Person API

The Person API provides information about people at the Universities of Wisconsin.

Contact Information: Get a person's email addresses, phone numbers, and addresses.

Identifier Crosswalk: Look up a person by one identifier to find their other identifiers like PVI, Net ID, Wiscard ID, and more.

Tracking Changes: Create a webhook to receive notifications when a person's information changes.

Getting Started

Getting Access

Register your application to use the Person API. Follow these instructions to get access: Getting Access to the Person API

API Specification

An interactive and detailed API specification is available in the UW Developer Portal.

Using the Person API

Information on using the Person API, including clients and examples: Using the Person API

Postman Collection

Instructions for how to use the Person API with Postman, a popular tool for using and testing APIs: Person API Postman Collection

Tutorials

Follow these video tutorials to learn how to use the Person API: Person API Tutorials

Environments

Production Data

Use https://api.wisc.edu/ as the base URL of your API requests to get production data.

Mock Data

If you want to try out the Person API before requesting access, check out the Mock Person API.

Test Data

The Test Person API pulls data from the Integrated Test Environment (ITE). If your application performs testing in ITE, you can use the Test Person API to access that data. To use the Test Person API, you must use the base URL https://test.api.wisc.edu/ for your requests.

Core Concepts and Features

Filter Query Parameter

Information about the Person API implementation of the filter query parameter: Person API Filter Query Parameter

Names

Information about the names available in the Person API: Names in the Person API

Exports

Information on exporting bulk person data: Person API Exports

Webhooks

Instructions for subscribing to and using Person API webhooks: Person API Webhooks

Governance and Compliance

FERPA Compliance and the Person API

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) is a federal law that safeguards the privacy of student education records. The Person API is subject to FERPA restrictions to ensure compliance with these privacy protections. As a result, applications must obtain approval to access data pertaining to students who have elected to restrict access to their information under FERPA. If an application does not have access to FERPA protected students, those students will not be visible in the API. This includes student employees. All student job data will be hidden if your application does not have access to FERPA protected students. FERPA access can be requested during the Person API request process. If you need to add FERPA access to an existing application, please submit a new request form: Getting Access to the Person API

Developer Guidelines

Guidelines for proper use of the Person API, including quota information, information on changes to the Person API, and recommendations for testing: Person API Guidelines

Operations and Support

Release Notes

Release notes for the Person API: Person API Release Notes

Maintenance and Operations

Details on the Maintenance and Operations of the Person API: Person API Operations

Support

Ask questions and get help and technical support for the Person API: Person API Support

Keywords:
person-api 
Doc ID:
159390
Owned by:
Jared K. in DoIT Enterprise Integration - API Team
Created:
2026-03-02
Updated:
2026-03-02
Sites:
DoIT Enterprise Integration - API Team