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Pokeapi

The Pokémon API

From PokeAPI·Updated June 24, 2026·View on GitHub·

**pokeapi** is a The Pokémon API The project is written primarily in Python, distributed under the BSD 3-Clause "New" or "Revised" License license, first published in 2014. It has gained significant community traction with 5,252 stars and 1,135 forks on GitHub. Key topics include: api, beginner-friendly, graphql, hacktoberfest, pokeapi.

Latest release: 2.9.0
January 31, 2025View Changelog →
<br/> <div align="center"> <img height="200" src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/PokeAPI/media/master/logo/pokeapi.svg?sanitize=true" alt="PokeAPI">

build status
data status
deploy status
License
Backers on Open Collective
Sponsors on Open Collective

<br/> </div> <br/>

A RESTful API for Pokémon - pokeapi.co

Beta GraphQL support is rolling out! Check out the GraphQL paragraph for more info.

Table of Contents

Setup <a id="setup"></a>   pyVersion313

  • Download this source code into a working directory, be sure to use the flag --recurse-submodules to clone also our submodules.

  • Install the requirements using pip:

    sh
    make install # This will install all the required packages and libraries for using PokeAPI
  • Set up the local development environment using the following command:

    sh
    make setup
  • Run the server on port 8000 using the following command:

    sh
    make serve

Database setup

To build or rebuild the database by applying any CSV file update, run

sh
make build-db

Visit localhost:8000/api/v2/ to see the running API!

Each time the build-db script is run, it will iterate over each table in the database, wipe it, and rewrite each row using the data found in data/v2/csv.

If you ever need to wipe the database use this command:

sh
make wipe-sqlite-db

If the database schema has changed, generate any outstanding migrations and apply them

sh
make make-migrations make migrate

Run make help to see all tasks.

Docker and Compose <a id="docker-and-compose"></a>   docker hub

There is also a multi-container setup, managed by Docker Compose V2. This setup allows you to deploy a production-like environment, with separate containers for each service, and is recommended if you need to simply spin up PokéAPI.

Start everything by

sh
make docker-setup

If you don't have make on your machine you can use the following commands

sh
docker compose up -d docker compose exec -T app python manage.py migrate --settings=config.docker-compose docker compose exec -T app sh -c 'echo "from data.v2.build import build_all; build_all()" | python manage.py shell --settings=config.docker-compose'

Browse localhost/api/v2/ or localhost/api/v2/pokemon/bulbasaur/ on port 80.

To rebuild the database and apply any CSV file updates, run

sh
make docker-build-db

If the database schema has changed, generate the migrations and apply those

sh
make docker-make-migrations make docker-migrate

GraphQL <a id="graphql"></a>   <a href="https://github.com/hasura/graphql-engine"><img height="29px" src="https://graphql-engine-cdn.hasura.io/img/powered_by_hasura_blue.svg"/></a>

When you start PokéAPI with the above Docker Compose setup, an Hasura Engine server is started as well. It's possible to track all the PokeAPI tables and foreign keys by simply

sh
# hasura cli needs to be installed and available in your $PATH: https://hasura.io/docs/latest/graphql/core/hasura-cli/install-hasura-cli.html # hasura cli's version has to greater than v2.48.1 make hasura-apply

When finished browse http://localhost:8080 and you will find the admin console. The GraphQL endpoint will be hosted at http://localhost:8080/v1/graphql.

A free public GraphiQL console is browsable at the address https://beta.pokeapi.co/graphql/console/. The relative GraphQL endpoint is accessible at https://beta.pokeapi.co/graphql/v1beta

A set of examples is provided in the directory /graphql/examples of this repository.

