Federal Emergency Management Agency API Rules

x-name: OpenFEMA API Rules
description: >-
  Operational and design rules for working with the OpenFEMA API.
x-api: openfema
rules:
  - id: pagination-top-limit
    description: The $top parameter is capped at 1000 records per request.
    severity: error
  - id: skip-pagination
    description: Use $skip in increments of $top for stable pagination through large datasets.
    severity: warning
  - id: filter-syntax
    description: $filter expressions follow OData-style syntax with eq, ne, gt, lt, ge, le, and, or operators.
    severity: info
  - id: prefer-select
    description: Use $select to limit returned fields and reduce payload size for large queries.
    severity: warning
  - id: format-response
    description: Default response format is JSON; use $format=csv for spreadsheet-friendly output.
    severity: info
  - id: dataset-versioning
    description: Datasets are versioned independently (v1, v2). Always use the highest stable version available.
    severity: warning
  - id: no-authentication
    description: OpenFEMA does not require API keys; usage is public and rate-limited at the network layer.
    severity: info