| name | Wikipedia |
| description | Look up encyclopedic facts and article text from Wikipedia via the public MediaWiki API |
Use wikipedia-cli to search Wikipedia, read a short factual summary, or
pull the full plaintext of an article. No account or API key is needed.
Search for an article
wikipedia-cli search "theory of relativity"
wikipedia-cli search "Einstein" --limit 3
Returns each hit's title, page ID, and a plain-text snippet. Use this first
to resolve a vague query to an exact article title before calling
summary or content.
Get a quick summary
wikipedia-cli summary "Albert Einstein"
Returns the title, a one-line description, the lead-paragraph extract, and
the canonical page URL. This is the fastest path to a single factual answer.
Read the full article
wikipedia-cli content "Albert Einstein"
wikipedia-cli content "Albert Einstein" --intro
Prints the plain-text article body. Pass --intro to get only the lead
section instead of the whole page — cheaper when you just need the opening.
Tips
- Workflow:
wikipedia-cli search "<query>" to find the exact title, then
wikipedia-cli summary "<title>" for a fast answer or
wikipedia-cli content "<title>" for the full text.
- Every verb takes
--lang <code> (default en) to query a non-English
edition, e.g. wikipedia-cli summary "Berlin" --lang de.
- Titles are case- and spelling-sensitive; prefer the exact title that
search returns over guessing.