specification: FinOps Framework
specificationVersion: '1.0'
alignedWith:
  framework: FinOps Foundation Framework
  frameworkUrl: https://www.finops.org/framework/
  dataSpec: FOCUS
  dataSpecVersion: '1.3'
  dataSpecUrl: https://focus.finops.org/focus-specification/v1-3/
provider: RCSB PDB
providerId: pdb
publisherName: RCSB PDB (Research Collaboratory for Structural Bioinformatics)
serviceCategory: Open Scientific Data API
created: '2026-06-13'
modified: '2026-06-13'
reconciled: true
tags:
  - Structural Biology
  - Bioinformatics
  - Life Sciences
  - Open Data
  - Research
  - FinOps
  - Cost Management
  - FOCUS
description: >-
  RCSB PDB APIs are freely available with no direct monetary cost to the consumer.
  FinOps considerations center on the engineering and infrastructure cost of consuming
  these APIs — egress bandwidth, compute for processing large structure files, storage
  for local archives, and developer time. Organizations integrating PDB data at scale
  should track these indirect costs and optimize for efficient access patterns.
sources:
  - https://www.rcsb.org/docs/programmatic-access/web-apis-overview
  - https://www.rcsb.org/docs/programmatic-access
principles:
  - name: Visibility
    description: >-
      While RCSB PDB APIs carry no subscription cost, make internal consumption visible:
      track API call volumes, downloaded data volumes, compute used for structure
      processing, and storage consumed by local PDB archives.
  - name: Allocation
    description: >-
      Tag API consumption and downstream storage to the research project, team, or
      application consuming the data so that institutional IT and cloud infrastructure
      costs can be attributed correctly.
  - name: Optimization
    description: >-
      Use rsync for full or incremental archive replication rather than per-file HTTP
      fetches. Use the Data API and Search API to retrieve only required records rather
      than bulk downloading the entire archive. Cache frequently accessed structures
      locally to avoid redundant requests.
  - name: Accountability
    description: >-
      Assign responsibility for data pipeline costs to the research or engineering team
      consuming the data. Monitor egress and storage growth on a monthly cadence and
      review access patterns quarterly.
domains:
  - name: Understand Usage and Cost
    capabilities:
      - Data Ingestion
      - Allocation
      - Reporting and Analytics
      - Anomaly Management
  - name: Quantify Business Value
    capabilities:
      - Planning and Estimating
      - Forecasting
      - Budgeting
      - Unit Economics
  - name: Optimize Usage and Cost
    capabilities:
      - Architecting for Cloud
      - Workload Optimization
      - Cloud Sustainability
  - name: Manage the FinOps Practice
    capabilities:
      - FinOps Practice Operations
      - FinOps Education and Enablement
      - Onboarding Workloads
billingModel:
  pricingCategory: Free / Open Data
  billingFrequency: N/A
  billingCurrency: USD
  chargeCategories:
    - Usage
  chargeFrequency: N/A
  notes: >-
    No monetary charges from RCSB PDB. Internal costs arise from cloud egress,
    compute, and storage consumed when integrating PDB data into research pipelines.
focusColumns:
  ServiceName: RCSB PDB
  ServiceCategory: Open Scientific Data API
  ProviderName: RCSB PDB
  PublisherName: Research Collaboratory for Structural Bioinformatics
  InvoiceIssuerName: N/A (free resource)
  PricingCategory: Free
  PricingUnit: request
  BillingCurrency: USD
  ChargeCategory: Usage
meters:
  - name: api_requests
    description: Count of API requests made across all RCSB PDB API endpoints
    unit: request
    aggregation: sum
    dimensions:
      - api
      - endpoint
      - consumer
      - environment
  - name: data_download_bytes
    description: Total bytes downloaded from files.wwpdb.org or via rsync
    unit: GB
    aggregation: sum
    dimensions:
      - file_type
      - consumer
      - environment
  - name: structure_files_cached
    description: Count of structure coordinate files maintained in a local cache
    unit: file
    aggregation: max
    dimensions:
      - file_format
      - consumer
apis:
  - name: RCSB PDB Data API
    baseURL: https://data.rcsb.org/rest/v1/core
    tags:
      - Structural Biology
      - Protein Data
      - REST
      - GraphQL
    serviceName: RCSB PDB Data API
    serviceCategory: Open Scientific Data API
  - name: RCSB PDB Search API
    baseURL: https://search.rcsb.org/rcsbsearch/v2/query
    tags:
      - Search
      - Sequence
      - Structure
      - Chemical
    serviceName: RCSB PDB Search API
    serviceCategory: Open Scientific Data API
  - name: RCSB PDB ModelServer API
    baseURL: https://models.rcsb.org
    tags:
      - Macromolecular Models
      - mmCIF
    serviceName: RCSB PDB ModelServer API
    serviceCategory: Open Scientific Data API
  - name: RCSB PDB VolumeServer API
    baseURL: https://maps.rcsb.org
    tags:
      - Electron Density
      - Cryo-EM
      - Volumetric Data
    serviceName: RCSB PDB VolumeServer API
    serviceCategory: Open Scientific Data API
  - name: RCSB PDB Sequence Coordinates API
    baseURL: https://sequence-coordinates.rcsb.org/graphql
    tags:
      - Sequence Alignment
      - UniProt
      - GraphQL
    serviceName: RCSB PDB Sequence Coordinates API
    serviceCategory: Open Scientific Data API
  - name: RCSB PDB Structure Alignment API
    baseURL: https://alignment.rcsb.org
    tags:
      - Structure Alignment
      - Computational
    serviceName: RCSB PDB Structure Alignment API
    serviceCategory: Open Scientific Data API
unitEconomics:
  - name: Cost per 1K API Requests (internal infra)
    metric: internal_infra_cost / (api_requests / 1000)
    target: minimize
  - name: Cost per GB Downloaded
    metric: egress_cost / data_download_gb
    target: minimize
  - name: Structures Cached per GB Storage
    metric: structure_files_cached / storage_gb
    target: maximize
maintainers:
  - FN: Kin Lane
    email: kin@apievangelist.com