Auckland Museum API

Name: Auckland Museum API API
Brand: Auckland Museum API
Availability: InStock

★ Only Publicly Available OpenAPI DocumentMediaContent Deliverynone6 EndpointsREST

For Agents

Search Auckland Museum's Collections Online and Cenotaph records, fetch detailed subject nodes, and retrieve associated media via REST or SPARQL.

Quickstart

Get started with Auckland Museum API in minutes using your preferred integration method.

# Add to your MCP client config (Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf)
{
  "jentic": {
    "url": "https://api.jentic.com/mcp",
    "auth": "oauth"
  }
}

# Then ask your agent:
"search Auckland Museum collections"

# → Jentic returns the GET /events tool with parameter schema, agent executes.

Capabilities

What an agent can do with Auckland Museum API API.

Run a keyword search across collections via GET /search/{index}/{operation}

Submit complex queries with POST /search/{index}/{operation} for filtered, facet-driven retrieval

Fetch a full subject record by identifier via GET /id/{identifier}

Retrieve images and other media tied to a record through GET /id/media/{path}

GET STARTED

Start building with Auckland Museum API API

Explore with Jentic

View OpenAPI Document

Use for: Search Auckland Museum collections for a keyword like 'taonga', Find every Cenotaph record for a New Zealand soldier by surname, Retrieve the full record for a specific collection object, Get the high-resolution image associated with a museum record

Not supported: Does not handle ticket sales, event bookings, or membership management — use for Auckland Museum collections, Cenotaph records, media, and linked-data queries only.

Jentic publishes the only available OpenAPI document for Auckland Museum API, keeping it validated and agent-ready.

Jentic publishes the only available OpenAPI specification for Auckland Museum API, keeping it validated and agent-ready. The Auckland Museum API exposes the museum's Collections Online and Cenotaph databases, including the Pacific and New Zealand collections, library and archive material, and a record of every New Zealand service person held in the Cenotaph database. Data is queryable through simple keyword search, complex Elasticsearch-style queries, a SPARQL endpoint over the linked-data graph, and direct media retrieval. The API is a public research resource designed for cultural-heritage projects, education, and applications that surface Aotearoa New Zealand's collections.

Use Cases

Patterns agents use Auckland Museum API API for, with concrete tasks.

★ Education and research portals

Universities, schools, and heritage projects build research portals over Auckland Museum's collections without re-hosting the data. GET /search runs keyword retrieval across collections and Cenotaph indexes, GET /id/{identifier} pulls the full record, and GET /id/media/{path} returns the associated image or document. The combination is enough to build a class-facing or public-facing collection browser tied directly to live museum data.

Search the collections index for the keyword 'pou' via GET /search/collectionsonline/_search, then for the first three hits call GET /id/{identifier} and return the title, maker, and date for each.

Family-history Cenotaph lookup

The Cenotaph database records New Zealand service people from the South African War onward. Family historians want to look up a relative by name or service number and retrieve the full record with photographs and narratives. POST /search/cenotaph/_search supports the complex query needed to combine surname, service number, and conflict, and GET /id/{identifier} returns the canonical record once a match is found.

POST to /search/cenotaph/_search with a query for surname='Smith' and conflict='World War 1', then return the top five results with their identifier, full name, and service number.

Linked-data integration with cultural-heritage graphs

The /sparql endpoint exposes the museum's collections as RDF, which lets researchers federate queries with other GLAM (galleries, libraries, archives, museums) endpoints such as Europeana or DigitalNZ. A SPARQL agent can union resources across multiple collection graphs and build a single citation list for a research paper, with all subject identifiers traceable back to Auckland Museum URIs.

POST a SPARQL query to /sparql that returns the rdf:label and dcterms:creator for every subject linked to the concept 'waka', limited to 25 results.

AI agent integration via Jentic

An education or heritage agent can use Jentic to call the Auckland Museum API without hardcoding endpoint paths. The agent searches an intent like 'search Auckland Museum collections', Jentic returns the matching operation and its input schema, and the call is executed against api.aucklandmuseum.com. Because the API is open, no credential is required, but Jentic still standardises the call format so the agent can compose this with other museum APIs in the same workflow.

