Public API

Developers and journalists migrating from OpenSecrets or ProPublica APIs can use this static reference to find Civibus's nonpartisan, source-linked federal public-record endpoints.

FastAPI router owner: /public/v1; Caddy public URL prefix: /api/public/v1.

Endpoint reference

`GET /api/public/v1/federal/officials`

Parameters: chamber, state, party.

Curl

: "${CIVIBUS_PUBLIC_API_BASE:?Set CIVIBUS_PUBLIC_API_BASE to a Civibus origin that serves /api}" && curl "${CIVIBUS_PUBLIC_API_BASE}/api/public/v1/federal/officials?state=NC&chamber=House"

Sample JSON

[
  {
    "person_id": "11111111-1111-1111-1111-111111111111",
    "person_name": "Sample Official",
    "officeholding_id": "22222222-2222-2222-2222-222222222222",
    "office_id": "33333333-3333-3333-3333-333333333333",
    "office_name": "U.S. House NC-01",
    "chamber": "House",
    "state": "NC",
    "district": "01",
    "district_or_class": "01",
    "party": "Independent",
    "portrait_source_image_url": "https://www.congress.gov/img/member/sample.jpg",
    "person_detail_path": "/person/11111111-1111-1111-1111-111111111111"
  }
]

`GET /api/public/v1/federal/officials/{person_id}/money`

Parameters: none beyond person_id in the path.

Every money field is nullable — the fundraising fields (total_raised, total_spent, net, cash_on_hand, summary_source) and the outside-spending fields (ie_support_total, ie_oppose_total, ie_support_count, ie_oppose_count). A null value means the figure is unknown and never means zero: the official has no linked FEC candidate, or the FEC filings for the selected cycle were never loaded. A fundraising_coverage / ie_coverage block accompanies every non-populated state and says why. A candidate whose loaded filings genuinely total nothing still sends "0.00" — the coverage state, never the number, says which is which.

Curl

: "${CIVIBUS_PUBLIC_API_BASE:?Set CIVIBUS_PUBLIC_API_BASE to a Civibus origin that serves /api}" && curl "${CIVIBUS_PUBLIC_API_BASE}/api/public/v1/federal/officials/11111111-1111-1111-1111-111111111111/money"

Sample JSON

{
  "person_id": "11111111-1111-1111-1111-111111111111",
  "person_name": "Sample Official",
  "has_fec_money": true,
  "candidate_id": "44444444-4444-4444-4444-444444444444",
  "total_raised": "125000.00",
  "total_spent": "100000.00",
  "net": "25000.00",
  "cash_on_hand": "45000.00",
  "summary_source": "fec_weball",
  "ie_support_total": "5000.00",
  "ie_oppose_total": "0.00",
  "ie_support_count": 2,
  "ie_oppose_count": 0,
  "sources": [
    {
      "domain": "campaign_finance",
      "jurisdiction": "federal",
      "data_source_name": "FEC candidate master",
      "data_source_url": "https://www.fec.gov/data/browse-data/?tab=candidates",
      "source_record_key": "H4NC00000",
      "record_url": "https://www.fec.gov/data/candidate/H4NC00000/",
      "pull_date": "2026-07-10T00:00:00Z"
    }
      ]
}

Sample JSON (money not loaded)

{
  "person_id": "66666666-6666-6666-6666-666666666666",
  "person_name": "Sample Official Without Loaded Filings",
  "has_fec_money": false,
  "candidate_id": null,
  "total_raised": null,
  "total_spent": null,
  "net": null,
  "cash_on_hand": null,
  "summary_source": null,
  "fundraising_coverage": {
    "activity_state": "not_loaded",
    "completeness": "unknown",
    "basis": "no_authoritative_load_evidence"
  },
  "ie_support_total": null,
  "ie_oppose_total": null,
  "ie_support_count": null,
  "ie_oppose_count": null,
  "ie_coverage": {
    "activity_state": "not_loaded",
    "completeness": "unknown",
    "basis": "no_authoritative_load_evidence"
  },
  "sources": []
}

`GET /api/public/v1/federal/officials/{person_id}/contributors`

Parameters: none beyond person_id in the path.

