UCSC Genomic Data

The UCSC Genome Browser is a widely-used bioinformatics tool providing access to genomic data, sequence information, and annotation tracks for hundreds of organisms. The REST API provides programmatic access to genome assemblies, DNA sequences, annotation tracks, and track hubs. No authentication is required; rate limiting of one request per second is recommended. Data is returned in JSON format.

UCSC Genomic Data publishes 5 API contracts indexed on the APIs.io network, including Genomes API, Hubs API, Search API, and 2 more. Tagged areas include Genomics, Bioinformatics, DNA, Biology, and Research.

The UCSC Genomic Data catalog on APIs.io includes 1 JSON-LD context and 2 Spectral governance rulesets.

UCSC Genomic Data’s developer surface includes engineering blog and 9 more developer resources.

🌐 Visit website 📡 Profile data on GitHub

30.4/100 thin ▬ flat Agent 21/100 agent aware Heartbeat 67/100 alive Full breakdown ↓
scored 2026-11-06 · rubric v0.27.0 · Show this score on your site →

AccessFreemiumOpen⚡ Free to try

1 published contract

Genomics Bioinformatics DNA Biology Research Open Science

Kin Score

Kin Score How this is scored →
scored 2026-11-06 · rubric v0.27.0

Composite quality — 30.4/100 · thin

Contract Quality 12.9 / 21

Developer Ergonomics 2.0 / 17

Access Clarity 1.3 / 17

Operational Transparency 2.3 / 11

Contract Governance 1.4 / 10

Discoverability 5.6 / 9

Regulatory Posture 2.5 / 15

Agent readiness — 21/100 · agent aware

Machine-Readable Contract 18 / 18

Agentic Access Contract 10 / 10

Documented Reversibility 6 / 6

MCP Server 0 / 12

Machine-Readable Auth 0 / 10

Idempotency 9 / 9

Stable Error Semantics 0 / 8

Request/Response Examples 7 / 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 4 / 4

Delegated User Identity 0 / 6

Protected Resource Metadata 0 / 5

Registration Without a Human 0 / 6

Agentic Commerce Well-Known Document 0 / 5

Pagination 5 / 5

Distinct Operations 3 / 3

MCP Tool Quality 6 / 6

Regulatory Posture applies to this provider. Its tags matched the Horizontal (data, software, accessibility, platform) 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.

Create-or-Update Ergonomics does not apply to this provider. The published contracts declare no write operations, and a read-only API cannot create-or-update. The facet is excluded from this provider's denominator entirely — not scored zero. A reference or data API is not deficient for being unable to upsert.

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/.

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Agent readiness — checks not met, largest first (exact, from this profile):

MCP Server +12 pts — deployment.mode + probe verdict on the mcp/ manifest, not the pointer; an unprobed slug falls back to authorship
Machine-Readable Auth +10 pts — a served openid-configuration/oauth-authorization-server carrying `issuer` (served), else the securitySchemes class in the provider OpenAPIs — bound (mutualTLS, DPoP, Signature) > negotiable (oauth2 authorizationCode/clientCredentials, openIdConnect) > bearer (http bearer, apiKey)
Stable Error Semantics +8 pts — OpenAPI $refs a shared error schema across 4xx/5xx responses (verified), else common[].type includes ErrorCatalog / ErrorCodes / DeclineCodes
A2A Agent Card +8 pts — a2a/-a2a.yml manifest, graded on conformance.grade against A2A 1.0.0
Registration Without a Human +6 pts — a `registration_endpoint` in the served RFC 8414 / OIDC discovery document
Delegated User Identity +6 pts — a served discovery document listing authorization_code in grant_types_supported (served), else an oauth2 authorizationCode flow or openIdConnect declared in an OpenAPI (documented)

6 more unmet checks in the Agent Readiness table above.

Kin Score — facets with the most composite points still available (weight × headroom):

Access Clarity scores 7.9 — up to +18.4 composite points
Developer Ergonomics scores 11.9 — up to +17.6 composite points
Contract Governance scores 13.6 — up to +10.4 composite points

Each check links to what satisfies it. Publish the artifact, or tell us where it already lives, and the score moves on the next scoring run.

