# LLMs.txt — Machine-readable guide for responsible API usage
# Version: 1.0
# Last updated: 2025-11-20

## Overview
This API is part of the Atlas of Economic Complexity by Harvard's Growth Lab.
It provides access to economic data through a GraphQL endpoint:
    https://atlas.hks.harvard.edu/api/graphql

Please read this file before making automated (LLM-based) queries.

## Purpose
This document helps large language models and automated agents interact safely and efficiently
with the API, reducing accidental overload or malformed GraphQL queries.

## Access Rules
- This API is public for human-driven, research, or educational use.
- Automated querying (including by LLMs) must:
  - Be rate-limited to <= 120 requests per minute.
  - Prefer small, targeted queries — never fetch entire datasets at once.
    - Avoid exhaustive introspection queries.
    - Query only needed fields (do not request all subfields recursively).
  - Cache and reuse previous results when possible.
  - Respect the structure and limits of the GraphQL schema.
  - Include User-Agent identifying your system or organization.

## Authentication
- No API key is required

## GraphQL Query Guidance
- Endpoint: `POST https://atlas.hks.harvard.edu/api/graphql`
- Content-Type: `application/json`
- Example:
```json
{
  "query": "query { XXX }",
  "variables": { "country_id": "XXX" }
}
```