Reader API
The Reader API just supports saving new documents to Reader and fetching your documents. We will add more endpoints in the near future.
If you have any questions, please reach out :)
Looking for the API docs for the original Readwise? See here.
Authentication
Set a header with key "Authorization" and value: "Token XXX" where XXX is your
Readwise
access token. You (or your users) can get that from here: readwise.io/access_token
If you want to check that a token is valid, just make a GET request to
https://readwise.io/api/v2/auth/
with the above header.
You should receive a 204
response.
Document CREATE
Request: POST
to https://readwise.io/api/v3/save/
Parameters: A JSON object with the following keys:
Key | Type | Description | Required |
---|---|---|---|
url | string | The document's unique URL. If you don't have one, you can provide a made up value such as https://yourapp.com#document1 |
yes |
html | string | The document's content, in valid html (see examples). If you don't provide this, we will try to scrape the URL you provided to fetch html from the open web. | no |
should_clean_html | boolean | Only valid when html is provided. Pass true to have us automatically clean the html and parse the metadata (title/author) of the document for you. By default, this option is false . |
no |
title | string | The document's title, it will overwrite the original title of the document | no |
author | string | The document's author, it will overwrite the original author (if found during the parsing step) | no |
summary | string | Summary of the document | no |
published_date | date | A datetime representing when the document was published in the ISO 8601
format;
default timezone is UTC. Example: "2020-07-14T20:11:24+00:00" |
no |
image_url | string | An image URL to use as cover image | no |
location | string | One of: new , later , archive or feed . Default
is
new .Represents the initial location of the document (previously called triage_status ).
Note: if you try to use a location the user doesn't have enabled in their settings, this value will be set to their default location.
|
no |
category | string | One of: article , email , rss , highlight , note , pdf ,
epub , tweet or video . Default is guessed based on the URL, usually article .
|
no |
saved_using | string | This value represents the source of the document | no |
tags | list | A list of strings containing tags, example: ["tag1", "tag2"] |
no |
notes | string | A top-level note of the document | no |
Response:
- Status code:
201
or200
if document already exist - Created document details:
{
"id": "0000ffff2222eeee3333dddd4444",
"url": "https://read.readwise.io/new/read/0000ffff2222eeee3333dddd4444",
}
Usage/Examples:
- JavaScript
$.ajax({
url: 'https://readwise.io/api/v3/save/',
type: 'POST',
contentType: 'application/json',
beforeSend: function (xhr) {
xhr.setRequestHeader('Authorization', 'Token XXX');
},
data: JSON.stringify({
"url": "https://example.com/article/",
"html": "<div><h1>This article is awesome</h1><p>content here!</p></div>"
"tags": ["tag1", "tag2"]
}),
success: function (result) {console.log(result)},
error: function (error) {console.log(error)},
});
import requests
requests.post(
url="https://readwise.io/api/v3/save/",
headers={"Authorization": "Token XXX"},
json={
"url": "https://example.com/article/",
# No html is provided, so the url will be scraped to get the document's content.
"tags": ["tag3", "tag4"]
}
)
$ curl -v https://readwise.io/api/v3/save/ -H "Authorization: Token XXX" -X POST -d '{"url": "https://example.com/article/"}' -H "Content-Type: application/json"
Document LIST
Request: GET
to https://readwise.io/api/v3/list/
Parameters: Usual query params:
Key | Type | Description | Required |
---|---|---|---|
id | string | The document's unique id. Using this parameter it will return just one document, if found. | no |
updatedAfter | string (formatted as ISO 8601 date) | Fetch only documents updated after this date | no |
location | string | The document's location, could be one of: new , later , shortlist , archive , feed |
no |
category | string | The document's category, could be one of: article , email , rss , highlight , note , pdf , epub , tweet , video |
no |
pageCursor | string | A string returned by a previous request to this endpoint. Use it to get the next page of documents if there are too many for one request. | no |
withHtmlContent | boolean | Include the html_content field in each document's data. Please note that enabling this feature may slightly increase request processing time. Could be one of: true , false . |
no |
Response:
- Status code:
200
- Please keep in mind that both highlights and notes made in Reader are also considered Documents. Highlights and notes will have `parent_id` set, which is the Document id of the article/book/etc and highlight that they belong to, respectively.
- All dates are UTC unless otherwise stated.