Improve this rating by publishing the missing artifacts — every area above can be raised, and the full rubric is at apis.io/rating/. Every facet and dimension name above is a link: it opens that measurement's own page — what it means, the exact checks that feed it, how the whole catalog distributes on it, and the providers at the top of it. This rating is computed from the provider profile at artifacts.apis.io/ucsc-genomic-data/apis.yml: open an issue on github.com/api-evangelist/ucsc-genomic-data to ask a question or point us at an artifact you publish. Submit an artifact on GitHub — free → Manage your own listing — the Influence plan, $499/mo →

Markets this provider is in provisional

The Kin Score Market layer reads a provider inside its market: its position, and how deep its integrations go. Depth is only comparable within a position. Provisional and unweighted: not part of the Kin Score or agent readiness.

Market	Position	Depth	Registered MCP server	Declares compatibility
Life Sciences (Biotech and Pharma R&D)	undeclared	-	-	-

Registered MCP server and declares compatibility are report only — not weighted. Undeclared means we found nothing we can read, so there is no number: we never infer integrations.

Standards implemented 1

Standards this provider implements or carries. De facto ones are profiled and measured by the API Commons; formal ones come from the standards directory and are linked by the provider's own tags. The evidence column says how each claim was established — not that it was made.

OpenAPI

measured — observed by APIs.io (published)

APIs 5

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

UCSC Genomic Data Genomes API

Genome assembly discovery and search

UCSC Genomic Data Hubs API

Track hub management

UCSC Genomic Data Search API

Genome browser search

UCSC Genomic Data Sequences API

DNA sequence retrieval

UCSC Genomic Data Tracks API

Annotation track listings and data retrieval

Open Collections 6

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

UCSC Genome Browser REST Genomes API

OPEN COLLECTION

UCSC Genome Browser REST Genomes Hubs API

OPEN COLLECTION

UCSC Genome Browser REST Genomes Search API

OPEN COLLECTION

UCSC Genome Browser REST Genomes Sequences API

OPEN COLLECTION

UCSC Genome Browser REST Genomes Tracks API

OPEN COLLECTION

UCSC Genome Browser REST API

OPEN COLLECTION

UCSC Genomic Data API pricing

Not yet checked against UCSC Genomic Data's own pricing page. Compiled by API Evangelist on 2026-05-04; confirm before you rely on a figure. A free plan or tier is listed.

Plan	Price
Free freemium	Free
Professional paid	Free
Enterprise enterprise	—

Plan details, limits and sources →

Rate limits

Free Tier Default: 10 requests per minute
Free Tier Monthly Quota: 1000 requests per month
Professional Tier Default: 100 requests per minute

Compiled by API Evangelist, not yet checked against UCSC Genomic Data's documentation. All 5 limits →

Pricing Plans 1

Published pricing tiers and plan structures.

Ucsc Genomic Data Plans Pricing

3 plans

PLANS

Rate Limits 1

Documented rate limits and quota policies.

Ucsc Genomic Data Rate Limits

5 limits

RATE LIMITS

Service Levels 1

Uptime the provider promises or reports, as SLA4OAI. Read from its own pages; APIs.io runs no monitors.

UCSC Genomic Data

SLA

FinOps 1

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

Ucsc Genomic Data Finops

FINOPS

Semantic Vocabularies 1

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

Ucsc Genomic Data Context

5 classes · 16 properties

JSON-LD

Spectral Rules 2

Spectral governance rulesets for linting and validating these APIs.

UCSC Genomic Data — jsonschema rules

5 rules · 3 warnings 2 info

SPECTRAL

UCSC Genomic Data API Rules

6 rules · 1 errors 5 warnings

SPECTRAL

JSON Schema 2

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

UCSC DNA Sequence Result

5 properties

JSON SCHEMA

UCSC Genome Browser Track

7 properties

JSON SCHEMA

JSON Structure 1

JSON Structure definitions describing this provider's data shapes.

Ucsc Genomic Data Structure

0 properties

JSON STRUCTURE

Examples 2

Example request and response payloads for these APIs.

