Britannica API: Search articles
Searches Britannica for encyclopedia articles and returns their titles, short descriptions, article links and images when shown. Excludes other search formats such as videos, questions and stories.
Unofficial. Not affiliated with or endorsed by Britannica.
Inputs
Values from the run on Oct 31, 2026, shown under Output.
- Query, required
query Words to search for, such as French Revolution.
Albert Einstein
- Max Results optional
max_results Maximum number of articles to return, such as 10.
50
Whole number from 1 to 50. Default
10.
Input as JSON
{ "query": "Albert Einstein", "max_results": 50}Output
{ "articles": [ { "title": "Albert Einstein", "image_url": "https://cdn.britannica.com/09/75509-050-86D8CBBF/Albert-Einstein.jpg?w=300&h=1000" , "article_url": "https://www.britannica.com/biography/Albert-Einstein" , "description": "Albert Einstein was a German-born physicist who developed the special and general theories of relativity and won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1921 for his explanation of the photoelectric effect. Einstein is generally considered the most influential physicist of the 20th century. (Read Einstein’s …" }, { "title": "Albert Einstein - Physics, Relativity, Nobel Prize", "image_url": null, "article_url": "https://www.britannica.com/biography/Albert-Einstein/Legacy" , "description": "Albert Einstein - Physics, Relativity, Nobel Prize: In some sense, Einstein, instead of being a relic, may have been too far ahead of his ..." }, { "title": "Albert Einstein - Physics, Relativity, Teaching", "image_url": null, "article_url": "https://www.britannica.com/biography/Albert-Einstein/General-relativity-and-teaching-career" , "description": "Einstein also launched the new science of cosmology. His equations predicted that the universe is dynamic—expanding or contracting. This ..." } ]}Code
curl https://api.fous.com/v1/runs \ -H "Authorization: Bearer $FOUS_API_KEY" \ -H "Content-Type: application/json" \ -d '{"method":"britannica.com/search_articles","input":{"query":"Albert Einstein","max_results":50}}' # Save as fous.py, then run: python3 fous.pyimport json, os, timefrom urllib.error import HTTPErrorfrom urllib.request import Request, urlopenAPI = "https://api.fous.com/v1/runs" KEY = os.environ["FOUS_API_KEY"]HEADERS = { "Authorization": f"Bearer {KEY}", "Content-Type": "application/json" ,}def call(url, body=None): data = json.dumps(body).encode() if body else None request = Request(url, data, HEADERS) try: with urlopen(request, timeout=120) as r: return r.status, json.load(r) except HTTPError as error: message = json.load(error)["error"]["message"] raise RuntimeError(message) from errorstatus, run = call(API, { "method": "britannica.com/search_articles" , "input": { "query": "Albert Einstein", "max_results": 50 }})# 202: still going after 30 s. Ask again until it ends.while status == 202: time.sleep(2) status, run = call(f"{API}/{run['id']}")print(json.dumps(run["data"], indent=2))// Save as fous.mjs, then run: node fous.mjsconst api = "https://api.fous.com/v1/runs" ;const headers = { Authorization: `Bearer ${process.env.FOUS_API_KEY}`, "Content-Type": "application/json" ,};let response = await fetch(api, { method: "POST", headers, body: JSON.stringify({ "method": "britannica.com/search_articles" , "input": { "query": "Albert Einstein", "max_results": 50 } }), signal: AbortSignal.timeout(120_000),});let run = await response.json();// 202: still going after 30 s. Ask again until it ends.while (response.status === 202) { await new Promise((done) => setTimeout(done, 2_000)); response = await fetch(`${api}/${run.id}`, { headers }); run = await response.json();}if (!response.ok) throw new Error(run.error.message);console.log(run.data);# Connect your agent to Fous once, over MCP (Streamable HTTP):# https://api.fous.com/mcp# Set FOUS_API_KEY first: create a key at https://app.fous.com/keys.# Claude Codeclaude mcp add \ --scope user \ --transport http fous https://api.fous.com/mcp \ --header "Authorization: Bearer ${FOUS_API_KEY:?Set FOUS_API_KEY to your Fous API key}"# Codexcodex mcp add fous \ --url https://api.fous.com/mcp \ --bearer-token-env-var FOUS_API_KEY# Cursor, VS Code, Windsurf, Cline and morenpx -y add-mcp https://api.fous.com/mcp -g -n fous \ --header "Authorization: Bearer ${FOUS_API_KEY:?Set FOUS_API_KEY to your Fous API key}"# Then ask your agent:# "Use Fous to run britannica.com/search_articles# with {"query":"Albert Einstein","max_results":50}"Over HTTP, the answer’s data holds the output. A run still going after 30 seconds answers 202 with its id: ask GET /v1/runs/{id} until it ends.