- List of documents:
{
"count": 2304,
"nextPageCursor": "01gm6kjzabcd609yepjrmcgz8a",
"results": [
{
"id": "01gwfvp9pyaabcdgmx14f6ha0",
"url": "https://readiwise.io/feed/read/01gwfvp9pyaabcdgmx14f6ha0",
"source_url": "https://www.driverlesscrocodile.com/values/ends-and-meanings-3-alasdair-macintyre-virtue-mortality-and-story-in-heroic-societies/",
"title": "Ends and Meanings (3): Alasdair MacIntyre virtue, mortality and story in heroic societies",
"author": "Stuart Patience",
"source": "Reader RSS",
"category": "rss",
"location": "feed",
"tags": {},
"site_name": "Driverless Crocodile",
"word_count": 819,
"created_at": "2023-03-26T21:02:51.618751+00:00",
"updated_at": "2023-03-26T21:02:55.453827+00:00",
"notes": "",
"published_date": "2023-03-22",
"summary": "Without … a place in the social order, ...",
"image_url": "https://i0.wp.com/www.driverlesscrocodile.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/cropped-driverlesscrocodile-icon-e1571123201159-4.jpg?fit=32%2C32&ssl=1",
"parent_id": null,
"reading_progress": 0.15,
"first_opened_at": null,
"last_opened_at": null,
"saved_at": "2023-03-26T21:02:51.618751+00:00",
"last_moved_at": "2023-03-27T21:03:52.118752+00:00",
},
{
"id": "01gkqtdz9xabcd5gt96khreyb",
"url": "https://readiwise.io/new/read/01gkqtdz9xabcd5gt96khreyb",
"source_url": "https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2017/08/the-story-of-the-ducktales-theme-music",
"title": "The Story of the DuckTales Theme, History’s Catchiest Single Minute of Music",
"author": "Darryn King",
"source": "Reader add from import URL",
"category": "article",
"location": "new",
"tags": {},
"site_name": "Vanity Fair",
"word_count": 2678,
"created_at": "2022-12-08T02:53:29.639650+00:00",
"updated_at": "2022-12-13T20:37:42.544298+00:00",
"published_date": "2017-08-09",
"notes": "A sample note",
"summary": "A woo-hoo heard around the world.",
"image_url": "https://media.vanityfair.com/photos/598b1452f7f0a433bd4d149c/16:9/w_1280,c_limit/t-ducktales-woohoo-song.png",
"parent_id": null,
"reading_progress": 0.5,
"first_opened_at": "2023-03-26T21:02:51.618751+00:00",
"last_opened_at": "2023-03-29T21:02:51.618751+00:00",
"saved_at": "2023-03-26T21:02:51.618751+00:00",
"last_moved_at": "2023-03-27T21:03:52.118752+00:00",
},
{
"id": "01gkqt8nbms4t698abcdvcswvf",
"url": "https://readwise.io/new/read/01gkqt8nbms4t698abcdvcswvf",
"source_url": "https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2022/10/covid-origins-investigation-wuhan-lab",
"title": "COVID-19 Origins: Investigating a “Complex and Grave Situation” Inside a Wuhan Lab",
"author": "Condé Nast",
"source": "Reader add from import URL",
"category": "article",
"location": "new",
"tags": {},
"site_name": "Vanity Fair",
"word_count": 9601,
"created_at": "2022-12-08T02:50:35.662027+00:00",
"updated_at": "2023-03-22T13:29:41.827456+00:00",
"published_date": "2022-10-28",
"notes": "",
"summary": "The Wuhan Institute of Virology, the cutting-edge ...",
"image_url": "https://media.vanityfair.com/photos/63599642578d980751943b65/16:9/w_1280,c_limit/vf-1022-covid-trackers-site-story.jpg",
"parent_id": null,
"reading_progress": 0,
"first_opened_at": "2023-03-26T21:02:51.618751+00:00",
"last_opened_at": "2023-03-26T21:02:51.618751+00:00",
"saved_at": "2023-03-26T21:02:51.618751+00:00",
"last_moved_at": "2023-03-27T21:03:52.118752+00:00",
}
]
}
Usage/Examples:
- JavaScript
const token = "XXX"; // use your access token here
const fetchDocumentListApi = async (updatedAfter=null, location=null) => {
let fullData = [];
let nextPageCursor = null;
while (true) {
const queryParams = new URLSearchParams();
if (nextPageCursor) {
queryParams.append('pageCursor', nextPageCursor);
}
if (updatedAfter) {
queryParams.append('updatedAfter', updatedAfter);
}
if (location) {
queryParams.append('location', location);
}
console.log('Making export api request with params ' + queryParams.toString());
const response = await fetch('https://readwise.io/api/v3/list/?' + queryParams.toString(), {
method: 'GET',
headers: {
Authorization: `Token ${token}`,
},
});
const responseJson = await response.json();
fullData.push(...responseJson['results']);
nextPageCursor = responseJson['nextPageCursor'];
if (!nextPageCursor) {
break;
}
}
return fullData;
};
// Get all of a user's documents from all time
const allData = await fetchDocumentListApi();
// Get all of a user's archived documents
const archivedData = await fetchDocumentListApi(null, 'archive');
// Later, if you want to get new documents updated after some date, do this:
const docsAfterDate = new Date(Date.now() - 24 * 60 * 60 * 1000); // use your own stored date
const newData = await fetchDocumentListApi(docsAfterDate.toISOString());
import datetime
import requests # This may need to be installed from pip
token = 'XXX'
def fetch_reader_document_list_api(updated_after=None, location=None):
full_data = []
next_page_cursor = None
while True:
params = {}
if next_page_cursor:
params['pageCursor'] = next_page_cursor
if updated_after:
params['updatedAfter'] = updated_after
if location:
params['location'] = location
print("Making export api request with params " + str(params) + "...")
response = requests.get(
url="https://readwise.io/api/v3/list/",
params=params,
headers={"Authorization": f"Token {token}"}, verify=False
)
full_data.extend(response.json()['results'])
next_page_cursor = response.json().get('nextPageCursor')
if not next_page_cursor:
break
return full_data
# Get all of a user's documents from all time
all_data = fetch_reader_document_list_api()
# Get all of a user's archived documents
archived_data = fetch_reader_document_list_api(location='archive')
# Later, if you want to get new documents updated after some date, do this:
docs_after_date = datetime.datetime.now() - datetime.timedelta(days=1) # use your own stored date
new_data = fetch_reader_document_list_api(docs_after_date.isoformat())
$ curl -v https://readwise.io/api/v3/list/?location=later -H "Authorization: Token XXX" -H "Content-Type: application/json"
Rate Limiting
The default base rate is 20 requests per minute (per access token).
You can check Retry-After
header in the 429 response to get the number
of seconds to wait
for.