The Guardian API

⭐ Beginner's Pick News / API Key Intermediate HTTPS
Varies by plan (check documentation)

Overview

The Guardian Content API gives you open access to all articles, multimedia, and structured data published by The Guardian newspaper, organized by tags and sections. It is widely used for building news readers, content analysis tools, and media monitoring applications. The free developer tier provides a generous daily quota and is easy to set up with just an API key.

💡

Beginner Tip

Register for a free developer key at open-platform.theguardian.com and use the /search endpoint with your api-key parameter to start pulling articles. Filter by section (e.g., section=technology) or use the q parameter to search by keyword.

Available Data

The Guardian data via REST API
JSON-formatted response data
Requires API key authentication

Example Response

JSON Response
{
  "status": "success",
  "data": {
    "result": "Data from The Guardian",
    "description": "Access all the content the Guardian creates, categorised by tags and section",
    "timestamp": "2025-01-15T10:00:00Z"
  }
}

Field Reference

response.status "ok" when the request succeeded, "error" otherwise
response.total Total number of articles matching the query
response.results[].webTitle Headline of the article as displayed on the Guardian website
response.results[].webUrl URL to the full article on theguardian.com
response.results[].webPublicationDate ISO 8601 publication date and time of the article
response.results[].sectionName Guardian section the article belongs to, such as Technology or Sport

Implementation Example

const url = "http://open-platform.theguardian.com/";
// Replace headers or query params with the values required by this API.
const response = await fetch(url, {
  headers: {
  "X-API-Key": "YOUR_API_KEY"
  }
});
if (!response.ok) throw new Error(`Request failed: ${response.status}`);
const data = await response.json();
console.log(data);

What Can You Build?

Note: These code examples are AI-generated and unverified. Always refer to the official API documentation for accurate usage.

Common Errors & Troubleshooting

403 Forbidden Your API key is missing, expired, or invalid
Double-check your api-key query parameter matches the key shown in your Guardian developer account
400 Bad Request An unrecognised query parameter was included in the request
Consult the Guardian API reference to confirm supported parameters and remove any unsupported ones
Empty results The search term or date range returned no matching content
Broaden your query, remove date filters, or check spelling of the search keyword

Matrix Score Breakdown

🌐 Reachability 30/30
⚡ Speed 10/20
🔒 Security 15/15
🛠 Developer XP 12/20
✓ Reliability 10/15

Partially tested on Apr 5, 2026

Technical Specifications

Auth API Key
HTTPS REQUIRED
CORS UNKNOWN
Category News
Difficulty Intermediate
Verified: 2026-04-04

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