What a snapshot contains
Getting the files
Snapshot files sit behind the same free account as everything else. A signed-in browser downloads them by clicking; a program sends the samebelief_live_ key it uses for the API, as an Authorization header on the file URL.
manifest.json carries a SHA-256 for every file, so a download can be verified before it is trusted. Verifying it is the difference between a reproducible dataset and a file you happen to have.
A request with no session and no key returns 401 with a coded JSON body naming the account requirement, not an HTML page – a pandas.read_csv against a gated URL fails as an authentication error rather than a parse error. Browser navigation is redirected to the data page instead, with the file you asked for named on arrival.
/data/latest/ always holds the most recent snapshot. /data/archive/{date}/ holds each earlier one at its own permanent path.
Citing a snapshot
Cite the dated snapshot, not the live page: it is the version that will still say what you said it said.- Attribution line:
Source: Belief Systems (beliefsystems.xyz) - Cite the snapshot date from
manifest.json, and link its archive page rather than the file CITATION.cffin each bundle carries the same record in machine-readable form- Terms are in
LICENSE.md: CC BY-NC 4.0 with an editorial-use grant
/data/archive/{date} will keep resolving, without an account, for anyone checking a footnote – the page describes the snapshot, lists its files, and carries the checksums. The files themselves need the free account; the record of what they contained does not.
Next
Data API
Latest levels and the trailing window, on the same key.
Data boundaries
What each lane carries, and what a license adds.
Index methodology
How the levels in these files are computed.