specification: API Commons Plans
specificationVersion: '0.1'
schema: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/interface-research/main/schema/api-commons.yml#/$defs/Plans

provider: Wikisource
providerId: wikisource
created: '2026-06-13'
modified: '2026-06-13'
reconciled: true

tags:
  - Open Knowledge
  - Public Domain
  - Literature
  - Historical Documents
  - Free API

description: >-
  All Wikisource APIs — MediaWiki Action API, MediaWiki Core REST API, and the Wikimedia REST API v1
  — are free of charge under the Wikimedia API usage guidelines. No registration, API key, or payment
  is required for read access. Write access (page edits, proofread-status updates) requires OAuth 2.0
  via meta.wikimedia.org, which is also free. The only mandatory requirement is a contactable
  User-Agent header; violating usage guidelines or failing to identify your client may result in an
  IP block without notice.

sources:
  - https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Policy:Wikimedia_Foundation_API_Usage_Guidelines
  - https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/API:Etiquette
  - https://en.wikisource.org/api/rest_v1/
  - https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Policy:Terms_of_Use

plans:
  - id: wikisource-free
    name: Wikisource Free API
    type: free
    description: >-
      Unrestricted free access to all Wikisource API surfaces. No key or account needed for
      read operations; OAuth 2.0 account required only for write operations. Must comply with
      Wikimedia API usage guidelines and set a contactable User-Agent.
    entries:
      - label: Action API read requests
        name: action_api_read_requests
        type: metered
        metric: request
        limit: -1
        timeFrame: usage
        geo: global
        unit: 1
        price: 'free'
        userMultiplied: false
      - label: Action API write requests
        name: action_api_write_requests
        type: metered
        metric: request
        limit: 'account-based, see userinfo ratelimits'
        timeFrame: usage
        geo: global
        unit: 1
        price: 'free'
        userMultiplied: false
      - label: Core REST API requests
        name: core_rest_requests
        type: metered
        metric: request
        limit: -1
        timeFrame: usage
        geo: global
        unit: 1
        price: 'free'
        userMultiplied: false
      - label: REST API v1 cached reads
        name: rest_v1_requests
        type: metered
        metric: request
        limit: 200
        timeFrame: second
        geo: global
        unit: 1
        price: 'free'
        userMultiplied: false
      - label: Bulk XML dumps
        name: bulk_dumps
        type: flat
        metric: download
        limit: -1
        timeFrame: usage
        geo: global
        unit: 1
        price: 'free'
        userMultiplied: false
    elements:
      - name: Anonymous read access (no key required)
      - name: OAuth 2.0 write access (free account at meta.wikimedia.org)
      - name: Cached reads at ~200 RPS via REST API v1
      - name: 70+ language editions at {lang}.wikisource.org
      - name: ProofreadPage status querying and updating
      - name: Wikitext-to-HTML transforms
      - name: Bulk text dumps at dumps.wikimedia.org