catalog-data API for agents (unofficial) — JSON over curl | clify
catalog.data.gov is the U.S. government's open-data catalog (about 587k datasets from federal, state and local publishers). This CLI searches datasets, pages through results, reads dataset metadata and download links, fetches raw DCAT records, and lists organizations, publishers and keywords.
Host: catalog.data.gov. Call these verified read commands with plain curl; no install, key, or account. Use the public JSON API with plain curl. No install, key, account, or browser is needed. Example: curl 'https://clify-dev.netlify.app/sites.json'. Start with /search?q=weather, then call /abc/COMMAND. Responses are one JSON object. The hosted MCP and GitHub repo are also available.
Commands
search-datasets
Search the Data.gov catalog for datasets, with optional keyword tag, organization type, publisher, geospatial and downloadable-file filters, and sorting. Params: q, sort, keyword, org_type, publisher, spatial_filter, has_download
curl 'https://clify-dev.netlify.app/catalog-data/search-datasets?q=electric+vehicles&sort=relevance&keyword=ev&org_type=State+Government&publisher=National+Renewable+Energy+Laboratory+%28NREL%29&has_download=true'
search-datasets-next
Fetch the next page of dataset search results (the 'Show more results' fragment) using an 'after' cursor from a previous results page. Params: after*, q, sort, keyword, org_type, publisher, spatial_filter, has_download, per_page, results
curl 'https://clify-dev.netlify.app/catalog-data/search-datasets-next?after=WzEwNS45NDY5LDQsImYyYjIxZTJkLWY0OGUtNDg5ZC04OWI1LWU1NTAzZjI3YmYxNSJd&q=water+quality&sort=relevance&has_download=true&results=40'
get-dataset
Get one dataset's metadata (title, description, publisher, dates, license, keywords) and its download links (distribution) by slug. Params: slug*
curl 'https://clify-dev.netlify.app/catalog-data/get-dataset'
get-harvest-record
Get the raw DCAT JSON metadata record for a dataset by its harvest record UUID (linked from the dataset page). Params: id*
curl 'https://clify-dev.netlify.app/catalog-data/get-harvest-record'
list-organizations
List all publishing organizations (124) with slug, type and dataset count, as JSON. Params: none
curl 'https://clify-dev.netlify.app/catalog-data/list-organizations'
list-publishers
List the top publishers by dataset count (100 of 1867); names can be used as the publisher filter. Params: none
curl 'https://clify-dev.netlify.app/catalog-data/list-publishers'
suggest-keywords
Autocomplete keyword tags matching a partial string, with dataset counts; results can be used as the keyword filter. Params: search*, size
curl 'https://clify-dev.netlify.app/catalog-data/suggest-keywords?search=charg&size=10'
search-organizations
Browse or search organizations by name (HTML listing with type and dataset count, paginated). Params: q, per_page, page
curl 'https://clify-dev.netlify.app/catalog-data/search-organizations?q=energy'
get-organization-datasets
List or search the datasets of one organization (by slug), with optional publisher and geospatial filters and sorting. Params: slug*, q, sort, publisher, spatial_filter
curl 'https://clify-dev.netlify.app/catalog-data/get-organization-datasets?q=solar&sort=relevance&publisher=National+Renewable+Energy+Laboratory+%28NREL%29'