Creative Commons (CC) will terminate the api.creativecommons.org service on 2026

Nov 02. Please note, however, that hosting or software failure may render the

service unavailable before that date.

Removal Rationale

The API depends on the legacy ccEngine, which was replaced by the current CC

Legal Tools on 2023-09-27. It is no longer maintainable.

The infrastructure hosting the API is no longer supported.

The data provided changes infrequently enough that an API is a suboptimal

solution.

Next Steps

Evaluate existing flat files to replace API:

creativecommons.org/rdf/index.rdf

This ccREL file has existed for a long time, but has never been very

visible. Its accuracy was significantly improved with the new CC Legal

Tools App static site generation starting in 2023 September.

creativecommons/cc-legal-tools-data: config/cc-legal-tools.csv

This file is new this year. Its generation in the CC Legal Tools App can

be modified or a new file can be generated if additional data is needed, a

different file format is needed, etc.

If you are using DSpace, see: Replace api.creativecommons.org

DSpace/DSpace#11808.

Please use the following form to share concerns or request ongoing

communication: Sunsetting api.creativecommons.org feedback.

Related blog posts

2024-05-28: New CreativeCommons.org launched 2023 September

2011-08-31: Summary of current licensing tools

2011-01-13: CC REST API Updated for Public Domain Mark

2009-04-02: Enumeration descriptions in CC Web Services

2008-07-24: cc.license in alpha