Semantic API

nytimes · Media

Media No Auth Free & Open media open_data

The Semantic API complements the Articles API. With the Semantic API, you get access to the long list of people, places, organizations and other locations, entities and descriptors that make up the controlled vocabulary used as metadata by The New York Times (sometimes referred to as Times Tags and used for Times Topics pages). The Semantic API uses concepts which are, by definition, terms in The New York Times controlled vocabulary. Like the way facets are used in the Articles API, concepts ar

Authentication

No authentication requiredFree to use with no key needed.

Sample Requests

GET GET /search.json

https://api.apis.guru/v2/specs/nytimes.com/semantic_api/2.0.0/search.json?query=test&fields=all&offset=10

Hover any highlighted part to learn what it does

curl -X GET "https://api.apis.guru/v2/specs/nytimes.com/semantic_api/2.0.0/search.json?query=test&fields=all&offset=10"

import requests
params = {
    "query": "test",
    "fields": "all",
    "offset": "10"
}
response = requests.get(
    "https://api.apis.guru/v2/specs/nytimes.com/semantic_api/2.0.0/search.json",
    params=params,
)
print(response.json())

const url = new URL('https://api.apis.guru/v2/specs/nytimes.com/semantic_api/2.0.0/search.json');
url.searchParams.set('query', 'test');
url.searchParams.set('fields', 'all');
url.searchParams.set('offset', '10');

const response = await fetch(url); 
const data = await response.json();
console.log(data);

package main

import (
	"fmt"
	"io"
	"net/http"
	"net/url"
)

func main() {
	baseURL, _ := url.Parse("https://api.apis.guru/v2/specs/nytimes.com/semantic_api/2.0.0/search.json")
	q := baseURL.Query()
	q.Set("query", "test")
	q.Set("fields", "all")
	q.Set("offset", "10")
	baseURL.RawQuery = q.Encode()
	targetURL := baseURL.String()
	req, _ := http.NewRequest("GET", targetURL, nil)

	client := &http.Client{}
	resp, _ := client.Do(req)
	defer resp.Body.Close()
	body, _ := io.ReadAll(resp.Body)
	fmt.Println(string(body))
}

require "net/http"
require "json"

uri = URI("https://api.apis.guru/v2/specs/nytimes.com/semantic_api/2.0.0/search.json")
uri.query = URI.encode_www_form({
  "query" => "test",
  "fields" => "all",
  "offset" => "10"
})

http = Net::HTTP.new(uri.host, uri.port)
http.use_ssl = uri.scheme == "https"

req = Net::HTTP::Get.new(uri)

res = http.request(req)
puts JSON.parse(res.body)

<?php
$url = "https://api.apis.guru/v2/specs/nytimes.com/semantic_api/2.0.0/search.json?" . http_build_query([
    "query" => "test",
    "fields" => "all",
    "offset" => "10"
]);
$opts = ["http" => [
    "method" => "GET",
]];
$ctx = stream_context_create($opts);
$res = file_get_contents($url, false, $ctx);
print_r(json_decode($res, true));

GET GET /name/{concept-type}/{specific-concept}.json

https://api.apis.guru/v2/specs/nytimes.com/semantic_api/2.0.0/name/{concept-type}/{specific-concept}.json?query=test&fields=all

Hover any highlighted part to learn what it does

curl -X GET "https://api.apis.guru/v2/specs/nytimes.com/semantic_api/2.0.0/name/{concept-type}/{specific-concept}.json?query=test&fields=all"

import requests
params = {
    "query": "test",
    "fields": "all"
}
response = requests.get(
    "https://api.apis.guru/v2/specs/nytimes.com/semantic_api/2.0.0/name/{concept-type}/{specific-concept}.json",
    params=params,
)
print(response.json())

const url = new URL('https://api.apis.guru/v2/specs/nytimes.com/semantic_api/2.0.0/name/{concept-type}/{specific-concept}.json');
url.searchParams.set('query', 'test');
url.searchParams.set('fields', 'all');

const response = await fetch(url); 
const data = await response.json();
console.log(data);

package main

import (
	"fmt"
	"io"
	"net/http"
	"net/url"
)

func main() {
	baseURL, _ := url.Parse("https://api.apis.guru/v2/specs/nytimes.com/semantic_api/2.0.0/name/{concept-type}/{specific-concept}.json")
	q := baseURL.Query()
	q.Set("query", "test")
	q.Set("fields", "all")
	baseURL.RawQuery = q.Encode()
	targetURL := baseURL.String()
	req, _ := http.NewRequest("GET", targetURL, nil)

	client := &http.Client{}
	resp, _ := client.Do(req)
	defer resp.Body.Close()
	body, _ := io.ReadAll(resp.Body)
	fmt.Println(string(body))
}

require "net/http"
require "json"

uri = URI("https://api.apis.guru/v2/specs/nytimes.com/semantic_api/2.0.0/name/{concept-type}/{specific-concept}.json")
uri.query = URI.encode_www_form({
  "query" => "test",
  "fields" => "all"
})

http = Net::HTTP.new(uri.host, uri.port)
http.use_ssl = uri.scheme == "https"

req = Net::HTTP::Get.new(uri)

res = http.request(req)
puts JSON.parse(res.body)

<?php
$url = "https://api.apis.guru/v2/specs/nytimes.com/semantic_api/2.0.0/name/{concept-type}/{specific-concept}.json?" . http_build_query([
    "query" => "test",
    "fields" => "all"
]);
$opts = ["http" => [
    "method" => "GET",
]];
$ctx = stream_context_create($opts);
$res = file_get_contents($url, false, $ctx);
print_r(json_decode($res, true));

Postman Setup Guide

Get Postman ↗

See official documentation for authentication and setup.

What can you build with Semantic API?

Semantic API is a Media API. Developers commonly use media APIs for:

storing and delivering images, video, and audio
building digital asset management and media libraries
transcoding and optimising media for the web
adding video streaming and playback to your app
automating content tagging and metadata extraction

No authentication required. This API is open — no signup or key needed. Ideal for quick prototypes and public-facing features. Semantic API is free to use, making it a low-risk choice to experiment with.

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