REST API

The PDG REST API supports the downloading of PDG data in JSON format. pdgLive uses this API to implement the JSON buttons. The REST API may also be used by user programs for incidental downloading of PDG data.

Terms of use

The PDG REST API is intended for incidental access. Please do not use it if you wish to download a fair fraction or all of the PDG data - Python API and database files are provided for use cases where this is desired.

To avoid overwhelming the PDG server, access is strictly rate-limited. Please limit your access to the REST API to less than 2 requests per second. IP addresses that substantially exceed this limit will be blocked for 5 minutes at a time from accessing all PDG services. Repeat offenders may be permanently blocked.

Data versions

The data provided by the REST API comes from the latest version of the Review of Particle Physics as presented on the PDG website and in pdgLive. The Review of Particle Physics is updated yearly. Whenever a new version becomes available, the data provided by the API is also updated. Between these updates, minor updates may be made to address mistakes (see list of errata on the PDG website). These updates are propagated to the REST API as soon as possible after they become available on pdgLive. The data_release_timestamp gives the date and time when the last update was made (see description of /info below).

For summary values only, the PDG Identifier can be used to request data from a previous edition.

Access

The PDG REST API uses URLs of the form

https://pdgapi.lbl.gov/PATH

where PATH is one of the paths given in the table below, and PDGID is the PDG Identifier of the desired quantity.

Path	Example	Description
/info	https://pdgapi.lbl.gov/info	Get metadata (edition, citation, version, license)
/summaries/PDGID	https://pdgapi.lbl.gov/summaries/S126M	Get summary data for PDG Identifiers
/summaries/PDGID/EDITION	https://pdgapi.lbl.gov/summaries/S126M/2020	Get summary data from an earlier edition
/doc	https://pdgapi.lbl.gov/doc	This documentation (regular web page, not JSON)

Except for the documentation pages under /doc, all paths return JSON documents.

Contents of JSON documents

Preamble

All JSON documents start with the following general information about the request:

Key	Data type	Description
status_code	Number	HTTP response code
status_message	String	Explanation of status (e.g. “OK” for successful request)
request_timestamp	String	Time stamp of when the request was received
request_url	String	URL for the request
edition	String	Edition of the Review of Particle Physics being used
about	String	A help message providing the link to this documentation

Data returned by /info

The /info path provides general information about the data being returned by the other paths:

Key	Data type	Description
data_release_timestamp	String	Time stamp of when the data provided by the API was released
citation	String	Citation for the Review of Particle Physics from which the data comes
license	String	License for using the data returned by the API

Data returned by /summaries

The /summaries path returns the data published for a given quantity in the Summary Tables of the Review of Particle Physics. The following information is returned when the PDG Identifier denotes a single particle property or branching fraction:

Key	Data type	Description
pdgid	String	PDG Identifier/particle property for which data is returned
description	String	Plain-ASCII description of the quantity the PDG Identifier refers to
mode_number	String	Only for branching fractions: number of this decay in current edition (*)
section	String	Only for branching fractions: section, if any, where mode appears (e.g. “Inclusive decays”)
pdg_values	Array	Array of JSON objects, each describing a summary value (see below)

(*) Please note that the mode_number of a decay may change from one edition of the Review of Particle Physics to the next one.

Each JSON object describing a summary value may contain the following data (keys whose value is not meaningful for the present summary value are omitted):

Key	Data type	Description
value	Number	Central value or limit
error_positive	Number	Positive error or null
error_negative	Number	Negative error or null
value_text	String	Plain-text representation of the value with errors or limit
unit	String	Units
scale_factor	Number	Error scale factor when applied to errors
is_limit	Boolean	true if value is a limit, omitted otherwise
is_upper_limit	Boolean	true if value is an upper limit, omitted otherwise
is_lower_limit	Boolen	true if value is a lower limit, omitted otherwse
confidence_level	Number	Confidence level for limits or null
type	String	Type of data (“OUR FIT” etc)

In case the PDG Identifier denotes a particle, the following is returned:

Key	Data type	Description
pdgid	String	PDG Identifier of particle for which data is returned
description	String	Plain-ASCII description of the particle the PDG Identifier refers to
summaries	Array	A JSON objects with keys “properties” and/or “branching_fractions”, each containing a list of JSON objects for the PDG Identfier(s) describing particle properties or branching fractions for this particle. These JSON objects are the same as what would be returned when querying for a single property or branching fraction, as documented above.

Error handling

If the request fails, an appropriate HTTP status code is returned, together with a JSON document providing details on the error and the failed request . The following status codes may be generated:

HTTP status code	Error description
400	Invalid path
404	No such PDG Identifier
500	Internal error (this is a bug - please report)

License

The data downloaded via the PDG REST API is subject to the license used by the corresponding edition of the Review of Particle Physics. Starting with the 2024 edition, the Review of Particle Physics is published under a CC BY 4.0 license.