generated: '2026-09-12'
method: searched
source: >-
  https://api.data.gov/docs/developer-manual/ (DEMO_KEY Rate Limits) and the
  "Getting Started" sections on https://open.gsa.gov/api/entity-api/,
  https://open.gsa.gov/api/get-opportunities-public-api/ and the other SAM.gov
  API pages, which document the alpha / prodlike environment.
description: >-
  GSA offers two different pre-production affordances and neither is a sandbox
  in the commercial sense. api.data.gov publishes a shared anonymous key,
  DEMO_KEY, that lets anyone call any participating API before signing up.
  SAM.gov runs a full separate PRODLIKE environment on api-alpha.sam.gov with
  its own account system and its own API keys, issued from alpha.sam.gov. There
  are no test fixtures, no seeded records, no time simulation and no trigger
  tooling anywhere in the estate.
modes:
  - name: DEMO_KEY
    kind: anonymous-exploration-key
    value: DEMO_KEY
    applies_to: Every API fronted by api.data.gov / api.gsa.gov
    how: 'Pass DEMO_KEY as X-Api-Key or ?api_key=DEMO_KEY'
    limits:
      requests_per_hour_per_ip: 30
      requests_per_day_per_ip: 50
    data: Live production data. DEMO_KEY is a throttle, not an isolated dataset.
    docs: https://api.data.gov/docs/developer-manual/
    verified:
      url: 'https://api.gsa.gov/technology/site-scanning/v1/api-json?api_key=DEMO_KEY'
      status: 200
      note: Probed 2026-09-12; returned the live Site Scanning OpenAPI document.
  - name: SAM.gov alpha (prodlike)
    kind: separate-environment
    host: https://api-alpha.sam.gov
    account_host: https://alpha.sam.gov
    applies_to:
      - SAM.gov Entity Management
      - SAM.gov Exclusions
      - SAM.gov Get Opportunities
      - SAM.gov Opportunity Management
      - SAM.gov Subaward Reporting and Bulk Upload
      - SAM.gov Entity Extracts
      - SAM.gov Subcontracting Plan Reports
    how: >-
      Register on alpha.sam.gov, generate a separate public API key from that
      environment's Account Details page, and call the api-alpha.sam.gov host.
      A production key does not work against alpha and vice versa.
    path_quirk: >-
      Several alpha endpoints carry an extra /prodlike/ path segment, e.g.
      https://api-alpha.sam.gov/prodlike/contract/v1/subcontracts/search.
    data: Prodlike test data, not production records.
    docs: https://open.gsa.gov/api/get-opportunities-public-api/
test_values:
  published: false
  note: >-
    GSA publishes no magic test identifiers, no sample UEIs, no fixture notice
    IDs and no test entity records. The examples on the API pages use real
    production values (real solicitation numbers, real ZIP codes, real agency
    names), which is a documentation convenience but leaves a consumer with no
    guaranteed-stable record to write an integration test against.
time_simulation:
  supported: false
fixture_tooling:
  supported: false
spec_note: >-
  Five of the harvested OpenAPIs declare the ALPHA host in servers[] rather than
  production — acquisition-subaward-reporting, assistance-subaward-reporting,
  sam-entity-extracts, sam-entity-management and sam-subaward-bulkupload all
  point at api-alpha.sam.gov. A client generated straight from those contracts
  calls the test environment by default. The production hosts are documented in
  prose on the same page and are recorded in apis.yml baseURL.