Catalog Archives Gov NextGen Catalog API

Name: NextGen Catalog API
Brand: NextGen Catalog API
Availability: InStock

★ Only Publicly Available OpenAPI DocumentProductivityNote TakingapiKey14 EndpointsREST

For Agents

Search the U.S. National Archives Catalog for historical records and submit citizen contributions such as tags, comments, and transcriptions against records.

Install Jentic One Beta

Connect the NextGen Catalog API to your agent

Jentic One is a self-hosted execution layer for AI agents. It lets your agent call the NextGen Catalog API, or any other public or private API you need. You set the rules, the agent never sees your credentials, and every call is logged.

Two steps, two machines. Install the instance in a safe environment, then register your agent from wherever it runs.

Step 1: Jentic One Host machine

# On the machine that will host your Jentic One instance:
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jentic/jentic-one/main/tools/install.sh | sh

Step 2: Agent machine

# On the machine where your agent runs (keep this separate from the instance):
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jentic/jentic-one/main/tools/install.sh | sh
jentic register       # connects your agent to your Jentic One instance

Jentic One is in public beta. The setup above keeps your agent separate from the instance, which is what you want before using real credentials: an agent running as the same OS user as Jentic One can read its stored keys directly. Just evaluating? A single local install is fine to start. See the secure deployment guide for the tiers.

Capabilities

What an agent can do with NextGen Catalog API.

Search the National Archives Catalog by keyword and metadata filters

Walk the catalog hierarchy by retrieving the immediate children of a parent NaId

Search records by tag or by the contribution metadata around them

GET STARTED

Start building with NextGen Catalog API

Explore with Jentic

View OpenAPI Document

Jentic publishes the only available OpenAPI specification for the NextGen Catalog API, keeping it validated and agent-ready. The NextGen Catalog API is the U.S. National Archives (NARA) Catalog interface for searching records, parent-child record hierarchies, and citizen contributions such as tags, comments, and transcriptions. Read endpoints expose the catalog's metadata, while authenticated write endpoints accept new tags, comments, and transcriptions tied to a UUID userId. Researchers, civic-tech tools, and digital humanities projects use it to embed primary source material from the National Archives directly into their applications.

Use Cases

Patterns agents use NextGen Catalog API for, with concrete tasks.

★ Digital humanities research portal

Academic and library projects can use GET /records/search and GET /records/parentNaId/{parentNaId} to embed live National Archives metadata in their research portals, walking record hierarchies and surfacing extracted text alongside the user's own annotations. This lets a niche audience search NARA without scraping the public website.

GET /records/search with q='Apollo 11' and pageSize=25, then return the title and naId of each result.

Citizen transcription workflows

Crowdsourced transcription platforms can submit user-contributed text via POST /transcriptions/ and tags via POST /tags/, attached to a UUID userId in the body. This makes it possible to build a transcription UI on top of NARA records that writes back to the canonical catalog.

POST /transcriptions/ with naId of the target record, the transcribed text, and the contributor's userId UUID.

Tag-driven record discovery

Educators and journalists can pull records associated with topical tags using GET /records/search/by-tag and present curated collections that update as new contributions land. Combined with GET /tags/search, this turns the National Archives into a tag-faceted research surface for classroom use.

GET /records/search/by-tag with tag='vietnam-war' to retrieve the matching records for a classroom resource page.

AI agent archival research via Jentic

An AI research assistant can call the National Archives Catalog to retrieve primary sources and submit transcriptions as a citizen contributor through Jentic. The x-api-key issued by NARA stays in the Jentic vault and is injected at execution time, so the agent never holds the key directly.

Search Jentic for 'search the National Archives Catalog', load GET /records/search, and execute it with the user's research query.

Key Endpoints

14 endpoints — jentic publishes the only available openapi specification for the nextgen catalog api, keeping it validated and agent-ready.

METHOD

PATH

DESCRIPTION

GET

/records/search

Keyword search across catalog records

GET

/records/parentNaId/{parentNaId}

Get child records under a parent NaId

GET

/records/search/by-tag

Search records by applied tag

POST

/tags/

Add a tag to a record

POST

/comments/

Add a comment to a record

POST

/transcriptions/

Submit a transcription against a record

GET

/contributions/search

Search citizen-contribution metadata

GET

/records/search

Keyword search across catalog records

GET

/records/parentNaId/{parentNaId}

Get child records under a parent NaId

GET

/records/search/by-tag

Search records by applied tag

POST

/tags/

Add a tag to a record

POST

/comments/

Add a comment to a record

Why Jentic?

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

Credential isolation

The NARA x-api-key is stored encrypted in the Jentic vault (MAXsystem). Agents receive scoped access at execution time, so the raw key never enters prompts or response logs.

Intent-based discovery

Agents search by intent (e.g., 'search the National Archives Catalog' or 'submit a transcription') and Jentic returns the matching operation along with its parameter and body schema, including the required userId UUID for write calls.

Time to first call

Direct NARA Catalog integration including key request, header handling, and contribution write rules: 1-2 days. Through Jentic: under 1 hour — search, load, execute.

FAQs

Specific to using NextGen Catalog API through Jentic.

Why is there no official OpenAPI spec for the NextGen Catalog API?

The U.S. National Archives publishes a Swagger description but no curated, validated OpenAPI 3 specification. Jentic generates and maintains this spec so that AI agents and developers can call the NextGen Catalog 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 NextGen Catalog API use?

The NextGen Catalog API uses an API key passed in the x-api-key header. You request a key by emailing Catalog_API@nara.gov. For write operations to /tags/, /comments/, and /transcriptions/, you must also include a registered UUID userId in the request body. Through Jentic, the x-api-key is held in the MAXsystem vault.

Can I post tags, comments, or transcriptions through this API?

Yes. POST /tags/, POST /comments/, and POST /transcriptions/ accept user contributions, but each requires a valid UUID userId in the request body that has been registered with NARA. Read endpoints do not require this userId.

What are the rate limits for the NextGen Catalog API?

NARA does not publish explicit numeric rate limits for the NextGen Catalog API in this OpenAPI spec. Be conservative with paginated /records/search calls and contact Catalog_API@nara.gov if you need elevated quota for a research project.

How do I search the National Archives Catalog through Jentic?

Run pip install jentic, search Jentic with the query 'search the National Archives Catalog', load the GET /records/search schema, and execute it with q and any pagination parameters. Jentic injects the x-api-key from the vault at execution time.

Is the NextGen Catalog API free to use?

Yes. The National Archives provides the catalog API at no charge for civic and research use; you only need to email Catalog_API@nara.gov to request an API key.

Catalog Archives Gov NextGen Catalog API

Connect the NextGen Catalog API to your agent

Capabilities

Start building with NextGen Catalog API

Use Cases

Key Endpoints

Why Jentic?

Related APIs

FAQs