# Wikimedia Commons Creator Templates Scraper (`parseforge/wikimedia-creator-templates-scraper`) Actor

Scrapes Wikimedia Commons creator template pages from any MediaWiki category and returns each one as a flat row with pageid, ns, and title. Uses the public API with no authentication required.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/parseforge/wikimedia-creator-templates-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [ParseForge](https://apify.com/parseforge) (community)
- **Categories:** Business, Other
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $3.62 / 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.
Since this Actor supports Apify Store discounts, the price gets lower the higher subscription plan you have.

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

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
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.

- **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use).
- **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`.
- **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`.
- **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`.
- **Any other language** — 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

[![ParseForge](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ParseForge/apify-assets/main/banner.jpg)](https://apify.com/parseforge?fpr=vmoqkp)

### Wikimedia Commons Creator Templates Scraper

**Scrape creator templates from Wikimedia Commons, up to a million per run.** Each record returns the page ID, namespace, and title for every creator template in a category. No login or API key required. Export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML.

Wikimedia Commons stores structured creator metadata inside templates, but browsing them manually means clicking through thousands of pages. This Actor reads the public MediaWiki API directly, lists every creator template page in a category, and returns the identifiers you need to fetch full details later. It works without authentication or rate-limit headaches.

| Who uses it | What they scrape Wikimedia Commons for |
|---|---|
| Digital archivists | Building a complete index of creator records for a GLAM institution. |
| Data journalists | Mapping the geographic and temporal distribution of public-domain contributors. |
| Semantic web developers | Seeding a knowledge graph with Wikimedia Commons creator identifiers. |
| Researchers in art history | Compiling a dataset of painters, sculptors, and photographers represented on Commons. |

### What it does

This Actor collects Wikimedia Commons creator template pages from any MediaWiki category and returns each one as a flat row with its page ID, namespace, and title.

- **Category-driven listing.** Feed any MediaWiki category title and get every member page that is a creator template.
- **Configurable volume.** Set a max items limit to control how many template pages the run returns, from a preview of 10 up to 1,000,000.
- **Paginated API access.** The Actor handles continuation tokens automatically so you get the full list without writing pagination logic.

Results export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML, or straight from the API.

### What you can do with Wikimedia Commons data

**📚 Build a creator authority file.**

A digital archivist runs the Actor on the default Creator\_templates category, exports the full title list, and cross-references it with VIAF and Wikidata to enrich a museum's catalog.

**🗺️ Analyze contributor demographics.**

A researcher scrapes all creator template titles, then samples the underlying template content to study the birth decades and nationalities of Commons contributors.

**🔗 Link Commons creators to external datasets.**

A linked-data developer extracts page titles as seed identifiers, resolves them to Wikidata Q-IDs, and builds a reconciliation service for art databases.

**📊 Audit template coverage.**

A Commons volunteer runs the scraper weekly on a custom category to track how many new creator templates have been added and which ones still lack structured data.

### Why choose this scraper

| | What you get |
|---|---|
| **Public API, no auth** | Reads the official commons.wikimedia.org API with zero registration or API keys. |
| **Flat, predictable schema** | Every row has the same fields: pageid, ns, title, scrapedAt, and error. |
| **Handles pagination** | Continuation tokens are managed internally so large categories complete in one run. |
| **Export anywhere** | Save results as CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML for direct use in your pipeline. |

### What a Wikimedia Commons record looks like

Every record returns as one flat JSON row. Here is a real one from a run:

```json
{
 "pageid": 98469697,
 "ns": 100,
 "title": "Creator:Alexey Vazhnov",
 "scrapedAt": "2026-09-04T06:08:20.154Z"
}
```

Every value above comes from a real run. A field a record does not have comes back as `null`.

### Configure the run

Drive the Actor from a MediaWiki category title and set a max items limit to control how many creator template pages are returned. The Input tab lists every parameter.

A first run with the defaults:

```json
{
 "categoryTitle": "Creator_templates",
 "maxItems": 10
}
```

A larger pull:

```json
{
 "categoryTitle": "Creator_templates",
 "maxItems": 200
}
```

### Free users

Free-plan runs return up to 10 results as a preview. [Upgrade your Apify plan](https://console.apify.com/sign-up?fpr=vmoqkp) to collect up to 1,000,000 results per run.

### Run it

1. [Create a free Apify account](https://console.apify.com/sign-up?fpr=vmoqkp).
2. Open the [Wikimedia Commons Creator Templates Scraper](https://apify.com/parseforge/wikimedia-creator-templates-scraper?fpr=vmoqkp).
3. Set your inputs and any filters, then click **Start**.
4. Export the results as CSV, Excel, JSON, or XML from the **Dataset** tab.

