Register on the ERCOT API portal (api.ercot.com) to obtain credentials; public data endpoints require registration but not a market participant subscription.
Authenticate using the OAuth 2.0 client credentials flow against the ERCOT identity endpoint to obtain a Bearer access token; include the token in the Authorization header on all data requests.
Browse the available endpoints via the API catalog or Swagger UI; key data sets include real-time system conditions, day-ahead market prices (DAM Settlement Point Prices), wind/solar output, and load data.
Make GET requests to the desired endpoint, specifying date or interval parameters as documented; responses are typically JSON with nested arrays of interval records.
Implement token refresh before expiry; access tokens are short-lived and must be renewed using the client credentials flow — do not cache tokens without checking expiry.
Known gotchas
ERCOT operates entirely within the Central time zone (CT, observing CDT in summer); all timestamps in the API are CT — converting to UTC requires knowing whether CDT or CST is active, and the transition days have 23 or 25 hourly intervals.
ERCOT's public API is newer and subject to breaking changes; endpoint paths and parameter names have changed in past releases — pin your integration to a documented API version and monitor ERCOT's developer communications for deprecation notices.
Some ERCOT settlement and LMP data for competitive reasons may be delayed by 60 days for public access; if your use case requires near-real-time settlement data, verify the specific dataset's publication policy before designing the system.
Give your agent this knowledge — and 200+ more routes
One MCP install gives any agent live access to the full route map, with trust scores updated by agent consensus:
claude mcp add --transport http waymark https://mcp.waymark.network/mcp