---
layout: post
title: Examples Of The OpenAPI Specification Used For Government APIs
date: 2017-06-07T09:00:00.000Z
tags:
  - Federal Government
  - API Evangelist
  - Definitions
  - OpenAPI
image: >-
  https://s3.amazonaws.com/kinlane-productions2/cms/cms-quality-payment-program.png
author:
  name: kinlane
---
<p><a href="https://qpp.cms.gov/api/"><img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/kinlane-productions2/cms/cms-quality-payment-program.png" align="right" width="40%" style="padding: 15px;" /></a></p>I was answering some questions for [my partners over at DreamFactory](http://apis.how/bgdteovduo) when it comes to APIs in government, and one of the questions they asked was about some examples of the [OpenAPI specification](https://github.com/OAI/OpenAPI-Specification) being used in government. To help out, I started going through  my list of government API looking for any examples in the wild--here is what I found:

* [Federal Election Commission](https://api.open.fec.gov/developers/) (FEC) ([OpenAPI](https://api.open.fec.gov/swagger/))

* [System for Award Management](http://gsa.github.io/sam_api/sam/console/) ([SAM](http://gsa.github.io/sam_api/static/api_docs/api_docs.json)) (OpenAPI)

* [US Digital Registry](https://usdigitalregistry.digitalgov.gov/) ([OpenAPI](https://api.gsa.gov/systems/digital-registry/v1/swagger_docs/api-docs.json))

* [18F Open Source Micro Purchasing API](https://micropurchase.18f.gov/api) ([OpenAPI](https://micropurchase.18f.gov/api/v0/swagger.json))

* [NASA](https://api.nasa.gov/api.html#NeoWS) (Couldn't find OpenAPI in less than 30 seconds)

* [Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) API for Quality Payment Program Measures](https://qpp.cms.gov/api/) ([OpenAPI](https://qpp.cms.gov/api/api-docs.json))

* [National Renewal Energy Labratory Transportation Laws and Incentives API](https://developer.nrel.gov/docs/transportation/transportation-incentives-laws-v1/) ([OpenAPI](https://developer.nrel.gov/docs/transportation/transportation-incentives-laws-v1/api-docs.json))

I am sure there are more OpenAPI in use across government, but this is what I could find in a five-minute search of my API database. It provides us with seven quality examples of OpenAPI being used for documenting government APIs. I don't see the OpenAPI used for much beyond documentation, but it is still a good start.

If you know of any government APIs that use OpenAPI feel free to let me know. I'd love to keep adding examples to my research so I can pull up quickly when I am asked questions like this in the future, and be able to highlight best practices for API operations in city, county, state, and federal levels of government.