System: Operational
v4.0.2 // machine_readable_archive
¶ Civic Record

Access the machinery of American democracy through raw data.

A unified interface for the federal API ecosystem — election finance, labor statistics, energy markets, public lands, and seismic activity — queried with a single api.data.gov key.

Agencies
211+4
API surfaces
439
On api.data.gov
25
Live in explorer
9
Consolidated Key

api.data.gov

One registration unlocks FEC, NASA, NPS, FDA, USDA, and Census endpoints.

End of Hero
¶ About this project

A reading room for federal data.

What it is

A unified front door to the U.S. government's public APIs — election finance, seismology, the Federal Register, federal holidays, and a growing list of agencies — each presented as a searchable, filterable, exportable explorer instead of a raw JSON endpoint.

Why it exists

Federal data is technically open but practically locked behind undocumented schemas, paginated cursors, and keys scattered across agency portals. This site treats those datasets as a single civic archive — discoverable in seconds, citable by URL, exportable as CSV.

How it was built

A TanStack Start app running on the edge. Every API call routes through a server function so credentials never reach the browser. Each explorer follows the same shape: validated query, server-side proxy, typed response, identical filter/sort/CSV controls.

¶ Foundation

Start with the FEC.

Schedule A individual contributions, candidate totals, committee filings, and independent expenditures — searchable, sortable, exportable.

  • Live API queries, no scraping
  • Filter by amount, state, date
  • One-click CSV export
  • Server-side proxy keeps your key safe
Launch explorer

Schedule A · Individual Contributions

GET /v1/schedules/schedule_a/

ContributorAmountDateEmployer
ADAMS, BENJAMIN$2,800.002024-10-12SELF-EMPLOYED
ZHOU, MEI$1,500.002024-10-11ORACLE CORP
RODRIGUEZ, CARLOS$3,300.002024-10-10STRIKE DATA LTD
PATEL, ANJALI$5,000.002024-10-08STANFORD UNIVERSITY
MORENO, LUCAS$1,000.002024-10-07RETIRED
GET /v1/schedules/schedule_a/
curl -G 'https://api.open.fec.gov/v1/schedules/schedule_a/' \
  -d api_key=$API_DATA_GOV_KEY \
  -d min_amount=1000 \
  -d sort=-contribution_receipt_amount \
  -d per_page=100
¶ For Builders

A platform, not a portal.

01

One key

api.data.gov unlocks dozens of agency endpoints with a single credential.

02

Repeatable pattern

Every adapter exposes search, filter, paginate, and CSV export uniformly.

03

Server-side proxy

Keys live in the runtime, never in the browser. Edge-friendly by default.