# Wikipedia Scraper - Article Content Extractor (`lulzasaur/wikipedia-scraper`) Actor

Scrape Wikipedia articles. Search by topic and extract full structured content: summaries, sections, infobox data, categories, references, images, and edit history for any article.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/lulzasaur/wikipedia-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [lulz bot](https://apify.com/lulzasaur) (community)
- **Categories:** E-commerce
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, NaN bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $10.00 / 1,000 results

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are a software tools running on the Apify platform, for all kinds of web data extraction and automation use cases.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.
Actors are written with capital "A".

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.

In JavaScript/TypeScript projects, use official [JavaScript/TypeScript client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js.md):

```bash
npm install apify-client
```

In Python projects, use official [Python client library](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python.md):

```bash
pip install apify-client
```

In shell scripts, use [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md):

````bash
# MacOS / Linux
curl -fsSL https://apify.com/install-cli.sh | bash
# Windows
irm https://apify.com/install-cli.ps1 | iex
```bash

In AI frameworks, you might use the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/mcp.md).

If your project is in a different language, use the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).

For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.

For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).


# README

## Wikipedia Scraper

Extract structured content from Wikipedia articles. Search by topic or provide direct article URLs to get summaries, full text, infobox data, categories, references, images, and metadata.

### Features

- **Search by topic** — find the most relevant Wikipedia articles for any query
- **Direct URL scraping** — provide specific article URLs for targeted extraction
- **Structured content** — articles are parsed into sections with headers
- **Infobox extraction** — key-value data from article infoboxes (e.g., programming language details, country stats)
- **Multi-language** — supports all Wikipedia language editions (en, es, fr, de, ja, etc.)
- **References** — extracted reference list from each article
- **Categories & images** — article classification and image file names

### Input

| Field | Type | Description |
|-------|------|-------------|
| `searchQueries` | string[] | Topics to search (e.g., "artificial intelligence", "JavaScript") |
| `articleUrls` | string[] | Direct Wikipedia article URLs |
| `maxArticles` | number | Max articles per search query (default: 5) |
| `maxResults` | number | Max total results (default: 25) |
| `language` | string | Wikipedia language code (default: "en") |
| `extractSections` | boolean | Extract full section content (default: true) |

### Output

Each article includes:

```json
{
    "title": "JavaScript",
    "pageId": 9845,
    "summary": "JavaScript is a programming language...",
    "content": "Full article text...",
    "sections": [
        { "title": "Introduction", "content": "..." },
        { "title": "History", "content": "..." }
    ],
    "infobox": {
        "Paradigm": "Multi-paradigm",
        "Designed by": "Brendan Eich",
        "First appeared": "December 4, 1995"
    },
    "categories": ["Programming languages", "Web development"],
    "images": ["File:JavaScript_code.png"],
    "thumbnail": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/...",
    "references": ["..."],
    "lastEdited": "2026-04-20T12:00:00Z",
    "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JavaScript",
    "language": "en"
}
````

### Use Cases

- **Research** — gather structured data on any topic
- **Knowledge bases** — build datasets from Wikipedia's encyclopedia
- **NLP training data** — extract clean text with metadata
- **Fact-checking** — cross-reference claims with Wikipedia sources
- **Content enrichment** — add Wikipedia context to your applications

### Pricing

This actor uses pay-per-event pricing at **$0.005 per article scraped**.

### Notes

- Uses the official Wikipedia API (free, no auth required)
- HTML is fetched for infobox and reference extraction
- Rate-limited to be respectful of Wikipedia servers
- Article content is capped at 50,000 characters per article

# Actor input Schema

## `searchQueries` (type: `array`):

Topics to search on Wikipedia (e.g. "artificial intelligence", "JavaScript", "climate change"). Returns the most relevant articles for each query.

## `articleUrls` (type: `array`):

Direct Wikipedia article URLs to scrape (e.g. "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JavaScript"). Takes priority over search queries.

## `maxArticles` (type: `integer`):

Maximum number of articles to return per search query (1-50).

## `maxResults` (type: `integer`):

Maximum total articles to scrape across all queries (1-500).

## `language` (type: `string`):

Wikipedia language code (e.g. 'en', 'es', 'fr', 'de', 'ja').

## `extractSections` (type: `boolean`):

Extract full section-by-section content (not just summary). Provides richer data but uses more memory.

## `proxyConfiguration` (type: `object`):

Optional proxy configuration for requests.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "searchQueries": [
    "artificial intelligence"
  ],
  "articleUrls": [],
  "maxArticles": 5,
  "maxResults": 25,
  "language": "en",
  "extractSections": true
}
```

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "searchQueries": [
        "artificial intelligence"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("lulzasaur/wikipedia-scraper").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = { "searchQueries": ["artificial intelligence"] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("lulzasaur/wikipedia-scraper").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print("💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/" + run["defaultDatasetId"])
for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "searchQueries": [
    "artificial intelligence"
  ]
}' |
apify call lulzasaur/wikipedia-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "mcp-remote",
                "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=lulzasaur/wikipedia-scraper",
                "--header",
                "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR_API_TOKEN>"
            ]
        }
    }
}

