DEVELOPER

wxdecoder API

Free, no-key JSON endpoints for decoded aviation weather and FAA status, the same data this site runs on. Open for reasonable personal, educational, and non-commercial use. Please read the limits and attribution below.

GETTING STARTED

Using the API

No API key or sign-up. Base URL: https://wxdecoder.com. All responses are JSON unless noted. Identifiers accept ICAO or IATA and are case-insensitive.

The /api index is machine-readable too. Request it with an Accept header to get JSON:

curl -H "accept: application/json" https://wxdecoder.com/api

ENDPOINTS

Endpoints

GET /api/wx/:icao

Live decoded METAR and TAF for a station, including flight category, wind, visibility, ceiling, hazards, and a plain-English summary. Edge-cached ~30s.

https://wxdecoder.com/api/wx/KDFW

POST /api/decode

Decode a raw METAR or TAF string. Send JSON: {"raw": "KDFW 102153Z 18020G28KT ..."}.

curl -X POST https://wxdecoder.com/api/decode -H "content-type: application/json" -d '{"raw":"KDFW 102153Z 18020G28KT 10SM SCT055 34/21 A2979"}'

GET /api/airports/:ident/weather

Merged airport weather: METAR/TAF (primary) fused with the National Weather Service forecast, active alerts, and pilot notes.

https://wxdecoder.com/api/airports/kdfw/weather

GET /api/airports/:ident/weather/forecast

Daily and hourly NWS forecast for an airport (US coverage).

https://wxdecoder.com/api/airports/kdfw/weather/forecast

GET /api/airports/:ident/weather/alerts

Active NWS weather alerts for an airport.

https://wxdecoder.com/api/airports/kdfw/weather/alerts

GET /api/airports/:ident/faa-status

FAA operational status (ground stops, delays, closures) for a US airport.

https://wxdecoder.com/api/airports/kdfw/faa-status

GET /api/faa/nas-status

National FAA status: every reported ground stop, ground delay program, and airport closure.

https://wxdecoder.com/api/faa/nas-status

GET /api/airports/search?q=&limit=

Type-ahead airport search by identifier, IATA, name, or city.

https://wxdecoder.com/api/airports/search?q=dallas&limit=10

GET /api/airports/resolve?q=

Resolve any code (ICAO, IATA, local) to its canonical ident.

https://wxdecoder.com/api/airports/resolve?q=DFW

GET /airports/:ident.md

Machine-readable Markdown of an airport’s decoded METAR and TAF, handy for LLM context.

https://wxdecoder.com/airports/kdfw.md

FAIR USE

Limits and fair use

Cache responses and honor our Cache-Control headers. Do not poll faster than the data changes: live weather updates about every 30 seconds, forecasts every several minutes, and FAA status about once a minute.
Rate-limit yourself. A few requests per second is fine for an app or site; bulk crawling, scraping every airport, or hammering an endpoint is not. Cache and reuse.
Do not redistribute the raw feed in bulk or present it as your own dataset.
No guarantees. Endpoints, response shapes, availability, and freshness can change without notice. There is no SLA. Build in graceful failure.
Not an official briefing. This data is for education and situational awareness only. Do not present it as an official weather briefing or as a go/no-go authority.

REQUIRED

Attribution and credits

If you use this data, you must credit wxdecoder.com with a visible link, and credit the underlying sources: the NOAA/NWS Aviation Weather Center, the National Weather Service, and the FAA. Suggested credit:

Weather data via wxdecoder.com (https://wxdecoder.com).
Sources: NOAA/NWS Aviation Weather Center, National Weather Service, and the FAA.

As HTML:

<a href="https://wxdecoder.com">Weather data via wxdecoder.com</a>

IMPORTANT

Commercial use

Commercial use is prohibited without contacting us first. That includes use in a paid product or service, ad-supported apps or sites, resale of the data, or any high-volume integration. We are glad to work with you, reach out and we will sort out terms.

Contact: sponsors@wxdecoder.com

wxdecoder.com is for education and situational awareness only. It is not an official weather briefing source. Always verify weather with approved aviation sources before flight.