data.gov.uk CKAN API
68
AI ReadinessAI-Aware (B+)68/100
Official vendor OpenAPI document · agent-readyAnalyticsData Pipelinesnone5 EndpointsREST
For Agents
Search UK government open datasets, retrieve dataset details and resource download links, and list the organisations that publish them. Returns JSON records from the data.gov.uk portal with no API key required.
Use for: Find all UK government datasets about air quality, Get the metadata and download links for a specific dataset, Search for open datasets published by a particular department, List every dataset available on data.gov.uk
Not supported: Does not handle data transformation, visualisation, or writing records back to the portal. Use for searching and retrieving UK government open dataset and publisher metadata only.
The data.gov.uk CKAN API searches and retrieves metadata for UK government open datasets published through the national data portal. It returns dataset records (called packages) with their titles, descriptions, tags, and downloadable resource links, and it lists the organisations that publish them. Every response is a JSON envelope carrying a success flag and a result payload, and the read-only endpoints need no API key. It exposes a public subset of the CKAN action API covering dataset and organisation list, show, and search operations.
Install Jentic One Beta
Connect the data.gov.uk CKAN API to your agent
Jentic One is a self-hosted execution layer for AI agents. It lets your agent call the data.gov.uk CKAN 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.
1
Step 1: Jentic One Host machine
# On the machine that will host your Jentic One instance:
curl -fsSL "https://jentic.com/install.sh?src=apis&api=%2Fapis%2Fdata.gov.uk%2Fdata-gov-uk" | sh2
Step 2: Agent machine
# On the machine where your agent runs (keep this separate from the instance):
curl -fsSL "https://jentic.com/install.sh?src=apis&api=%2Fapis%2Fdata.gov.uk%2Fdata-gov-uk" | sh
jentic register # connects your agent to your Jentic One instanceJentic 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 data.gov.uk CKAN API.
Search UK government datasets by keyword and return matching package records
Retrieve the full metadata for a dataset, including its resources and download URLs
List every dataset name available on the data.gov.uk portal
List the government organisations that publish open data
Look up a single publishing organisation and the datasets it maintains
Use Cases
Patterns agents use data.gov.uk CKAN API for, with concrete tasks.
★ Agent-Driven Open Data Discovery
An AI agent connected through Jentic searches the data.gov.uk portal for UK government datasets matching a user's question, reads each dataset's metadata and resource links, and hands back the most relevant sources. Because the endpoints are read-only and need no API key, the agent can browse datasets and publishing organisations without any credential setup.
Search data.gov.uk for datasets matching 'renewable energy generation' and return the top five with their titles and resource download URLs
Dataset Research and Sourcing
Analysts and applications use the data.gov.uk CKAN API to locate authoritative UK government datasets on a topic, then pull each dataset's description, tags, and resource files for download. The dataset search endpoint accepts free-text queries and returns structured records so a tool can rank and filter results before fetching the underlying files.
Retrieve the details for the dataset named 'road-safety-data' and extract every resource download URL it lists
Publisher and Organisation Lookup
Applications that need to know which UK public bodies publish open data query the organisation endpoints to list every publisher and inspect an individual organisation's profile and datasets. This supports building directories of data sources or attributing a dataset to the department that maintains it.
List all organisations on data.gov.uk and then fetch the profile for the organisation named 'environment-agency'
Key Endpoints
5 endpoints — the data.
METHOD
PATH
DESCRIPTION
GET
/package_search
Search datasets by keyword
GET
/package_show
Get the details of a dataset
GET
/package_list
List all dataset names
GET
/organization_list
List all organisations
GET
/organization_show
Get the details of an organisation
GET
/package_search
Search datasets by keyword
GET
/package_show
Get the details of a dataset
GET
/package_list
List all dataset names
GET
/organization_list
List all organisations
GET
/organization_show
Get the details of an organisation
Jentic AI Readiness Score
This API is usable in Jentic One now. Its AI-readiness score against Jentic's framework shows where it stands today and where improvements would make it even easier for agents to use.
D
data.gov.uk CKAN API
- AI-Aware (B+)68/100
90
Foundational Compliance63
Developer Experience & Jentic Compatibility45
AI-Readiness & Agent Experience94
Agent Usability100
Security73
AI DiscoverabilityPowered by JenticScoring Framework 1.0.0 | Scoring Engine 0.4.2
Show dimension breakdown
90
Foundational Compliance
Base layer of spec validity and structural soundness.
Grade: ASignals: 4
99%
Lint Results
Aggregated quality score from linter diagnostics, weighted by severity.
100%
Resolution Completeness
Percentage of `$ref` references that resolve successfully.
100%
Specification Validity
Checks whether the API description parses successfully and conforms to its declared specification (e.g., OpenAPI).
