Is there a way to ask a CKAN repository only for changed datasets after a certain time?

Question

I am trying to harvest several CKAN repositories for their metadata, using CKAN REST API.

I wanted to only update the changed datasets (metadata only) in my repository, but I do not see a way to specify that I only want changes since my last update, as recently_changed_packages_activity_list does not have a timestamp as input.

Is this to be done with the offset parameter, and therefore assume that the order of the changed datasets is constant and the list gets appended to?

Answer 1

Do not use the REST API, it's old and deprecated. Use the Action API.

You can get the results you need using the package_search action, eg for datasets modified since 1st August 2026:

http://demo.ckan.org/api/action/package_search?fq=metadata_modified:[2016-08-01T00:00:00.000Z TO NOW]

For datasets created since then:

http://demo.ckan.org/api/action/package_search?fq=metadata_created:[2016-08-01T00:00:00.000Z TO NOW]

You can of course combine these with any other filters, pagination, sorting, etc. Check the docs to find more.