/purl/api/
baseURL: https://purl.stanford.edu
tags:
- Library
- Persistent Identifiers
- Metadata
- Digital Repository
properties:
- type: Documentation
url: https://api.library.stanford.edu/docs/purl/api/
- type: Examples
url: examples/stanford-purl-publicobject-example.xml
- type: Examples
url: examples/stanford-purl-mods-example.xml
- aid: stanford:library-iiif
name: Stanford Libraries IIIF API
x-operator: institution
description: IIIF Presentation (v2.1 stable, v3 alpha) and Image v2 APIs over the Stanford Digital Repository. Manifests
served from purl.stanford.edu, image tiles from stacks.stanford.edu. Open, no credential. Manifest verified live 2026-08-19.
humanURL: https://api.library.stanford.edu/docs/iiif/api/
baseURL: https://purl.stanford.edu
tags:
- Library
- IIIF
- Digital Repository
- Image
tags_raw:
- Library
- IIIF
- Digital Repository
- Images
properties:
- type: Documentation
url: https://api.library.stanford.edu/docs/iiif/api/
- type: Examples
url: examples/stanford-iiif-manifest-example.json
- aid: stanford:library-hours
name: Stanford Libraries Library Hours API
x-operator: institution
description: Operating hours for 24 Stanford library locations, answered as a JSON:API document at library-hours.stanford.edu/libraries.json.
Open, no credential. Verified live 2026-08-19.
humanURL: https://api.library.stanford.edu/docs/library-hours/api/
baseURL: https://library-hours.stanford.edu
tags:
- Library
- Hours
- Campus Life
properties:
- type: Documentation
url: https://api.library.stanford.edu/docs/library-hours/api/
- type: Examples
url: examples/stanford-library-hours-example.json
- aid: stanford:library-digital-stacks
name: Stanford Libraries Digital Stacks API
x-operator: institution
description: File and image delivery for Stanford Digital Repository content, served from stacks.stanford.edu. Documentation
verified live 2026-08-19; access to individual files follows each object's rights statement.
humanURL: https://api.library.stanford.edu/docs/digital-stacks/api/
baseURL: https://stacks.stanford.edu
tags:
- Library
- Digital Repository
- Content Delivery
properties:
- type: Documentation
url: https://api.library.stanford.edu/docs/digital-stacks/api/
- aid: stanford:library-embed
name: Stanford Libraries Embed API
x-operator: institution
description: oEmbed-style service returning an embeddable viewer for a Stanford Digital Repository object. Documentation
verified live 2026-08-19.
humanURL: https://api.library.stanford.edu/docs/embed/api/
baseURL: https://embed.stanford.edu/embed
tags:
- Library
- Digital Repository
- Embed
properties:
- type: Documentation
url: https://api.library.stanford.edu/docs/embed/api/
- type: Examples
url: examples/stanford-embed-oembed-example.json
- aid: stanford:sdr-api
name: SDR API
x-operator: institution
description: Stanford Digital Repository deposit API. First-party OpenAPI 3.0.0 published by SUL-DLSS under Apache 2.0;
7 paths, 8 operations, bearer auth. Servers are sdr-api-{env}.stanford.edu — the production host resolves in public DNS
but does not answer a public connection, so the contract is public and the deployment is internal.
humanURL: https://github.com/sul-dlss/sdr-api
tags:
- Digital Repository
- Research Data
- Preservation
properties:
- type: OpenAPI
url: openapi/stanford-sdr-api-openapi.yml
- type: OpenAPIOriginal
url: openapi/_original/stanford-sdr-api-openapi.yml
- type: JSONSchema
url: json-schema/stanford-sdr-api-schemas.json
- type: SourceCode
url: https://github.com/sul-dlss/sdr-api
- aid: stanford:dor-services-api
name: DOR Services API
x-operator: institution
description: The backend API for the Stanford Digital Repository, and the largest contract Stanford publishes — OpenAPI
3.1.2, 40 paths, 53 operations, Apache 2.0, bearer auth. Validates writes against Stanford's own cocina metadata model
(422 on violation) and supports DOI assignment. Servers are dor-services-{env}.stanford.edu; the deployment is internal.
humanURL: https://github.com/sul-dlss/dor-services-app
tags:
- Digital Repository
- Research Data
- Metadata
- Preservation
properties:
- type: OpenAPI
url: openapi/stanford-dor-services-api-openapi.yml
- type: OpenAPIOriginal
url: openapi/_original/stanford-dor-services-api-openapi.yml
- type: JSONSchema
url: json-schema/stanford-dor-services-api-schemas.json
- type: SourceCode
url: https://github.com/sul-dlss/dor-services-app
- aid: stanford:preservation-catalog-api
name: Preservation Catalog HTTP API
x-operator: institution
description: Tracks the preservation state of Stanford Digital Repository objects (moab layout). First-party OpenAPI 3.0.0,
Apache 2.0, 7 paths, 8 operations, bearer auth. Servers are preservation-catalog-{env}-01.stanford.edu, which do not resolve
in public DNS.
