REUSE API

Welcome to the REUSE API. This service helps you to continuously check and display compliance with the REUSE guidelines. REUSE makes licensing easy for humans and machines alike. Register your project with us, make it REUSE compliant, and get your compliant badge today!

If you are not sure what REUSE is, please head to our main page first.

Check your project

We offer a wide set of tools to support you in adopting REUSE for your project. As a supplement, this API checks the REUSE compliance status for you. You can include a badge indicating the live status in your README file, and parse the output using the generated JSON file.

All it takes is a registration of your project with this service. Sign up, confirm your email, and see the output. Join the 2730 other registered compliant repositories today!

What is REUSE?

Copyright and licensing is difficult, especially when reusing software from different projects that are released under various different licenses. REUSE was started by the Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) to provide a set of recommendations to make licensing your Free Software projects easier. Not only do these recommendations make it easier for you to declare the licenses under which your works are released, but they also make it easier for a computer to understand how your project is licensed.

Troubleshooting

When using this service, you might run into some commonly asked questions. If yours is not answered here, please open an issue or get in touch with the REUSE community.

  • Which version control systems are supported?
    Currently, this service only supports Git. However, the underlying helper tool can be used for multiple systems. Please refer to our FAQ section for more information.
  • Which code hosting platforms are supported?
    As long as it is Git, we strive to support all platforms. We value decentralisation, so you will also be able to connect your own instance to our service. If yours does not work, please open an issue in our project repo.
  • Can I register multiple projects?
    Yes, but please do not abuse our service and only register the projects you actually care for. We are a charitable non-profit organisation and have limited server capacities. Also, please make sure to register and confirm your projects one-by-one.
  • Are private repositories supported?
    No, but users who want to check the status of their private repos can include the REUSE linter in their CI/CD processes. If you would like to help us extend this service, you are welcome to check out the code on our Git platform.
  • Which branches are checked?
    We only check the main branch when cloning your repository. This service does not support checking other branches currently. However, you can include the REUSE helper tool in your CI/CD processes to achieve that during your development.
  • Why do you need my email for registration?
    The REUSE API is a new service under continuous development. We would like to contact you if we need to introduce some breaking changes (which we will try to avoid of course). You will also be able to receive additional information about REUSE if you like.
  • I want to change/delete my project here.
    If you want your project to be deleted here or have it changed (e.g. with a different address), please contact us. But please be aware that anyone else can add your project again with their email address as long as it is a valid and accessible Git repository.
  • Can I see and reuse your code?
    Of course. The API's source code is available under Free Software licenses. Obviously, it is REUSE compliant.