API:Main page

MediaWiki Action API
Basics All Query modules Get properties of pages List pages matching a criterion Get module parameters information Get meta information about the wiki and user Authentication Get tokens for data modifying operations Login Logout Accounts and Users Create an account Block or unblock a user Get info about the current user Get the current user's watchlist as a feed Change user options Change user group membership Send an email Page Operations Create and edit a page Get the contents of a page Upload a file Import a page Delete a page Parse content of a page Watch or unwatch a page Purge cache for page(s) Rollback a page Move a page Patrol a page or revision Restore revisions of a deleted page Change a page's protection level Change a page's language More... Search Search for a title or text Fetch results in an OpenSearch format Search for wiki pages near a location Search for a language Perform a prefix search for page titles Developer Utilities Access libraries Cross-site requests Creating an API module in an extension Using the API in MediaWiki and extensions Restricting API usage Localisation Implementation Strategy Tutorials Action API Tutorial Article ideas generator Nearby places viewer Picture of the day viewer Holidays viewer

Overview

This page provides an overview of the MediaWiki action API. This page is intended for technical contributors and software developers who wish to understand and use the MediaWiki action API.

Quick Start

Endpoint

All Wikimedia wikis have endpoints that follow this pattern: https://www.example.org/w/api.php

Examples of Wikimedia Wiki Endpoints

API Endpoint	Wiki
https://www.mediawiki.org/w/api.php	MediaWiki API
https://meta.wikimedia.org/w/api.php	Meta-Wiki API
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/api.php	English Wikipedia API
https://nl.wikipedia.org/w/api.php	Dutch Wikipedia API
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/api.php	Wikimedia Commons API
https://test.wikipedia.org/w/api.php	Test Wiki API

Introduction

The MediaWiki action API is a web service that allows access to some wiki-features like authentication, page operations, and search. It can provide meta information about the wiki and the logged-in user.

Uses for the MediaWiki Action API

• Monitor a MediaWiki installation
• Create a bot to maintain a MediaWiki installation
• Log into a wiki, access data, and post changes by making HTTP requests to the web service

Getting started with MediaWiki action API

Before you start using the MediaWiki action API, you should review the following pages:

• The FAQ.
• The page about input and output formats
• The page about errors and warnings
• The page about etiquette
• Any policies that apply to the wiki you want to access, such as Wikimedia Foundation wikis' terms of use, trademark policy.

These terms apply to you when you access or edit using the API, just as they do when you use your web browser.

Other APIs

If you do not find what you are looking for in this API documentation, there are many other APIs related to Wikimedia projects. See the Web APIs hub for information on other APIs for Wikimedia project data and their usage.