Originality API

In this article:

• What the API is for
• Endpoints
• Authentication (OAuth 2.0)
• Core operations
• Supported file formats
• Rate limits
• Certification review before launching to production
• API documentation

What the API is for

The Originality API allows institutions to integrate Originality with systems beyond the standard LMS connectors. Using the API, you can connect to custom assessment platforms, institutional repositories or bespoke workflows.

The API supports the same core lifecycle as the LMS integrations: submitting a document, retrieving processing status, and retrieving the resulting report.

Endpoints

Originality API uses the following base URLs, depending on the environment:

Authentication (OAuth 2.0)

All authentication for Originality API happens using OAuth 2.0 credentials. You need to be an administrator in Originality to access the API settings. 

To generate API client credentials:

1. In Originality, go to Settings > API tab.
2. Click the + Create API client button.
3. Add the name to your credentials and choose the expiration – choose between a never-expiring client key or custom expiration date. Click Create & Continue.
4. You will now get your Client ID and Client Secret. Copy the Secret and store it securely – it is only shown once!
5. You can use your credentials to request an access token from the Originality API. Include the access token in the 'Authorization' header of your API requests.

Obtaining a bearer token – example

URL parameters:

Core operations

The API supports the following operations in Originality:

• Upload a document – Upload a document file for indexing and originality analysis. Accepts context in the form of JSON (e.g., assignment or student IDs). The document is analyzed for similarity and indexed to allow for future searches. Returns the ID of the uploaded document upon success.
• Search documents by context – Search previously uploaded documents by client-defined contexts. Returns a paginated list of documents along with similarity scores and viewer links. Useful for retrieving results in bulk for specific contexts (e.g., a particular assignment or student).
• Create a document group – Create a new document group by organizing related documents. Returns the ID of the created group. Documents can be added to the group during upload by specifying the groupID in the groupID field of POST /documents. 
• Retrieve a document by its Originality ID – Fetch detailed information about a specific document using its ID. Returns context, status, analysis results including similarity score, and a link to the full report viewer.
• Delete a document by its Originality ID – Permanently delete a document from the system by its unique ID. This removes both its analysis data and indexing references. Use with caution, as this action cannot be undone.

Supported file formats

You can upload documents to Originality via the API in the following file formats:

Rate limits

The API enforces fair-use limits on request rate and document throughput. The rate limits are defined per single set of credentials:

• 200 requests per second

• 5000 requests per minute

Certification review before launching to Production

All API integrations must pass a Certification Review with UNIwise before being used against production data. The Certification Review verifies that the integrating system handles authentication, retries, error states and report retrieval correctly, and that it respects the data handling expectations set out in the DPA.

Request a Certification Review to your Originality Customer Success Manager, and they will set up a review meeting.

API documentation

The documentation provides more details on the available endpoints, including payload examples and schemas. The Staging docs might include new features available for testing before they are deployed to Originality Production environment.