# 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.

- Page: https://fous.com/methods/britannica.com/search-articles
- Method: `britannica.com/search_articles`, version 1
- Website: britannica.com
- Returns: title, description, image link, article link
- Effect: read (it gets data and changes nothing)
- Sign-in: none needed
- Cost: 1 credit per completed run (1¢ with pay as you go); failed runs are free
- Verified: Nov 2, 2026

## Inputs

| Field | Type | Required | In the run below | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| `query` | string | yes | `"Albert Einstein"` | Words to search for, such as French Revolution. |
| `max_results` | integer | no | `50` | Maximum number of articles to return, such as 10. Default 10. |

## Output

From a run on Oct 31, 2026, shortened. Its input:

```json
{
  "query": "Albert Einstein",
  "max_results": 50
}
```

Its output:

```json
{
  "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 ..."
    }
  ]
}
```

## Run it

From code, with a Fous API key in `FOUS_API_KEY`; the answer's `data` holds the output:

```bash
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}}'
```

From an AI agent connected to the Fous MCP server: its `run` with the same method and input. To connect one, give it `set up https://fous.com/SKILL.md`.

## 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

## Input schema

```json
{
  "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

```json
{
  "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
}
```

## See more

- [Britannica API: Get article](https://fous.com/methods/britannica.com/get-article.md): Finds the best-matching Britannica encyclopedia article for a topic and returns its introduction, quick facts, section headings, update date and main image.
- [Wikipedia API: Search articles](https://fous.com/methods/wikipedia.org/search-articles.md): Searches a Wikipedia language edition by keywords and returns matching articles in relevance order, with descriptions, snippets, word counts, last edit dates and links.
- [Wikimedia Commons API: Search free images](https://fous.com/methods/commons.wikimedia.org/search-free-images.md): Finds free-to-use Wikimedia Commons images for a topic in Commons relevance order. Each image comes with its links, creator and licence details.
- [Bing API: Search the web](https://fous.com/methods/bing.com/search-web.md): Searches Bing and returns web results in the order shown, with snippets, answer-box text when available, and related searches.
- [BBC News API: Search articles](https://fous.com/methods/bbc.com/search-news.md): Finds 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.
- [Reuters API: Search news](https://fous.com/methods/reuters.com/search-news.md): Searches 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.
- [Poetry Foundation API: Search poems](https://fous.com/methods/poetryfoundation.org/search-poems.md): Finds 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.
- [The New York Times API: Search articles](https://fous.com/methods/nytimes.com/search-news.md): Searches 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.
- [All Britannica methods](https://fous.com/methods/britannica.com.md)