```

## OpenAPI specification

```json
{
    "openapi": "3.0.1",
    "info": {
        "title": "Wikipedia Scraper - Article Content Extractor",
        "description": "Scrape Wikipedia articles. Search by topic and extract full structured content: summaries, sections, infobox data, categories, references, images, and edit history for any article.",
        "version": "1.0",
        "x-build-id": "hFOKJDMQQSJGmocXy"
    },
    "servers": [
        {
            "url": "https://api.apify.com/v2"
        }
    ],
    "paths": {
        "/acts/lulzasaur~wikipedia-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items": {
            "post": {
                "operationId": "run-sync-get-dataset-items-lulzasaur-wikipedia-scraper",
                "x-openai-isConsequential": false,
                "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for its completion, and returns Actor's dataset items in response.",
                "tags": [
                    "Run Actor"
                ],
                "requestBody": {
                    "required": true,
                    "content": {
                        "application/json": {
                            "schema": {
                                "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                "parameters": [
                    {
                        "name": "token",
                        "in": "query",
                        "required": true,
                        "schema": {
                            "type": "string"
                        },
                        "description": "Enter your Apify token here"
                    }
                ],
                "responses": {
                    "200": {
                        "description": "OK"
                    }
                }
            }
        },
        "/acts/lulzasaur~wikipedia-scraper/runs": {
            "post": {
                "operationId": "runs-sync-lulzasaur-wikipedia-scraper",
                "x-openai-isConsequential": false,
                "summary": "Executes an Actor and returns information about the initiated run in response.",
                "tags": [
                    "Run Actor"
                ],
                "requestBody": {
                    "required": true,
                    "content": {
                        "application/json": {
                            "schema": {
                                "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                "parameters": [
                    {
                        "name": "token",
                        "in": "query",
                        "required": true,
                        "schema": {
                            "type": "string"
                        },
                        "description": "Enter your Apify token here"
                    }
                ],
                "responses": {
                    "200": {
                        "description": "OK",
                        "content": {
                            "application/json": {
                                "schema": {
                                    "$ref": "#/components/schemas/runsResponseSchema"
                                }
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
        },
        "/acts/lulzasaur~wikipedia-scraper/run-sync": {
            "post": {
                "operationId": "run-sync-lulzasaur-wikipedia-scraper",
                "x-openai-isConsequential": false,
                "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for completion, and returns the OUTPUT from Key-value store in response.",
                "tags": [
                    "Run Actor"
                ],
                "requestBody": {
                    "required": true,
                    "content": {
                        "application/json": {
                            "schema": {
                                "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                "parameters": [
                    {
                        "name": "token",
                        "in": "query",
                        "required": true,
                        "schema": {
                            "type": "string"
                        },
                        "description": "Enter your Apify token here"
                    }
                ],
                "responses": {
                    "200": {
                        "description": "OK"
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    },
    "components": {
        "schemas": {
            "inputSchema": {
                "type": "object",
                "properties": {
                    "searchQueries": {
                        "title": "Search Queries",
                        "type": "array",
                        "description": "Topics to search on Wikipedia (e.g. \"artificial intelligence\", \"JavaScript\", \"climate change\"). Returns the most relevant articles for each query.",
                        "default": [],
                        "items": {
                            "type": "string"
                        }
                    },
                    "articleUrls": {
                        "title": "Article URLs",
                        "type": "array",
                        "description": "Direct Wikipedia article URLs to scrape (e.g. \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JavaScript\"). Takes priority over search queries.",
                        "default": [],
                        "items": {
                            "type": "string"
                        }
                    },
                    "maxArticles": {
                        "title": "Max Articles per Query",
                        "minimum": 1,
                        "maximum": 50,
                        "type": "integer",
                        "description": "Maximum number of articles to return per search query (1-50).",
                        "default": 5
                    },
                    "maxResults": {
                        "title": "Max Total Results",
                        "minimum": 1,
                        "maximum": 500,
                        "type": "integer",
                        "description": "Maximum total articles to scrape across all queries (1-500).",
                        "default": 25
                    },
                    "language": {
                        "title": "Language",
                        "type": "string",
                        "description": "Wikipedia language code (e.g. 'en', 'es', 'fr', 'de', 'ja').",
                        "default": "en"
                    },
                    "extractSections": {
                        "title": "Extract Full Sections",
                        "type": "boolean",
                        "description": "Extract full section-by-section content (not just summary). Provides richer data but uses more memory.",
                        "default": true
                    },
                    "proxyConfiguration": {
                        "title": "Proxy Configuration",
                        "type": "object",
                        "description": "Optional proxy configuration for requests."
                    }
                }
            },
            "runsResponseSchema": {
                "type": "object",
                "properties": {
                    "data": {
                        "type": "object",
                        "properties": {
                            "id": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "actId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "userId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "startedAt": {
                                "type": "string",
                                "format": "date-time",
                                "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z"
                            },
                            "finishedAt": {
                                "type": "string",
                                "format": "date-time",
                                "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z"
                            },
                            "status": {
                                "type": "string",
                                "example": "READY"
                            },
                            "meta": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "origin": {
                                        "type": "string",
                                        "example": "API"
                                    },
                                    "userAgent": {
                                        "type": "string"
                                    }
                                }
                            },
                            "stats": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "inputBodyLen": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 2000
                                    },
                                    "rebootCount": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "restartCount": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "resurrectCount": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "computeUnits": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    }
                                }
                            },
                            "options": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "build": {
                                        "type": "string",
                                        "example": "latest"
                                    },
                                    "timeoutSecs": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 300
                                    },
                                    "memoryMbytes": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 1024
                                    },
                                    "diskMbytes": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 2048
                                    }
                                }
                            },
                            "buildId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "defaultKeyValueStoreId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "defaultDatasetId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "defaultRequestQueueId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "buildNumber": {
                                "type": "string",
                                "example": "1.0.0"
                            },
                            "containerUrl": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "usage": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATASET_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATASET_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 1
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "PROXY_SERPS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    }
                                }
                            },
                            "usageTotalUsd": {
                                "type": "number",
                                "example": 0.00005
                            },
                            "usageUsd": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATASET_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATASET_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "number",
                                        "example": 0.00005
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "PROXY_SERPS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    }
                                }
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    }
}
```
