AIRR Data Commons API V1#
Note: This section is about the API, if you are looking for information on the AIRR Data Commons, please see here.
Overview#
The AIRR Data Commons (ADC) API provides programmatic access to
query and download AIRR-seq data. The ADC API uses JSON as its
communication format, and standard HTTP methods like GET and
POST. The ADC API is read-only and the mechanism of inclusion of
AIRR-seq studies into a data repository is left up to the repository.
This documentation explains how to construct and execute API requests and interpret API responses.
Search and Retrieval#
The AIRR Data Commons API specifies endpoints for searching and retrieving AIRR-seq data sets stored in an AIRR-compliant Data Repository according to the AIRR Data Model. This documentation describes Version 1 of the API. The general format of requests and associated parameters are described below.
The design of the AIRR Data Commons API was greatly inspired by National Cancer Institute’s Genomic Data Commons (GDC) API.
Repository implementation principles#
Implementers of the ADC API should follow the following high level principles. Users of the ADC API can expect the following principles to be followed.
All API endpoints should return JSON encodings as an API response.
For some API endpoints it is possible to request TSV files, and those endpoints that support TSV files are documented in the <DataCommonsAPIEndpoints> section.
Endpoints that are not documented as supporting TSV can reject TSV requests.
If an API endpoint returns a field, then the content of that field in the JSON and TSV response must be equivalent.
Authentication#
The ADC API currently does not define an authentication method. Future versions of the API will provide an authentication method so data repositories can support query and download of controlled-access data.