Package Content

It is possible to generate a URL to fetch an arbitrary package's content (the .nupkg file) using the V3 API. The resource used for fetching package content is the PackageBaseAddress resource found in the service index. This resource also enables discovery of all versions of a package, listed or unlisted.

This resource is commonly referred to as either the "package base address" or as the "flat container".

Versioning

The following @type value is used:

Base URL

The base URL for the following APIs is the value of the @id property associated with the aforementioned resource @type value. In the following document, the placeholder base URL {@id} will be used. The base URL may change based on implementation or infrastructure changes within the package source so it must be dynamically fetched from the service index by the client software.

HTTP methods

All URLs found in the package content resource support the HTTP methods GET and HEAD.

Enumerate package versions

If the client knows a package ID and wants to discover which package versions the package source has available, the client can construct a predictable URL to enumerate all package versions. Every version listed in this list must be available for download. This list is meant to be a "directory listing" for the package content API mentioned below.

GET {@id}/{LOWER_ID}/index.json

Request parameters

The LOWER_ID value is the desired package ID lowercased using the rules implemented by .NET's System.String.ToLowerInvariant() method.

Response

If the package source has no versions of the provided package ID, a 404 status code is returned.

If the package source has one or more versions, a 200 status code is returned. The response body is a JSON object with the following property:

The strings in the versions array are all lowercased, normalized NuGet version strings. The version strings do not contain any SemVer 2.0.0 build metadata.

The intent is that the version strings found in this array can be used verbatim for the LOWER_VERSION tokens found in the following endpoints.

Sample request

GET https://api.nuget.org/v3-flatcontainer/owin/index.json

Make sure to fetch the base URL (https://api.nuget.org/v3-flatcontainer/ in this sample) from the service index as mentioned in the base URL section.

Sample response

{
  "versions": [
    "0.5.0",
    "0.7.0",
    "0.11.0",
    "0.12.0",
    "0.14.0",
    "1.0.0"
  ]
}

Download package content (.nupkg)

If the client knows a package ID and version and wants to download the package content, they only need to construct the following URL:

GET {@id}/{LOWER_ID}/{LOWER_VERSION}/{LOWER_ID}.{LOWER_VERSION}.nupkg

Request parameters

Both LOWER_ID and LOWER_VERSION are lowercased using the rules implemented by .NET's System.String.ToLowerInvariant() method.

The LOWER_VERSION is the desired package version normalized using NuGet's version normalization rules. This means that build metadata that is allowed by the SemVer 2.0.0 specification must be excluded in this case.

Response body

If the package exists on the package source, a 200 status code is returned. The response body will be the package content itself.

If the package does not exist on the package source, a 404 status code is returned.

Sample request

GET https://api.nuget.org/v3-flatcontainer/newtonsoft.json/9.0.1/newtonsoft.json.9.0.1.nupkg

Make sure to fetch the base URL (https://api.nuget.org/v3-flatcontainer/ in this sample) from the service index as mentioned in the base URL section.

Sample response

The binary stream that is the .nupkg for Newtonsoft.Json 9.0.1.

Download package manifest (.nuspec)

If the client knows a package ID and version and wants to download the package manifest, they only need to construct the following URL:

GET {@id}/{LOWER_ID}/{LOWER_VERSION}/{LOWER_ID}.nuspec

Request parameters

Both LOWER_ID and LOWER_VERSION are lowercased using the rules implemented by .NET's System.String.ToLowerInvariant() method.

The LOWER_VERSION is the desired package version normalized using NuGet's version normalization rules. This means that build metadata that is allowed by the SemVer 2.0.0 specification must be excluded in this case.

Response body

If the package exists on the package source, a 200 status code is returned. The response body will be the package manifest, which is the .nuspec contained in the corresponding .nupkg. The .nuspec is an XML document.

If the package does not exist on the package source, a 404 status code is returned.

Sample request

GET https://api.nuget.org/v3-flatcontainer/newtonsoft.json/6.0.4/newtonsoft.json.nuspec

Make sure to fetch the base URL (https://api.nuget.org/v3-flatcontainer/ in this sample) from the service index as mentioned in the base URL section.

Sample response

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<package xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/packaging/2010/07/nuspec.xsd">
  <metadata>
    <id>Newtonsoft.Json</id>
    <version>6.0.4</version>
    <title>Json.NET</title>
    <authors>James Newton-King</authors>
    <owners>James Newton-King</owners>
    <licenseUrl>https://raw.github.com/JamesNK/Newtonsoft.Json/master/LICENSE.md</licenseUrl>
    <projectUrl>http://james.newtonking.com/json</projectUrl>
    <requireLicenseAcceptance>false</requireLicenseAcceptance>
    <description>Json.NET is a popular high-performance JSON framework for .NET</description>
    <language>en-US</language>
    <tags>json</tags>
  </metadata>
</package>