Collectors · Knowledge & reference

Wikidata API in Python

Resolve a name to a stable Wikidata entity id — the join key for entity linking. One POST from Python with query, rows back as JSON with 17 fields, $0.0003 per delivered entity. No proxies or parsers to maintain.

Get an API key See the collector

A Python requests snippet that posts query to the wikidata collector, a line-drawn page titled Wikidata entity search, and a white card with the fields label, description, concept_uri, matched and match_type, at $0.0003 per entity ($0.30 per 1,000). — A Python requests call to the wikidata collector returns one dict per entity, at $0.0003 each.

First call

Install, call, read the rows.

pip install requests

The only dependency.

import os, requests

r = requests.post(
    "https://api.quanticdata.io/v1/scraper/collectors/wikidata/run",
    headers={"Authorization": f"Bearer {os.environ['QD_API_KEY']}"},
    json={
        "query": "OpenAI",
        "max_results": 10,
    },
    timeout=120,
)
r.raise_for_status()
run = r.json()["payload"]
print(run["count"], "rows,", run["cost"]["usd"], "USD")
for row in run["results"]:
    print(row.get("id"), row.get("label"), row.get("description"), row.get("concept_uri"))

Python: one Wikidata entity search run (Risolvi un'entità), printing id, label, description, concept_uri

The key comes from an environment variable, never from the code. The run answers in the same request when it finishes in time; payload.results holds the rows and payload.cost what they cost.

Request parameters

What the collector takes.

Input of the Wikidata entity search collector
Parameter	Type	Required	Meaning
`query`	string	yes	Name or term to resolve to entities.
`lang`	string	no	Language for labels/descriptions (default en).
`include_details`	boolean	no (default false)	Also read instance-of, country, official website, coordinates and image for each entity.
`max_results`	integer	no (default 10)	How many entities to deliver at most (1–50). You pay only for delivered entities.

Response fields

17 fields per entity.

Fields of each row (entity)
Field	Type	What it holds
`rank`	integer	1-based relevance rank.
`id`	string	Wikidata entity id (Q…).
`label`	string, nullable	Entity label.
`description`	string, nullable	Short description.
`concept_uri`	string, nullable	Canonical entity URI (join key).
`url`	string	Wikidata page URL.
`matched`	string, nullable	The text that matched the query.
`match_type`	string, nullable	How it matched (label, alias…).
`aliases`	string[]	Alternative names in the requested language and English.
`wikipedia_url`	string, nullable	Wikipedia article in the requested language (English as fallback).
`wikipedia_title`	string, nullable	Title of that article.
`instance_of`	string[], nullable	Q-ids the entity is an instance of (include_details).
`country_id`	string, nullable	Q-id of the entity's country (include_details).
`official_website`	string, nullable	Official website (include_details).
`latitude`	number, nullable	Latitude (include_details).
`longitude`	number, nullable	Longitude (include_details).
`image_url`	string, nullable	Wikimedia Commons image (include_details).

Add ?format=csv to the runs endpoint to get the same rows as CSV.

Long runs

Run in the background, then poll.

A run that needs more time can go to the background: send "async": true, get 202 with the run id, and poll the runs endpoint until the status is done. Reading a run is free.

import os, time, requests

H = {"Authorization": f"Bearer {os.environ['QD_API_KEY']}"}
r = requests.post("https://api.quanticdata.io/v1/scraper/collectors/wikidata/run", headers=H,
                  json={**{"query":"OpenAI","max_results":10}, "async": True}, timeout=30)
run_id = r.json()["payload"]["run_id"]
while True:
    run = requests.get(f"https://api.quanticdata.io/v1/scraper/collectors/runs/{run_id}", headers=H, timeout=30).json()["payload"]
    if run["status"] in ("done", "failed"):
        break
    time.sleep(5)
print(run["status"], run["count"])

Python: background run and polling

Errors

What can come back, and what is billed.

Collector run errors
Status	Meaning	Billed
`400`	The input does not match the collector (`payload.errors`)	No
`401`	Missing or wrong API key	No
`402`	Balance and free credit do not cover the run: top up	No
`422`	The input can never resolve; retrying the same input cannot help	No
`424`	The run failed at the source (blocked, timed out, layout changed); safe to retry	No
`429`	Rate limit or a per-account brake; wait for `Retry-After`	No

Only delivered rows are billed: a run that delivers nothing costs nothing.

Price

$0.0003 per delivered entity.

What Wikidata entity search rows cost at list price
Rows	Cost
1	$0.0003
1,000	$0.30
10,000	$3.00

Up to 50 entities per run; split larger jobs into several runs. The $2 free credit every month covers about 6,666 entities. No subscription; paid tiers lower the unit price. All collector prices: collector pricing.

Before you run it

Questions developers ask

Is there a free Wikidata entity search API?

Every account gets $2 of free usage each month, about 6,666 entities of this collector at $0.0003 each, with no card.

Do I have to handle proxies, retries or blocks?

No. The collector runs on our network and handles them; a run blocked at the source returns 424 and is not billed.

How many rows can one run return?

Up to 50 entities per run (the max_results input, where the collector has one).

Can an AI agent run it?

Yes: the MCP server exposes it as the run_collector tool, with the same input and price. See the MCP server.

Run it on the free credit.

Create an API key, export it as QD_API_KEY and run the example. $0.0003 per delivered entity, no subscription.

Get an API key Wikidata API