Live federal jobs vs historical research data¶
Technical version: Search (BYO-key) vs Historic JOA ingestion strategy
Two different jobs for two different data feeds¶
| Your need | Use |
|---|---|
| “What is open for me this week?” | USAJOBS Search with your free API key |
| Demos, offline browse, example past roles, MOS research | Historic bulk data, clearly labeled non-applyable |
Historic lag of days to weeks can be fine for practice. It is not fine if the UI pretends a historic row is a live application target.
Connect flow (honest)¶
Same shape as other integrations: open the official key request form, fill it, paste the key into a local vault. First search uses your skills/series/location and hiring-path chips as metadata, not as silent re-rankers. Apply is a deep link out — WorkWingman never submits and never touches login.gov.
Without a key you can still explore historical announcements for research. You cannot honestly start a live federal application path from those rows alone.
Go / no-go for product claims¶
- JSON Search discovery: go
- Historic as live applyable discovery: no-go
- Blocking first run until a USAJOBS key exists: no-go (kills “value after install”)
- Framing the key step like other connections with multi-minute honesty: go