MediaWiki API help

This is an auto-generated MediaWiki API documentation page.

Documentation and examples: https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/API:Main_page

Main module

Status: The MediaWiki API is a mature and stable interface that is actively supported and improved. While we try to avoid it, we may occasionally need to make breaking changes; subscribe to the mediawiki-api-announce mailing list for notice of updates.

Erroneous requests: When erroneous requests are sent to the API, an HTTP header will be sent with the key "MediaWiki-API-Error" and then both the value of the header and the error code sent back will be set to the same value. For more information see API: Errors and warnings.

Specific parameters:
action

Which action to perform.

ask
API module to query Semantic MediaWiki using the ask language.
askargs
API module to query Semantic MediaWiki using the ask language as list of conditions, printouts and parameters.
block
Block a user.
bs-adminuser-store
Lists all users from the database with additional sensitive data. Allows sorting, filtering and pagination. Implements ExtJS Store parameters.
bs-avatars-tasks
Uploading, generating and setting user avatars
bs-book-chapters-store
Allows querying of all books and their chapter pages.
bs-bookshelf-bookstore
Lists all chapters for a given book. Allows sorting, filtering and pagination. Implements ExtJS Store parameters.
bs-bookshelf-manage
Provides tasks for book manipulation.
bs-bookshelf-mass-add-page-store
Provides pages that can be added en masse into a book.
bs-bookshelf-page-collection-store
Provides a collection of pages that can be added en masse into a book.
bs-bookshelf-store
Lists all books. Allows sorting, filtering and pagination. Implements ExtJS Store parameters.
bs-category-store
Lists all categories. Allows sorting, filtering and pagination. Implements ExtJS Store parameters.
bs-category-treestore
Lists the sub-categories of a specific category
bs-categorylinks-store
Lists all categories of a page, including a link to the category page and a marker for explicit and implicit categories.
bs-checklist-available-options-store
Lists all available options for checklist templates. Allows sorting, filtering and pagination. Implements ExtJS Store parameters.
bs-checklist-tasks
Provides operations for Checklist extension
bs-checklist-template-store
Lists all templates that are valid checklist sources. Allows sorting, filtering and pagination. Implements ExtJS Store parameters.
bs-configmanager-store
Manage stores
bs-configmanager-tasks
Manage tasks
bs-contextmenu-tasks
Provides the context menu items in context
bs-dashboards-store
Lists all available portlets
bs-dashboards-tasks
Saves dashboard configuration
bs-dashboards-widgets-tasks
Returns content for some dashboard widgets
bs-expiry-store
Provides a store for expires, that can be queried
bs-expiry-tasks
Provides tasks such as editing or deleting expiries
bs-extendedsearch-autocomplete
Returns autocomplete results from given query
bs-extendedsearch-query
Search the index
bs-extendedsearch-resultrelevance
Returns the relevance of search results
bs-extendedsearch-stats
Returns statistical data about the registered backends and their configured sources
bs-extendedsearch-triggerupdate
Trigger update of search index
bs-extendedsearch-type-store
Returns registered search types
bs-file-tasks
bs-filebackend-store
Lists all files from the file backend. Allows sorting, filtering and pagination. Implements ExtJS Store parameters.
bs-filehistory-store
bs-group-store
Lists all groups except $wgImplicitGroups. Allows sorting, filtering and pagination. Implements ExtJS Store parameters.
bs-groupmanager
Provides the tasks for the extension GroupManager.
bs-insertfile-license-store
Lists the licenses for the extension InsertFile.
bs-inserttemplate-store
Lists all templates. Allows sorting, filtering and pagination. Implements ExtJS Store parameters.
bs-interwiki-store
Lists all interwiki links. Allows sorting, filtering and pagination. Implements ExtJS Store parameters.
bs-interwikilinks-tasks
Provides the tasks for the extension InterWikiLinks.
bs-js-var-config
Provides an API endpoint for retrieving client-side configuration variables
bs-linker
Returns links to pages generated by Linker
bs-mypageassignment-store
Returns pages assigned to current user
bs-namespace-store
Lists all namespaces and arbitrary configuration. Allows sorting, filtering and pagination. Implements ExtJS Store parameters.
bs-namespace-tasks
Allows modification of the namespace configuration.
bs-nsfilerepo-connector
API endpoint for extension BlueSpiceNSFileRepoConnector