60%
Structural Integrity
Structural correctness score based on schema issues using logarithmic dampening.
63
Developer Experience & Jentic Compatibility
Clarity, completeness, and ingestion readiness for developers and tooling.
Grade: B-Signals: 4
0%
Example Density
How richly the API is illustrated with examples.
100%
Example Validity
Percentage of examples that conform to their schemas.
50%
Response Coverage
Percentage of operations with complete response definitions (success, client error, server error).
100%
Tooling Readiness
Health of API ingestion, bundling, and resolution within Jentic pipelines.
45
AI-Readiness & Agent Experience
Semantic breadth, depth, and agent comprehension for AI systems.
Grade: DSignals: 4
29%
Description Coverage
Coverage of descriptions across API elements.
0%
Error Standardization
Coverage of RFC 9457 Problem Details for error responses.
100%
OperationId Quality
Coverage, uniqueness, and casing consistency of operationIds for AI inference.
50%
Summary Coverage
Coverage of summaries across operations/tags/info.
94
Agent Usability
Functional utility, complexity comfort, and AI orchestration readiness.
Grade: A+Signals: 1
94%
Complexity Comfort
Agent comfort level based on API operational and structural complexity.
100
Security
Trust, risk posture, and security compliance.
Grade: A+Signals: 1
100%
Authentication Strength
Average quality of security schemes based on authentication method strength (weakest link for OAuth2).
73
AI Discoverability
Findability, semantic richness, and reasoning readiness.
Grade: A-Signals: 1
72%
Descriptive Richness
Clarity and depth of descriptions across API elements.
Score it yourself
Every API in the directory is allowlisted, so you can re-score it with no key required.
npx @jentic/api-scorecard-cli score <openapi-url>Why Jentic?
What agents get from Jentic-routed access to this vendor.
Setup
Wiring the data.gov.uk CKAN API by hand means reading the CKAN action conventions, handling the JSON envelope, and parsing the success and result fields yourself. Through Jentic you install once, import the API from the Directory, and your agent calls it. There is no API key to obtain or configure, because the endpoints are public.
Permission scoping
Every data.gov.uk operation is a read-only request, and Jentic lets you choose which ones your agent may call, so you can allow dataset search and dataset detail reads while leaving out anything else. The API exposes no write or delete operations, so the agent cannot modify the portal.
Credential isolation
The data.gov.uk CKAN API needs no API key or token, so there is nothing sensitive to keep. Jentic calls its public endpoints directly on your behalf.
Intent-based discovery
Agents search Jentic by intent such as 'find open datasets about transport' or 'list data publishers', and Jentic returns the matching data.gov.uk operation with its input schema so the agent calls the right endpoint without reading the portal's documentation.
Related APIs
Alternatives and complements available in the Jentic catalogue.
FAQs
Specific to using data.gov.uk CKAN API through Jentic.
What authentication does the data.gov.uk CKAN API use?
The data.gov.uk CKAN API is a public, read-only API that requires no API key or token per its OpenAPI spec. You call its action endpoints directly and receive a JSON envelope with a success flag and a result payload. Because there is nothing to authenticate, connecting it through Jentic is simply importing the API and letting your agent call it.
Is there a data.gov.uk MCP server?
You don't need an MCP server to give your agent the data.gov.uk CKAN API. Jentic connects it directly from the API Directory: import it and your agent can search datasets and list organisations straight away, with no extra server to run and no tool definitions to load into the agent's context.
Can I limit what my agent is allowed to do with the data.gov.uk CKAN API?
Yes. Every operation on this API is read-only, and through Jentic you pick which of them your agent may call, such as searching datasets and reading dataset details, so it can discover and fetch open data and nothing more. There are no write, update, or delete operations to expose, and every call your agent makes is logged.
Can I download the actual dataset files with the data.gov.uk CKAN API?
The API returns each dataset's resource records, which include the direct download URLs for the underlying files such as CSV or JSON that the publisher uploaded. You read the dataset detail response to get those URLs, then fetch the files from the resource links themselves. The action endpoints serve metadata and search, not the file bytes.
What are the rate limits for the data.gov.uk CKAN API?
The data.gov.uk documentation states that no API key is required and there are no published rate limits on the action API. For the authoritative and current guidance, see the official documentation at https://guidance.data.gov.uk/get_data/api_documentation/.
How do I search data.gov.uk datasets through Jentic?
Import the data.gov.uk CKAN API from the Jentic API Directory, then have your agent issue a search such as 'find UK government datasets about flooding'. Jentic matches the intent to the dataset search operation and returns its input schema so the agent builds the correct request, and because the API is public there is nothing to authenticate. To run it on your own infrastructure, install Jentic One from its GitHub repo.
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