DLx

✓ Official Vendor SpecEducationLmsapiKey18 EndpointsREST

For Agents

Manage language and lexeme records for linguistic field-work projects through the DLx REST API.

Quickstart

Get started with DLx 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:
"list lexemes for a language in dlx"

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

Capabilities

What an agent can do with DLx API.

Catalogue languages with metadata such as ISO codes, family, and location

Store and retrieve lexeme entries linked to a language record

Look up entries by language and lexeme identifier

Update lexeme glosses, transcriptions, and morphological data

Browse the corpus of languages registered in the DLx system

GET STARTED

Start building with DLx API

Explore with Jentic

View OpenAPI Document

Use Cases

Patterns agents use DLx API for, with concrete tasks.

★ Field Linguistics Data Capture

Capture and store lexeme entries collected during language documentation field work. The /languages and /lexemes endpoints let researchers register a language and post lexeme records with transcription, gloss, and morphological metadata, building a structured corpus that other DLx-compatible tools can read. This replaces ad-hoc spreadsheets used by many documentation projects.

Register language with ISO code yuk, then post lexeme records for each entry collected in today's session with transcription and gloss

Cross-Tool Lexicon Sync

Synchronise a lexicon between desktop linguistic tools (FieldWorks, Toolbox) and the DLx web platform. The DLx REST API serves as a neutral hand-off point — desktop tools push entries via /lexemes and the web platform reads them back, so collaborators on different tools share one corpus of record.

Read lexemes for language id en-us-app, transform them to FieldWorks XML, and write them out to the desktop tool's project file

Public Language Resource Browser

Build a public browser over DLx-registered languages and their lexemes for educational and reference use. GET /languages lists languages and GET /languages/{languageID}/lexemes returns lexeme records, enabling a static-site generator to produce per-language pages without a live database.

For each registered language, fetch its lexeme list and generate a static HTML page listing transcriptions and glosses for public access

AI Agent Linguistic Research Assistant

An AI assistant supporting linguistic research can query DLx through Jentic to fetch language metadata or lexeme entries on demand. Searching for "list lexemes for a language" returns the matching DLx operation and its schema, so the agent can answer field-data questions without a custom integration.

When the researcher asks "what lexemes have we recorded for Yurok?", call /languages/{languageID}/lexemes with the Yurok language id and summarise the results

Key Endpoints

18 endpoints — the digital linguistics (dlx) rest api stores and serves linguistic field data — languages, lexemes, texts, and metadata — for researchers documenting and analysing the world's languages.

METHOD

PATH

DESCRIPTION

GET

/languages

List registered languages

GET

/languages/{languageID}

Retrieve a language record

GET

/languages/{languageID}/lexemes

List lexemes for a language

GET

/languages/{languageID}/lexemes/{lexemeID}

Retrieve a specific lexeme entry

GET

/lexemes

List or search lexemes globally

GET

/lexemes/{lexemeID}

Retrieve a lexeme by id

GET

/languages

List registered languages

GET

/languages/{languageID}

Retrieve a language record

GET

/languages/{languageID}/lexemes

List lexemes for a language

GET

/languages/{languageID}/lexemes/{lexemeID}

Retrieve a specific lexeme entry

GET

/lexemes

List or search lexemes globally

Why though Jentic?

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

Credential isolation

DLx API keys live encrypted in the Jentic vault. Agents receive a scoped execution token; the raw DLx key never enters the model context.

Intent-based discovery

Agents express research intent ("list lexemes for a language") and Jentic returns the matching DLx operation with its input schema.

Time to first call

Direct DLx integration: half a day for auth and pagination handling. Through Jentic: under 30 minutes.

Related APIs

Alternatives and complements available in the Jentic catalogue.

Complementary

Wikimedia API

Encyclopedic and structured language metadata to enrich DLx language records

Use alongside DLx when an agent needs encyclopedic background or ISO code lookups for a language

Alternative

Collins Dictionary API

General-purpose dictionary lookup rather than field-collected lexeme data

Choose Collins for major published languages; choose DLx for endangered or under-documented languages

Complementary

OpenAI API

Generative AI to draft glosses or analyse lexeme patterns

Use when an agent needs to summarise patterns across DLx lexeme entries

FAQs

Specific to using DLx API through Jentic.

What authentication does the DLx use?

DLx uses an API key passed in the Authorization header. Keys are issued by the DLx project for registered users. Through Jentic the key is held in the encrypted vault and injected at execution time only.

Can I retrieve all lexemes for a single language?

Yes. GET /languages/{languageID}/lexemes returns the lexeme records linked to that language record, paginated when the list is large. Each entry includes transcription, gloss, and morphological fields.

What are the rate limits for the DLx?

DLx is a research project and does not publish a fixed public rate limit. Polite use is expected; bulk imports should be batched and spaced out, and any 429 responses respected with backoff.

How do I list lexemes for a language through Jentic?

Run a Jentic search for "list lexemes for a language". Jentic returns GET /languages/{languageID}/lexemes with its path-parameter schema. Load it, supply the language id, and execute — no need to read the DLx spec.

Does the API support the full set of CRUD operations on lexemes?

The published spec exposes read access on languages and lexemes plus a small number of write paths for registered users. For destructive operations, project policy may require additional authorisation beyond the API key.

How do I install the Jentic SDK to call DLx?

Run pip install jentic, set JENTIC_AGENT_API_KEY to your ak_* key, then use Jentic with SearchRequest, LoadRequest, and ExecutionRequest. Sign up at https://app.jentic.com/sign-up.