# OPTIMADE
**Repository Path**: phoenix-ao/OPTIMADE
## Basic Information
- **Project Name**: OPTIMADE
- **Description**: No description available
- **Primary Language**: Unknown
- **License**: CC-BY-4.0
- **Default Branch**: develop
- **Homepage**: None
- **GVP Project**: No
## Statistics
- **Stars**: 0
- **Forks**: 0
- **Created**: 2025-08-27
- **Last Updated**: 2025-08-27
## Categories & Tags
**Categories**: Uncategorized
**Tags**: None
## README
The OPTIMADE Specification
The Open Databases Integration for Materials Design (OPTIMADE) consortium aims to make materials databases interoperational by developing a common REST API.
This repository contains the specification of the OPTIMADE API.
* [optimade.rst](optimade.rst): The API specification document.
* [specification.optimade.org](https://specification.optimade.org): HTML builds of the different specification versions.
* [schemas.optimade.org](https://schemas.optimade.org): Machine-readable schemas for property and server definitions.
* [AUTHORS](AUTHORS): List of contributors.
* [CHANGELOG](CHANGELOG.md): The release notes for each version of the specification.
* [optimade.org](https://www.optimade.org): Public OPTIMADE web site
* [OPTIMADE wiki](https://github.com/Materials-Consortia/OPTIMADE/wiki): Information for developers
## For developers
The [master branch of the repository](https://github.com/Materials-Consortia/OPTIMADE/tree/master) is at the latest release or pre-release version of the specification.
Versions without a version number suffix (alpha, beta, release candidates and similar) indicate a stable release.
The [develop branch of the repository](https://github.com/Materials-Consortia/OPTIMADE/tree/develop) contains the present in-development version of the specification.
API and client implementations are encouraged to support the latest release or pre-release of the specification.
If this is a pre-release, implementations are also encouraged to support the latest stable release.
## Licensing of the unit definitions database `definitions.units`
The OPTIMADE standard refers to a specific version of the `definitions.units` database included with the source distribution of GNU Units.
This file is included in the OPTIMADE repository under the subdirectory [external/GNU_Units](external/GNU_Units).
The file is licensed separately from other files in the repository: it is available under the GNU General Public License (GPL).
Full information on how the file is licensed is available in the [header of the file](external/GNU_Units/definitions.units) and the license file included in that directory, [COPYING](external/GNU_Units/COPYING).
The following does not constitute legal advice; however, we believe implementations under other licenses can use this file if:
- The file is distributed separated from other source files in a way that makes it clear that it is part of the GNU Units software and is licensed under the GPL.
(For example, as done in this repository: in a separate subdirectory with its own readme and license files.)
- The software reads the file during program execution, e.g., at startup (as opposed to, e.g., having the file compiled or linked into a binary program distributed to end users).
Alternatively, the software using the file could itself be licensed in a way compatible with the GNU GPL.
## How to cite
If you use OPTIMADE to access or host data, we kindly ask that you cite our papers accompanying the version 1.0 and 1.2 releases:
- Andersen *et al*, OPTIMADE, an API for exchanging materials data, *Sci. Data* **8**, 217 (2021) [10.1038/s41597-021-00974-z](https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-021-00974-z)
- Evans *et al*, Developments and applications of the OPTIMADE API for materials discovery, design, and data exchange, *Digital Discovery* (2024) [10.1039/D4DD00039K](https://doi.org/10.1039/D4DD00039K)
To cite an individual version of the specification, please use the versioned records on Zenodo:
- Andersen *et al*, The OPTIMADE Specification, *Zenodo*, [10.5281/zenodo.4195050](https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4195050)