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iNaturalist

iNaturalist Observations API

CRUD, search, faving, quality metrics, stats, and more

Documentation Provider Profile APIs.io OpenAPI GitHub

iNaturalist Observations API is one of 21 APIs that iNaturalist publishes on the APIs.io network, described by a machine-readable OpenAPI specification.

Tagged areas include Observations. The published artifact set on APIs.io includes an OpenAPI specification, API documentation, and rate-limit docs.

This API exposes 24 operations across 19 paths, and defines 40 schemas. It is described by OpenAPI 3.2.0, at version 1.3.0.

Requests are made against a single base URL, /v1.

24 operations 19 paths 40 schemas 5 DELETE11 GET6 POST2 PUT

Metadata

The identity and technical contract details declared by the specification.

Specification
OpenAPI 3.2.0
API Version
1.3.0
Base URL
https://api.inaturalist.org/v1
Authentication
API Key
Resource Areas
1

Authentication & Security 1

iNaturalist Observations API declares 1 security scheme for authenticating requests. An API key is passed in the header as Authorization (api_token).

Paths & Operations 24

Across 19 paths, the API surfaces 24 operations — 5 DELETE, 11 GET, 6 POST, 2 PUT. Each is listed below with its method, path, parameters, and response codes.

Observations 24

CRUD, search, faving, quality metrics, stats, and more

GET
/observations/{id}
Observation Details
1 param → 200default
PUT
/observations/{id}
Observation Update
1 param body → 200
DELETE
/observations/{id}
Observation Delete
1 param → 200
POST
/observations/{id}/fave
Observations Fave
1 param → 200
DELETE
/observations/{id}/unfave
Observations Unfave
1 param → 200
POST
/observations/{id}/review
Observations Review
1 param → 200
DELETE
/observations/{id}/review
Observations Unreview
1 param → 200
GET
/observations/{id}/subscriptions
Observation Subscriptions
1 param → 200
POST
/observations/{id}/quality/{metric}
Quality Metric Set
2 params body → 200
DELETE
/observations/{id}/quality/{metric}
Quality Metric Delete
2 params → 200
GET
/observations/{id}/taxon_summary
Observation Taxon Summary
1 param → 200
POST
/subscriptions/observation/{id}/subscribe
Observation Subscribe
1 param → 200
POST
/votes/vote/observation/{id}
Observation Vote
1 param body → 200
DELETE
/votes/unvote/observation/{id}
Observation Unvote
1 param body → 200
GET
/observations
Observation Search
105 params → 200default
POST
/observations
Observation Create
body → 200
GET
/observations/deleted
Observations Deleted
1 param → 200
GET
/observations/histogram
Observation Histogram
102 params → 200default
GET
/observations/identifiers
Observation Identifiers
100 params → 200default
GET
/observations/observers
Observation Observers
100 params → 200default
GET
/observations/popular_field_values
Observation Popular Field Values
100 params → 200
GET
/observations/species_counts
Observation Species Counts
103 params → 200default
GET
/observations/updates
Observation User Updates
5 params → 200
PUT
/observations/{id}/viewed_updates
Observation Field Value Update
1 param → 200

Schemas 40

The contract defines 40 schemas that model the data the API accepts and returns. The most detailed are Observation (74 properties), Identification (21 properties), User (15 properties), Comment (9 properties). Each schema is shown below with its type and property counts.

Error
object
2 properties
ShowTaxon
Sound
object
8 properties
Identification
object
21 properties
ObservationPhoto
object
4 properties
TaxonPhoto
QualityMetric
object
4 properties
BaseResponse
object
3 properties
Outlink
object
3 properties
FieldValue
object
2 properties
ConservationStatus
object
3 properties
DateDetails
object
6 properties
Observation
object
74 properties
CorePlace
object
3 properties
Vote
object
5 properties
PostObservationVote
object
2 properties
ObservationTaxon
RawConservationStatus
object
6 properties
Fave
object
4 properties
Photo
object
4 properties
Annotation
object
8 properties
ModeratorAction
object
6 properties
NonOwnerIdentification
object
5 properties
TaxonConservationStatus
PointGeoJson
object
2 properties
User
object
15 properties
SpeciesCountsResponse
PostObservation
object
1 property
ProjectObservation
object
6 properties
ObservationsResponse
Color
object
2 properties
PostQuality
object
1 property
CoreTaxon
object
8 properties
UserCountsResponse
ObservationsShowResponse
ObservationsObserversResponse
EstablishmentMeans
object
2 properties
Flag
object
6 properties
ShowObservation
Comment
object
9 properties

Specification

The full machine-readable OpenAPI contract behind this narrative.

Source

inaturalist-observations-api-openapi.yml Raw ↑

Other APIs iNaturalist publishes across the network.

iNaturalist API v2
AE Profile APIs.io
iNaturalist Annotations API
AE Profile APIs.io
iNaturalist Comments API
AE Profile APIs.io
iNaturalist Controlled Terms API
AE Profile APIs.io
iNaturalist Flags API
AE Profile APIs.io
iNaturalist Identifications API
AE Profile APIs.io
iNaturalist Messages API
AE Profile APIs.io
iNaturalist Observation Field Values API
AE Profile APIs.io
iNaturalist Observation Photos API
AE Profile APIs.io
iNaturalist Observation Tiles API
AE Profile APIs.io
iNaturalist Photos API
AE Profile APIs.io
iNaturalist Places API
AE Profile APIs.io
#Observations
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API Details
ID
inaturalist:inaturalist-observations-api
Base URL
https://api.inaturalist.org/v1
Docs
https://www.inaturalist.org/pages/api+reference
Provider
iNaturalist
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