API reference
The Wikimedia API is a RESTful API that accepts versioned, namespaced URLs, uses standard HTTP methods and response codes, and returns JSON-formatted responses.
Featured content
Get daily featured articles, most read pages, and more.
On this day
Explore holidays and historical events for any date.
URL structure
To build a request, include the base URL, namespace, version, project, and language.
# Base URL
https://api.wikimedia.org
# Structure
{base URL}/{namespace}/v{version number}/{project name}/{language code}/{endpoint}
# Example: Get the Earth article from English Wikipedia
https://api.wikimedia.org/core/v1/wikipedia/en/page/Earth
Response codes
The Wikimedia API uses HTTP status codes to indicate the success or failure of a request. A successful request returns a status code in the 200 range; a failed request returns a status code in the 400 or 500 range.
| 200 | Resource found or updated |
|---|---|
| 201 | Resource created |
| 400 | Invalid or missing parameter |
| 403 | Permission denied |
| 404 | Route not found |
| 412 | Invalid conditional request |
| 415 | Unsupported content type |
| 429 | Rate limit exceeded |
| 500 | Server error |