bs-nsfrc-tasks
API endpoint for extension BlueSpiceNSFileRepoConnector
bs-pageaccess-store
Control access on page level
bs-pageassignable-store
Returns the list of assignees
bs-pageassignment-store
Returns assignments of the specific page
bs-pageassignment-tasks
Get or edit the list of assignments for specific page
bs-pageauthors-store
List all authors of a page provided in the context
bs-pagetemplate-tags-store
Lists all page templates tags. Allows sorting, filtering and pagination. Implements ExtJS Store parameters.
bs-pagetemplates-store
Lists all page templates. Allows sorting, filtering and pagination. Implements ExtJS Store parameters.
bs-pagetemplates-tasks
Allows manipulation of page templates
bs-permissionmanager-tasks
Provides tasks for the PermissionManager
bs-ping-tasks
Ping task that provides continuous exchange of data
bs-privacy
Endpoint for all API actions regarding privacy
bs-privacy-get-all-consents
Endpoint for gettings consent information for all users
bs-privacy-get-requests
Endpoint for getting all pending requests
bs-qr-code
Get QR code as base64 data URI for a page
bs-rating-tasks
Executes common tasks for extension Rating
bs-ratingarticle-store
Delivers ratings for articles
bs-ratingarticlelike-store
Delivers recommendations for articles
bs-readconfirmation-tasks
API endpoint for extension ReadConfirmation
bs-readers-data-store
Get reader info of specific page.
bs-readers-page-readers-store
Gets all readers of all pages
bs-readers-revision-readers-store
Gets all readers of all revisions of a page
bs-readers-tasks
Provides common operations for Readers
bs-readers-users-store
Get all readers info of specific page.
bs-recentchanges-store
Lists all recent changes. Allows sorting, filtering and pagination. Implements store parameters.
bs-reminder-store
Provides a store for reminders, that can be queried
bs-reminder-tasks
Provides tasks such as editing or deleting reminders
bs-role-permission-store
Provide role description for the PermissionManager
bs-rss-standards-pages-store
Return List of available Pages for RSSFeeder
bs-rssfeeder-tasks
Provides common tasks for the RSSFeeder
bs-smartlist-tasks
API functions to serve portlet data for page and user statistics.
bs-smw-connector-ask-store
ExtJS-compatible store to execute semantic queries
bs-smw-connector-smw-property-store
ExtJS-compatible store to get property values
bs-smw-connector-tree-ask-store
ExtJS-compatible tree store to execute semantic queries
bs-social-tasks
Provides tasks such as editing or deleting entities
bs-socialentity-store
Provides a search store for entities, that can be queried
bs-socialresolve-tasks
Provides tasks for editing the resolve status of entities
bs-socialtags-tasks
Provides tasks for editing the linked pages of entities
bs-socialtitlequery-store
Provides data for titles, that can be linked within an entity
bs-socialtopics-tasks
Provides tasks such as auto creating the discussion page
bs-socialwatch-tasks
Provides tasks for editing the watch status of entities
bs-statistics-available-diagrams-store
Provides a store with available diagrams
bs-statistics-search-options-store
Provides a store with available search options
bs-statistics-tasks
Provides common tasks for statistics
bs-task
Provides the API endpoint for executing registered tasks
bs-templatelinks-store
Lists all templates of a page, including a link to the template.
bs-titlequery-store
Lists page titles and (optionally) namespace prefixes based on a query term. Implements ExtJS Store parameters.
bs-translation-transfer-foreign-page-tasks
bs-translation-transfer-tasks
bs-upload-license-store
Lists all available licences for a file upload
bs-usagetracker-store
Holds statistical data about extension use
bs-user-store
Lists all users from the database. Allows sorting, filtering and pagination. Implements ExtJS Store parameters.
bs-userinfometa
Lists the given users meta information data
bs-usermanager-group-store
Provides the user manager tasks api for BlueSpice.
bs-usermanager-tasks
Provides operations for Checklist extension
bs-watchlist-store
Lists all watchlist entries. Allows sorting, filtering and pagination. Implements store parameters.
bs-wikiexplorer-store
Provides all data for the extension WikiExplorer
bs-wikipage-store
Lists all wiki pages. Allows sorting, filtering and pagination. Implements ExtJS Store parameters.
bs-wikipage-tasks
Provides common operations for WikiPages
bs-wikisubpage-treestore
Lists the subpages of a specific wikipage
changeauthenticationdata
Change authentication data for the current user.
changecontentmodel
Change the content model of a page
