> For clean Markdown of any page, append .md to the page URL.
> For a complete documentation index, see https://docs.awardspring.com/conventions/llms.txt.
> For AI client integration (Claude Code, Cursor, etc.), connect to the MCP server at https://docs.awardspring.com/_mcp/server.

# Conventions

## Docs

- [Authentication](https://docs.awardspring.com/conventions/authentication.md): One secret, one institution, on every request.
- [IDs](https://docs.awardspring.com/conventions/i-ds.md): Every record has a 9-character ID. Send it back exactly as you got it.
- [Pagination](https://docs.awardspring.com/conventions/pagination.md): Every list returns one page and the cursor to reach the next.
- [Errors](https://docs.awardspring.com/conventions/errors.md): Branch on code, show message, never parse prose.
- [Idempotency](https://docs.awardspring.com/conventions/idempotency.md): Retry a write without creating it twice.
- [Rate limits](https://docs.awardspring.com/conventions/rate-limits.md): Read the budget off every response rather than guessing.
- [Dry runs](https://docs.awardspring.com/conventions/dry-runs.md): Run every validation rule, write nothing.