Kubernetes <a id="kubernetes"></a>   Build Docker image and create k8s with it

Kustomize files are provided in the folder https://github.com/PokeAPI/pokeapi/tree/master/Resources/k8s/kustomize/base/. Create and change your secrets:

sh
cp Resources/k8s/kustomize/base/secrets/postgres.env.sample Resources/k8s/kustomize/base/secrets/postgres.env cp Resources/k8s/kustomize/base/secrets/graphql.env.sample Resources/k8s/kustomize/base/secrets/graphql.env cp Resources/k8s/kustomize/base/config/pokeapi.env.sample Resources/k8s/kustomize/base/config/pokeapi.env # Edit the newly created files

Configure kubectl to point to a cluster and then run the following commands to start a PokéAPI service.

sh
kubectl apply -k Resources/k8s/kustomize/base/ kubectl config set-context --current --namespace pokeapi # (Optional) Set pokeapi ns as the working ns # Wait for the cluster to spin up kubectl exec --namespace pokeapi deployment/pokeapi -- python manage.py migrate --settings=config.docker-compose # Migrate the DB kubectl exec --namespace pokeapi deployment/pokeapi -- sh -c 'echo "from data.v2.build import build_all; build_all()" | python manage.py shell --settings=config.docker-compose' # Build the db kubectl wait --namespace pokeapi --timeout=120s --for=condition=complete job/load-graphql # Wait for Graphql configuration job to finish

This k8s setup creates all k8s resources inside the Namespace pokeapi, run kubectl delete namespace pokeapi to delete them. It also creates a Service of type LoadBalancer which is exposed on port 80 and 443. Data is persisted on 12Gi of ReadWriteOnce volumes.

Wrappers

Official wrapperRepositoryFeatures
Node server-sidePokeAPI/pokedex-promise-v2Auto caching
Browser client-sidePokeAPI/pokeapi-js-wrapperAuto caching, Image caching
Java/KotlinPokeAPI/pokekotlin
Python 2/3PokeAPI/pokepyAuto caching
Python 3PokeAPI/pokebaseAuto caching, Image caching
WrapperRepositoryFeatures
.Net Standardmtrdp642/PokeApiNetAuto caching
Dartprathanbomb/pokedart
Gomtslzr/pokeapi-goAuto caching
GoJoshGuarino/PokeGoAuto caching
GodotUbeJelly/PokeDot
HaxeKinoCreatesGames/poke-apiAuto caching
PHPlmerotta/phpokeapiAuto caching, lazy loading
PowerShellCelerium/PokeAPI-PowerShellWrapper
Pythonbeastmatser/aiopokeapiAuto caching, asynchronous
Rubyrdavid1099/poke-api-v2
Rustlunik1/pokerustAuto caching
Scalajuliano/pokeapi-scalaAuto caching
Spring Bootdlfigueira/spring-pokeapiAuto caching
Swiftkinkofer/PokemonAPI
Typescript server-side/client-sideGabb-c/Pokenode-tsAuto caching

Donations

Help to keep PokéAPI running! If you're using PokéAPI as a teaching resource or for a project, consider sending us a donation to help keep the service up. We get 1+ billion requests a month!

Thank you to all our backers! Become a backer

<a href="https://opencollective.com/pokeapi#backers" target="_blank"><img src="https://opencollective.com/pokeapi/backers.svg?width=890"></a>

Join Us On Slack!

Warning
Currently no maintainer has enough free time to support the community on Slack. Our Slack is in an unmaintained status.

Have a question or just want to discuss new ideas and improvements? Hit us up on Slack. Consider talking with us here before creating a new issue.
This way we can keep issues here a bit more organized and helpful in the long run. Be excellent to each other :smile:

Sign up easily!

Once you've signed up visit PokéAPI on Slack

Contributing

This project exists thanks to all the people who contribute

<a href="graphs/contributors"><img src="https://opencollective.com/pokeapi/contributors.svg?width=890" /></a>

All contributions are welcome: bug fixes, data contributions, and recommendations.

Please see the issues on GitHub before you submit a pull request or raise an issue, someone else might have beat you to it.

To contribute to this repository:

  • Fork the project to your own GitHub profile

  • Download the forked project using git clone:

    sh
    git clone --recurse-submodules git@github.com:<YOUR_USERNAME>/pokeapi.git
  • Create a new branch with a descriptive name:

    sh
    git checkout -b my_new_branch
  • Write some code, fix something, and add a test to prove that it works. No pull request will be accepted without tests passing, or without new tests if new features are added.

  • Commit your code and push it to GitHub

  • Open a new pull request and describe the changes you have made.

  • We'll accept your changes after review.

Simple!

Contributors

Showing top 12 contributors by commit count.

View all contributors on GitHub →

This article is auto-generated from PokeAPI/pokeapi via the GitHub API.Last fetched: 6/24/2026