Authentication

To use the OpenSanctions API, you need an API key to identify yourself. Please visit the API product page or contact us to learn more.

We issue free API keys for public-interest work: journalism, civil-society advocacy, and academic research.

Once you have obtained an API key, you must include it with each request sent to the service. The key must be provided in the Authorization HTTP header:

Authorization: ApiKey xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Python example #

Here's a code snippet that demonstrates how you can include the API key in each request when using the Python requests library:

export OPENSANCTIONS_API_KEY="xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx" # replace with your own
python ↓

import os
import requests

API_URL = "https://api.opensanctions.org"
# Read an environment variable to get the API key:
API_KEY = os.environ.get("OPENSANCTIONS_API_KEY")

session = requests.Session()
session.headers['Authorization'] = f"ApiKey {API_KEY}"

# Run a match query:
query = {"schema": "Person", "properties": {"name": ["Vladimir Putin"]}}
request = {"queries": {"query": query}}
response = session.post(f"{API_URL}/match/default", json=request)
response.raise_for_status()
results = response.json().get("responses").get("query").get("results")

# Fetch an entity:
response = session.get(f"{API_URL}/entities/Q7747")
response.raise_for_status()
entity_data = response.json()