Run it programmatically through the [Apify API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2) (`run-sync-get-dataset-items`) or the [ApifyClient](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js) for JavaScript and Python.

### Use with AI agents (MCP)

Give an AI agent live access to Wikimedia Commons through the Model Context Protocol. Add the Actor to Claude, Cursor, or any MCP client:

```bash
claude mcp add --transport http apify "https://mcp.apify.com?tools=parseforge/wikimedia-creator-templates-scraper"
```

Then prompt it in plain language to run the scraper and read back the results.

### Troubleshooting

**Why am I getting no results?**

Check that the categoryTitle you entered exists on Wikimedia Commons and contains pages. The default value is Creator\_templates, which is a real category with thousands of members. If you changed it, verify the exact spelling and capitalization on Commons.

**The run stopped before reaching my maxItems limit.**

The category may have fewer members than the limit you set. The Actor returns every page it finds, so if the category contains 200 pages and you set maxItems to 1000, you will get 200 results.

**I only see pageid, ns, and title in the output. Where is the creator's name and birth date?**

This Actor lists the template pages, not the metadata inside them. The title field contains the template name, which often includes the creator's name. To extract birth dates and other fields you need to fetch and parse each page's wikitext in a separate step.

**The Actor is slow for large categories.**

The MediaWiki API returns up to 500 results per request. For categories with hundreds of thousands of members the run will take time proportional to the number of API calls. You can reduce maxItems to speed up a preview run.

### FAQ

| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| What exactly is a creator template on Wikimedia Commons? | A creator template is a wiki page that holds structured metadata about a person who created a work, such as a painter or photographer. It includes fields like name, birth and death dates, nationality, and authority-control identifiers. |
| Does this Actor extract the full metadata from each creator template? | No, this Actor lists the template pages themselves and returns their page ID, namespace, and title. To get the detailed metadata inside each template you would need a second step that fetches and parses each page's wikitext. |
| Can I scrape a custom category instead of the default Creator\_templates? | Yes, you can set the categoryTitle input to any valid MediaWiki category name. The Actor will list every member page in that category. |
| Is authentication or an API key required? | No. The Actor uses the public Wikimedia Commons API, which is open and does not require any login or key. |
| How many creator templates can I scrape in one run? | Free users can scrape up to 10 items as a preview. Paid Apify users can set maxItems up to 1,000,000 per run. |
| What output formats are supported? | You can export your dataset to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML directly from the Apify platform. |
| Does the Actor handle API pagination automatically? | Yes, it follows continuation tokens returned by the MediaWiki API so that large categories are fetched completely without manual intervention. |
| Can I use the scraped page titles to fetch the actual template content later? | Yes, the titles returned by this Actor are the exact page names you would pass to the MediaWiki parse or revisions API to retrieve the full wikitext and extract the structured creator fields. |

### Related actors

Browse the full [ParseForge collection](https://apify.com/parseforge?fpr=vmoqkp) for more scrapers.

🆘 **Need help?** Email parseforge@protonmail.com with your run ID, your input, and what you expected.

### Pricing

This Actor uses **pay-per-result** pricing: **$0.004 per result** collected. You are billed only for the results you receive, so a run that returns nothing costs nothing.

⚠️ **Disclaimer.** This Actor is unofficial and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. It collects only publicly available data. You are responsible for using the collected data in compliance with the source's terms of service and applicable data-protection laws, including GDPR, CCPA, and PIPL. Do not use it to collect personal data unlawfully.

# Actor input Schema

## `categoryTitle` (type: `string`):

The MediaWiki category to list members from. Defaults to Creator\_templates which contains all creator template pages.

## `maxItems` (type: `integer`):

Free users: Limited to 10 items (preview). Paid users: Optional, max 1,000,000

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "categoryTitle": "Creator_templates",
  "maxItems": 10
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

Complete dataset of all scraped records.

# 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 = {
    "categoryTitle": "Creator_templates",
    "maxItems": 10
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("parseforge/wikimedia-creator-templates-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 = {
    "categoryTitle": "Creator_templates",
    "maxItems": 10,
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("parseforge/wikimedia-creator-templates-scraper").call(run_input=run_input)

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

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

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "categoryTitle": "Creator_templates",
  "maxItems": 10
}' |
apify call parseforge/wikimedia-creator-templates-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,parseforge/wikimedia-creator-templates-scraper"
        }
    }
}

```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/YpiOeBnqIwVoZkYDZ/builds/AQDZK6BXVbaoOOIiT/openapi.json