# NATO Phonetic Alphabet API
> NATO phonetic alphabet conversion as an API, computed locally and deterministically. The spell endpoint turns any text into the international radiotelephony spelling alphabet used by aviation, the military, emergency services and call centres — letters become Alfa, Bravo, Charlie and so on (case-insensitive), digits use the ICAO forms (Niner for nine), spaces are marked, and unknown characters pass through — so SOS becomes “Sierra Oscar Sierra” and ABC123 becomes “Alfa Bravo Charlie One Two Three”. The decode endpoint reverses it, turning a string of phonetic words back into the original characters and accepting common spelling variants (Alpha or Alfa, X-ray or Xray, Juliet or Juliett, Nine or Niner), flagging any words it does not recognise. Everything is computed locally and deterministically, so it is instant and private. Ideal for aviation, radio, telecom, call-centre, customer-support, accessibility and voice app developers, spelling-out and read-back tools, and IVR systems. Pure local computation — no key, no third-party service, instant. Live, nothing stored. 2 endpoints. This is the NATO/ICAO spelling alphabet; for Morse code use a Morse API.

## Authentication
All requests require your oanor API key in the `x-oanor-key` header. Get one at https://www.oanor.com/developer/keys.

```bash
curl -H "x-oanor-key: oanor_live_…" "https://api.oanor.com/phonetic-api/..."
```

## Pricing
- **Free** (Free) — 8,000 calls/Mo, 2 req/s
- **Starter** ($3/Mo) — 80,000 calls/Mo, 6 req/s
- **Pro** ($10/Mo) — 350,000 calls/Mo, 15 req/s
- **Mega** ($30/Mo) — 1,850,000 calls/Mo, 40 req/s

## Endpoints

### Phonetic

#### `GET /v1/decode` — Decode phonetic words

**Parameters:**
- `phonetic` (query, required, string) — Phonetic words Example: `Sierra Oscar Sierra`

**Example:**
```bash
curl -H "x-oanor-key: $KEY" \
  "https://api.oanor.com/phonetic-api/v1/decode?phonetic=Sierra+Oscar+Sierra"
```

**Response:**
```json
{
    "data": {
        "note": "Decodes phonetic words back to characters. Accepts common variants (Alpha/Alfa, X-ray/Xray, Juliet/Juliett, Nine/Niner).",
        "text": "SOS",
        "inputs": {
            "phonetic": "Sierra Oscar Sierra"
        }
    },
    "meta": {
        "timestamp": "2026-06-05T19:50:16.574Z",
        "request_id": "a36d9247-1871-4958-a7f8-d6f88fa48d66"
    },
    "status": "ok",
    "message": "Decode phonetic words",
    "success": true
}
```

#### `GET /v1/spell` — Spell text phonetically

**Parameters:**
- `text` (query, required, string) — Text to spell out Example: `SOS`

**Example:**
```bash
curl -H "x-oanor-key: $KEY" \
  "https://api.oanor.com/phonetic-api/v1/spell?text=SOS"
```

**Response:**
```json
{
    "data": {
        "note": "NATO phonetic alphabet (Alfa, Bravo, Charlie…) with digits (Niner for 9). Letters are case-insensitive; unknown characters pass through unchanged.",
        "words": [
            "Sierra",
            "Oscar",
            "Sierra"
        ],
        "inputs": {
            "text": "SOS"
        },
        "phonetic": "Sierra Oscar Sierra"
    },
    "meta": {
        "timestamp": "2026-06-05T19:50:16.663Z",
        "request_id": "f2969bf0-7274-4d88-882e-7c4de48aa632"
    },
    "status": "ok",
    "message": "Spell text phonetically",
    "success": true
}
```

### Meta

#### `GET /v1/meta` — Spec

**Example:**
```bash
curl -H "x-oanor-key: $KEY" \
  "https://api.oanor.com/phonetic-api/v1/meta"
```

**Response:**
```json
{
    "data": {
        "notes": "Case-insensitive. Digits use the ICAO forms (Niner for 9). Unknown characters pass through on spell and become '?' on decode.",
        "service": "phonetic-api",
        "alphabet": {
            "0": "Zero",
            "1": "One",
            "2": "Two",
            "3": "Three",
            "4": "Four",
            "5": "Five",
            "6": "Six",
            "7": "Seven",
            "8": "Eight",
            "9": "Niner",
            "A": "Alfa",
            "B": "Bravo",
            "C": "Charlie",
            "D": "Delta",
            "E": "Echo",
            "F": "Foxtrot",
            "G": "Golf",
            "H": "Hotel",
            "I": "India",
            "J": "Juliett",
            "K": "Kilo",
            "L": "Lima",
            "M": "Mike",
            "N": "November",
            "O": "Oscar",
            "P": "Papa",
            "Q": "Quebec",
            "R": "Romeo",
            "S": "Sierra",
            "T": "Tango",
            "U": "Uniform",
            "V": "Victor",
            "W": "Whiskey",
            "X": "Xray",
            "Y": "Yankee",
            "Z": "Zulu"
        },
        "endpoints": {
            "GET /v1/meta": "This document.",
            "GET /v1/spell": "Spell text (letters and digits) into NATO phonetic words.",
            "GET /v1/decode": "Decode phonetic words back into text."
        },
        "description": "NATO phonetic alphabet: spell text into phonetic words and decode it bac
…(truncated, see openapi.json for full schema)
```


---
Marketplace page: https://www.oanor.com/api/phonetic-api
OpenAPI spec: https://www.oanor.com/api/phonetic-api/openapi.json