The REE-API (Reusable Execution Environment API) is envisioned as a programmatic interface to manage the specific execution environments encapsulated within Research Data Management Containers (RDMCs).

It allows researchers and automated systems to reliably provision, configure, and interact with the precise hardware and software contexts—such as operating systems, libraries, and frameworks—required to reproduce computational experiments. By standardizing access to these isolated environments, the API facilitates the seamless execution of software connected to specific research data. This ensures that complex computational artifacts remain functional and verifiable over time, directly supporting peer review processes and long-term reusability.

Ultimately, the REE-API plays a crucial role in implementing the FAIR data principles across the computer science community by making execution contexts interoperable and accessible. The RDMC creation workflow uses the REE-API to provide users with an interface for specifying an REE.