Prototype datasets¶

Prototype datasets are early, experimental or one-off NEON data outside the standard product catalogue, each with its own DOI and version¹. Tools: neon_search_prototype_datasets and neon_get_prototype_dataset. Searching and reading a dataset's metadata need no token; since NEON Data API 0.12.0 (October 2026) listing or downloading its files does (see NEON API token).

• Search by query (title, abstract, descriptions, keywords), theme, science_team, site_code, start_year/end_year (overlap), file_type or is_published; facets show the exact upstream theme, team and file-type strings.
• Theme and team strings differ from the product catalogue (Land Cover and Processes, Aquatic Observational Systems (AOS)): theme matches a prefix and science_team a substring, so land cover and AOS both work.
• neon_get_prototype_dataset returns the dataset with its files (sizes, MD5s, signed URLs that expire in about 7 days) and locations by default; add descriptions, citations and related, or all. Without a token the default call leaves the files out and says so in notes; asking for files or all explicitly fails with auth_required.
• Download the files on stdio with neon_download_files(prototype_uuid=...) (needs a token); cite with neon_get_citation(prototype_uuid=...).