> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.thebuoy.app/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Find nearest buoy to coordinates > Find the closest active buoy(s) to a given latitude and longitude within a maximum distance. Use the `limit` parameter to control how many results are returned (default: 1, max: 20). ## OpenAPI ````yaml /api-reference/openapi.json get /buoys/nearest openapi: 3.0.3 info: title: The Buoy API version: 2.0.0 description: >- **The Buoy API** — programmatic access to ocean wave buoys on The Surf Kit platform. All operations are **read-only** (`GET`). Data includes live and historical readings, geographic filters, chart time series, and **`GET /conditions`** (combined forecast, buoy reading, and tide for a point). ## Authentication Pass your API key in the `Authorization` header: ``` Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY ``` `GET /buoys/search` and `GET /buoys/nearest` are public (no key required). ## Rate limiting Responses include `X-RateLimit-*` headers. Exceeding your hourly quota returns `429 Too Many Requests`. contact: name: API Support email: thomas@thebuoy.app license: name: Proprietary servers: - url: https://api.thebuoy.app/v2 description: Production server (V2) - url: http://localhost:3000/api/v2 description: Development server (V2) security: - ApiKeyAuth: [] tags: - name: Buoys description: Real-time ocean buoy data - name: Satellite Passes description: >- Satellite altimeter passes over virtual buoys, and the missions behind them - name: Conditions description: All-in-one conditions endpoint paths: /buoys/nearest: get: tags: - Buoys summary: Find nearest buoy to coordinates description: > Find the closest active buoy(s) to a given latitude and longitude within a maximum distance. Use the `limit` parameter to control how many results are returned (default: 1, max: 20). operationId: nearestBuoy parameters: - name: lat in: query required: true description: Latitude in decimal degrees (-90 to 90) schema: type: number format: float minimum: -90 maximum: 90 example: 43.5 - name: lng in: query required: true description: Longitude in decimal degrees (-180 to 180) schema: type: number format: float minimum: -180 maximum: 180 example: -1.5 - name: max_distance in: query description: 'Maximum search radius in kilometers (default: 150)' schema: type: number format: float default: 150 minimum: 0 example: 150 - name: limit in: query description: 'Maximum number of results to return (default: 1, max: 20)' schema: type: integer default: 1 minimum: 1 maximum: 20 example: 5 responses: '200': description: Successful response with nearest buoy(s) headers: X-RateLimit-Limit: $ref: '#/components/headers/XRateLimitLimit' X-RateLimit-Remaining: $ref: '#/components/headers/XRateLimitRemaining' X-RateLimit-Reset: $ref: '#/components/headers/XRateLimitReset' content: application/json: schema: oneOf: - type: object description: Response when limit=1 (single buoy) properties: status: type: string example: success data: type: object properties: buoy: $ref: '#/components/schemas/BuoyWithDistance' - type: object description: Response when limit>1 (array of buoys) properties: status: type: string example: success data: type: object properties: buoys: type: array items: $ref: '#/components/schemas/BuoyWithDistance' count: type: integer description: Number of buoys returned examples: single_buoy: summary: Single buoy (limit=1 or default) value: status: success data: buoy: id: 10 name: Anglet lat: 43.4832 lng: -1.5586 source: Candhis source_identifier: '64002' distance_km: 2.5 meta: timestamp: '2025-11-01T10:00:00Z' multiple_buoys: summary: Multiple buoys (limit>1) value: status: success data: buoys: - id: 10 name: Anglet lat: 43.4832 lng: -1.5586 source: Candhis source_identifier: '64002' distance_km: 2.5 - id: 11 name: Biarritz lat: 43.48 lng: -1.56 source: Candhis source_identifier: '64003' distance_km: 5.8 count: 2 meta: timestamp: '2025-11-01T10:00:00Z' '400': $ref: '#/components/responses/BadRequest' description: Missing or invalid lat/lng parameters '401': $ref: '#/components/responses/Unauthorized' '404': $ref: '#/components/responses/NotFound' description: No buoy found within max_distance '429': $ref: '#/components/responses/RateLimitExceeded' security: - ApiKeyAuth: [] components: headers: XRateLimitLimit: schema: type: integer description: Maximum requests allowed per hour example: 1000 description: Maximum requests allowed per hour XRateLimitRemaining: schema: type: integer description: Requests remaining in current hour example: 987 description: Requests remaining in current hour XRateLimitReset: schema: type: integer description: Unix timestamp when rate limit resets example: 1735326000 description: Unix timestamp when rate limit resets schemas: BuoyWithDistance: type: object properties: id: type: integer name: type: string lat: type: number format: float lng: type: number format: float source: type: string description: Data source (e.g., "météo-france", "noaa") source_identifier: type: string description: Source-specific identifier distance_km: type: number format: float description: Distance from query coordinates in kilometers last_reading: type: object nullable: true properties: significient_height: type: number format: float period: type: number format: float time: type: string format: date-time ErrorResponse: type: object description: Standardized error response format for V2 API properties: error: type: string description: >- Error code (e.g., "unauthorized", "bad_request", "resource_not_found") example: unauthorized message: type: string description: Human-readable error message example: Invalid API key details: type: object description: Additional error details (optional, varies by error type) responses: BadRequest: description: Bad request (400 Bad Request) content: application/json: schema: $ref: '#/components/schemas/ErrorResponse' example: error: bad_request message: Search term must be at least 2 characters timestamp: '2025-12-27T14:30:00Z' request_id: 550e8400-e29b-41d4-a716-446655440000 Unauthorized: description: Invalid or missing API key (401 Unauthorized) content: application/json: schema: $ref: '#/components/schemas/ErrorResponse' example: error: unauthorized message: Invalid API key timestamp: '2025-12-27T14:30:00Z' request_id: 550e8400-e29b-41d4-a716-446655440000 NotFound: description: Resource not found (404 Not Found) content: application/json: schema: $ref: '#/components/schemas/ErrorResponse' example: error: resource_not_found message: Couldn't find Spot with 'id'=999 timestamp: '2025-12-27T14:30:00Z' request_id: 550e8400-e29b-41d4-a716-446655440000 RateLimitExceeded: description: Rate limit exceeded (429 Too Many Requests) headers: X-RateLimit-Limit: schema: type: integer description: Maximum requests allowed per hour example: 1000 X-RateLimit-Remaining: schema: type: integer description: Requests remaining in current hour example: 0 X-RateLimit-Reset: schema: type: integer description: Unix timestamp when rate limit resets (top of next hour) example: 1735326000 Retry-After: schema: type: integer description: Seconds to wait before retrying example: 3600 content: application/json: schema: $ref: '#/components/schemas/ErrorResponse' example: error: rate_limit_exceeded message: You have exceeded 1000 requests per hour timestamp: '2025-12-27T14:30:00Z' request_id: 550e8400-e29b-41d4-a716-446655440000 securitySchemes: ApiKeyAuth: type: http scheme: bearer bearerFormat: API Key description: > API key authentication. Pass your API key as a Bearer token in the Authorization header. Format: `Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY` Alternative: Pass as query parameter `?api_key=YOUR_API_KEY` **Security:** API keys are stored as BCrypt hashes (never plain text). Only the hash is stored in the database. ````