humanURL: https://github.com/sul-dlss/preservation_catalog
tags:
- Digital Repository
- Preservation
- Research Data
properties:
- type: OpenAPI
url: openapi/stanford-preservation-catalog-api-openapi.yml
- type: OpenAPIOriginal
url: openapi/_original/stanford-preservation-catalog-api-openapi.yml
- type: JSONSchema
url: json-schema/stanford-preservation-catalog-api-schemas.json
- type: SourceCode
url: https://github.com/sul-dlss/preservation_catalog
- aid: stanford:technical-metadata-api
name: Technical Metadata API
x-operator: institution
description: Technical (format, characterization) metadata for Stanford Digital Repository files. First-party OpenAPI 3.0.0,
Apache 2.0, 3 paths, 3 operations, 14 component schemas. Declares no security scheme; servers technical-metadata-{env}.stanford.edu
do not resolve in public DNS.
humanURL: https://github.com/sul-dlss/technical-metadata-service
tags:
- Digital Repository
- Metadata
- Preservation
properties:
- type: OpenAPI
url: openapi/stanford-technical-metadata-api-openapi.yml
- type: OpenAPIOriginal
url: openapi/_original/stanford-technical-metadata-api-openapi.yml
- type: JSONSchema
url: json-schema/stanford-technical-metadata-api-schemas.json
- type: SourceCode
url: https://github.com/sul-dlss/technical-metadata-service
- aid: stanford:suri-api
name: SURI API
x-operator: institution
description: Stanford Uniform Resource Identifier service — mints the druids every other SDR surface keys on. First-party
OpenAPI 3.0.0, Apache 2.0, 3 paths, 4 operations, and an in-contract `legacy` tag alongside `identifiers`. Servers sul-suri-{env}.stanford.edu
are internal.
humanURL: https://github.com/sul-dlss/suri-rails
tags:
- Digital Repository
- Persistent Identifiers
properties:
- type: OpenAPI
url: openapi/stanford-suri-api-openapi.yml
- type: OpenAPIOriginal
url: openapi/_original/stanford-suri-api-openapi.yml
- type: JSONSchema
url: json-schema/stanford-suri-api-schemas.json
- type: SourceCode
url: https://github.com/sul-dlss/suri-rails
- aid: stanford:explorecourses
name: ExploreCourses course-data XML query interface
x-operator: institution
description: The Registrar's course catalog, queryable as XML by appending view=xml-20140630 to a search. Open, no credential,
and the largest genuinely public dataset Stanford serves — a single department query returned 17MB in August 2026. No
formal reference is published; the query form is community-documented. The response itself carries <deprecated>true</deprecated>
and <latestVersion>20200810</latestVersion>.
humanURL: https://explorecourses.stanford.edu/about
baseURL: https://explorecourses.stanford.edu/search
tags:
- Course Catalog
- Registrar
- Open Data
properties:
- type: About
url: https://explorecourses.stanford.edu/about
- type: Examples
url: examples/stanford-explorecourses-example.xml
- aid: stanford:idp-saml
name: Stanford Identity Provider — SAML 2.0 metadata
x-operator: institution
description: Signed Shibboleth SAML 2.0 identity-provider metadata, entityID https://idp.stanford.edu/, valid until 2027-08-16.
Declares an IDPSSODescriptor, three SSO bindings (HTTP-POST, HTTP-POST-SimpleSign, HTTP-Redirect) at login.stanford.edu,
and shibmd:Scope stanford.edu. Institution-operated by definition and the strongest domain-standard evidence in this profile
— it satisfies both `saml` and `shibboleth` in the education regime.
humanURL: https://uit.stanford.edu/guide/single-sign-on
baseURL: https://idp.stanford.edu/metadata.xml
tags:
- Identity Federation
- SAML
- Shibboleth
- Single Sign-On
properties:
- type: Documentation
url: https://uit.stanford.edu/guide/single-sign-on
- type: Examples
url: examples/stanford-idp-saml-metadata.xml
- aid: stanford:ai-api-gateway
name: Stanford AI API Gateway
x-operator: institution
description: Direct API access to the large language models hosted in Stanford's own cloud infrastructure behind the AI
Playground, for faculty, staff and students building their own AI applications. Keyed per API key and billed to a Stanford
PTA, with usage queryable by key, and approved for High Risk data and PHI. Institution-operated at the gateway layer even
though the models behind it are commercial third parties' — the metering, the key issuance, the data-classification approval
and the rate card are all Stanford's.
