# ckan.australia_search

**stable** **Advanced**

Search Australian open government datasets (data.gov.au, CKAN).

`GET /v1/ckan/australia_search`

## What you get

A list of Ckan results in Onekey's unified shape, in `data` (an array). An empty array is a normal, successful answer and is charged like any other; a source that reports "nothing found" as an error returns a free `404 not_found` instead.

## What it costs

- **Advanced · 5 credits** for a fresh fetch, charged only when it succeeds.
- **Free when served from cache (0.2 credit for a cached response over 100 KB).**
- **Free** if the request is invalid (never charged) or the source fails or reports not found (refunded).

## Parameters

| Name | Type | Required | Default | What it is | Constraints |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `q` | string | yes | (required) | Search text | max 80 chars; must match `[\w .,'&+:()-]{1,80}`; trimmed, repeated spaces collapsed |
| `rows` | string | no | `10` | Rows (1-50) | max 2 chars; must match `[1-9]\d?\|50`; trimmed |

## Request

```bash
curl "https://api.onekey.dev/v1/ckan/australia_search?q=climate&rows=3" \
  -H "x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY"
```

```python
import requests

res = requests.get(
    "https://api.onekey.dev/v1/ckan/australia_search",
    params={"q": "climate", "rows": "3"},
    headers={"x-api-key": "YOUR_API_KEY"},
)
body = res.json()

if body["success"]:
    print(body["data"])
else:
    print(body["error"]["code"], body["error"]["message"])
```

```javascript
const params = new URLSearchParams({ q: "climate", rows: "3" });
const res = await fetch(`https://api.onekey.dev/v1/ckan/australia_search?${params}`, {
  headers: { "x-api-key": "YOUR_API_KEY" },
});
const body = await res.json();

if (body.success) console.log(body.data);
else console.error(body.error.code, body.error.message);
```

## Recorded response

A real Ckan response, recorded and returned in Onekey's shape. Fields the platform does not provide are `null`.

```json
{
  "success": true,
  "data": [
    {
      "entity": {
        "id": "e12e911c-01f4-5f1b-8001-8fb312d202c5",
        "name": "Agricultural climate metrics for the National Climate Risk Assessment",
        "description": "Agricultural climate metrics were derived for the National Climate Risk Assessment.\n\nThis data collection describes the agricultural climate metrics derived from projections of climate variables across Australia from 8 CMIP6 global climate models, as well as a historical baseline from the Bureau of Meteorology’s Atmospheric high-Resolution Reanalysis for Australia (BARRA-R2) data. Agricultural cli",
        "slug": "fedora-pid_csiro-64751",
        "category": "CSIRO Data Access Portal",
        "date": "2025-11-30T20:09:57Z"
      },
      "ext": {
        "resources": 312
      },
      "package": {
        "license": "notspecified"
      }
    },
    {
      "entity": {
        "id": "49c0c88d-021e-4feb-bf14-c6b1451f3116",
        "name": "Climate Data: National Climate Centre, Bureau of Meteorology",
        "description": "Three datasets containing climate data, compiled in April 2011, have been purchased from the Bureau of Meteorology. These datasets include observations from stations in all Australian States and Territories. Each dataset includes a file which gives details of the stations where observations were made and a file describing the data. AWS Hourly Data contains hourly records of precipitation, air temp",
        "slug": "climate-data-national-climate-centre-bureau-of-meteorology1",
        "category": "Australian Ocean Data Network",
        "date": "2025-06-23T15:28:08Z"
      },
      "ext": {
        "resources": 4
      },
      "package": {
        "license": "notspecified"
      }
    }
  ],
  "metadata": {
    "platform": "ckan",
    "endpoint": "australia_search",
    "cached": false,
    "stale": false,
    "age_s": 0,
    "fetched_at": "2026-01-01T12:00:00+00:00",
    "credits_charged": 5,
    "request_id": "7f3a9c2e5b1d4c8fa2e6d0b9c4f18e37"
  },
  "error": null
}
```

## Field mapping

How this endpoint's source fields become Onekey's [unified schema](https://onekey.dev/docs/schema.md). Fields the source lacks come back as `null`.

| Source path | Onekey field | Transform |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `id` | `entity.id` | - |
| `title` | `entity.name` | - |
| `notes` | `entity.description` | - |
| `name` | `entity.slug` | - |
| `organization.title` | `entity.category` | - |
| `metadata_modified` | `entity.date` | `toIsoDate` |
| `num_resources` | `ext.resources` | `toNumber` |
| `license_title` | `package.license` | - |

## Caching and freshness

- Fresh for about 2 minutes. Repeat calls in that window are served from cache and are free.
- Between 2 minutes and 15 minutes the cached copy is still served instantly and marked `stale: true` while Onekey refreshes it in the background.
- If the source is down when a refresh is needed, the last copy can be served for up to 1 hour more (marked stale).
- A "not found" is remembered for 1 minute and is free.
- The cache is shared across all customers, which is what keeps repeat calls cheap.

## What can go wrong

| Status | Code | What to do |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 401 | `unauthorized` | Check the `x-api-key` header. |
| 402 | `insufficient_credits` | [Add credits](https://onekey.dev/pricing); your balance must cover the price. |
| 404 | `not_found` | Unknown endpoint path. |
| 422 | `invalid_params` | Fix the parameters using the table above. Free. |
| 429 | `rate_limited` | Wait `Retry-After` seconds, then retry. |
| 502 | `upstream_error` | The source failed. Refunded; retry with backoff. |

See [Errors](https://onekey.dev/docs/errors.md) for the full list and retry guidance.

Status: stable (verified against the live source).