Civic Stream APIcivicstream.tv ↗
Access live government stream listings from civicstream.tv via one API endpoint. Get titles, URLs, thumbnails, and live status for state and local feeds.
What is the Civic Stream API?
The Civic Stream API exposes 1 endpoint, get_schedule, that returns the current directory of live government streams from civicstream.tv. Each response includes stream titles, direct URLs, thumbnail images, and live status, along with pagination metadata covering total stream count and page count. Coverage spans state legislatures, city councils, and national government feeds.
curl -X GET 'https://api.parse.bot/scraper/cb40d70b-5124-4669-8d40-06054c5e2ead/get_schedule?page=1' \ -H 'X-API-Key: $PARSE_API_KEY'
Typed, relational, agent-ready
A generated client with real types, enums, and the links between objects — the structure a flat JSON response can't carry. Autocompletes in your editor and reads cleanly to coding agents.
- Fully typed · autocompletes
- Objects link to objects
- Typed errors & pagination
Typed Python client. Set up the SDK in your uv project, then pull this API’s typed client:
uv add parse-sdk uv run parse init uv run parse add --marketplace civicstream-tv-api
uv run parse add --marketplace pulls a pinned snapshot of this canonical API — it won’t change underneath you. To customize it, subscribe and swap to your own copy.
"""Walkthrough: CivicStream SDK — browse live government streams."""
from parse_apis.civicstream_tv_api import CivicStream, NotFoundError
client = CivicStream()
# List all currently live streams, capped at 10 total items.
for stream in client.streams.list(limit=10):
print(f"{stream.title} [{stream.status}] — {stream.url}")
# Grab the first stream for a quick summary.
try:
first = client.streams.list(limit=1).first()
except NotFoundError as e:
print(f"Schedule not found: {e}")
first = None
if first is not None:
print(f"\nFeatured: {first.title}")
print(f" Thumbnail: {first.thumbnail}")
print("\nexercised: streams.list")
Returns the current live government streams listed on Civic Stream. Results are paginated at 12 streams per page. Each stream includes its title, URL, thumbnail image, live status, and the actual embedded video/playback URL (HLS m3u8 or YouTube). Fetches each stream's detail page to extract the playback source, so response time scales with the number of streams on the page (up to 12 sub-requests). The total number of pages and streams is included in the response.
| Param | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| page | integer | Page number for pagination. Each page contains up to 12 streams. |
{
"type": "object",
"fields": {
"page": "current page number",
"streams": "array of live stream objects with title, url, thumbnail, status, and stream_url (the embedded video/playback URL)",
"total_pages": "total number of pages available",
"total_streams": "total number of live streams in the directory",
"streams_on_page": "number of streams returned on this page"
},
"sample": {
"data": {
"page": 1,
"streams": [
{
"url": "https://civicstream.tv/tennessee-senate/",
"title": "Tennessee Senate",
"status": "LIVE",
"thumbnail": "https://civicstream.tv/wp-content/uploads/uncategorized/tennessee.webp"
},
{
"url": "https://civicstream.tv/alaska-senate/",
"title": "Alaska Senate",
"status": "LIVE",
"thumbnail": "https://civicstream.tv/wp-content/uploads/uncategorized/alaska.webp"
}
],
"total_pages": 5,
"total_streams": 58,
"streams_on_page": 12
},
"status": "success"
}
}About the Civic Stream API
What the API Returns
The get_schedule endpoint returns a paginated list of currently live government streams from Civic Stream's directory. The response includes an array of stream objects, each with four fields: title (the name of the stream or proceeding), url (a direct link to the stream), thumbnail (a preview image URL), and status (the stream's live state). Alongside the stream array, the response surfaces page, streams_on_page, total_pages, and total_streams to support full pagination traversal.
Pagination
Results are paginated at 12 streams per page. The page input parameter (integer, optional) controls which page is returned. Using total_pages and total_streams from any response, you can determine exactly how many additional requests are needed to retrieve the full live directory. If no page parameter is supplied, the first page is returned by default.
Coverage and Scope
The directory draws from civicstream.tv's live feed index, which aggregates proceedings from state-level legislatures, municipal city councils, and national government bodies. The API reflects what is currently live in that directory at request time, making it most useful for real-time monitoring applications rather than historical archive lookups.
The Civic Stream API is a managed, monitored endpoint for civicstream.tv — not a raw scraper you maintain. Every endpoint is automatically health-checked on a schedule, and when civicstream.tv changes and a check fails, the API is automatically queued for repair and re-verified. It is built to keep working as the site underneath it changes.
This isn't an official civicstream.tv API — it's an independent, maintained REST wrapper over public data. Where the source has no official API (or only a limited one), Parse gives you a stable contract over a source that never promised one, and keeps it current. Need a new endpoint or field? You can revise it yourself in plain English and the agent rebuilds it against the live site in minutes — contributing the change back to the shared API is free.
Will this API break when the source site changes?+
Is this an official API from the source site?+
Can I fix or extend this API myself if I need a new endpoint or field?+
What happens if I call an endpoint that has an issue?+
- Display a live government proceedings widget on a civic engagement website using stream titles and URLs.
- Monitor how many government bodies are currently broadcasting by polling
total_streams. - Build a thumbnail grid of active legislative sessions using the
thumbnailfield. - Alert users when specific state or city council streams go live by checking
status. - Aggregate government stream URLs for redistribution to a custom video player interface.
- Track directory size over time by logging
total_streamsvalues across scheduled API calls.
| Tier | Price | Credits/month | Rate limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0/mo | 200 | 5 req/min |
| Hobby | $30/mo | 1,000 | 20 req/min |
| Developer | $100/mo | 5,000 | 100 req/min |
| Team | $300/mo | 20,000 | 300 req/min |
| Company | $1,000/mo | 100,000 | 500 req/min |
Each endpoint has a fixed posted price per successful call — most fall between 1 and 10 credits — shown on this API's page before you run it. Exceeding the rate limit returns a 429 response. Authenticate with the X-API-Key header.
Does civicstream.tv have an official developer API?+
What does `get_schedule` actually return for each stream?+
streams array contains four fields: title (the proceeding name), url (the direct stream link), thumbnail (a preview image URL), and status (the live state of that stream). Pagination metadata — page, streams_on_page, total_pages, and total_streams — is returned at the top level of every response.Does the API return historical or archived streams?+
get_schedule reflects streams that are currently listed as live in the Civic Stream directory. There is no archived or past-broadcast data exposed. You can fork this API on Parse and revise it to add an endpoint targeting any archive or on-demand content the site surfaces.Can I filter streams by state, jurisdiction, or government body type?+
get_schedule endpoint does not currently support filtering by state, jurisdiction, or body type — the only input parameter is page for pagination. You can fork this API on Parse and revise it to add filtering logic against those fields once stream titles are retrieved.How fresh is the stream data returned by the API?+
get_schedule at intervals appropriate to your application rather than caching results for extended periods.