The Miranda API

Miranda has a fabulous web interface available at collections.folger.edu/​, but that's not all. Our interface relies upon a GraphQL API available to all comers at https://collections.folger.edu/graphql.

An API, or Application Programming Interface, is a way for programs to talk to each other. (Or, sometimes, for dedicated individuals to talk to computer programs.) GraphQL (​https://graphql.org/​) offers an approach to APIs that lets the requestor define what's returned.

One of the real pleasures of working with GraphQL is it is largely self-documenting. Usually when programmers use that phrase, it means they're too busy to describe how their system works. In this, case, however, the kind folks who built GraphQL did a lot of work to support our laziness. The best way to explore a GraphQL API endpoint is using the very cool GraphiQL, (​https://github.com/graphql/graphiql​) which provides an interface for writing queries, receiving replies, and, best of all, exploring the types of queries the system can answer.

Read our API guide. Please note: This version was written prior to our Miranda beta launch, and represents work done so far. We continue to work on and improve Miranda.