Schema
Input schema
{ "type": "object", "required": [ "query" ], "properties": { "query": { "type": "string", "minLength": 1, "description": "Words to search for, such as French Revolution." }, "max_results": { "type": "integer", "default": 10, "maximum": 50, "minimum": 1, "description": "Maximum number of articles to return, such as 10." } }}Output schema
{ "type": "object", "required": [ "articles" ], "properties": { "articles": { "type": "array", "items": { "type": "object", "required": [ "title", "description", "image_url", "article_url" ], "properties": { "title": { "type": "string", "description": "Article title." }, "image_url": { "type": [ "string", "null" ], "description": "Image link if the search listing shows one." }, "article_url": { "type": "string", "description": "Link to the article on Britannica." }, "description": { "type": [ "string", "null" ], "description": "Short description from the search listing, if shown." } }, "additionalProperties": false }, "description": "Matching encyclopedia articles in Britannica search order." } }, "additionalProperties": false}- Price
- 1 credit per completed run (1¢ with pay as you go); failed runs are free.
- Method
britannica.com/search_articles- Returns
- title, description, image link, article link
Use it from your agent
Give your agent this line. It reads SKILL.md, gets a Fous API key and connects the Fous MCP server. Its run then takes the method britannica.com/search_articles with the inputs above.
Ask your agent
- Find encyclopedia articles about the Ottoman Empire and give me their titles and short summaries
- Search Britannica for photosynthesis and return the top 5 article links
- I need up to 20 reference articles on the Industrial Revolution, with images if available
- Look up encyclopedia entries for Marie Curie on britannica.com
- Get me a list of articles covering plate tectonics, including descriptions and links, no videos or quizzes
See more
All Britannica methodsFinds the best-matching Britannica encyclopedia article for a topic and returns its introduction, quick facts, section headings, update date and main image.
britannica.com/get_articleSearches a Wikipedia language edition by keywords and returns matching articles in relevance order, with descriptions, snippets, word counts, last edit dates and links.
wikipedia.org/search_articlesFinds free-to-use Wikimedia Commons images for a topic in Commons relevance order. Each image comes with its links, creator and licence details.
commons.wikimedia.org/search_free_imagesSearches Bing and returns web results in the order shown, with snippets, answer-box text when available, and related searches.
bing.com/search_webFinds BBC News articles matching search words, newest first or by relevance, with publication time, authors, section and summary, optionally limited to a date range. Date filters and newest order apply to the first 180 search matches; older or less relevant matches may be missed.
bbc.com/search_newsSearches Reuters articles by keyword through Google News, with optional publication date range, order and page. Summaries and bylines are filled in when Reuters serves the article page.
reuters.com/search_newsFinds poems matching a topic or occasion, or poems by a named poet, in Poetry Foundation search order. Older magazine poems without public text have no first two lines; untagged poems have no themes or occasions.
poetryfoundation.org/search_poemsSearches New York Times article headlines and summaries by keyword, optionally within a date range, and returns matching articles with dates, authors, sections and links, newest or most relevant first.
nytimes.com/search_news