Open Source Licenses API

About the Open Source Licenses API

Pass any license name or identifier to retrieve its official metadata. The API checks the record and returns the full name, canonical URL, SPDX ID, legacy identifiers, and whether it is active, retired, or superseded. It also flags applicability across software, content, or data domains, with paid plans adding compatible domain details.

What people use it for

Dependency Compliance Auditing

CI pipelines check third-party package licenses against OSI approval and active status flags before merging pull requests.

SBOM Metadata Enrichment

Software asset managers match SPDX identifiers and canonical URLs to internal components when assembling software bills of materials.

Package Registry Verification

When developers publish a package, code repositories verify that declared license names map to active SPDX IDs.

Dataset Ingestion Governance

Flag datasets governed by retired licenses or terms not meant for data before ingesting them into analytics environments.

Ways to call it

One endpoint, many ways in — REST with JSON, XML, YAML and CSV, plus GraphQL and an MCP interface for AI agents.

JSON

Default REST response

XML

Markup format

YAML

Human-readable

CSV

Tabular export

Beta

GraphQL

Query language

New

MCP

For AI agents

Request parameters — GET /v1/openlicenses

Sent in the query string. Premium parameters are accepted on every plan but only take effect on plans that include them. Anything not listed here is dropped rather than passed through.

Required

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curl "https://api.apiverve.com/v1/openlicenses?name=MIT" \
  -H "x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY"

Authentication

Send your key in the x-api-key header. That is the only auth step — no token exchange, and no per-endpoint scope to configure.

Response — GET /v1/openlicenses

Every APIVerve endpoint returns the same three top-level keys, so one response handler covers your whole integration: status, error and data. Only data changes shape.

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{
  "status": "ok",
  "error": null,
  "data": {
    "domain_content": false,
    "domain_data": false,
    "domain_software": true,
    "legacy_ids": [
      "mit-license"
    ],
    "license": "MIT",
    "name": "MIT License",
    "license_url": "https://opensource.org/licenses/MIT",
    "license_status": "active",
    "isOsiApproved": true,
    "compatibleDomains": [
      "software"
    ]
  }
}

Response fields

Paths are relative to data. Premium fields are absent rather than zeroed on plans that do not include them, so check for presence instead of comparing to 0.

Response headers

Every response carries your balance, so your own code always knows where it stands without polling anything. All four are exposed to browsers through CORS.

Errors

Read the HTTP status first, then error for the specific reason. The body names the parameter that has to change.

What a call costs — 2 credits per call

Credits are shared across every APIVerve API — one balance, one key, one bill. Failed requests never count against it, so a rejected input costs nothing.

Calls are what the credits buy at this API's rate — spend them here, on any of the other APIs, or across both. Nothing is reserved per endpoint.

Zero-code embed — one snippet, no backend

Drop an interactive Open Source Licenses form onto any page. The widget calls the API for you, so no key ever appears in your markup and there is nothing to deploy.

Changelog — Open Source Licenses API

Every change to this endpoint, newest first. Breaking changes ship as a new version and the previous one keeps serving — response fields are added, never removed or retyped in place, so an integration written against v1 keeps working.

Currently v1