humanURL: https://uit.stanford.edu/service/ai-api-gateway
tags:
- Artificial Intelligence
- AI Gateway
- Large Language Models
properties:
- type: Documentation
url: https://uit.stanford.edu/service/ai-api-gateway
- type: Signup
url: https://uit.stanford.edu/service/ai-api-gateway
- aid: stanford:mais-registry
name: MaIS Registry APIs
x-operator: institution
description: 'University IT''s Registry web services — Account, Person, Student, CourseClass, Privilege and Workgroup —
over Stanford''s consolidated system of record. Documented publicly but gated: access requires an x509 client certificate
signed by the MaIS team. No public base URLs and no sandbox. The Privilege and Workgroup services together are Stanford''s
campus entitlement model, exposed as APIs rather than as scopes.'
humanURL: https://uit.stanford.edu/developers/apis
tags:
- Identity
- Students
- Registry
- Administrative
properties:
- type: Documentation
url: https://uit.stanford.edu/developers/apis
- type: GettingStarted
url: https://uit.stanford.edu/developers/apis/getting-started
- type: Signup
url: https://uit.stanford.edu/developers
- aid: stanford:cap-profiles
name: CAP / Stanford Profiles API
x-operator: institution
description: API over the Community Academic Profiles directory (18,000+ faculty, students, postdocs and staff). The interactive
console at cap.stanford.edu/cap-api/console redirects to authentication; credentials are issued via HelpSU. Institution-operated
— CAP is Stanford's own application, source at github.com/SU-SWS/cap-api, not a Symplectic or Pure tenancy.
humanURL: https://profiles.sites.stanford.edu/developers
baseURL: https://cap.stanford.edu/cap-api
tags:
- Academic Profiles
- Directory
- Identity
- Research
properties:
- type: Documentation
url: https://profiles-info.stanford.edu/
- type: SourceCode
url: https://github.com/SU-SWS/cap-api
common:
- type: Website
url: https://www.stanford.edu/
- type: DeveloperPortal
url: https://uit.stanford.edu/developers
- type: APIReference
url: https://api.library.stanford.edu/
- type: Documentation
url: https://uit.stanford.edu/developers/apis
- type: CourseCatalog
url: https://explorecourses.stanford.edu/about
- type: ResearchRepository
url: https://purl.stanford.edu/
- type: LibraryCatalog
url: https://searchworks.stanford.edu/
- type: IdentityFederation
url: https://idp.stanford.edu/metadata.xml
- type: ResearchComputing
url: https://srcc.stanford.edu/
- type: AIPolicy
url: https://uit.stanford.edu/security/responsibleai
- type: AITooling
url: https://uit.stanford.edu/ai
- type: GitHubOrganization
url: https://github.com/sul-dlss
- type: GitHub
url: https://github.com/SU-SWS
- type: Authentication
url: https://login.stanford.edu/
- type: Status
url: https://library-status.stanford.edu/
- type: Support
url: https://stanford.service-now.com/it_services?id=get_help
- type: TermsOfService
url: https://www.stanford.edu/site/terms/
- type: PrivacyPolicy
url: https://www.stanford.edu/site/privacy/
- type: SecurityContact
url: https://uit.stanford.edu/security/report-incident
- type: LinkedIn
url: https://www.linkedin.com/school/stanford-university/
- type: Twitter
url: https://twitter.com/Stanford
- type: TrustCenter
url: security/stanford-trust-center.yml
- type: DomainSecurity
url: security/stanford-domain-security.yml
- type: Authentication
url: authentication/stanford-authentication.yml
- type: Scopes
url: scopes/stanford-scopes.yml
- type: Errors
url: errors/stanford-errors.yml
- type: Conformance
url: conformance/stanford-conformance.yml
- type: Lifecycle
url: lifecycle/stanford-lifecycle.yml
- type: Vocabulary
url: vocabulary/stanford-vocabulary.yml
- type: Rules
url: rules/stanford-rules.yml
- type: JSONLD
url: json-ld/stanford-context.jsonld
- type: Examples
url: examples/index.yml
- type: Plans
url: plans/stanford-plans-pricing.yml
- type: RateLimits
url: rate-limits/stanford-rate-limits.yml
- type: FinOps
url: finops/stanford-finops.yml
- type: Review
url: review.yml
maintainers:
- FN: Kin Lane
email: kin@apievangelist.com
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