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---
sidebar_position: 1
title: Introduction
---
# Badge API
The Badge API is a service scanning repositories for specific criteria and generating badges based on the results.
The badges are displayed in the [openCode software catalog](https://opencode.de/en/software) and indicate
the status of the repository in terms of **security**, **maintenance**, and **reuse**.
You can interact with the Badge API by submitting a repository URL and receiving a badge based on the criteria that the repository meets. The API will
provide you a detailed explanation of the result too.
## Official Badges on openCode
Learn about the different types of badges that are available on openCode and what they mean in the [concepts section](/concepts).
## Getting started
### Use the API
To use the Badge RESTful API, you can submit a repository URL to the API and receive badges based on the criteria that the repository meets.
See all available endpoints and how to use them in the [API documentation](/api-docs).
### Host the Badge API yourself
You can host the Badge API yourself. We provide a Helm chart to deploy the Badge API on a Kubernetes cluster ⎈.
Alternatively, you can run the API locally as container or bare metal. Learn more about how to deploy the Badge API in the [deployment guide](/deployment).
### Contribute to the Badge API