vatsim-apis

name

vatsim-apis

description

Reference for VATSIM's public and authenticated APIs — the real-time network Data API (online pilots/controllers/ATIS/prefiles), the METAR API, the Events API, the Slurper API, the authenticated Core API (member info, ratings, ATC history, org rosters), and the separate ATC Bookings API. Use this skill whenever the user wants to build, debug, or call anything that talks to vatsim.net/vatsim.dev endpoints, fetch live VATSIM network data, look up METARs from metar.vatsim.net, pull VATSIM events, look up a VATSIM member/CID, or integrate VATSIM ATC booking data — even if they only mention "the VATSIM API" generically or paste one of these URLs without naming the API.

VATSIM APIs

VATSIM (the Virtual Air Traffic Simulation network) exposes several independent public HTTP APIs, plus one separately-hosted booking API. They are not one unified service — each has its own base URL, auth model, and update cadence. Official docs (OpenAPI-rendered, JS-required to see full schemas in a browser): https://vatsim.dev/services/apis

Which API do I need?

Need	API	Auth	Base URL
Who's flying/controlling right now, positions, flight plans, ATIS	Data API	None	https://data.vatsim.net/v3/
METAR for one/many/all airports	METAR API	None	https://metar.vatsim.net/
Upcoming/current network events (used a lot — see references/events-api.md)	Events API	None	https://my.vatsim.net/api/v2/events/
Live connection status/position for one known CID (used by AFV)	Slurper API	None	https://slurper.vatsim.net/users/info
Member profile, ratings, flight history, org rosters, ATC history	Core API	API key (X-API-Key header)	https://api.vatsim.net/api/
Publish/manage ATC position bookings for a division/subdivision	ATC Bookings API	None (GET) / Bearer token (write)	https://atc-bookings.vatsim.net/api/
Discover current base URLs for the above (in case they change)	Status endpoint	None	https://status.vatsim.net/status.json

If unsure which base URL is current, fetch status.vatsim.net/status.json first — it's the canonical service-discovery document VATSIM clients (like vPilot, Euroscope) use.

Read references/data-api.md, references/events-api.md, references/metar-slurper.md, references/core-api.md, or references/atc-bookings.md for full field-level schemas, parameters, and example requests before writing integration code — don't guess field names from memory.

Quick recipes

Get everyone currently online (pilots, controllers, ATIS, prefiles):

GET https://data.vatsim.net/v3/vatsim-data.json

No auth, no params. Regenerates every ~15s server-side; poll no more than every 15s. See references/data-api.md for the full response schema (pilots, controllers, atis, prefiles, servers, facilities, ratings arrays).

Get a METAR:

GET https://metar.vatsim.net/EGLL          # single airport, plain text
GET https://metar.vatsim.net/EGLL,KJFK,ENGM  # comma-separated, multiple
GET https://metar.vatsim.net/ENG            # 3-letter-or-fewer prefix = wildcard, all matching airports
GET https://metar.vatsim.net/all            # every airport VATSIM has a METAR for
GET https://metar.vatsim.net/EGLL?format=json  # add &format=json for structured {id, metar} objects

Default response is text/plain, newline-delimited. This is an unauthenticated convenience endpoint — same underlying data as the documented METAR API's GET /:icao.

Get upcoming/current events:

GET https://my.vatsim.net/api/v2/events/latest        # all current + upcoming
GET https://my.vatsim.net/api/v2/events/view/{id}      # a single event
GET https://my.vatsim.net/api/v2/events/view/division/{division}  # by division, e.g. SEA

Returns { "data": [ {...event...} ] } (single-event variant returns { "data": {...} }, an object not an array). See references/events-api.md for the full event object schema, the region/subdivision filter variants, and Laravel-flavored polling recipes — worth reading in full since this is used a lot.

Look up a member (needs a Core API key):

GET https://api.vatsim.net/api/ratings/{cid}/
Header: X-API-Key: <your key>

Core API access for anything beyond public/anonymized data requires a division or subdivision to request a key from the VATSIM Tech Team. See references/core-api.md.

Check/manage ATC bookings for a facility:

GET https://atc-bookings.vatsim.net/api/booking

Public read, no auth needed for GET. Creating/editing/deleting bookings (POST/PUT/DELETE /booking) needs a Bearer token issued to divisions/ subdivisions/ARTCCs/vACCs that run active ATC service — request via https://support.vatsim.net. See references/atc-bookings.md.

General notes that apply across all of these

• Rate limiting / etiquette: the Data API regenerates every 15s — polling faster just returns the same cached file and wastes bandwidth. Cache aggressively and respect this cadence in any app you build (e.g. a Laravel scheduled job every 15–60s, not a tight loop).
• No official client libraries are bundled here — these are plain REST/JSON (or CSV for Slurper, plain text for METAR by default) over HTTPS. Any HTTP client works fine (Laravel's Http::get(), fetch, curl, etc.).
• Terms of Service: all VATSIM API use is governed by https://vatsim.net/docs/policy/user-agreement — don't scrape/store personal member data (names, emails) beyond what the public Data/Core API already anonymizes/exposes.
• CIDs vs callsigns: cid is a VATSIM member's permanent numeric ID; callsign is their current session identifier (aircraft callsign for pilots, position callsign like EGLL_TWR for controllers) and only exists while connected.