Last updated: 27 Jul 2026

fact-check-manager: API Reference

Fact check manager has a readily accessible API for use from other applications within the govuk ecosystem. Here is the API reference for quick lookup.

New Request

For when a document does not exist inside Fact Check Manager and needs to be created.

Field	Type	Description	Note
source_app	string	App name e.g. publisher	Becomes part of the URL for the request
source_id	uuid	UUID representing the original content source	Becomes part of the URL for the request
requester_name	string	Name of the user making the fact check request
requester_email	string	Email of the user making the fact check request
deadline	datetime	The deadline for the fact check request
reason_for_change	string	The given reason for the changes made between the old and new version
zendesk_number	string	Zendesk ticket number to link to the request
recipients		TODO:
current_content	json	A hash of current content to be compared in HTML format	See [hash format](#Hash Format) below
previous_content	json	A hash of previous content to be compared in HTML format	Optional, See [hash format](#Hash Format) below
source_url	string	URL for source content	Optional
source_title	string	Title for source content	Optional
draft_content_id	uuid	If a draft document exists, this is for its content ID	Optional
draft_auth_bypass_id	uuid	Used for when a draft should be linkable without requiring login to signon	Optional
draft_slug	string	If a draft document exists, this is for its slug e.g. /draft-document	Optional

Update Request

An update request is explicitly for updating an existing fact check with the newest version of the document and is thus a much smaller payload

Field	Type	Note
current_content	A hash of current content to be compared in HTML format	See [hash format](#Hash Format) below
source_title	Title for source content	Optional
draft_auth_bypass_id	Used for when a draft should be linkable without requiring login to signon	Optional
draft_slug	If a draft document exists, this is for its slug e.g. /draft-document	Optional

Hash Format

Both current_content and previous_content use a hash of id: content pairs to allow for easy comparison of complicated documents. For context, an example current_content is below:

# { id: { heading: content } }
{
  ident_1: {
    "First Heading": "Content within first part <b>with html formatting</b>"
  }, 
  part_2: {
    "And another heading": "Content for `And another heading` portion with HTML formatting"
  }
}

The behaviour of Fact Check Manager will depend on the contents of this hash, and that of the previous_content hash.

• previous_content does not have to be supplied. This will mark the whole document as new and not render any comparison highlighting in the the diff view.

• A document with one id in both hashes is considered a single part document and rendered as such, whereas a document with multiple id fields in either hash is considered a multi-part. This also applies if the id is different between the two single entry hashes.

• We use the id to determine matching parts of a document to compare against. This allows the ordering of the parts to change while still being valid for comparison.

• id can be any String value. The content of the heading: content pair does not matter, however in order for a part to be compared to a previous entry, the ID must match in both previous_ and current_content hashes.

• If an ID exists only in previous_content, FCM will mark the whole part as removed. If an ID exists only in current_content, the whole part will be marked as added.

Note: The heading is effectively the title of a given chapter in a multipart document. While a heading must be supplied in the hash, if there is only one entry in both previous_ and current_content, the heading is not rendered in FCM. If there are more, the heading is rendered as parts of the document are separated in the diff view.