EveryCRT Wiki

EveryCRT:Data API

The EveryCRT Data API is a documented way to fetch the structured data of EveryCRT programmatically — for example, to build a third-party app that mirrors, indexes, or analyzes the wiki.

It is not a custom REST service. It is a thin documentation layer over the standard MediaWiki Action API and Semantic MediaWiki endpoints, plus one wiki-maintained manifest that lists the canonical entity-type categories.

No authentication is required. All data is publicly readable.

URL layout

This wiki uses two URL paths:

Sync pattern

The recommended way to mirror the wiki is two-step:

  1. Fetch the manifest once to discover the entity types and how to enumerate each.
  2. For each entity type, fetch its list of pages (with last-modified timestamps), then call entity facts on each page you want full data for.

For ongoing incremental sync, poll recent changes since your last sync timestamp and re-fetch only the affected pages.

Manifest

The manifest is a JSON document listing every canonical entity-type category, with live page counts and ready-to-use enumeration URLs. It updates automatically as the catalog grows; new entity types added in the future will appear here without API clients needing code changes (assuming they iterate over entity_types rather than hardcoding).

Programmatic fetch (recommended): 

GET https://wiki.everycrt.com/api.php?action=expandtemplates&text=%7B%7B%23invoke%3ADataAPIManifest%7Cjson%7D%7D&prop=wikitext&format=json&formatversion=2

The response wraps the manifest in expandtemplates.wikitext as a string; parse that string as JSON: 

const url = 'https://wiki.everycrt.com/api.php'
  + '?action=expandtemplates'
  + '&text=%7B%7B%23invoke%3ADataAPIManifest%7Cjson%7D%7D'
  + '&prop=wikitext&format=json&formatversion=2';

const res = await fetch(url, {
  headers: { 'User-Agent': 'my-app/1.0 (https://example.com/contact)' },
});
const { expandtemplates } = await res.json();
const manifest = JSON.parse(expandtemplates.wikitext);

console.log(manifest.entity_types);

The current manifest is rendered at the bottom of this page for human reading.

Listing entities

Use Semantic MediaWiki's action=ask endpoint to enumerate pages of a given entity type. The manifest's list_url for each entity type does exactly this — returning every page with its Modification date, which is what you want for indexing and for driving incremental sync: 

GET https://wiki.everycrt.com/api.php?action=ask&format=json&formatversion=2&query=[[Category:CRT models]]|?Modification date|limit=500

The query supports any SMW ask syntax — additional printouts, filters, ordering, etc.

  • Page through with |offset=N in the query.
  • Maximum limit per request is 500.

Example — all Sony CRT models with screen size and release year: 

GET https://wiki.everycrt.com/api.php?action=ask&format=json&query=[[Category:CRT models]][[Has brand::Sony]]|?Has screen size inches|?Has release year|limit=500

For interactive query development, use Special:Ask.

Entity facts

For a single page, the action=browsebysubject endpoint returns every SMW fact known about it — including subobjects (CRT inputs, outputs, voltage ranges, etc.): 

GET https://wiki.everycrt.com/api.php?action=browsebysubject&format=json&formatversion=2&subject=Sony_KV-20FV300

This is the right endpoint for "give me everything you know about this entity" — no need to enumerate properties up front. New properties added to the wiki are automatically included in the response.

Subobjects are returned as additional subjects with names like Sony_KV-20FV300#_HASH. Treat them as child records of the parent page; together they describe the CRT inputs, outputs, voltage ranges, and so on.

For interactive browsing, use Special:Browse.

Recent changes

For incremental sync, poll action=query&list=recentchanges filtered by a timestamp. The standard MediaWiki Special:RecentChanges view is the human-readable equivalent: 

GET https://wiki.everycrt.com/api.php?action=query&list=recentchanges&format=json&formatversion=2&rcprop=title|timestamp|ids|sizes|user&rclimit=500&rcend=2026-05-01T00:00:00Z

A typical sync loop:

  1. Save your "last sync" timestamp (UTC ISO 8601) after each successful pass.
  2. On the next sync, fetch recent-changes with rcend=<previous timestamp>.
  3. For each unique title in the response, re-fetch via browsebysubject (or remove from your index if it was a deletion — see rctype=log and rcshow options for handling deletes and moves).
  4. Save the new "last sync" timestamp.

To filter to specific namespaces, add &rcnamespace=0|3000 (main + Document, for example). Namespace IDs are listed via: 

GET https://wiki.everycrt.com/api.php?action=query&meta=siteinfo&siprop=namespaces&format=json&formatversion=2

RDF export

For semantic-web-style consumption, Special:ExportRDF returns RDF/OWL for individual pages or entire category subtrees: 

GET https://wiki.everycrt.com/wiki/Special:ExportRDF?pages=Category:CRT%20models&recursive=1

This is more verbose than the JSON endpoints; most app developers will prefer browsebysubject.

Conventions and stability

  • All endpoints return UTF-8.
  • Page titles are case-sensitive after the first character (standard MediaWiki).
  • Subobjects (per-input, per-output, per-voltage-range facts) appear as separate subjects in browsebysubject output, with titles ending in #_HASH. Treat them as child records of the parent page; you do not need to fetch them separately.
  • The set of properties on any one entity type may grow over time. Clients using browsebysubject automatically pick up new properties; clients using fixed action=ask printouts will need updates when they want to read newly added fields.
  • Entity-type categories listed in the manifest are stable. New entity types may be added; existing ones will not be silently renamed.
  • This is a community wiki; data quality varies. Treat values as best-effort, especially for newer or less-documented models.

