# Wikimedia Commons API: Search free images > Finds free-to-use Wikimedia Commons images for a topic in Commons relevance order. Each image comes with its links, creator and licence details. Unofficial. Not affiliated with or endorsed by Wikimedia Commons. - Page: https://fous.com/methods/commons.wikimedia.org/search-free-images - Method: `commons.wikimedia.org/search_free_images`, version 2 - Website: commons.wikimedia.org - Returns: title, description, image and thumbnail links, size, author, licence, attribution text, file page - 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 | `"Golden Gate Bridge at night"` | What the image should show, for example Golden Gate Bridge at night. | | `max_results` | integer | no | `20` | Maximum number of images to return, for example 20. Default 20. | ## Output From a run on Oct 26, 2026, shortened. Its input: ```json { "query": "Golden Gate Bridge at night", "max_results": 20 } ``` Its output: ```json { "images": [ { "title": "Golden Gate Bridge by night.jpg", "width": 1800, "author": "Daniel Schwen", "height": 1283, "description": "Golden Gate Bridge at looking south-south-east by night looking south across the Golden Gate towards San Francisco.", "licence_link": "http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/", "licence_name": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "file_page_link": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Golden_Gate_Bridge_by_night.jpg", "thumbnail_link": "https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c2/Golden_Gate_Bridge_by_night.jpg/960px-Golden_Gate_Bridge_by_night.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail", "attribution_text": "\"Golden Gate Bridge by night.jpg\" by Daniel Schwen, CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/), via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Golden_Gate_Bridge_by_night.jpg)", "original_image_link": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c2/Golden_Gate_Bridge_by_night.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=original", "attribution_required": true }, { "title": "Golden Gate Bridge and San Francisco skyline from Hawk Hill at Blue Hour dllu.jpg", "width": 13706, "author": "Daniel L. Lu (user:dllu)", "height": 4094, "description": "The Golden Gate Bridge and San Francisco as seen from Hawk Hill during blue hour.", "licence_link": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0", "licence_name": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "file_page_link": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Golden_Gate_Bridge_and_San_Francisco_skyline_from_Hawk_Hill_at_Blue_Hour_dllu.jpg", "thumbnail_link": "https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/20/Golden_Gate_Bridge_and_San_Francisco_skyline_from_Hawk_Hill_at_Blue_Hour_dllu.jpg/960px-Golden_Gate_Bridge_and_San_Francisco_skyline_from_Hawk_Hill_at_Blue_Hour_dllu.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumb…", "attribution_text": "\"Golden Gate Bridge and San Francisco skyline from Hawk Hill at Blue Hour dllu.jpg\" by Daniel L. Lu (user:dllu), CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0), via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Golden_Gate_Bridge_and_San_Francisco_skyline_from_Hawk_Hill_a…", "original_image_link": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/20/Golden_Gate_Bridge_and_San_Francisco_skyline_from_Hawk_Hill_at_Blue_Hour_dllu.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=original", "attribution_required": true }, { "title": "Fort Point National Historic Site and Golden Gate Bridge.jpg", "width": 2000, "author": "Brocken Inaglory", "height": 1333, "description": "Fort Point National Historic Site and Golden Gate Bridge.", "licence_link": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0", "licence_name": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "file_page_link": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fort_Point_National_Historic_Site_and_Golden_Gate_Bridge.jpg", "thumbnail_link": "https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a3/Fort_Point_National_Historic_Site_and_Golden_Gate_Bridge.jpg/960px-Fort_Point_National_Historic_Site_and_Golden_Gate_Bridge.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail", "attribution_text": "\"Fort Point National Historic Site and Golden Gate Bridge.jpg\" by Brocken Inaglory, CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0), via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fort_Point_National_Historic_Site_and_Golden_Gate_Bridge.jpg)", "original_image_link": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a3/Fort_Point_National_Historic_Site_and_Golden_Gate_Bridge.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=original", "attribution_required": true } ] } ``` ## 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":"commons.wikimedia.org/search_free_images","input":{"query":"Golden Gate Bridge at night","max_results":20}}' ``` 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 me 10 freely licensed photos of the Eiffel Tower at sunset, with the author and licence for each so I can credit them properly. - I need public domain or Creative Commons images of red pandas for a school presentation — give me around 15 with attribution text. - Search Wikimedia Commons for pictures of the Mars Curiosity rover and return the full-size and thumbnail URLs. - Get up to 30 reusable images of traditional Japanese tea ceremonies, including image dimensions and the file page link. - Pull 5 Commons images of the Great Barrier Reef coral that I can legally put on my blog, along with who made them and the licence terms. ## Input schema ```json { "type": "object", "required": [ "query" ], "properties": { "query": { "type": "string", "minLength": 1, "description": "What the image should show, for example Golden Gate Bridge at night." }, "max_results": { "type": "integer", "default": 20, "maximum": 50, "minimum": 1, "description": "Maximum number of images to return, for example 20." } } } ``` ## Output schema ```json { "type": "object", "required": [ "images" ], "properties": { "images": { "type": "array", "items": { "type": "object", "properties": { "title": { "type": "string" }, "width": { "type": "integer" }, "author": { "type": [ "string", "null" ] }, "height": { "type": "integer" }, "description": { "type": [ "string", "null" ] }, "licence_link": { "type": "string" }, "licence_name": { "type": "string" }, "file_page_link": { "type": "string" }, "thumbnail_link": { "type": "string" }, "attribution_text": { "type": "string" }, "original_image_link": { "type": "string" }, "attribution_required": { "type": "boolean" } } } } } } ``` ## See more - [Pexels API: Search photos](https://fous.com/methods/pexels.com/search-photos.md): Search free stock photos on Pexels by subject, orientation, and page. Returns up to 80 photos in search order; Pexels may broaden searches with few exact matches. - [Unsplash API: Search photos](https://fous.com/methods/unsplash.com/search-photos.md): Finds Unsplash photos matching a search phrase, in search order, optionally by shape; excludes Unsplash+ photos unless included. Each result has image links, photographer, licence and photo page. - [Britannica API: Search articles](https://fous.com/methods/britannica.com/search-articles.md): 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. - [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. - [Pinterest API: Search pins](https://fous.com/methods/pinterest.com/search-pins.md): Finds Pinterest pins for an idea in search order, with image, creator, board, saves and linked website. Limited to the first public search page. - [NASA API: Search media](https://fous.com/methods/nasa.gov/search-images.md): Searches NASA public photos, videos or audio by words and creation year, returning matches in relevance order with thumbnails and full-size file links. - [Hugging Face API: Search models](https://fous.com/methods/huggingface.co/search-models.md): Finds public Hugging Face models by search words, with an optional task and sort order. License is null when the model does not publish one. - [PyPI API: Search packages](https://fous.com/methods/pypi.org/search-packages.md): Searches PyPI by keywords and returns matching packages in relevance order, each with its latest version and that version's release date. Returns up to 100 results.