wikidata

name	wikidata
description	Resolve entities, fetch structured facts, and run SPARQL queries against Wikidata

Use wikidata-cli to look up entities on Wikidata, fetch their structured facts, and run SPARQL queries. Wikidata is a free, public knowledge base — no account or key is needed.

Resolve a label to a QID

wikidata-cli search "Douglas Adams"
wikidata-cli search "Berlin" --limit 3

Returns candidate hits as JSON, each with id (the QID), label, and description. Pick the QID that matches the entity you mean.

Fetch an entity's facts

wikidata-cli get Q42
wikidata-cli get Q42 --raw

Summarizes the entity as JSON: id, label, description, and a compact claims view (property id → value list). Referenced entities appear as QIDs (e.g. P31: ["Q5"]); resolve them with another get or search if you need their labels. --raw dumps the full upstream JSON (large — avoid unless you need a field the summary drops).

Run a SPARQL query

wikidata-cli sparql 'SELECT ?item ?itemLabel WHERE { ?item wdt:P31 wd:Q5. SERVICE wikibase:label { bd:serviceParam wikibase:language "en". } } LIMIT 5'
wikidata-cli sparql --file query.rq
echo 'SELECT ?x WHERE { ?x wdt:P31 wd:Q5 } LIMIT 1' | wikidata-cli sparql

Runs the query against the Wikidata Query Service and prints results.bindings as JSON. Each binding maps a variable to a {type, value} object. Unbound variables are simply absent from a row.

Tips

• Two-step workflow: use search to turn a name into a QID, then get that QID for its facts or reference it in a sparql query (wd:Q42).
• Reach for sparql when you need structured, aggregate, or cross-entity answers ("all novels by author X", "count of cities over 1M") — get only returns one entity at a time.
• Add SERVICE wikibase:label { bd:serviceParam wikibase:language "en". } and select ?xLabel variables to get human-readable labels back from SPARQL.