What is an API?

API stands for “Application Programming Interface” and an example is can be considered a back-end tool for special use cases where you need to connect Dataverse to another platform. For Dataverse you can request a token that utilizes the Dataverse API to connect to external services like the OSF open research collaboration platform. If you have expertise in command-line interfaces and need to direct upload large or numerous dataset files instead of using the standard webpage interface, you might take advantage of Dataverse’s “file upload” API. In the diagram below, we can see that while users can click a button within Dataverse’s web interface to upload a file, there are many other ways to get files into Dataverse, all using an API that allows for the uploading of files.

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APIs are helpful for system administrators and content managers who want to utilize Dataverse functionality but you have to be familiar with programming and related technologies in order to take advantage of them. Most submitters and users will not need to use the API directly but it is there if you need it.

For further information see Dataverse's “What is an API?”

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