How to Get Latest Medium Posts by Topic

(Using Javascript)

In this guide, you'll learn how to fetch the latest Medium posts for a specific topic using the medium-api-js package.

Whether you’re building an analytics dashboard, creating a content curation tool, or just exploring trending articles, this method provides an efficient way to interact with Medium’s API to retrieve up-to-date content.

Prerequisites

To get started, make sure you have the following:

• Node.js and npm Installed: Ensure Node.js is installed on your machine, as you’ll use it to run JavaScript code. You can download it from nodejs.org.
• API Key for Medium’s RapidAPI: Sign up for RapidAPI and subscribe to Medium’s API if you haven’t already. Obtain the API key for authentication.
  How to Subscribe to Medium API and Get Your API Key from RapidAPI Platform
• medium-api-js Package Installed: This is a wrapper for the Medium API. Install it using npm.
• dotenv Package Installed: Used to load environment variables from a .env file securely.

To install the required packages, run:

npm install medium-api-js dotenv

Code Explanation

Let’s break down the script step by step to understand its functionality.

1. Importing Required Modules

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

dotenv.config();

• medium-api-js: Provides an interface for interacting with Medium’s API easily.
• dotenv: Used to securely manage environment variables by loading the .env file.
• dotenv.config(): Initializes the loading of environment variables, such as the API key.

2. Creating a Medium Instance

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

• Medium: A new instance is created by passing the API key stored as process.env.RAPIDAPI_KEY.
• Secure storage of sensitive information is ensured.

3. Fetching the Latest Posts

medium.getLatestPosts('technology').then(data => {
    console.log('Latest Posts:', data);
});

• getLatestPosts: Takes a topic as an argument (e.g., 'technology') and returns a promise.
• .then(data => { ... }): Logs the resolved data to the console.
• data: Contains a list of post identifiers related to the topic.

Command to Run the Script

Save the code in a file named getLatestPost.js and run the script using the following command:

node getLatestPost.js

Ensure your .env file contains the API key as:

RAPIDAPI_KEY=your_api_key_here

Output Explanation

Upon running the script, you’ll see an output like this:

• latestposts: Contains unique identifiers for Medium posts related to the specified topic.
• Each identifier corresponds to a Medium article.

Potential Use Cases

• Content Curation Tools: Build a platform to display the latest posts for users based on their preferred topics.
• Integration with Social Media: Automatically share the latest articles on social media platforms.
• SEO Research: Gather popular posts in specific niches for keyword and content analysis.

Summary

In this article, we explored how to fetch the latest Medium posts by topic using the medium-api-js package. This approach simplifies interaction with Medium's API, making it easier to integrate relevant content into various applications.

Whether you're building tools for content curation, analysis, or automation, this solution is both versatile and effective.

If you have any questions or need assistance with Medium’s API, feel free to reach out to me at nishu@mediumapi.com.

Best of luck with your projects!