generated: '2026-09-09'
method: probed
source: >-
  live responses from https://www.fmcs.gov/wp-json/wp/v2/* (2026-09-09) plus the verbatim route discovery
  document at openapi/federal-mediation-and-conciliation-service-wp-routes-original.json
summary: >-
  A standard WordPress REST API served anonymously and read-only. Every convention below is the WordPress
  platform's, observed live on the FMCS host — FMCS documents none of them itself.
authentication:
  style: none
  detail: No credential is required or accepted on the public surface. See authentication/.
routing:
  canonical_base: https://www.fmcs.gov/wp-json
  canonical_base_status: 200
  canonical_base_note: >-
    Unlike some federal WordPress deployments, the canonical /wp-json/ base works here — no edge redirect,
    no User-Agent filtering. A browser-shaped User-Agent and a plain curl User-Agent are both served.
  alternate_base: https://www.fmcs.gov/?rest_route=
  alternate_base_note: WordPress's query-string route form also works but is unnecessary on this host.
pagination:
  style: page-and-size
  params:
    - {name: page, type: integer, default: 1, minimum: 1}
    - {name: per_page, type: integer, default: 10, minimum: 1, maximum: 100}
    - {name: offset, type: integer, note: 'supported on post-type collections'}
    - {name: order, type: string, enum: [asc, desc]}
    - {name: orderby, type: string, note: 'date, id, title, slug, relevance and others per collection'}
  response_headers: [X-WP-Total, X-WP-TotalPages, Link]
  link_header: RFC 8288 rel="next" / rel="prev"
  exceeded_behaviour: 'per_page > 100 returns HTTP 400 rest_invalid_param'
  evidence:
    url: 'https://www.fmcs.gov/wp-json/wp/v2/posts?per_page=1'
    status: 200
    headers: {X-WP-Total: '57', X-WP-TotalPages: '57', Link: '<...posts?per_page=1&page=2>; rel="next"'}
field_selection:
  supported: true
  params:
    - {name: _fields, note: 'comma-separated allow-list of top-level fields to return'}
    - {name: _embed, note: 'inline embedded resources referenced from _links'}
    - {name: _envelope, note: 'wrap body, status and headers into a single JSON envelope'}
  note: Platform-standard WordPress sparse-fieldset support; not documented by FMCS.
filtering:
  note: >-
    Collections accept search, slug, include, exclude, before, after, modified_before, modified_after,
    author, categories, tags, status and per-taxonomy filters. The exact set per collection is taken from
    the route discovery document and reproduced verbatim in the derived OpenAPI.
  useful_example: >-
    The document library is filterable — /wp/v2/media?mime_type=application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet
    narrows the 1,122-item library to the F-7 notice workbooks and FOIA log spreadsheets.
hypermedia:
  style: HAL-ish _links
  detail: >-
    Every record carries a _links object with self, collection, about, author, replies, wp:attachment,
    wp:term and curies entries. On this host the _links values use the working /wp-json/ base, so the
    surface is genuinely walkable from the root without any documentation.
metadata:
  supported: true
  note: >-
    WordPress `meta` object per record. FMCS registers no custom public meta fields; the Business Directory
    listing detail lives in plugin tables the REST projection does not expose, which is why
    /wp/v2/wpbdp_listing records have empty content bodies.
request_tracing:
  request_id_header: null
  note: No request-id or correlation header is returned on any observed response.
versioning:
  scheme: namespace-in-path
  current: wp/v2
  namespaces_advertised: 23
  note: >-
    Version is the WordPress namespace (wp/v2). FMCS publishes no versioning policy and makes no
    compatibility commitment; the surface moves when the site's WordPress and plugins are upgraded. The
    route index also advertises four simultaneous Event Espresso namespace versions (ee/v4.8.29 through
    ee/v4.8.36), which is the platform's own compatibility shim, not an FMCS versioning scheme.
error_envelope:
  format: wordpress-rest
  rfc9457: false
  media_type: application/json
  shape: '{"code": "<machine code>", "message": "<human text>", "data": {"status": <http status>, "params": {...}, "details": {...}}}'
  see: errors/federal-mediation-and-conciliation-service-problem-types.yml
rate_limit_signaling:
  headers: none
  see: rate-limits/federal-mediation-and-conciliation-service-rate-limits.yml
caching:
  cache_control: 'no-store, no-cache, must-revalidate'
  etag: false
  conditional_requests: false
  note: >-
    The origin sends Cache-Control: no-store, no-cache, must-revalidate plus a 1981 Expires header and no
    ETag or Last-Modified on API responses, so conditional requests are not available. Records carry a
    `modified_gmt` field, which is the only change signal and the practical way to poll for new content —
    and the correct one to use for the document library, where new F-7 workbooks appear monthly.
cors:
  access_control_allow_headers: 'Authorization, X-WP-Nonce, Content-Disposition, Content-MD5, Content-Type'
  access_control_expose_headers: 'X-WP-Total, X-WP-TotalPages, Link'
  vary: 'Origin,User-Agent'
security_headers:
  strict_transport_security: 'max-age=63072000; includeSubDomains; preload'
  x_content_type_options: nosniff
  x_frame_options: DENY
  x_robots_tag: noindex
  note: 'X-Robots-Tag: noindex is applied to API responses, so the JSON surface is excluded from search indexes.'
idempotency:
  coverage: na
  mechanism: none
  scope: []
  note: >-
    NOT APPLICABLE, not absent. The public surface is read-only — every catalogued operation is a GET, and
    collection responses advertise `Allow: GET` to an anonymous caller, so there is no mutating surface for
    an idempotency key to protect. /wp/v2/settings and /wp/v2/block-types return 401 rest_forbidden
    anonymously. An `na` here leaves the denominator rather than scoring a zero the provider did not earn.
    No Idempotency pointer is wired in apis.yml, because there is no idempotency contract to point at.
dry_run_mode:
  supported: na
  note: Read-only surface; nothing to rehearse.
reversibility:
  grade: na
  write_surfaces: []
  note: >-
    NOT APPLICABLE. There is no write surface on the public API, so there is no action to take back. No
    reversal operation, window or restore path exists or is needed. Recorded explicitly rather than left
    blank so the dimension leaves the denominator instead of scoring zero. FMCS's genuinely consequential
    write flows — filing an F-7 notice, requesting an arbitration panel — happen in the login-gated portals
    on separate hosts and publish no contract at all, so their reversibility is unknowable from outside.
cross_links:
  authentication: authentication/federal-mediation-and-conciliation-service-authentication.yml
  errors: errors/federal-mediation-and-conciliation-service-problem-types.yml
  lifecycle: lifecycle/federal-mediation-and-conciliation-service-lifecycle.yml
  rate_limits: rate-limits/federal-mediation-and-conciliation-service-rate-limits.yml
  data_model: data-model/federal-mediation-and-conciliation-service-data-model.yml