govdata.de APIgovdata.de ↗
Access Germany's Federal Open Data Portal via API. Search datasets, browse organizations, filter High Value Datasets, and retrieve metadata for public records.
curl -X GET 'https://api.parse.bot/scraper/2c0ef76c-989b-4f84-b110-6d73c92b57f6/search_datasets?limit=3&query=Bev%C3%B6lkerung' \ -H 'X-API-Key: $PARSE_API_KEY'
Search for datasets using keywords, filters, and sorting. Supports standard CKAN package_search parameters. Returns paginated results with total count.
| Param | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| sort | string | Sorting field and direction. |
| limit | integer | Number of results to return (rows). |
| query | string | Full-text search query (CKAN q parameter). |
| offset | integer | Starting index for pagination (start). |
| filters | string | Filter query (CKAN fq parameter), e.g. 'groups:soci' or 'hvd_category:*'. |
{
"type": "object",
"fields": {
"count": "integer total number of matching datasets",
"results": "array of dataset objects with metadata including id, name, title, organization, resources, tags, groups"
},
"sample": {
"data": {
"sort": "metadata_modified desc",
"count": 5368,
"facets": {},
"results": [
{
"id": "acce33a9-0d51-4209-82a2-773ca8a8e38a",
"name": "bevolkerung-mit-migrationshintergrund-in-den-hamburger-stadtteilen-2025-auswertung-auf-basis-de",
"title": "Bevölkerung mit Migrationshintergrund in den Hamburger Stadtteilen 2025",
"num_tags": 2,
"organization": {
"name": "transparenzportal-hamburg",
"title": "Transparenzportal Hamburg"
},
"num_resources": 3
}
],
"search_facets": {}
},
"status": "success"
}
}About the govdata.de API
The GovData.de API exposes 8 endpoints covering Germany's Federal Open Data Portal, giving programmatic access to dataset metadata, thematic categories, publishing organizations, and EU-mandated High Value Datasets. The search_datasets endpoint accepts keyword queries, filter expressions, sorting, and pagination, returning dataset objects with resources, tags, groups, and organization details. The portal spans demographics, environmental data, economic indicators, and business statistics from German federal and regional authorities.
Searching and Retrieving Datasets
The search_datasets endpoint is the primary entry point for discovery. It accepts a query string (CKAN q parameter), a filters string for structured filtering (e.g. groups:soci or hvd_category:*), sort, limit, and offset for pagination. Results include a count integer alongside a results array of dataset objects. Each dataset object carries id, name, title, organization, resources, tags, and groups. To retrieve full detail on a specific dataset — including extras, all resource URLs, file formats, and sizes — pass its slug or UUID to get_dataset.
High Value Datasets and Statistics
search_hvd_datasets filters specifically for datasets tagged under EU High Value Dataset regulation, using the hvd_category filter internally. It returns the same dataset object shape as search_datasets with count and a results array. get_site_statistics returns two integers: total_datasets (portal-wide count) and hvd_datasets (count of HVD-tagged records) — useful for dashboards tracking portal coverage over time. get_recently_updated_datasets returns datasets sorted by metadata_modified descending, accepting a limit parameter.
Browsing Organizations and Categories
list_organizations and list_categories let you enumerate the full taxonomy of the portal. Organizations are the agencies and authorities that publish data; each object includes id, name, display_name, title, and package_count. Categories (groups) use the same shape and represent thematic buckets — social, environment, transport, etc. Both endpoints accept limit and offset for pagination. list_datasets returns a flat array of slug strings, which can feed batch calls to get_dataset for bulk metadata retrieval.
- Build a dataset discovery tool that lets users search Germany's open data by keyword and filter by thematic category using
search_datasetswith thefiltersparam. - Track which German federal agencies publish the most datasets by iterating
list_organizationsand sorting onpackage_count. - Monitor EU High Value Dataset compliance by polling
search_hvd_datasetsandget_site_statisticsfor changes inhvd_datasetscount over time. - Construct a freshness feed of recently modified government datasets using
get_recently_updated_datasetssorted bymetadata_modified. - Enumerate all available resource formats (CSV, JSON, Shapefile) across a category by combining
search_datasetswith group filters and inspecting theresourcesarray on each result. - Cross-reference dataset publishers with their open data output by mapping
organization.namefields fromget_datasetresponses back tolist_organizationsentries. - Seed a data catalog index by paginating through
list_datasetsand resolving each slug withget_datasetto collect full metadata.
| Tier | Price | Credits/month | Rate limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0/mo | 100 | 5 req/min |
| Hobby | $30/mo | 1,000 | 20 req/min |
| Developer | $100/mo | 5,000 | 250 req/min |
One credit = one API call regardless of which marketplace API you call. Exceeding the rate limit returns a 429 response. Authenticate with the X-API-Key header.
Does GovData.de have an official developer API?+
What does `get_dataset` return beyond what `search_datasets` includes?+
get_dataset returns the full dataset record including extras (arbitrary key-value metadata), complete resources objects with url, format, and size, and full organization details. search_datasets results include the same core fields but may omit some extras depending on the portal's CKAN configuration.Can I filter datasets by a specific German state or municipality?+
filters string in search_datasets to target groups or organization values that correspond to state-level publishers, but there is no normalized spatial filter. You can fork this API on Parse and revise it to add a geo-filter endpoint using CKAN's fq parameter with spatial fields if the portal indexes them.Does the API return the actual dataset files or just metadata?+
resources array in each dataset object includes url fields pointing to the original file locations hosted by the publishing organization, but file download is not proxied through this API. You can fork it on Parse and revise to add a resource-download or file-preview endpoint.How fresh is the data returned by these endpoints?+
get_recently_updated_datasets endpoint surfaces datasets by metadata_modified descending, so the freshness of underlying dataset content depends on when the publishing organization last updated their records on the portal.