The data model
item AK-47 | Case Hardened def_index 7, paint_index 44 └ guide one Steam guide, one author └ system one property being ranked "Blue Gem", "Max Black" └ level one place in that ranking "top", "1", "2" └ seeds| level | what it is | example |
|---|---|---|
| item | identity: weapon, finish, (def_index, paint_index) |
AK-47 | Case Hardened, def 7 paint 44 |
| guide | one Steam guide, one author (or a listed collaborator) | “AK-47 Case Hardened | Blue Gem” by korenevskiy |
| system | one property the guide ranks | “AK-47 Blue Gem”, “Gold Gem Patterns” |
| level | one place in that system’s own ranking | top, 1, 2, 3 |
| seed | a pattern seed placed at that level, with the verbatim quote it came from | seed 387 at level 1 |
A tier guide is one system with many levels (Tier 1, Tier 2, …). A group guide is many systems with one level each (membership only — “these seeds have a gold gem”, no ranking within the group). Both are the same JSON shape, so nothing about a consumer needs to branch on which one a guide is: a system just has however many levels it has.
One item can have several guides, several systems
Section titled “One item can have several guides, several systems”An item’s guides aren’t merged into it or into each other — GET /v1/items/{def}/{paint} returns a menu: every guide that covers the
item, and every system inside each guide, with counts but no seeds. As of
2026-09-25, 60 of the 290 items that have any guide have more than one, so
this is normal, not an edge case. Fetch a specific guide (GET /v1/guides/{steam_id}) or a specific seed
(GET /v1/items/{def}/{paint}/seeds/{seed}) for the actual gradings.
Identity vs opinion
Section titled “Identity vs opinion”Item identity — def_index, paint_index, slug, weapon, finish — lives in
data/items and is never repeated inside a guide beyond what’s needed to
place the guide’s systems. A guide’s opinion — its systems, levels, and
gradings — lives entirely in data/guides and is never folded back into item
identity. The API reflects that split: /items/{def}/{paint} is identity
plus a guide menu; /guides/{steam_id} is one guide’s full opinion.