VFBquery API
VFB’s general-purpose query API — term information, search, connectivity, cross-references, FlyBase stocks and combinations, and the CATMAID pass-through — all as simple read-only JSON calls.
VFBquery is the query service behind most of what the VFB website itself does — the term information panel, the search box, the hierarchy browser, connectivity queries, stock lookups — exposed as a plain JSON HTTP API anyone can call directly. It’s the same recommended entry point as the CATMAID pass-through, which is one part of this service:
https://v3-cached.virtualflybrain.org/
Every endpoint is a read-only GET (the CATMAID pass-through also accepts POST — see its own page) returning JSON, with no API key or account needed.
Interactive docs and the full spec
As with the CATMAID pass-through, the endpoint list changes over time, so it isn’t duplicated in full here. The authoritative, always-current reference is the service itself:
- https://v3-cached.virtualflybrain.org/ — browsable docs for every endpoint, with a “Run” button to try a call directly.
https://v3-cached.virtualflybrain.org/docs.json— the same catalogue as machine-readable JSON.
What follows is a guided tour of the main groups of endpoints, to help you find the right one.
Term information
/get_term_info?id=FBbt_00003748— the full report behind the website’s term information panel for one VFB or FBbt id: metadata, synonyms, relationships, aligned images, cross-references, and the list of named queries that can be run from the term./run_query?id=FBbt_00003748&query_type=ListAllAvailableImages— runs one of the named query types listed in a term’s/get_term_inforesponse (e.g.ListAllAvailableImages), in the website’s own row format. Supportsoffset/limitpaging./get_hierarchy?id=FBbt_00005801&max_depth=1— the hierarchy browser’s tree: follows one relationship (part_oforsubclass_of) from a term, upward, downward, or both.
Search and identifiers
/search?query=medulla&limit=10— the same ranked free-text search the website uses.filter_types/exclude_types/boost_types/demote_typesnarrow or re-rank by type./facets— the vocabulary of type names/search’s type parameters accept./xref?id=VFB_001011rj— cross-reference lookup in either direction:id=for VFB id → external accessions, oraccession=(optionally withdb=) for external id → VFB./combine?expr=calyx AND lh&calyx=...&lh=...— set algebra (AND/OR/NOT/XOR and friends) over two or more named query results, compared on term id, with every step traced in the response.
Connectivity
/list_connectome_datasets— the connectome datasets/query_connectivitycan draw on./query_connectivity?upstream_type=LPLC2&downstream_type=giant fiber neuron— synaptic connectivity from one neuron type (or any subclass) to another, summed across the connectomes. Types can be given as labels, synonyms or FBbt ids.
FlyBase stocks and combinations
/resolve_entity?query=dpp— free-text resolver for a gene, allele or transgene name, returning candidate FlyBase feature ids./find_stocks?id=FBgn0000490— stock-centre holdings for a resolved feature id./resolve_combination?query=GMR37H08-ZpGAL4DBD in attP2— resolver for split-GAL4 hemidriver combinations, returning FBco ids./find_combo_publications?id=FBco0000052— publications using a resolved combination.
CATMAID pass-through
/catmaid, /catmaid/{instance} and /catmaid/{instance}/{command} proxy VFB’s hosted CATMAID instances, converting between VFB ids and native skeleton ids (skids) along the way. This is documented in full, with worked examples, on its own page: CATMAID API.
Service
/health— a plainOKliveness check./status— queue depth, cache hit/miss counts and worker utilisation.
force_refresh and caching
v3-cached.virtualflybrain.org caches responses for speed. Most endpoints that reflect fast-changing data accept force_refresh=true to bypass the cache for that one call — see the individual endpoint’s parameters on the interactive docs page.