Use Jentic search 'search Auckland Museum collections', load the schema for GET /search/{index}/{operation}, and execute it for index='collectionsonline' with the query 'kowhai'.

Key Endpoints

6 endpoints — jentic publishes the only available openapi specification for auckland museum api, keeping it validated and agent-ready.

METHOD

PATH

DESCRIPTION

GET

/search/{index}/{operation}

Run a simple search across an index

POST

/search/{index}/{operation}

Run a complex query with filters and facets

GET

/id/{identifier}

Retrieve a full subject record by identifier

GET

/id/media/{path}

Retrieve media (images, documents) tied to a record

GET

/sparql

Run a SPARQL query against the linked-data graph

POST

/sparql

Submit a SPARQL query body for complex linked-data retrieval

GET

/search/{index}/{operation}

Run a simple search across an index

POST

/search/{index}/{operation}

Run a complex query with filters and facets

GET

/id/{identifier}

Retrieve a full subject record by identifier

GET

/id/media/{path}

Retrieve media (images, documents) tied to a record

GET

/sparql

Run a SPARQL query against the linked-data graph

Why though Jentic?

Three things that make agents converge on Jentic-routed access.

Credential isolation

The Auckland Museum API is public, so no credential is required. Jentic still routes the call through its execution layer so agents can compose museum lookups with credentialed APIs in the same workflow without changing patterns.

Intent-based discovery

Agents search by intent (e.g., 'search Auckland Museum collections') and Jentic returns the matching operation with its input schema, so the agent picks /search, /id, /id/media, or /sparql without browsing the museum's apidoc.

Time to first call

Direct integration: half a day to learn the index naming and SPARQL conventions. Through Jentic: under 15 minutes from search to first executed call.

Related APIs

Alternatives and complements available in the Jentic catalogue.

Alternative

Harvard Art Museums API

Another open museum collections API with a similar object/media retrieval pattern.

Choose Harvard Art Museums for global art objects; use Auckland Museum when the workflow needs Aotearoa New Zealand or Pacific collections.

Alternative

Art Institute of Chicago API

Open collections API covering the Art Institute of Chicago's holdings.

Choose Art Institute of Chicago for Western art history workflows; use Auckland Museum for Pacific and NZ heritage.

Complementary

Dropbox API

Dropbox stores the high-resolution media downloaded from museum endpoints for downstream use.

Choose Dropbox when the workflow needs to persist museum media into a project workspace, not for retrieving the records themselves.

FAQs

Specific to using Auckland Museum API API through Jentic.

Why is there no official OpenAPI spec for Auckland Museum API?

Auckland Museum publishes API documentation at api.aucklandmuseum.com/apidoc but does not distribute a downloadable OpenAPI file. Jentic generates and maintains this spec so that AI agents and developers can call Auckland Museum API via structured tooling. It is validated against the live API and kept up to date. Get started at https://app.jentic.com/sign-up.

What authentication does the Auckland Museum API use?

The Auckland Museum API is publicly accessible and does not require an API key for the search, id, media, or sparql endpoints in this spec. When called through Jentic the agent still goes through the standard search/load/execute flow so the call shape is consistent with credentialed APIs in the same workflow.

Can I search both Collections Online and Cenotaph through the Auckland Museum API?

Yes. The /search/{index}/{operation} endpoint takes the index name as a path parameter, so you can target collectionsonline for collection objects or cenotaph for service-person records. POST supports a richer query body for filtering and faceting.

What are the rate limits for the Auckland Museum API?

The Auckland Museum API does not publish a documented rate limit in the spec. The service is shared and free, so heavy or scripted use should be paced and ideally cached. SPARQL queries are subject to a server-side query timeout.

How do I retrieve a museum object's image through Jentic?

Run jentic search 'get media for an Auckland Museum record', load the schema for GET /id/media/{path}, and execute it with the path returned in a prior /id/{identifier} response. With pip install jentic an agent can fetch the image binary in one async call.

Is the Auckland Museum API free to use?

Yes. The API is offered as a public research resource. Bulk and commercial use should be discussed with Auckland Museum, but standard search and retrieval calls are free and unauthenticated.