--- source_url: https://reep.football/get-started source_type: curated upstream_version: null crawled_at: 2026-10-09 --- # Reep register overview Reep is an open football identity register. It gives each player, coach, referee, team, competition, season, stage and match one stable Reep ID, and maps the IDs that data providers use (Opta, Transfermarkt, Wyscout, SkillCorner, StatsBomb, FotMob, API-Football and more) onto it. Any provider ID therefore maps to any other through the Reep ID. Written from reep.football on 2026-09-22. ## Two ways in: download or API Both serve the same weekly, stamped release. Pick by the job. | Question | Download (DuckDB or CSV) | API | |---|---|---| | Who can use it | Anyone | Named partners and evaluators with a key | | Access | No key, no sign-up | Bearer key, issued by hand on request | | Matching a whole dataset | Yes, SQL joins over every table | No, one lookup at a time, rate-limited | | One live lookup from an app | Only if you host the file | Yes, nothing to host | | Redirects after a merge | Join the redirects table yourself | Automatic: the survivor is returned | | What data it exposes | The whole release | The same release, nothing extra | Rule of thumb: for more than a few hundred records, or any recurring pipeline, download the file and join. Use the API for a single lookup from a running application. **API keys are not self-service.** There is no sign-up form. Email getintouch+nutmeg@withqwerty.com with your organisation, which group you are in (data partner, organisation evaluating the register, or production access) and what you are matching, and a key is issued by hand. A free evaluation key lasts 30 days and is extended on request. The download needs nothing from anyone. Sources: [get-started guide](https://reep.football/get-started), [API guide](https://reep.football/api). ## Using Reep through football-docs The `resolve_entity` tool maps an entity to its IDs at every provider. It looks up a provider ID with its namespace, a Reep ID, or a name, and uses the first source that is set up in the MCP server's environment: 1. `REEP_DUCKDB_PATH`: the path to a downloaded copy of the register. No key is needed, and lookups run locally. Each answer ends with the file's release stamp checked against the latest release, and says how to download the new file when it is out of date. 2. `REEP_API_KEY`: a Reep API key, issued by hand on request (email getintouch+nutmeg@withqwerty.com). There is no self-service sign-up. With neither set, the tool explains both options and returns the DuckDB query that answers the question from the download. What the answers say: - A merged Reep ID is followed to its survivor, and the answer names both IDs. This includes a provider ID whose bridge still names the merged ID. The survivor's provider IDs include any still attached to an ID merged into it, marked "(via merged )". - A withdrawn or withheld Reep ID (a tombstone in `redirects`, with an empty `to_id`) is reported as withdrawn or withheld, with the reason. It is not reported as unknown: it was published, and the ID is never reused. - Provider IDs that the provider no longer uses (`upstream_status` retired or removed, in a local register file) are marked, and listed after the live ones. They still resolve, so an old stored ID keeps working, but map to the unmarked ones. The Reep API does not return this field. - A provider ID looked up without a namespace gets a note: which namespace it matched in, or a warning when it matched in more than one. Pass the namespace (or the entity type) to be sure of the entity. Example MCP configuration: ```json { "mcpServers": { "football-docs": { "command": "npx", "args": ["-y", "football-docs"], "env": { "REEP_DUCKDB_PATH": "/path/to/reep-register-v1.duckdb" } } } } ``` ## Licence and scope The release, provider-ID bridges included, is dedicated to the public domain under CC0 1.0 and ships its own LICENSE.txt. It can be used for anything, including commercially, with no attribution required. Citing "Reep, the football identity register (reep.football)" with the release stamp is requested as a courtesy, not a condition. CC0 covers only rights Reep holds; it grants no rights in third-party source material. The public release deliberately excludes dates of birth, known minors and raw provider evidence. Players, coaches and referees are identity records: they carry provider bridges, names and aliases, but no career history, squad membership or appearance data. Published relationships are structural only: competition, season, stage and match, and which teams take part in which competition-seasons. Sources: [downloads and licence](https://reep.football/data/), [API reference](https://reep.football/docs). ## Releases and corrections A new release is cut weekly. Each carries a stamp such as `20260915T203651Z`, a manifest, per-file checksums and a machine-readable schema. The current manifest is always at https://data.reep.football/releases/latest.json, and every API response carries the stamp in the `X-Reep-Release-Stamp` header. A wrong mapping found while joining is worth reporting: submit the two provider IDs and what is believed to be right through [reep.football/submit](https://reep.football/submit). An unbridged ID is a coverage gap to report, not an error in the join; provider-to-provider coverage is never 100%.