OSF Projects API Impact
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The OSF has an open API. If you have developed an application that interacts with OSF via the API, the following guide will review what changes you can expect.
Overview: What's Changing vs. Not Changing
- Changing: OSF Projects (storage, project/component creation, private collaboration spaces, add-on connections)
- Not changing: OSF Registries, OSF Preprints, public URL/DOI resolution, existing public content availability
|
Date |
What Happens |
Endpoint/API Impact |
|---|---|---|
| Aug 11, 2026 | Public announcement to all OSF users, FAQ and help guides go live | No changes |
| Nov 16, 2026 | No new projects/components can be created via the user interface or API. Projects will remain editable until Feb 19th, 2027 |
and
return errors immediately; all other endpoints still work |
| Feb 19, 2027 | Full transition — all projects become read-only | All OSF Project POST APIs permanently shut down; GET access to public projects remains; registrations can no longer be created from projects (must use the dedicated registration workflow) |
Specifically, what will be deprecated:
- Nodes: Creating new projects/components (POST /v2/nodes/) on November 16th, 2026
- Children: Adding child components (POST /v2/nodes/{id}/children/) on November 16th, 2026
- Write Access: Any write/update PATCH calls to existing projects after Feb 19th, 2027
- Registrations: Creating registrations directly from a project (creating a registration from scratch is still enabled) on November 16th, 2026
- Public to Private Toggling: Public projects can no longer be made private after Feb 19th, 2027
- Data Pipelines: Any pipeline that creates new OSF Projects as a data destination will have no valid destination on November 16th, 2026. Any pipeline that is submitting or updating files within existing OSF Projects will no longer work on Feb 19th, 2027
What will keep working:
- Public Projects: GET requests to public projects
- Private Projects: GET requests to public projects, if appropriately authenticated
- All Projects: DELETE requests
- Private to Public Toggling: Private projects can continue to be made public
- View-only links: View-only links can be created and managed
- Public Project Analytics: Analytics will continue to be gathered and accessible
- Add-ons: Storage add-on connections remain and can be reauthenticated, but no new add-ons connectable
- Other Endpoints: Preprints and Registries creation and update endpoints
Other Tool Options in the Open Science Ecosystem:
While there is not currently a direct replacement for the OSF project in researchers' workflows in other Open Science Tools, there are other tools available that provide varying degrees of developer access.
| Repository | Type | Open Source? | API documentation | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dataverse | Data | YES | Dataverse offers a host of open API tools for integrations. API’s include Search API, Data access API, Native API, Metric API, SWORD API, and instructions for building external tools. | |
| Dryad | Data | YES | Dryad offers a Rest API for search and a Submission API. | |
| Figshare | Data, code, images | YES | The Figshare API v2 is a RESTful open API accessible via HTTPS at https://api.figshare.com/v2. It utilizes JSON for data encoding and complies with the OpenAPI Swagger specification. | |
| Mendeley (Data) | Data | NO | While not an open API, Mendeley does allow data harvesting via their OAI-PMH | |
| Vivli | Data | NO | Vivli does not offer a public developer API or open developer portal for programmatic data access. Users can access data download, but a request process is needed due to the sensitive nature of patient data. | |
| Zenodo | Data, code, images, research outputs | YES | The Zenodo REST API allows programmatic access to the open science repository for managing records, deposits, and files. It supports anonymous metadata harvesting via OAI-PMH and authenticated deposits using OAuth 2.0 personal tokens. | |
| ICPSR | Data | NO |
|
The ICPSR provides programmatic access through its ICPSR API Portal, which features endpoints for data export, object metadata, and authorization tools. Additionally, ICPSR facilitates specialized external access, such as the Meta Content Library API for approved social science researchers. |
| Qualitative Data Repository (QDR) | Data | YES |
The Qualitative Data Repository (QDR) runs on open-source Dataverse repository software. It provides programmatic access to metadata, search endpoints, and datasets via standard Dataverse application programming interface (API) frameworks This includes acces to Native API, Search API, Data Access API, and Metric API |
|
| Protocols.io | Methods | NO | Protocols.io API uses RESTful API structure. The Protocols.io Developer Portal provides programmatic access via API v3, using OAuth 2.0 or client tokens to manage, search, create, and share scientific research protocols. | |
| Codeberg | Code, software | YES | Codeberg provides a public, open API based on the Forgejo OpenAPI specification. Since Codeberg runs on Forgejo, you can access its full suite of endpoints—including user management, repositories, issues, and pull requests—via standard REST requests. | |
| Forejo | Code, software | YES |
|
Forgejo provides a REST API documented via Swagger and OpenAPI standards |
Updated Documentation
- Status: Currently, OSF technical documentation reflects the current workflows only and do not reflect the upcoming changes. Specifically, GitHub community repo (CenterForOpenScience/community) and API docs (developer.osf.io) are in the process of being updated as the changes rollout. Please contact us for assistance with any anticipated documentation needs.
Support & Resources
- Contact: Contact support@osf.io with any questions
This Article Is Licensed Under CCO For Maximum Reuse.