What is Article ID?

When interacting with the Medium API to fetch, analyze, or manage data related to Medium articles, one of the most important elements you'll come across is the Article ID.

But what exactly is an Article ID, and why is it significant?

Understanding Article ID

An Article ID is a unique hash-like identifier assigned to every article on Medium. This ID is embedded within the article’s URL and is used as a reference by Medium’s systems and the Medium API to identify and interact with a specific article.

For example, in the Medium article URL below:

https://medium.com/some-article-562c5821b5f0

The Article ID is 562c5821b5f0.

Why is Article ID Important?

The Article ID serves as the key to accessing all article-related data via the Medium API, much like a unique key that opens the door to specific information about an article.

It allows developers to fetch detailed information, perform searches, or gather related assets and metadata for specific articles efficiently.

Without the Article ID, most API endpoints for article-related operations cannot function.

How to Extract Article ID from a URL?

If you are working with Medium article URLs, you can easily extract the Article ID programmatically. Below is a Python function that extracts the Article ID from a given Medium article URL

import re
from urllib.parse import urlparse

def extract_article_id(article_url: str):
    regex = r'(https?://[^\s]+)'
    urls = re.findall(regex, article_url)

    if urls:
        urlpath = urlparse(urls[0]).path
        if urlpath:
            last_location = urlpath.split('/')[-1]
            article_id = last_location.split('-')[-1]

            if article_id.isalnum():
                return article_id

    return None
 
# Example Usage
 
url = "https://medium.com/some-article-562c5821b5f0"
article_id = extract_article_id(url)
print(f"Extracted Article ID: {article_id}")

Output

Extracted Article ID: 562c5821b5f0

This function ensures that only valid Article IDs are extracted, making it easier to integrate with Medium API endpoints that require the Article ID.

Endpoints That Return Article ID(s)

Here is a list of endpoints that return article IDs as part of their response:

Endpoints That Take Article ID as Input

The following endpoints require an Article ID in their path parameters to perform specific operations on the related article:

The Article ID is the backbone of article-related operations in the Medium API. It enables efficient retrieval of article details, such as metadata, content, or related assets, and plays a crucial role in managing and analyzing content on Medium.

Whether you’re fetching metadata, analyzing content, or building tools that interact with Medium articles, understanding how to extract and use Article IDs effectively is critical.

The combination of endpoints that return and take Article IDs allows developers to build comprehensive and powerful applications on top of Medium’s platform.