How to Get Recommended Feed Articles by Tag

(Using Javascript)

Medium offers a vast repository of articles across diverse topics, making it a go-to platform for readers and writers alike. Suppose you're interested in fetching recommended articles for a specific tag and page using Medium’s API. This article will guide you through a simple script to achieve that.

In this example, you’ll learn how to retrieve the recommended feed of articles tagged under a certain tag. You’ll also understand how the code works step-by-step, making it easy to adapt for your own requirements.

Prerequisites

To follow this guide, ensure you have the following:

• Node.js Installed: Ensure you have Node.js installed on your system.
• RAPIDAPI Key: Obtain a key from RAPIDAPI.
  How to Subscribe to Medium API and Get Your API Key from RapidAPI Platform
• medium-api-js Package: Install this Medium API wrapper by running:

  npm install medium-api-js dotenv

• Environment Variables File (.env): Create a .env file in the root directory of your project and add your RAPIDAPI_KEY:

  RAPIDAPI_KEY=your_api_key_here

Code Explanation

Step 1: Import Required Packages

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

dotenv.config();

• Medium: Imports the medium-api-js package, which simplifies interacting with Medium’s API.
• dotenv: Enables environment variable management for securely storing sensitive keys.
• dotenv.config(): Loads the .env file and makes its variables available in process.env.

Step 2: Initialize the Medium Client

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

• Creates a new Medium instance using the RAPIDAPI_KEY fetched from the .env file.

Step 3: Define the Tag and Page Number

const tag = 'technology';
const page = 2;

• Specifies the tag (e.g., “technology”) and the page number (e.g., 2) for the API request. You can replace these with your preferred tag and page.

Step 4: Fetch the Recommended Feed

medium.getRecommendedFeed(tag, page)
    .then(data => {
        console.log('Recommended Feed:', data);
    });

• medium.getRecommendedFeed(tag, page): Sends a request to Medium’s API to retrieve the recommended articles.
• .then(data => {...}): Handles the response from the API. The response is logged to the console for review.

Running the Script

Save the script in a file named getRecommendedFeed.js and run the following command in your terminal:

node getRecommendedFeed.js

Output and Explanation

When you run the script, you’ll see output like this:

• recommended_feed: An array of article IDs representing the recommended articles for the specified tag.
• tag: Confirms the tag used for fetching the feed (“technology” in this case).
• count: The number of articles returned (25 here).
• page: Indicates the page number requested (2 in this case).

Potential Use Cases

• Tag-Based Analytics: Monitor and analyze trends for specific tags over time.
• Automated Newsletters: Automatically curate and share popular articles under specific tags.

Summary

Fetching recommended feed articles from Medium by tag is straightforward using the medium-api-js package. This script can be customized for various applications, from analytics to personalized recommendations.

If you have any questions about Medium’s API or the code, feel free to reach out to nishu@mediumapi.com for assistance.