Quickstart

There are just three steps to your first response from the Flora Codex API.

1. Get an API key

Sign in to, or create a Flora Codex account by visiting floracodex.com. Once you're in the developer console, the API key will be displayed along with some example requests.

The key identifies your project, which is what the API meters and rate-limits against. Keep it server-side: a key shipped in a browser or mobile app can be read straight out of the client, so it belongs on a server you control.

2. Make a request

Send the key in the Authorization header with the ApiKey scheme, against the current base URL (https://api.floracodex.com/v2):

curl https://api.floracodex.com/v2/species -H "Authorization: ApiKey YOUR_KEY"

const res = await fetch("https://api.floracodex.com/v2/species", {
  headers: { Authorization: "ApiKey YOUR_KEY" },
});
const data = await res.json();

import requests

res = requests.get(
    "https://api.floracodex.com/v2/species",
    headers={"Authorization": "ApiKey YOUR_KEY"},
)
data = res.json()

If that comes back 401, the usual cause is the scheme: it is ApiKey, not Bearer, and the key goes in the Authorization header, not a query parameter.

3. Read the response

Results come back in a consistent envelope: a data array (or a single object for a detail request), links for paging, and a meta block with the totals.

{
  "data": [ "...matching species..." ],
  "links": { "self": "/v2/species?page=1", "next": "/v2/species?page=2" },
  "meta": { "total": 481, "per_page": 20, "current_page": 1, "last_page": 25 }
}

From here, Making requests covers base URLs, headers, and the envelope in full; Authentication covers keys and OAuth tokens; and the API reference lists every endpoint.