Curl

: "${CIVIBUS_PUBLIC_API_BASE:?Set CIVIBUS_PUBLIC_API_BASE to a Civibus origin that serves /api}" && curl "${CIVIBUS_PUBLIC_API_BASE}/api/public/v1/federal/officials/11111111-1111-1111-1111-111111111111/contributors"

Sample JSON

{
  "person_id": "11111111-1111-1111-1111-111111111111",
  "contributors": [
    {
      "name": "Sample Contributor",
      "total_amount": "5000.00",
      "transaction_count": 3
    }
  ],
  "sources": [
    {
      "domain": "campaign_finance",
      "jurisdiction": "federal",
      "data_source_name": "FEC itemized individual contributions",
      "data_source_url": "https://www.fec.gov/data/receipts/individual-contributions/",
      "source_record_key": "H4NC00000",
      "record_url": "https://www.fec.gov/data/candidate/H4NC00000/",
      "pull_date": "2026-07-10T00:00:00Z"
    }
  ]
}

`GET /api/public/v1/federal/officials/{person_id}/employers`

Parameters: none beyond person_id in the path.

Curl

: "${CIVIBUS_PUBLIC_API_BASE:?Set CIVIBUS_PUBLIC_API_BASE to a Civibus origin that serves /api}" && curl "${CIVIBUS_PUBLIC_API_BASE}/api/public/v1/federal/officials/11111111-1111-1111-1111-111111111111/employers"

Sample JSON

{
  "person_id": "11111111-1111-1111-1111-111111111111",
  "employers": [
    {
      "employer": "Unclassified / not provided",
      "total_amount": "29150.00",
      "transaction_count": 85,
      "industry": "UNKNOWN_INDUSTRY"
    }
  ],
  "classified_count": 837,
  "unknown_count": 13487,
  "sampled_coverage_percentage": "5.843340",
  "sources": [
    {
      "domain": "campaign_finance",
      "jurisdiction": "federal",
      "data_source_name": "FEC itemized individual contributions",
      "data_source_url": "https://www.fec.gov/data/receipts/individual-contributions/",
      "source_record_key": "H4NC00000",
      "record_url": "https://www.fec.gov/data/candidate/H4NC00000/",
      "pull_date": "2026-07-10T00:00:00Z"
    }
  ]
}

`GET /api/public/v1/federal/export.json`

Parameters: none.

Rows use the same nullable-money contract as the per-official money endpoint: officials whose money is unknown appear with null totals and a fundraising_coverage / ie_coverage block saying why, never with fabricated zeros.

Curl

: "${CIVIBUS_PUBLIC_API_BASE:?Set CIVIBUS_PUBLIC_API_BASE to a Civibus origin that serves /api}" && curl "${CIVIBUS_PUBLIC_API_BASE}/api/public/v1/federal/export.json"

Sample JSON

[
  {
    "person_id": "11111111-1111-1111-1111-111111111111",
    "person_name": "Sample Official",
    "has_fec_money": true,
    "candidate_id": "44444444-4444-4444-4444-444444444444",
    "total_raised": "125000.00",
    "total_spent": "100000.00",
    "net": "25000.00",
    "cash_on_hand": "45000.00",
    "summary_source": "fec_weball",
    "ie_support_total": "5000.00",
    "ie_oppose_total": "0.00",
    "ie_support_count": 2,
    "ie_oppose_count": 0,
    "sources": [
      {
        "domain": "campaign_finance",
        "jurisdiction": "federal",
        "data_source_name": "FEC candidate master",
        "data_source_url": "https://www.fec.gov/data/browse-data/?tab=candidates",
        "source_record_key": "H4NC00000",
        "record_url": "https://www.fec.gov/data/candidate/H4NC00000/",
        "pull_date": "2026-07-10T00:00:00Z"
      }
    ]
  }
]

`GET /api/public/v1/federal/export.csv`

Parameters: none.

The money columns write an empty cell when the value is unknown — an empty cell never means zero. The CSV carries no coverage columns; consult export.json's fundraising_coverage / ie_coverage blocks for why a value is unknown.

