Developer docs & API

SourcingTools.org exposes its directory as a free, read-only JSON API. There are no API keys, no authentication, and no sandbox needed — every endpoint is public. Data is reusable with attribution under our data license.

Quickstart

List all 40 sourcing tools:

curl https://sourcingtools.org/api/v1/tools

Fetch one tool's full record (pros, cons, integrations, pricing):

curl https://sourcingtools.org/api/v1/tools/hireez

Filter the list by category substring:

curl "https://sourcingtools.org/api/v1/tools?category=AI"

Endpoints

• GET /api/v1/tools — summary records for every tool in the directory. Optional ?category= filter.
• GET /api/v1/tools/{slug} — full record for one tool. Unknown slugs return a structured JSON 404 with an error code, message, and resolution hint.

The full machine-readable contract is published as an OpenAPI 3.1 spec at /openapi.json, with typed schemas, operation IDs, and descriptions compatible with LLM function calling.

Errors

All API errors are JSON, never HTML:

{
  "error": {
    "code": "tool_not_found",
    "message": "No sourcing tool with slug \"foo\" exists in the directory.",
    "resolution": "List valid slugs at https://sourcingtools.org/api/v1/tools"
  }
}

For AI agents

• /llms.txt — a curated map of the site's rankings, comparisons, reviews, and data pages.
• Markdown content negotiation: request any page with Accept: text/markdown and you'll receive a markdown representation instead of HTML (responses vary on Accept).
• XML sitemap — every indexable URL.
• Nonexistent paths return a real HTTP 404 with a short markdown body pointing back here.

Rate limits, versioning & deprecation policy

Responses include informational X-RateLimit-Limit, X-RateLimit-Remaining, and X-RateLimit-Reset headers. Be reasonable: the API is served from Cloudflare's edge and cached for one hour, so polling faster than hourly gains nothing. Bulk use is fine with attribution.

Versioning: the API is versioned in the URL path (/api/v1/) and responses carry an X-API-Version header. Breaking changes ship as a new path version (/api/v2/), never in place.

Deprecation policy: when a version is scheduled for removal, its responses will carry Deprecation and Sunset headers (RFC 8594) at least six months before shutdown, and the deprecated version will keep working until the announced sunset date. No endpoint is currently deprecated. Questions or requests for new endpoints: contact us.