specification: API Commons Sandbox
specificationVersion: '0.1'
provider: CHAOSS
providerId: chaoss
api: CollectOSS REST API
generated: '2026-09-05'
modified: '2026-09-05'
method: searched
source: >-
  https://docs.collectoss.org/en/latest/getting-started/sample-database.html (HTTP 200, fetched
  2026-09-05) and
  https://docs.collectoss.org/en/latest/getting-started/command-line-interface/backend.html.
docs: https://docs.collectoss.org/en/latest/getting-started/sample-database.html
description: >-
  CHAOSS publishes no hosted sandbox — there is no test-mode API host, because there is no production
  API host either. What it does publish is a genuine substitute: a container image of a PostgreSQL
  database pre-loaded with real CollectOSS-collected data, plus a documented flag for running the API
  server with collection turned off. Together these let a downstream project develop against a
  structurally correct dataset without waiting on a full forge collection run.
sandbox_type: fixture-dataset
hosted_sandbox: false
test_vs_live_keys: false
test_key_prefix: null
test_cards: null
test_clocks: false
fixtures:
  - name: Sample collected data
    kind: container image
    image: ghcr.io/oss-aspen/sample-collected-data:latest
    description: >-
      A postgres container pre-loaded with data actually collected by CollectOSS. The docs name three
      intended uses: running 8Knot, research in Jupyter notebooks, and building your own dashboard.
    published_connection:
      host: localhost
      port: 5433
      port_note: >-
        Mapped from the container's 5432 so it does not clash with a local PostgreSQL. Values below
        are the provider's own published sample credentials, verbatim from the documentation — they
        are demo values for a local container, not secrets.
      database: sample_collected_data
      user: sample_user
      password: sample_password
      psql: 'psql -h localhost -p 5433 -U sample_user -d sample_collected_data'
    schema_note: >-
      Tables live in the `data` schema (renamed from `augur_data` in v1.1.0-RC1), so queries must be
      qualified — data.repo, data.commits, data.pull_requests.
    ownership_note: >-
      The image is published under the oss-aspen organization (the 8Knot maintainers), not under
      chaoss. It is documented by CHAOSS on the CollectOSS documentation site as the recommended
      sample dataset, which is why it is recorded here, but the registry namespace is a third party's.
collection_free_mode:
  flag: --disable-collection
  command: 'uv run collectoss backend start --disable-collection'
  description: >-
    Starts the CollectOSS API server with data collection switched off. The documentation names this
    as the way to exercise the REST API without collection running — the closest thing CollectOSS has
    to a test mode for the API itself.
  source: https://docs.collectoss.org/en/latest/getting-started/command-line-interface/backend.html
gaps:
  - >-
    The sample dataset gives you a database, not an API. To exercise the 137 REST operations you must
    stand up a CollectOSS instance pointed at it; there is no ready-made API sandbox endpoint.
  - >-
    No test-mode credentials, no fixture triggers, and no time simulation. There is nothing to
    simulate — the API is read-only apart from DEI badging.
maintainers:
  - FN: Kin Lane
    email: info@apievangelist.com