checktoken
Check the validity of a token from action=query&meta=tokens.
clearhasmsg
Clears the hasmsg flag for the current user.
clientlogin
Log in to the wiki using the interactive flow.
compare
Get the difference between two pages.
compoundquery
content-transfer-do-push-single
Transfers a singe page to a receiving wiki
content-transfer-get-pages
Lists all pages that are pushable based on given filters
content-transfer-purge-pages
Purges all pages that were transferred to the receiving wiki
content-transfer-push-info
Retrieves all resources such as included files, linked pages etc. of the page, that is about to be transferred to a target wiki
cpd-delete-orphaned-elements
Deletes elements of BPMN diagram, which were removed
cpd-save-diagram-elements
Saves elements of BPMN diagram as wiki pages, or updates them if already exist
createaccount
Create a new user account.
delete
Delete a page.
echomarkread
Mark notifications as read for the current user.
echomarkseen
Mark notifications as seen for the current user.
echomute
Mute or unmute notifications from certain users or pages.
edit
Create and edit pages.
emailuser
Email a user.
embedvideo
Get generated video embed code for given parameters.
expandtemplates
Expands all templates within wikitext.
ext.srf.datatables.api
ext.srf.slideshow.show
feedcontributions
Returns a user's contributions feed.
feedrecentchanges
Returns a recent changes feed.
feedwatchlist
Returns a watchlist feed.
filerevert
Revert a file to an old version.
flexiskin-activation
The activate module
flexiskin-delete
The delete module
flexiskin-preview
The preview module
flexiskin-save
The save module
forms-form-submit
Provides editing via forms
forms-get-definitions
Provides querying the existing form definitions
getheaderfooter
Retrieve the parsed output of a header or footer in the context of a certain page.
help
Display help for the specified modules.
imagerotate
Rotate one or more images.
import
Import a page from another wiki, or from an XML file.
linkaccount
Link an account from a third-party provider to the current user.
login
Log in and get authentication cookies.
logout
Log out and clear session data.
ma-discard-draft
Discard existing draft version of a page
ma-merge-page-existing
Merges a draft version into an existing page
ma-merge-page-new
Merges a draft version into a new page
ma-set-related-titles
Relates a page to a draft version of the page
managetags
Perform management tasks relating to change tags.
mergehistory
Merge page histories.
move
Move a page.
opensearch
Search the wiki using the OpenSearch protocol.
options
Change preferences of the current user.
pagecheckout-clear
Clear active page checkout
paraminfo
Obtain information about API modules.
parse
Parses content and returns parser output.
patrol
Patrol a page or revision.
pfautocomplete
Autocompletion used by the Page Forms extension.
pfautoedit
Create or edit a page using a form defined by the Page Forms extension.
protect
Change the protection level of a page.
purge
Purge the cache for the given titles.
query
Fetch data from and about MediaWiki.
removeauthenticationdata
Remove authentication data for the current user.
resetpassword
Send a password reset email to a user.
revisiondelete
Delete and undelete revisions.
rollback
Undo the last edit to the page.
rsd
Export an RSD (Really Simple Discovery) schema.
setnotificationtimestamp
Update the notification timestamp for watched pages.
setpagelanguage
Change the language of a page.
smwbrowse
API module to support browse activities for different entity types in Semantic MediaWiki.
smwinfo
API module to retrieve information about Semantic MediaWiki statistics and other meta information.
smwtask
API module to execute Semantic MediaWiki related tasks (for internal use only, not for public use).
streamconfigs
Exposes event stream config. Returns only format=json with formatversion=2.
tag
Add or remove change tags from individual revisions or log entries.
templatedata
Fetch data stored by the TemplateData extension.
unblock
Unblock a user.
undelete
Undelete revisions of a deleted page.
unlinkaccount
Remove a linked third-party account from the current user.
upload
Upload a file, or get the status of pending uploads.
userrights
Change a user's group membership.
validatepassword
Validate a password against the wiki's password policies.
watch
Add or remove pages from the current user's watchlist.
webauthn
API Module to communicate between server and client during registration/authentication process
browsebyproperty
Deprecated. API module to retrieve information about a property or list of properties.
browsebysubject