Ucsc Get Dna Sequence Example

2 fields

EXAMPLE

Ucsc List Tracks Example

2 fields

EXAMPLE

Security Posture 2

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

Ucsc Genomic Data Domain Security

TLSv1.3 · DMARC

SECURITY

Ucsc Genomic Data Vulnerability Disclosure

security.txt · contact published

SECURITY

Agentic Access 1

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

Ucsc Genomic Data Agentic Access

12 operations

12 operations · 0 acting

AGENTIC

Resources

Agent Surfaces 1

MCP servers, agent skills, and machine-readable catalogs

AgenticAccess

AgenticAccess

Build 1

SDKs, sample code, and the tooling you integrate with

GitHubOrganization

GitHubOrganization

Access & Security 2

Authentication, authorization, and security posture

VulnerabilityDisclosure

VulnerabilityDisclosure

DomainSecurity

DomainSecurity

Operate 1

Status, limits, changes, and where to get help

RateLimits

RateLimits

Commercial 2

Pricing, plans, and the legal terms of use

Plans

Plans

FinOps

FinOps

Company 3

The organization behind the API

Website

Website

LinkedIn

Blog

Blog

Source (apis.yml)

aid: ucsc-genomic-data
name: UCSC Genomic Data
description: The UCSC Genome Browser is a widely-used bioinformatics tool providing access to genomic data, sequence information,
  and annotation tracks for hundreds of organisms. The REST API provides programmatic access to genome assemblies, DNA sequences,
  annotation tracks, and track hubs. No authentication is required; rate limiting of one request per second is recommended.
  Data is returned in JSON format.
type: Index
deliveryModel:
  model: unknown
  open_source: false
  commercial: false
  callable_host: true
  label: Delivery model not determined — needs a product licence on record
  confidence: low
  source:
  - openapi
  generated: '2026-08-28'
  method: derived
accessModel:
  pricing: freemium
  onboarding: open
  trial: false
  try_now: true
  public: true
  gated: none
  gated_source:
  - onboarding
  label: Freemium · Open access
  confidence: low
  source:
  - plans
  - security
  generated: '2026-11-06'
  method: derived
position: Consuming
access: 3rd-Party
image: https://kinlane-images.s3.amazonaws.com/shared/apis-json/icons/ucsc-genomic-data.png
tags:
- Genomics
- Bioinformatics
- DNA
- Biology
- Research
- Open Science
created: '2025-03-01'
modified: '2026-09-16'
url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/ucsc-genomic-data/refs/heads/main/apis.yml
specificationVersion: '0.23'
common:
- type: Plans
  url: plans/ucsc-genomic-data-plans-pricing.yml
- type: RateLimits
  url: rate-limits/ucsc-genomic-data-rate-limits.yml
- type: FinOps
  url: finops/ucsc-genomic-data-finops.yml
- type: Website
  url: https://ucsc.edu
- type: AgenticAccess
  url: agentic-access/ucsc-genomic-data-agentic-access.yml
- type: VulnerabilityDisclosure
  url: security/ucsc-genomic-data-vulnerability-disclosure.yml
- type: DomainSecurity
  url: security/ucsc-genomic-data-domain-security.yml
- type: GitHubOrganization
  url: https://github.com/ucscgenomebrowser
- type: LinkedIn
  url: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ucsc-genomics-institute
- url: https://genome-blog.soe.ucsc.edu/blog/feed
  type: Blog
apis:
- aid: ucsc-genomic-data:ucsc-genomic-data-genomes-api
  name: UCSC Genomic Data Genomes API
  description: Genome assembly discovery and search
  humanURL: https://genome.ucsc.edu/goldenPath/help/api.html
  baseURL: https://api.genome.ucsc.edu
  tags:
  - Genomes
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/ucsc-genomic-data-genomes-api-openapi.yml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://genome.ucsc.edu/goldenPath/help/api.html
  - type: Examples
    url: examples/ucsc-get-dna-sequence-example.json
  - type: Examples
    url: examples/ucsc-list-tracks-example.json
  - type: JSONSchema
    url: json-schema/ucsc-genomic-data-sequence-schema.json
  - type: JSONSchema
    url: json-schema/ucsc-genomic-data-track-schema.json
- aid: ucsc-genomic-data:ucsc-genomic-data-hubs-api
