API Toys
Groove's API playground. Browse a curated catalog of public APIs, plug in a key (or skip for free ones), and start building in seconds.
The Problem
APIs are fun but the onboarding friction kills exploration. Reading docs, understanding auth, figuring out data structures, setting up boilerplate — by the time you're ready to build, the spark is gone.
You find a cool API, spend 20 minutes reading docs, another 10 setting up auth, write some fetch calls, parse the response, realize you misread a field name, go back to the docs... and by then you've lost interest. The gap between "that sounds cool" and "I'm building something" is too wide.
How It Works
Three steps:
- Browse the catalog — curated APIs organized by category (Space, Weather, Finance, Fun, Maps, Data)
- Enter your API key (or skip — many toys need no key at all)
- Hit Launch — Groove spawns a planner agent that reads the full API documentation, studies every endpoint and data structure, then asks what you'd like to build
The planner isn't just given a URL. It actively web-fetches the documentation, understands auth requirements, rate limits, available endpoints, and response schemas before talking to you. By the time you see the first message, the planner already knows the API inside and out.
The Catalog
| Name | Category | Auth | Difficulty | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NASA EONET | Space | API Key | Intermediate | Earth Observatory natural events — wildfires, storms, volcanoes |
| NASA APOD | Space | API Key | Beginner | Astronomy Picture of the Day with metadata |
| OpenWeatherMap | Weather | API Key | Beginner | Current weather, forecasts, historical data |
| CoinGecko | Finance | None | Beginner | Crypto prices, market data, exchange info |
| Alpha Vantage | Finance | API Key | Intermediate | Stock prices, forex, technical indicators |
| PokeAPI | Fun | None | Beginner | Complete Pokemon data — species, abilities, moves |
| Open Trivia DB | Fun | None | Beginner | Trivia questions across categories and difficulties |
| Nominatim | Maps | None | Beginner | OpenStreetMap geocoding — addresses to coordinates |
| JSONPlaceholder | Data | None | Beginner | Fake REST API for prototyping and testing |
| The Dog API | Fun | None | Beginner | Dog breeds, images, and breed data |
No key? No problem.
Six toys in the catalog need no API key at all — PokeAPI, CoinGecko, JSONPlaceholder, Open Trivia DB, Nominatim, and The Dog API. Click Launch and start building immediately.
Starter Ideas
Each toy ships with 3–4 project suggestions displayed as clickable chips in the launcher. Click one and the planner skips the "what do you want to build?" question and jumps straight into planning that project.
NASA EONET:
- Build a live earthquake map
- Track wildfire activity by region
- Create a natural disaster alert dashboard
PokeAPI:
- Build a Pokedex app
- Create a Pokemon battle simulator
- Design a Pokemon team builder
CoinGecko:
- Build a crypto portfolio tracker
- Create a price alert system
- Design a market comparison dashboard
Every toy has its own set of starters tailored to what the API does best. You can always ignore them and tell the planner your own idea.
Launching from the GUI
- Click the Toys icon in the left sidebar (gamepad icon)
- Browse by category or search by name
- Click any card to open the launcher
- Enter your API key if required (or skip for free APIs)
- Optionally click a starter idea
- Click Launch
- Groove creates a new team, spawns a planner, and drops you into the conversation
The planner has already studied the API by the time you see the first message. Ask it anything — "what endpoints are available?", "show me the data structure for events", or just tell it what you want to build.
INFO
Launching a toy creates a real Groove team. You get the full orchestration stack — the planner can recommend spawning builders when you're ready to code, and those builders inherit the API context automatically.
What Happens Behind the Scenes
When you click Launch:
- Your API key is encrypted and stored locally with AES-256-GCM — it never leaves your machine
- A new team is created named
Toy: <API Name>(e.g.,Toy: NASA EONET) - A planner agent spawns with instructions to web-fetch the API documentation URL
- The planner reads and analyzes the full docs — endpoints, auth, rate limits, data structures, response schemas
- The planner engages you with full context of what the API can do
From there, normal Groove workflow. The planner can recommend spawning builders when you're ready to code, coordinate scope across agents, and hand off API context through rotations.
TIP
Your API key is injected into the team's environment. Any builder the planner spawns can use it directly — no copy-pasting keys between agents.
Next Steps
- Teams — how teams work in Groove
- Agents & Roles — understanding agent roles and lifecycle
- Getting Started — new to Groove? Start here