Lightcast APIs provide programmatic access to structured skills data through our Classification API. We offer access to our industry-standard Skills Taxonomy so you can explore, test use cases, and begin building with standardized skills data.

Access Options

Lightcast provides two ways to access Skills:

Public-Good Access (Free)

Free access is available for nonprofit organizations and public-good initiatives, subject to approval.

This option is designed to support ecosystem adoption and enable organizations working toward workforce, education, and community impact goals.

Apply here: https://lightcast.io/open-skills/access

Commercial Access

For for-profit or production use cases, a commercial license is required.

You can request access using the same form, and your request will be routed to a Lightcast representative. Our team will work with you to understand your use case and can provide time-bound, pro-rated test access to help you evaluate the APIs before moving to a full license.

Apply here: https://lightcast.io/open-skills/access

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What You Can Do with API Access

All functionality is delivered through the Lightcast Classification API, using a limited-access scope designed for exploration.

View API documentation.

Explore the Skills Taxonomy

• Query 33,000+ standardized skills
• Access structured metadata including:
  • Unique skill IDs
  • Skill names and descriptions
  • Types, categories, and hierarchy
• Apply a consistent skills language across your systems

Extract Skills from Text (Limited in Free Tier)

• Submit text such as:
  • Job descriptions
  • Social profiles
  • Course content
• Receive standardized skill data mapped to the taxonomy
• Public-good (free) access includes up to 50 skill extraction requests per month
• Validate use cases like:
  • Profile enrichment
  • Job enrichment
  • Skill extraction

Build and Test Applications

• Enrich and standardize skill data using taxonomy metadata
• Leverage skill descriptions, categories, and hierarchy
• Improve consistency, searchability, and structure across your data

Explore Taxonomy Structure & Updates

• Review how skills are organized
• Track updates to the taxonomy over time
• Understand how standardized data supports analytics and reporting

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Usage Limits (Public-Good Access)

Public-good access is designed for exploration and early-stage development:

• Includes up to 50 skill extraction API calls per month
• Delivered via a limited-access API scope (lightcast_open_free)
• Suitable for testing and small-scale use cases
• Not intended for production-scale workloads

What’s Included

• Access to the Lightcast Skills Taxonomy via the Classification API
• Standardized skills with machine-readable IDs
• Skill hierarchy (Skill → Subcategory → Category)
• Skill metadata (descriptions, types, categories)
• Limited skill extraction functionality

What’s Not Included

Public-good (free) access focuses on foundational skills functionality. It does not include:

• High-volume or production-scale API usage
• Access to other taxonomies (e.g., job titles, occupations)
• Cross-dataset relationships or advanced insights
• Full API capabilities available in commercial offerings

How to Get Started

• Apply for access using the form below
• Your request will be reviewed based on your organization and use case
• If approved, you’ll receive API credentials (Client ID and Client Secret)
• Begin making API calls using the documentation and examples

Apply for Access: https://lightcast.io/open-skills/access

Ways to Explore our APIs

When to Use Public-Good Access

This access tier is ideal if you are:

• A nonprofit or public-sector organization
• Building workforce, education, or community-focused solutions
• Exploring skills-based use cases before scaling
• Testing and validating early-stage applications

Need More?

If your use case requires:

• Higher API limits
• Production-scale deployment
• Access to additional datasets or advanced capabilities
• Contact us to learn more about commercial access options.

Additional Resources

• Visit our FAQs to see answers to commonly asked questions.
• If you need assistance, please reach out and our team will be happy to help.