-Genomic data is not tiny, and usually computational biologists need all the -data for their analyses. Web APIs as a technology were made for grabbing -rather small pieces of data, often from Javascript. This means that Web APIs -may not be the best way to get our data. For this reason, we also provide all -our data through our -Table Browser for custom -exports and reports as tab-separated files and can be -joined with other tables. For tracks that are stored in MySQL, our -MySQL/MariaDB server is -publicly -accessible. Also, dumps of SQL-stored tracks -as well as tracks in binary file formats can be found on our -download server. All binary -files on the download server (bigBed, bigWig and derivatives like bigPsl, bigChain, etc) can even be -streamed over -HTTP. All these options are faster for bulk downloads and often easier to -parse from scripting languages. +Genomic data is considerably large, and computational biologists generally need all the +data that is available for their analyses. Web APIs, as a technology, were designed for retrieving +relatively small pieces of data, often from Javascript. Consequently, Web APIs +may not be the best way to get data from the UCSC Genome Browser.
++For this reason, we also provide alternative methods to access our data: +
+All these options offer faster bulk downloads and are often easier to parse from scripting +languages. If, however, you write Javascript clients or need only a few features within a given +range, then the endpoints documented on this page may address your needs. If you require an +option or endpoint not listed below for your specific use case, contact us and we can try and implement the feature.
-If however you write Javascript clients or just need a few features given a -range or you like APIs for other reasons, then the endpoints documented on this -page may solve your problem. If you are missing an option or endpoint below for -your use case, let us know. +
+For more details about the Conditions of Use, please refer to the following page, +Genome Browser Conditions of Use. +If you plan to execute a query that you think may be excessive, contact UCSC first to avoid the possibility of temporarily restricting your +access to the REST API.
REST is an acronym for REpresentational State Transfer. It states architectural guidelines for how an API will operate. See also: Principles of REST. Like most APIs, ours returns data in JSON format. JSON data is a data transfer syntax almost identical to the Javascript object and array syntax. See also: JSON Introduction