Deprecated. API module to retrieve information about a subject.
bs-translation-transfer-convert
Internal.
categorytree
Internal. Internal module for the CategoryTree extension.
cspreport
Internal. Used by browsers to report violations of the Content Security Policy. This module should never be used, except when used automatically by a CSP compliant web browser.
oathvalidate
Internal. Validate a two-factor authentication (OATH) token.
scribunto-console
Internal. Internal module for servicing XHR requests from the Scribunto console.
stashedit
Internal. Prepare an edit in shared cache.
visualeditor
Internal. Returns HTML5 for a page from the Parsoid service.
visualeditoredit
Internal. Save an HTML5 page to MediaWiki (converted to wikitext via the Parsoid service).
One of the following values: ask, askargs, block, bs-adminuser-store, bs-avatars-tasks, bs-book-chapters-store, bs-bookshelf-bookstore, bs-bookshelf-manage, bs-bookshelf-mass-add-page-store, bs-bookshelf-page-collection-store, bs-bookshelf-store, bs-category-store, bs-category-treestore, bs-categorylinks-store, bs-checklist-available-options-store, bs-checklist-tasks, bs-checklist-template-store, bs-configmanager-store, bs-configmanager-tasks, bs-contextmenu-tasks, bs-dashboards-store, bs-dashboards-tasks, bs-dashboards-widgets-tasks, bs-expiry-store, bs-expiry-tasks, bs-extendedsearch-autocomplete, bs-extendedsearch-query, bs-extendedsearch-resultrelevance, bs-extendedsearch-stats, bs-extendedsearch-triggerupdate, bs-extendedsearch-type-store, bs-file-tasks, bs-filebackend-store, bs-filehistory-store, bs-group-store, bs-groupmanager, bs-insertfile-license-store, bs-inserttemplate-store, bs-interwiki-store, bs-interwikilinks-tasks, bs-js-var-config, bs-linker, bs-mypageassignment-store, bs-namespace-store, bs-namespace-tasks, bs-nsfilerepo-connector, bs-nsfrc-tasks, bs-pageaccess-store, bs-pageassignable-store, bs-pageassignment-store, bs-pageassignment-tasks, bs-pageauthors-store, bs-pagetemplate-tags-store, bs-pagetemplates-store, bs-pagetemplates-tasks, bs-permissionmanager-tasks, bs-ping-tasks, bs-privacy-get-all-consents, bs-privacy-get-requests, bs-privacy, bs-qr-code, bs-rating-tasks, bs-ratingarticle-store, bs-ratingarticlelike-store, bs-readconfirmation-tasks, bs-readers-data-store, bs-readers-page-readers-store, bs-readers-revision-readers-store, bs-readers-tasks, bs-readers-users-store, bs-recentchanges-store, bs-reminder-store, bs-reminder-tasks, bs-role-permission-store, bs-rss-standards-pages-store, bs-rssfeeder-tasks, bs-smartlist-tasks, bs-smw-connector-ask-store, bs-smw-connector-smw-property-store, bs-smw-connector-tree-ask-store, bs-social-tasks, bs-socialentity-store, bs-socialresolve-tasks, bs-socialtags-tasks, bs-socialtitlequery-store, bs-socialtopics-tasks, bs-socialwatch-tasks, bs-statistics-available-diagrams-store, bs-statistics-search-options-store, bs-statistics-tasks, bs-task, bs-templatelinks-store, bs-titlequery-store, bs-translation-transfer-foreign-page-tasks, bs-translation-transfer-tasks, bs-upload-license-store, bs-usagetracker-store, bs-user-store, bs-userinfometa, bs-usermanager-group-store, bs-usermanager-tasks, bs-watchlist-store, bs-wikiexplorer-store, bs-wikipage-store, bs-wikipage-tasks, bs-wikisubpage-treestore, changeauthenticationdata, changecontentmodel, checktoken, clearhasmsg, clientlogin, compare, compoundquery, content-transfer-do-push-single, content-transfer-get-pages, content-transfer-purge-pages, content-transfer-push-info, cpd-delete-orphaned-elements, cpd-save-diagram-elements, createaccount, delete, echomarkread, echomarkseen, echomute, edit, emailuser, embedvideo, expandtemplates, ext.srf.datatables.api, ext.srf.slideshow.show, feedcontributions, feedrecentchanges, feedwatchlist, filerevert, flexiskin-activation, flexiskin-delete, flexiskin-preview, flexiskin-save, forms-form-submit, forms-get-definitions, getheaderfooter, help, imagerotate, import, linkaccount, login, logout, ma-discard-draft, ma-merge-page-existing, ma-merge-page-new, ma-set-related-titles, managetags, mergehistory, move, opensearch, options, pagecheckout-clear, paraminfo, parse, patrol, pfautocomplete, pfautoedit, protect, purge, query, removeauthenticationdata, resetpassword, revisiondelete, rollback, rsd, setnotificationtimestamp, setpagelanguage, smwbrowse, smwinfo, smwtask, streamconfigs, tag, templatedata, unblock, undelete, unlinkaccount, upload, userrights, validatepassword, watch, webauthn, browsebyproperty, browsebysubject, bs-translation-transfer-convert, categorytree, cspreport, oathvalidate, scribunto-console, stashedit, visualeditor, visualeditoredit
Default: help
format