Etiquette

The wiki is publicly readable and no authentication is required for any of these endpoints. Please be a good citizen:

  • Set a descriptive User-Agent on your requests (e.g. my-app/1.0 (https://example.com/contact)) so the wiki operators can reach you if there's a problem.
  • Cache the manifest — it changes slowly (new entity types are rare).
  • For full syncs, sleep briefly between requests; a few requests per second is fine.
  • Use recent changes for incremental sync rather than re-walking the whole catalog every time.

If your app is doing something cool with EveryCRT data, drop a note on the community channels — we'd love to see it.

Live manifest

This is the manifest as it would be returned by the programmatic fetch above, rendered live from Module:DataAPIManifest: 

{
    "version": 1,
    "entity_types": [
        {
            "list_url": "https://wiki.everycrt.com/api.php?action=ask&format=json&formatversion=2&query=%5B%5BCategory%3ACRT+models%5D%5D%7C%3FModification+date%7Climit%3D500%7Coffset%3D0",
            "count": 2152,
            "key": "crt_model",
            "label": "CRT models",
            "category_url": "https://wiki.everycrt.com/wiki/Category:CRT_models",
            "ask_query": "[[Category:CRT models]]",
            "category": "CRT models",
            "description": "CRT monitors, televisions, and professional video displays."
        },
        {
            "list_url": "https://wiki.everycrt.com/api.php?action=ask&format=json&formatversion=2&query=%5B%5BCategory%3AAV+devices%5D%5D%7C%3FModification+date%7Climit%3D500%7Coffset%3D0",
            "count": 1069,
            "key": "av_device",
            "label": "AV devices",
            "category_url": "https://wiki.everycrt.com/wiki/Category:AV_devices",
            "ask_query": "[[Category:AV devices]]",
            "category": "AV devices",
            "description": "VCRs, TBCs, video mixers, switchers, and other vintage AV equipment."
        },
        {
            "list_url": "https://wiki.everycrt.com/api.php?action=ask&format=json&formatversion=2&query=%5B%5BCategory%3AAccessories%5D%5D%7C%3FModification+date%7Climit%3D500%7Coffset%3D0",
            "count": 49,
            "key": "accessory",
            "label": "Accessories",
            "category_url": "https://wiki.everycrt.com/wiki/Category:Accessories",
            "ask_query": "[[Category:Accessories]]",
            "category": "Accessories",
            "description": "Remotes, cables, antennas, and other accessories."
        },
        {
            "list_url": "https://wiki.everycrt.com/api.php?action=ask&format=json&formatversion=2&query=%5B%5BCategory%3AParts%5D%5D%7C%3FModification+date%7Climit%3D500%7Coffset%3D0",
            "count": 13,
            "key": "part",
            "label": "Parts",
            "category_url": "https://wiki.everycrt.com/wiki/Category:Parts",
            "ask_query": "[[Category:Parts]]",
            "category": "Parts",
            "description": "ICs, transistors, CRT tubes, flyback transformers, and other components."
        },
        {
            "list_url": "https://wiki.everycrt.com/api.php?action=ask&format=json&formatversion=2&query=%5B%5BCategory%3ARepair+services%5D%5D%7C%3FModification+date%7Climit%3D500%7Coffset%3D0",
            "count": 7,
            "key": "repair_service",
            "label": "Repair services",
            "category_url": "https://wiki.everycrt.com/wiki/Category:Repair_services",
            "ask_query": "[[Category:Repair services]]",
            "category": "Repair services",
            "description": "Repair shops and technicians serving the vintage AV community."
        },
        {
            "list_url": "https://wiki.everycrt.com/api.php?action=ask&format=json&formatversion=2&query=%5B%5BCategory%3ADocuments%5D%5D%7C%3FModification+date%7Climit%3D500%7Coffset%3D0",
            "count": 350,
            "key": "document",
            "label": "Documents",
            "category_url": "https://wiki.everycrt.com/wiki/Category:Documents",
            "ask_query": "[[Category:Documents]]",
            "category": "Documents",
            "description": "Manuals, brochures, spec sheets, service bulletins, and other reference documents."
        }
    ],
    "wiki": {
        "api_url": "https://wiki.everycrt.com/api.php",
        "name": "EveryCRT",
        "base_url": "https://wiki.everycrt.com"
    },
    "endpoints": {
        "entity_facts": {
            "url": "https://wiki.everycrt.com/api.php?action=browsebysubject&format=json&formatversion=2&subject=<PAGE_TITLE>",
            "method": "GET",
            "notes": "Returns every SMW fact (property/value pair) for a single page, including subobjects (CRT inputs, outputs, voltage ranges, etc.)."
        },
        "recent_changes": {
            "url": "https://wiki.everycrt.com/api.php?action=query&list=recentchanges&format=json&formatversion=2&rcprop=title%7Ctimestamp%7Cids%7Csizes%7Cuser&rclimit=500",
            "method": "GET",
            "notes": "Returns recent edits across all namespaces. Use rcend=<ISO timestamp> to fetch only changes since your last sync. Add &rcnamespace=N|N to filter by namespace."
        },
        "rdf_export": {
            "url": "https://wiki.everycrt.com/wiki/Special:ExportRDF?pages=<PAGE_TITLE>",
            "method": "GET",
            "notes": "Full RDF/OWL export. Use &recursive=1&pages=Category:CRT models to export an entire category subtree."
        },
        "list_entities": {
            "url": "https://wiki.everycrt.com/api.php?action=ask&format=json&formatversion=2&query=<ASK_QUERY>",
            "method": "GET",
            "notes": "Returns titles and selected printouts for entities matching the SMW ask query. Append |limit=N|offset=M for pagination (max limit 500)."
        }
    },
    "generated_at_utc": "2026-08-01T21:23:43Z"
}

See also

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