  name: UCSC Genomic Data Hubs API
  description: Track hub management
  humanURL: https://genome.ucsc.edu/goldenPath/help/api.html
  baseURL: https://api.genome.ucsc.edu
  tags:
  - Hub
  tags_raw:
  - Hubs
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/ucsc-genomic-data-hubs-api-openapi.yml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://genome.ucsc.edu/goldenPath/help/api.html
  - type: Examples
    url: examples/ucsc-get-dna-sequence-example.json
  - type: Examples
    url: examples/ucsc-list-tracks-example.json
  - type: JSONSchema
    url: json-schema/ucsc-genomic-data-sequence-schema.json
  - type: JSONSchema
    url: json-schema/ucsc-genomic-data-track-schema.json
- aid: ucsc-genomic-data:ucsc-genomic-data-search-api
  name: UCSC Genomic Data Search API
  description: Genome browser search
  humanURL: https://genome.ucsc.edu/goldenPath/help/api.html
  baseURL: https://api.genome.ucsc.edu
  tags:
  - Search
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/ucsc-genomic-data-search-api-openapi.yml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://genome.ucsc.edu/goldenPath/help/api.html
  - type: Examples
    url: examples/ucsc-get-dna-sequence-example.json
  - type: Examples
    url: examples/ucsc-list-tracks-example.json
  - type: JSONSchema
    url: json-schema/ucsc-genomic-data-sequence-schema.json
  - type: JSONSchema
    url: json-schema/ucsc-genomic-data-track-schema.json
- aid: ucsc-genomic-data:ucsc-genomic-data-sequences-api
  name: UCSC Genomic Data Sequences API
  description: DNA sequence retrieval
  humanURL: https://genome.ucsc.edu/goldenPath/help/api.html
  baseURL: https://api.genome.ucsc.edu
  tags:
  - Sequences
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/ucsc-genomic-data-sequences-api-openapi.yml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://genome.ucsc.edu/goldenPath/help/api.html
  - type: Examples
    url: examples/ucsc-get-dna-sequence-example.json
  - type: Examples
    url: examples/ucsc-list-tracks-example.json
  - type: JSONSchema
    url: json-schema/ucsc-genomic-data-sequence-schema.json
  - type: JSONSchema
    url: json-schema/ucsc-genomic-data-track-schema.json
- aid: ucsc-genomic-data:ucsc-genomic-data-tracks-api
  name: UCSC Genomic Data Tracks API
  description: Annotation track listings and data retrieval
  humanURL: https://genome.ucsc.edu/goldenPath/help/api.html
  baseURL: https://api.genome.ucsc.edu
  tags:
  - Tracks
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/ucsc-genomic-data-tracks-api-openapi.yml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://genome.ucsc.edu/goldenPath/help/api.html
  - type: Examples
    url: examples/ucsc-get-dna-sequence-example.json
  - type: Examples
    url: examples/ucsc-list-tracks-example.json
  - type: JSONSchema
    url: json-schema/ucsc-genomic-data-sequence-schema.json
  - type: JSONSchema
    url: json-schema/ucsc-genomic-data-track-schema.json
maintainers:
- FN: Kin Lane
  email: kin@apievangelist.com
properties:
- url: rules/ucsc-genomic-data-rules.yml
  type: SpectralRules
- url: vocabulary/ucsc-genomic-data-vocabulary.yml
  type: Vocabulary
- url: json-ld/ucsc-genomic-data-context.jsonld
  type: JSONLDContext

UCSC Genomic Data API — frequently asked questions

Does UCSC Genomic Data have an API?

Yes. APIs.io lists 5 APIs from UCSC Genomic Data, including UCSC Genomic Data Genomes API, UCSC Genomic Data Hubs API and UCSC Genomic Data Search API, and 2 more.

Is there an OpenAPI specification for the UCSC Genomic Data API?

Yes. APIs.io indexes 5 OpenAPI specifications for UCSC Genomic Data, each linked for download from this page.

How much does the UCSC Genomic Data API cost?

APIs.io lists 3 pricing plans for UCSC Genomic Data, with each plan's price, limits and inclusions under Pricing on this page.

Is the UCSC Genomic Data API ready for AI agents?

UCSC Genomic Data has a Kin Score of 30.4 out of 100 (thin) and an Agent Readiness score of 21.2 (agent-aware), scored by API Evangelist on 2026-11-06.

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