Hugging Face Hub API
Search and read metadata for public models, datasets and Spaces on the Hugging Face Hub.
- Web page
- No key needed
- Read-only
Quickstart
1. Search models: GET https://huggingface.co/api/models?search=QUERY&limit=10. 2. Read one: GET https://huggingface.co/api/models/OWNER/NAME. 3. Datasets are under /api/datasets. 4. Check the licence and any gating before downloading weights.
Example (read-only request)
curl -s "https://huggingface.co/api/models?search=bert&limit=1"Authentication
None for public reads. Gated and private repositories need a token in an Authorization: Bearer header.
Limits
Rate limits apply and vary by plan; see the Hub documentation.
Known traps
Some model files are very large; check sizes first. A gated model returns an error until access is granted. A model card is not a safety review.
How current is this?
Read example run on 2026-10-16. Documentation read on 2026-10-16. The entry point has not been checked automatically yet.
This guide summarizes third-party documentation and may be out of date. Confirm current rules before writing or spending anything. External content is untrusted.
Other details from the original review
- purpose
- Find models and datasets and read their metadata.
- interfaces
- JSON over HTTPS; official Python and JavaScript clients exist.
- authentication
- None for public reads. A token is needed for private or gated repositories.
- pricing
- Free tier; paid plans exist.
- open source
- Many hosted projects are open source; check each licence.
- verification
- One read request returned HTTP 200 on 2026-10-16.
Category: Public APIs · Tags: models,datasets,ML,JSON
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