Curl

: "${CIVIBUS_PUBLIC_API_BASE:?Set CIVIBUS_PUBLIC_API_BASE to a Civibus origin that serves /api}" && curl -L "${CIVIBUS_PUBLIC_API_BASE}/api/public/v1/federal/export.csv" -o civibus_federal_money.csv

Sample CSV

person_id,person_name,has_fec_money,candidate_id,total_raised,total_spent,net,cash_on_hand,summary_source,ie_support_total,ie_oppose_total,ie_support_count,ie_oppose_count,source_urls
11111111-1111-1111-1111-111111111111,Sample Official,true,44444444-4444-4444-4444-444444444444,125000.00,100000.00,25000.00,45000.00,fec_weball,5000.00,0.00,2,0,https://www.fec.gov/data/candidate/H4NC00000/
66666666-6666-6666-6666-666666666666,Sample Official Without Loaded Filings,false,,,,,,,,,,,

`GET /api/public/v1/federal/metadata`

Parameters: none.

Curl

: "${CIVIBUS_PUBLIC_API_BASE:?Set CIVIBUS_PUBLIC_API_BASE to a Civibus origin that serves /api}" && curl "${CIVIBUS_PUBLIC_API_BASE}/api/public/v1/federal/metadata"

Sample JSON

{
  "data_sources": [
    {
      "data_source_id": "55555555-5555-5555-5555-555555555555",
      "domain": "campaign_finance",
      "jurisdiction": "federal/fec",
      "name": "FEC bulk data",
      "source_url": "https://www.fec.gov/data/browse-data/",
      "update_frequency": "weekly",
      "last_pull_at": "2026-07-20T09:00:00Z",
      "last_pull_status": "success",
      "record_count": 542,
      "latest_source_record_id": null,
      "latest_source_record_key": null,
      "latest_source_record_url": null,
      "latest_source_pull_date": "2026-07-20T09:00:00Z"
    }
  ],
  "rate_limit": {
    "max_requests": 100,
    "window_seconds": 60
  },
  "coverage": {
    "current_officeholder_count": 543,
    "officeholder_denominator_is_fixed": false,
    "employer_industry": {
      "classified_count": 837,
      "unknown_count": 13487,
      "sampled_coverage_percentage": "5.843340"
    },
    "donor_identity_resolution": "unresolved"
  }
}

CSV columns

person_id
person_name
has_fec_money
candidate_id
total_raised
total_spent
net
cash_on_hand
summary_source
ie_support_total
ie_oppose_total
ie_support_count
ie_oppose_count
source_urls

OpenSecrets and ProPublica migration mapping

Source API and endpoint/product	Civibus equivalent	Honest delta
ProPublica Congress API members	`GET /api/public/v1/federal/officials`	Current federal officeholders only; no historical membership or legislative activity.
OpenSecrets API candSummary	`GET /api/public/v1/federal/officials/{person_id}/money`	FEC summary totals and Schedule E support or opposition, keyed by Civibus person_id.
OpenSecrets API candContrib	`GET /api/public/v1/federal/officials/{person_id}/contributors`	Aggregated contributor names from itemized FEC receipts; donor identities remain unresolved.
OpenSecrets API candIndustry	`GET /api/public/v1/federal/officials/{person_id}/employers`	Employer rollups disclose sparse industry classification and do not reproduce OpenSecrets categories.
OpenSecrets bulk candidate summaries (JSON)	`GET /api/public/v1/federal/export.json`	Current federal officeholders with FEC summaries and Schedule E totals; not a full OpenSecrets bulk mirror.
OpenSecrets bulk candidate summaries (CSV)	`GET /api/public/v1/federal/export.csv`	The same bounded Civibus export in spreadsheet form with source URLs.
ProPublica Congress API roll-call votes	`No Civibus equivalent yet`	Civibus does not currently publish roll-call votes or voting positions.

Reference links

Stability, freshness, and limits

Endpoint schemas are the stable client contract. Read the metadata endpoint for live source freshness, coverage qualifications, and the effective rate-limit policy.

Metadata endpoint: GET /api/public/v1/federal/metadata.

Public API requests are rate limited. Public responses use Cache-Control: public, max-age=900.

Report a data issue