API key for external client application

I’m interested in building an application which queries the Materials Project using the API. Is it possible to get a single client API key which is used by my application, so that users of the application don’t have to log into it individually? And if not, what would my options be for this?

The application would be for research purposes and would of course cite the Materials Project and any other resources that it utilizes.

Thanks.

Hi @ericmuckley, welcome!

We don’t currently have an official policy on this. If it’s for research purposes and cites MP, I think it would be fine just to use your own personal API key, and let us know if you hit any rate limits.

If you need or want to guarantee a certain level of service or are charging for your application, maybe drop us an email first. Some commercial companies who have integrated the MP API will place a box/prompt for users to enter their individual API key.

A few notes:

  1. We have a new API in development, see next-gen.materialsproject.org/api if you want early access. During the development phase, the new API might have breaking changes. The current/legacy API will be around for at least a year but will not receive data updates.

  2. Please share your app if you make it, we’d love to see :slight_smile:

With this said, it is nice for us if users do make individual accounts even if there’s some a bit more friction: it lets them be formally introduced to the Materials Project, and it’s critically important for us and funding to demonstrate usage and understand who is using MP, so it’s really useful for us for that reason too. So if you are willing to build this into our application, it would be appreciated.

Best,

Matt

Thanks Matt, if it benefits MP then I will aim to have users enter their own API keys for now. I’ll keep you updated as it progresses.

Thanks,
Eric

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