CKAN-Compatible API

KUKAN provides endpoints compatible with the CKAN Action API v3. Existing CKAN client tools (such as ckanapi) and code written for CKAN can access KUKAN directly.

Base path: /api/3/action

Response format

All CKAN-compatible endpoints return responses in the following format.

Success

{
  "help": "https://docs.ckan.org/...",
  "success": true,
  "result": { ... }
}

Error

{
  "help": "https://docs.ckan.org/...",
  "success": false,
  "error": {
    "__type": "Not Found Error",
    "message": "Not found"
  }
}

Endpoints

All are public (no authentication) and use the GET method.

Path	Description
`/api/3/action/package_list`	List of dataset names
`/api/3/action/package_show?id={nameOrId}`	Dataset details (CKAN field names)
`/api/3/action/package_search?q={query}`	Dataset search
`/api/3/action/resource_show?id={id}`	Resource details (CKAN field names)
`/api/3/action/organization_list`	List of organization names
`/api/3/action/organization_show?id={nameOrId}`	Organization details
`/api/3/action/group_list`	List of category names
`/api/3/action/group_show?id={nameOrId}`	Category details
`/api/3/action/tag_list`	List of tag names
`/api/3/action/tag_show?id={id}`	Tag details
`/api/3/action/license_list`	List of available licenses

Field name mapping

KUKAN uses camelCase fields internally, but the CKAN-compatible API converts them to CKAN's snake_case conventions.

Dataset (package)

KUKAN (REST)	CKAN
`created`	`metadata_created`
`updated`	`metadata_modified`
`creatorUserId`	`creator_user_id`
`ownerOrg`	`owner_org`
`licenseId`	`license_id`

Resource

KUKAN (REST)	CKAN
`updated`	`metadata_modified`
`lastModified`	`last_modified`
`packageId`	`package_id`
`resourceType`	`resource_type`

Usage examples

ckanapi (Python)

from ckanapi import RemoteCKAN

ckan = RemoteCKAN('https://your-kukan-site')
packages = ckan.action.package_search(q='population', rows=10)

for pkg in packages['results']:
    print(pkg['name'], pkg['title'])

curl

# Search datasets
curl "https://your-kukan-site/api/3/action/package_search?q=population&rows=10"

# Get dataset details
curl "https://your-kukan-site/api/3/action/package_show?id=population-stats-2024"

Limitations

Read-only (GET only). CKAN write endpoints are not provided
Use the REST API (/api/v1/*) to create or edit datasets
Not all CKAN fields are reproduced. Check the actual responses for specifics