Wikipedia
Mediawiki Encyclopedia.
About Wikipedia
The MediaWiki Action API, accessed through the api.php endpoint, is a web service that provides access to wiki features including authentication, page operations, and search. It exposes meta information about a wiki and about the logged-in user, and returns data in formats such as JSON.
The API supports actions such as logging in, retrieving and editing page content, uploading files, deleting and moving pages, searching page titles and text, and managing user accounts and permissions. It also includes modules for tasks like checking AbuseFilter rules, managing message groups, and handling authentication tokens.
It is intended for developers and technical contributors building tools such as bots for maintaining a MediaWiki installation, applications that monitor a MediaWiki installation, or software that logs into a wiki and reads or posts changes via HTTP requests. All Wikimedia wikis, including English Wikipedia, expose this API at a consistent endpoint pattern.
Key features
- Access wiki page content, search, and metadata via the api.php web service
- Create, edit, delete, move, and protect pages programmatically
- Authenticate via login, tokens, and session assertions for data-modifying operations
- Search wiki pages by title, text, or geographic location
- Manage user accounts, watchlists, and permissions
- Available on every Wikimedia wiki at a standard api.php endpoint
Frequently asked questions
What is the MediaWiki Action API used for?
It is a web service that allows access to wiki features like authentication, page operations, and search, and can provide meta information about the wiki and logged-in user. Common uses include monitoring a MediaWiki installation and creating bots to maintain one.
What is the API endpoint?
All Wikimedia wikis expose an Action API endpoint at the pattern https://www.example.org/w/api.php, such as https://en.wikipedia.org/w/api.php for English Wikipedia.
Who is this API for?
It is intended for technical contributors and software developers who wish to understand and use the MediaWiki Action API.
How do you interact with the API?
Requests are made via HTTP with parameters like action, page, and format, for example api.php?action=parse&page=Pet_door&format=json.
Is authentication required?
Login and token-based authentication are supported for data-modifying operations, including a clientlogin action and token verification via action=query&meta=tokens.
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