The format of the output.

json
Output data in JSON format.
jsonfm
Output data in JSON format (pretty-print in HTML).
none
Output nothing.
php
Output data in serialized PHP format.
phpfm
Output data in serialized PHP format (pretty-print in HTML).
rawfm
Output data, including debugging elements, in JSON format (pretty-print in HTML).
xml
Output data in XML format.
xmlfm
Output data in XML format (pretty-print in HTML).
One of the following values: json, jsonfm, none, php, phpfm, rawfm, xml, xmlfm
Default: jsonfm
maxlag

Maximum lag can be used when MediaWiki is installed on a database replicated cluster. To save actions causing any more site replication lag, this parameter can make the client wait until the replication lag is less than the specified value. In case of excessive lag, error code maxlag is returned with a message like Waiting for $host: $lag seconds lagged.
See Manual: Maxlag parameter for more information.

Type: integer
smaxage

Set the s-maxage HTTP cache control header to this many seconds. Errors are never cached.

Type: integer
Default: 0
maxage

Set the max-age HTTP cache control header to this many seconds. Errors are never cached.

Type: integer
Default: 0
assert

Verify that the user is logged in if set to user, not logged in if set to anon, or has the bot user right if bot.

One of the following values: anon, bot, user
assertuser

Verify the current user is the named user.

Type: user, by username
requestid

Any value given here will be included in the response. May be used to distinguish requests.

servedby

Include the hostname that served the request in the results.

Type: boolean (details)
curtimestamp

Include the current timestamp in the result.

Type: boolean (details)
responselanginfo

Include the languages used for uselang and errorlang in the result.

