How to Get Archived Medium Articles

Using Medium API JavaScript Library

In the ever-evolving world of online content, the ability to access archived articles can be a game-changer. Whether you want to analyze past trends, revisit older topics, or compile historical data for research, accessing Medium's archived articles becomes invaluable.

This guide demonstrates how to fetch archived articles for a specific tag using the medium-api-js library.

Prerequisites

Before diving into the implementation, ensure you have the following:

• Node.js Installed: You’ll need Node.js installed on your system. Download it from Node.js.
• API Key: Obtain an API key for Medium API via the RapidAPI platform.
How to Subscribe to Medium API and Get Your API Key from RapidAPI Platform
• medium-api-js Library: Install the medium-api-js package in your project directory.
• dotenv Library: For securely handling environment variables, install the dotenv package.

Run the following commands to set up your environment:

npm install medium-api-js dotenv

Code Explanation

Here’s how the code works, step by step:

Step 1: Import Required Modules

import Medium from 'medium-api-js';
import dotenv from 'dotenv';

dotenv.config();

This snippet imports the required modules. The Medium class is part of the medium-api-js package, while dotenv helps load environment variables from a .env file.

Step 2: Initialize the Medium API Instance

const medium = new Medium(process.env.RAPIDAPI_KEY);

An instance of the Medium class is initialized with your RapidAPI key, which is stored securely in a .env file. The key is necessary to authenticate your API requests.

Step 3: Define Query Parameters

let tag = 'technology';
let year = 2023;
let month = 6;
let next = "";

Here, query parameters are defined to filter the archived articles. You specify:

• tag: The category of interest (e.g., technology).
• year: The year of the archive (e.g., 2023).
• month: The month of the archive (e.g., 6 for June).
• next: Used for pagination, initially set as an empty string.

Step 4: Fetch Archived Articles

medium.getArchivedArticles(tag, year, month, next).then(data => {
    console.log('Archived Articles:', data);
});

This is where the API request is made using the getArchivedArticles method. The method accepts the defined query parameters and returns a promise. When the promise resolves, the data is logged to the console.

Running the Code

Save the script as getArchivedArticles.js, and execute it in the terminal using:

node getArchivedArticles.js

Ensure that your .env file contains the following line with your actual API key:

RAPIDAPI_KEY=your_api_key_here

Output and Explanation

When the code runs successfully, you’ll see output similar to this:

• tag: Confirms the selected category (e.g., technology).
• archived_articles: A list of unique article IDs.
• count: The total number of articles retrieved.
• next: Token for fetching subsequent pages of results.
• year and month: The archive period.

Potential Use Cases

• Data Analytics: Use historical data to analyze article performance.
• Machine Learning: Train models on textual data extracted from older articles.
• Decision-Making: Leverage insights from archived articles to make informed decisions.
• Research: Gather historical data for academic or professional research.

Summary

The medium-api-js library makes accessing Medium's archived articles both simple and efficient. Unlike manual scraping or using general HTTP request libraries, this library automates the process of pagination and filtering, saving significant time and effort.

By defining parameters like tag, year, and month, you can retrieve targeted historical data to explore trends, enhance analytics, or fuel decision-making with ease.

If you have any questions or need further assistance, feel free to reach out at nishu@mediumapi.com.