API Basics
Need-to-know information for integrating to Ideon's API
Getting Started
The Developer Portal can be used to sign up for a trial or manage your existing account.
The Applications tab lists each API key associated with the account, which are named based on intended use. The "staging" key can be used for all development and testing activity; the "production" key must be used for all activity supporting end-users post go-live.
The Statistics tab displays metrics on request activity by API key. Activity can be filtered over three main categories:
Hits - categorizes all API activity in various Methods. Each Method roughly correlates to an endpoint, although some endpoints have multiple Methods with variations based on request parameters. For example, "Medical Plan Search" is incremented by 1 for each hit to
POST /plans/medical/search; "Medical Plan Search w/ Providers" is incremented by 1 for each unique NPI included in requests to the same endpoint.Transactions - each of the Transaction metric groupings correlate directly to distinct groupings of API requests and their application towards transactional contracts. For more details on which calls are counted and which Transaction metric grouping they fall under, visit our Help Center.
Application Hits - tracks HTTP requests, against which API key rate limiting is applied.
Request Rate Limits
Rate limits for API keys are assessed based on HTTP requests to Ideon's API. Each request that is processed by an endpoint within Ideon's API is counted as one Application Hit for the purpose of rate limiting. Additional rate limits specific to generating export files are detailed in the Bulk Exports in the API section.
Versioning
Ideon’s API is versioned by endpoint. The current default version for all endpoints is v6. Some endpoints feature additional functionality with versions v7 or v8. The technical API documentation lists updates for each endpoint version; this guide references and documents only the latest available versions.
It is highly recommended to include a distinct Accept-Version header and version for each endpoint included in your integration. This gives you complete control on which version is being used for each endpoint and when new versions are used. It also protects against unexpected breaking changes impacting Production workflows, as breaking changes will never be made within each endpoint's version.
Pagination
The majority of Ideon's API endpoints are paginated. Pagination is an important best-practice for APIs servicing large datasets to optimize performance by reducing data load for any given request. Where pagination is applicable, the page and per_page parameters will be included in the endpoint URL in Ideon's API Documentation. It is highly recommended to configure and specify these parameters in your requests to Ideon's API; doing so gives you control over pagination rather than being limited by default pagination on certain endpoints.
API Reference
The Ideon API is documented using the OpenAPI specification, giving you a machine-readable description of all available endpoints, request/response schemas, authentication requirements, and more. You can explore the full interactive API reference at docs.ideonapi.com, which provides a browsable interface for all endpoints.
The raw OpenAPI spec file is attached below for use with API clients, code generators, or AI tools like Claude.
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