Type: boolean (details)
origin

When accessing the API using a cross-domain AJAX request (CORS), set this to the originating domain. This must be included in any pre-flight request, and therefore must be part of the request URI (not the POST body).

For authenticated requests, this must match one of the origins in the Origin header exactly, so it has to be set to something like https://en.wikipedia.org or https://meta.wikimedia.org. If this parameter does not match the Origin header, a 403 response will be returned. If this parameter matches the Origin header and the origin is allowed, the Access-Control-Allow-Origin and Access-Control-Allow-Credentials headers will be set.

For non-authenticated requests, specify the value *. This will cause the Access-Control-Allow-Origin header to be set, but Access-Control-Allow-Credentials will be false and all user-specific data will be restricted.

uselang

Language to use for message translations. action=query&meta=siteinfo&siprop=languages returns a list of language codes, or specify user to use the current user's language preference, or specify content to use this wiki's content language.

Default: user
variant

Variant of the language. Only works if the base language supports variant conversion.

errorformat

Format to use for warning and error text output

plaintext
Wikitext with HTML tags removed and entities replaced.
wikitext
Unparsed wikitext.
html
HTML
raw
Message key and parameters.
none
No text output, only the error codes.
bc
Format used prior to MediaWiki 1.29. errorlang and errorsuselocal are ignored.
One of the following values: bc, html, none, plaintext, raw, wikitext
Default: bc
errorlang

Language to use for warnings and errors. action=query&meta=siteinfo&siprop=languages returns a list of language codes, or specify content to use this wiki's content language, or specify uselang to use the same value as the uselang parameter.

Default: uselang
errorsuselocal

If given, error texts will use locally-customized messages from the MediaWiki namespace.

Type: boolean (details)
Permissions:
writeapi
Use of the write API
Granted to: all, user and bot
apihighlimits
Use higher limits in API queries (slow queries: 500; fast queries: 5000). The limits for slow queries also apply to multivalue parameters.
Granted to: bot

Data types

Input to MediaWiki should be NFC-normalized UTF-8. MediaWiki may attempt to convert other input, but this may cause some operations (such as edits with MD5 checks) to fail.

Parameters that take multiple values are normally submitted with the values separated using the pipe character, e.g. param=value1|value2 or param=value1%7Cvalue2. If a value must contain the pipe character, use U+001F (Unit Separator) as the separator and prefix the value with U+001F, e.g. param=%1Fvalue1%1Fvalue2.

Some parameter types in API requests need further explanation:

boolean

Boolean parameters work like HTML checkboxes: if the parameter is specified, regardless of value, it is considered true. For a false value, omit the parameter entirely.

expiry

Expiry values may be relative (e.g. 5 months or 2 weeks) or absolute (e.g. 2014-09-18T12:34:56Z). For no expiry, use infinite, indefinite, infinity or never.

timestamp

Timestamps may be specified in several formats, see the Timestamp library input formats documented on mediawiki.org for details. ISO 8601 date and time is recommended: 2001-01-15T14:56:00Z. Additionally, the string now may be used to specify the current timestamp.

Templated parameters

Templated parameters support cases where an API module needs a value for each value of some other parameter. For example, if there were an API module to request fruit, it might have a parameter fruits to specify which fruits are being requested and a templated parameter {fruit}-quantity to specify how many of each fruit to request. An API client that wants 1 apple, 5 bananas, and 20 strawberries could then make a request like fruits=apples|bananas|strawberries&apples-quantity=1&bananas-quantity=5&strawberries-quantity=20.

Credits

API developers:

  • Yuri Astrakhan (creator, lead developer Sep 2006–Sep 2007)
  • Roan Kattouw (lead developer Sep 2007–2009)
  • Victor Vasiliev
  • Bryan Tong Minh
  • Sam Reed
  • Brad Jorsch (lead developer 2013–2020)

Please send your comments, suggestions and questions to mediawiki-api@lists.wikimedia.org or file a bug report at https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/.