Software Heritage API

Overview

Software Heritage is the universal archive of software source code, preserving 18B+ source files from 280M+ software origins (GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, CRAN, PyPI, Debian, etc.). Each artifact receives a persistent SWHID (SoftWare Heritage IDentifier) for reliable citation in research. The API enables code search, provenance tracking, and historical analysis. Free, no authentication for read access.

API Endpoints

Base URL

https://archive.softwareheritage.org/api/1

Search Origins (Repositories)

# Search for repositories
curl "https://archive.softwareheritage.org/api/1/origin/search/scikit-learn/?limit=10"

# Get origin metadata
curl "https://archive.softwareheritage.org/api/1/origin/https://github.com/scikit-learn/scikit-learn/get/"

# List visits (snapshots) of an origin
curl "https://archive.softwareheritage.org/api/1/origin/https://github.com/scikit-learn/scikit-learn/visits/"

Retrieve Content

# Get a specific file by its SHA1 hash
curl "https://archive.softwareheritage.org/api/1/content/sha1:adc83b19e793491b1c6ea0fd8b46cd9f32e592fc/"

# Get raw file content
curl "https://archive.softwareheritage.org/api/1/content/sha1:adc83b19e793491b1c6ea0fd8b46cd9f32e592fc/raw/"

# Get directory listing
curl "https://archive.softwareheritage.org/api/1/directory/{sha1_git}/"

Resolve SWHIDs

# Resolve a SWHID to its object
curl "https://archive.softwareheritage.org/api/1/resolve/swh:1:cnt:adc83b19e793491b1c6ea0fd8b46cd9f32e592fc/"

# Get snapshot
curl "https://archive.softwareheritage.org/api/1/snapshot/{sha1_git}/"

# Get revision (commit)
curl "https://archive.softwareheritage.org/api/1/revision/{sha1_git}/"

Save Code Now

# Request archival of a repository
curl -X POST "https://archive.softwareheritage.org/api/1/origin/save/git/url/https://github.com/user/repo/"

SWHID Format

SoftWare Heritage persistent IDentifiers:

swh:1:{type}:{hash}

Types:
  cnt  → Content (file)
  dir  → Directory
  rev  → Revision (commit)
  rel  → Release (tag)
  snp  → Snapshot

Examples:
  swh:1:cnt:94a9ed024d3859793618152ea559a168bbcbb5e2  (file)
  swh:1:rev:309cf2674ee7a0749978cf8265ab91a60aea0f7d  (commit)
  swh:1:snp:c7c108084bc0bf3d81436bf980b46e98571c7b17  (snapshot)

With qualifiers:
  swh:1:cnt:{hash};origin=https://github.com/user/repo;visit=swh:1:snp:{hash};path=/src/main.py

Python Usage

import requests
import time

BASE_URL = "https://archive.softwareheritage.org/api/1"


def search_origins(query: str, limit: int = 10) -> list:
    """Search Software Heritage for archived repositories."""
    resp = requests.get(
        f"{BASE_URL}/origin/search/{query}/",
        params={"limit": limit},
        timeout=30,
    )
    resp.raise_for_status()
    return [
        {
            "url": o.get("url"),
            "has_visits": o.get("has_visits"),
        }
        for o in resp.json()
    ]


def get_origin_visits(origin_url: str) -> list:
    """Get archival snapshots for a repository."""
    resp = requests.get(
        f"{BASE_URL}/origin/{origin_url}/visits/",
        timeout=30,
    )
    resp.raise_for_status()
    return [
        {
            "date": v.get("date"),
            "status": v.get("status"),
            "snapshot": v.get("snapshot"),
            "type": v.get("type"),
        }
        for v in resp.json()
    ]


def get_directory(sha1_git: str) -> list:
    """List files in an archived directory."""
    resp = requests.get(
        f"{BASE_URL}/directory/{sha1_git}/",
        timeout=30,
    )
    resp.raise_for_status()
    return [
        {
            "name": entry.get("name"),
            "type": entry.get("type"),
            "target": entry.get("target"),
        }
        for entry in resp.json()
    ]


def save_code_now(repo_url: str) -> dict:
    """Request Software Heritage to archive a repository."""
    resp = requests.post(
        f"{BASE_URL}/origin/save/git/url/{repo_url}/",
        timeout=30,
    )
    resp.raise_for_status()
    return resp.json()


# Example: find archived ML frameworks
origins = search_origins("pytorch", limit=5)
for o in origins:
    print(f"Archived: {o['url']}")

# Example: get snapshot history
visits = get_origin_visits("https://github.com/pytorch/pytorch")
for v in visits[:5]:
    print(f"[{v['date'][:10]}] {v['status']} — {v['type']}")

# Example: request archival
# result = save_code_now("https://github.com/my-org/my-research-code")
# print(f"Save request: {result['save_request_status']}")

Use Cases

1. Code citation: Cite specific code versions in papers using SWHIDs
2. Reproducibility: Archive the exact code used in experiments
3. Provenance tracking: Trace code evolution and authorship
4. Software archaeology: Study historical codebases
5. Compliance: Ensure open-source license compliance through archival

Rate Limits

• Unauthenticated: 120 requests/hour
• Authenticated (free token): 1200 requests/hour

References

• Software Heritage
• API Documentation
• SWHID Specification
• Di Cosmo, R. & Zacchiroli, S. (2017). "Software Heritage: Why and How to Preserve Software Source Code." iPRES 2017.