The UniProt website API: facilitating programmatic access to protein knowledge

Shadab Ahmad, Leonardo Jose da Costa Gonzales, Emily Bowler-Barnett, Daniel L Rice, Minjoon Kim, Supun Wijerathne, Aurélien Luciani, Swaathi Kandasaamy, Jie Luo, Xavier Watkins,

Nucleic Acids Research · 2025 · 136 citations · 6 references

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Abstract

The UniProt REST API is a freely available, open-access resource that powers the UniProt.org website and gives users flexible programmatic interaction with protein knowledge data. It provides access to UniProtKB, UniRef, UniParc, Proteomes, GeneCentric, ARBA, UniRule, and the ID Mapping tool, along with supporting data and controlled vocabularies. Users can access the API with their favorite programming language and generate example code snippets to access the UniProt databases using the API documentation page (https://www.uniprot.org/api-documentation) in various languages. API results can be returned and downloaded in various formats. With an average of 303 million requests per month over the last year, the API enables structured search queries using logical operators and parentheses, allows users to specify fields of interest within results, and customize downloads for direct integration into workflows. The API is a powerful tool that empowers users to fully utilize UniProt data across multiple datasets, enabling download, analysis, and extraction of valuable research insights. This website is free and open to all users, and there is no login requirement.

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