Explore the JWQL API



What is the JWQL API?


An Application Programming Interface (API) accepts requests for services from a system, gathers the items in the request, and returns a response to the user. A popular example used to describe the functionality of an API is describing the role of a waiter in a restaurant. When you enter a restaurant and sit at your table, you are typically provided a menu containing all of the drink and food options. But how do you communicate your food and drink order to the kitchen staff? This is where the waiter (API) comes in, you provide the waiter with your order (request), they will communicate your order to the kitchen staff (system), and bring your food and drinks when they are prepared (the response). The waiter (API) disguises all of the steps that are necessary to getting your final product delivered (cooking the food, counting stock, knowing recipes, etc.) but, is the link to the user and the response they wish to obtain from a system.

JWQL allows users to access some JWST proposal and filename information through our web-based API. Note that JWQL does not have a programmatic API due to security concerns and the authorization layer between the app and the outside world. The services listed below will return lists of proposal numbers or filenames in json format when the appropriate URL is entered into the browser.


List of Available Services


where <instrument>, <rootname>, <proposal> are the values for the instrument name, rootname and proposal ID respectively.