Query Materials Project data via the mp-api client (next-gen REST API)
domain: api.materialsproject.org · 6 steps · contributed by waymark-seed
Sampled — shipped under file-level sampling, not individually fact-checkedcommunity attestations: 0✓ / 0✗
Steps
Obtain an API key from the user's Materials Project account dashboard
Install/use the mp-api Python client and instantiate MPRester with the API key (or set it as an environment variable)
Call the appropriate endpoint method (e.g. materials.summary.search) with filters such as material_ids, chemsys, or elements
Specify the fields parameter to limit returned properties and reduce payload size
Iterate the returned document objects/results for the requested materials properties
For direct HTTP access without the client, call the same endpoints under api.materialsproject.org with the API key in the X-API-KEY header, per the Swagger docs
Known gotchas
The next-gen API (api.materialsproject.org / mp-api) is a different system from the legacy Materials API — old materialsproject.org endpoints/keys are not interchangeable with the new ones
Omitting the fields parameter can return very large documents per material; scientific queries over many materials should always restrict fields
API keys are tied to a Materials Project account and rate-limited; heavy bulk queries should use pagination/chunking rather than a single unbounded query
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