Wikipedia On This Day API
Free Wikimedia On This Day API with no key: historical events, births, deaths and holidays for any calendar date, with linked Wikipedia articles. Tested.
Endpoint tested and returned HTTP 200 on 2026-08-20
What is the Wikipedia On This Day API?
The Wikimedia On This Day API is a free, key-free API returning historical events, births, deaths and holidays that occurred on any given calendar date, each linked to its Wikipedia article with images and summaries.
This powers Wikipedia's own 'On this day' feature and is available to anyone. Request a month and day, and you get curated historical events with year, description and full linked article summaries including thumbnails.
The linked `pages` array is what makes it immediately usable — each event arrives with the relevant Wikipedia article's title, extract and image, so you can render a rich card without a second request.
Quick facts
- Base URL
https://api.wikimedia.org/feed/v1/wikipedia/en/onthisday- Authentication
- No API key for anonymous access. A free Wikimedia account token raises rate limits.
- Rate limit
- Around 500 requests per hour anonymously; higher with an access token.
- Pricing
- Free. Content is CC BY-SA licensed, attribution required.
- CORS
- Enabled — callable directly from browser JavaScript
- Official docs
- Read the docs
How to use the Wikipedia On This Day API
Every request below was executed against the live API on 2026-08-20, and the response shown is the real body it returned — not an illustration.
1. Fetch historical events for a date
GET https://api.wikimedia.org/feed/v1/wikipedia/en/onthisday/events/08/20
curl 'https://api.wikimedia.org/feed/v1/wikipedia/en/onthisday/events/08/20'const res = await fetch("https://api.wikimedia.org/feed/v1/wikipedia/en/onthisday/events/08/20");
if (!res.ok) throw new Error(`Request failed: ${res.status}`);
const data = await res.json();
console.log(data);import requests
res = requests.get("https://api.wikimedia.org/feed/v1/wikipedia/en/onthisday/events/08/20", timeout=20)
res.raise_for_status()
print(res.json()){
"events": [
{
"text": "Joe Biden gives his acceptance speech virtually for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination at the 2020 Democratic National Convention.",
"pages": [
{
"type": "standard",
"title": "Joe_Biden",
"displaytitle": "<span lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\"><span class=\"mw-page-title-main\">Joe Biden</span></span>",
"namespace": {
"id": 0,
"text": ""
},
"wikibase_item": "Q6279",
"titles": {
"canonical": "Joe_Biden",
"normalized": "Joe Biden",
"display": "<span lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\"><span class=\"mw-page-title-main\">Joe Biden</span></span>"
},
"pageid": 145422,
"thumbnail": {
"source": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/68/Joe_Biden_presidential_portrait.jpg/330px-Joe_Biden_presidential_portrait.jpg?utm_source=en.wikipedia.org&utm_campaign=api&utm_content=thumbnail",
"width": 330,
"height": 413
},
"originalimage": {
"source": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/68/Joe_Biden_presidential_portrait.jpg?utm_source=en.wikipedia.org&utm_campaign=api&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled",
"width": 2400,
"height": 3000
},
"lang": "en",
"dir": "ltr",
"revision": "1370174413",
"tid": "d17e77b8-9bdd-11f1-98f2-90f242072d8e",
"timestamp": "2026-08-19T14:54:03Z",
"description": "President of the United SParameters
| Parameter | Type | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
<type> | path | Required | events, births, deaths, holidays, selected or all. events |
<MM>/<DD> | path | Required | Zero-padded month and day. 08/20 |
<lang> | path | Optional | Language edition in the URL path. en |
Response fields
eventsarray- Historical events for that date.
events[].yearinteger- Year the event occurred.
events[].textstring- Short description of the event.
events[].pagesarray- Linked Wikipedia articles with extracts and thumbnails.
events[].pages[].thumbnailobject- Article image, when one exists.
events[].pages[].extractstring- Article summary, ready to display.
What you can build with the Wikipedia On This Day API
- Build a 'this day in history' widget or daily email
- Add historical context to a calendar application
- Create educational content for classrooms
- Power a daily social media post automatically
Common errors and how to fix them
404
Malformed date path.
Fix: Month and day must be zero-padded two-digit values, e.g. 08/20 not 8/20.
429
Anonymous rate limit exceeded.
Fix: Cache by date — the data for a given day changes rarely. A Wikimedia token raises the limit.
Missing thumbnails
Not every linked article has an image.
Fix: Null-check pages[].thumbnail before rendering.
Wikipedia On This Day API — frequently asked questions
Is the Wikipedia On This Day API free?
Yes, free with no API key for anonymous use. Content is CC BY-SA, so attribution is required when you display it.
What date format does it expect?
Zero-padded month and day in the path, such as /08/20. Single-digit values without the leading zero return a 404.
What types of entries are available?
events, births, deaths, holidays, and `selected` for Wikipedia's curated highlights. Use `all` to get every type in one response.
Does it work for other languages?
Yes, the language code is in the URL path, so /wikipedia/de/onthisday returns German Wikipedia's entries — which differ, reflecting different editorial focus.
Tools that pair with this API
JSON Formatter
Format, beautify and minify JSON online with 2-space, 4-space or tab indentation. Sort keys alphabetically and catch syntax errors instantly — free and private.
Age Calculator
Find your exact age in years, months and days from your date of birth, plus totals in weeks, days and hours and a countdown to your next birthday.
Wikipedia On This Day is an independent third-party service and is not affiliated with ByteTools or ByteVancer. Details on this page were verified on 2026-08-20; always check the official documentation before relying on this API in production, as terms and limits can change.