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IOL API endpoint
IOL article API
Returns an IOL article by `url`, a canonical `iol.co.za` story link. The response has the title, description, section (the deepest in the breadcrumb, such as `Crime and Courts`), authors, lead image, publish and update times, and body `paragraphs`. Section, author, tag and search pages are rejected. `paywalled` is never set.
GETapiKey2 credits/requestIOLpublicnews.articleResponseDoc
IOL/iol/articleEndpoint facts
- Method
- GET
- API path
- /iol/article
- Auth
- apiKey
- Credits
- 2 credits/request
- Charged on
- Successful 2xx responses only
- Platform
- IOL
- Response schema
- #/definitions/publicnews.articleResponseDoc
How this endpoint behaves
Query parameter: url is a canonical HTTPS IOL story URL on iol.co.za or www.iol.co.za, e.g. https://iol.co.za/news/crime-and-courts/2026-09-24-homii-lift-tragedy-durban-father-demands-ethekwini-report-nearly-a-year-after-twins-fall/. Section pages, author pages, tag pages, search pages and other hosts return an invalid-params error.
The endpoint returns public metadata (title, description, published_at, updated_at, section, authors, image_url) and the body paragraphs (paragraphs, sub-headings and list items; ad slots, share bars, related-story rails and the closing "IOL" sign-off and app promo are not included). section is the deepest section in the story's breadcrumb, for example Crime and Courts or Gauteng. Sponsored stories under a partnered section are returned like any other story.
Paywall behavior: IOL has no paywall. Every story sampled on 2026-09-25 (news, sport, business, opinion, lifestyle, technology and sister titles) returned its full body to an anonymous request, so paywalled is never set.
Example response (truncated):
{"code":200,"data":{"url":"https://iol.co.za/news/crime-and-courts/2026-09-24-homii-lift-tragedy-durban-father-demands-ethekwini-report-nearly-a-year-after-twins-fall","title":"HOMii lift tragedy: Durban father demands eThekwini report nearly a year after twins’ fall","description":"Khaya Dlamini is calling on eThekwini Municipality to release its investigation into the HOMii building lift shaft tragedy that killed his son and left his daughter paralysed.","published_at":"2026-09-24T14:09:10Z","updated_at":"2026-09-24T14:09:10Z","section":"Crime and Courts","authors":["Yoshini Perumal"],"image_url":"https://iol-prod.appspot.com/image/7a17d1c39c7fc662a8b431895d82cb3651c72831","paragraphs":["Nearly a year after his eight-year-old twins fell into an open lift shaft at the HOMii Lifestyle residential apartment building in Durban, father Khaya Dlamini is calling on eThekwini Municipality to release its investigation report."]}}
Sampled response
- Request, 14 Oct 2026
- GET /iol/article?url=https%3A%2F%2Fiol.co.za%2Fnews%2Fcrime-and-courts%2F2026-09-24-homii-lift-tragedy-durban-father-demands-ethekwini-report-nearly-a-year-after-twins-fall%2F
- Fields returned with a value
- 9
| Field | In the sample | Value in the sample |
|---|---|---|
| url | Has a value | iol.co.za |
| title | Has a value | 90 characters |
| description | Has a value | 175 characters |
| published_at | Has a value | 2026-09-24 |
| updated_at | Has a value | 2026-09-24 |
| section | Has a value | “Crime and Courts” |
| authors | Has a value | 1 entry |
| image_url | Has a value | iol-prod.appspot.com |
| paragraphs | Has a value | 17 entries |
Request parameters
| Parameter | Type | Required | Default | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| url | string | Yes | Canonical IOL article URL | https://iol.co.za/news/crime-and-courts/2026-09-24-homii-lift-tragedy-durban-father-demands-ethekwini-report-nearly-a-year-after-twins-fall/ | |
| x-api-key (header) | string | Yes | API key required |
cURL example
curl -X GET "https://api.crawlora.net/api/v1/iol/article?url=https%3A%2F%2Fiol.co.za%2Fnews%2Fcrime-and-courts%2F2026-09-24-homii-lift-tragedy-durban-father-demands-ethekwini-report-nearly-a-year-after-twins-fall%2F" \ -H "x-api-key: $CRAWLORA_API_KEY"
Example JSON response
{
"code": 200,
"data": {
"url": "https://iol.co.za/news/crime-and-courts/2026-09-24-homii-lift-tragedy-durban-father-demands-ethekwini-report-nearly-a-year-after-twins-fall",
"title": "HOMii lift tragedy: Durban father demands eThekwini report nearly a year after twins’ fall",
"description": "Khaya Dlamini is calling on eThekwini Municipality to release its investigation into the HOMii building lift shaft tragedy that killed his son and left his daughter paralysed.",
"published_at": "2026-09-24T14:09:10Z",
"updated_at": "2026-09-24T14:09:10Z",
"section": "Crime and Courts",
"authors": [
"Yoshini Perumal"
],
"image_url": "https://iol-prod.appspot.com/image/7a17d1c39c7fc662a8b431895d82cb3651c72831",
"paragraphs": [
"Nearly a year after his eight-year-old twins fell into an open lift shaft at the HOMii Lifestyle residential apartment building in Durban, father Khaya Dlamini is calling on eThekwini Municipality to release its investigation report."
]
}
}Request schema
No body schema
Response schema
#/definitions/publicnews.articleResponseDoc
| Field | Type | Required | Enum | Bounds | Example | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| data | newsplatform.ArticleResponse | No | ||||
| data.authors | array | No | ||||
| data.description | string | No | ||||
| data.image_url | string | No | ||||
| data.paragraphs | array | No | ||||
| data.paywalled | boolean | No | Paywalled is true when the publisher serves only a teaser of this article to anonymous readers, so Paragraphs is a partial body rather than the full text. It is omitted when the full public body was returned. | |||
| data.published_at | string | No | ||||
| data.section | string | No | ||||
| data.title | string | No | ||||
| data.updated_at | string | No | ||||
| data.url | string | No |
Failure responses
| Status | Description | Schema |
|---|---|---|
| 400 | Bad Request | #/definitions/app.Response |
| 404 | Not Found | #/definitions/app.Response |
| 503 | Service Unavailable | #/definitions/app.Response |
Code examples
Use environment variables for secrets and keep Crawlora API keys server-side.
curl -X GET "https://api.crawlora.net/api/v1/iol/article?url=https%3A%2F%2Fiol.co.za%2Fnews%2Fcrime-and-courts%2F2026-09-24-homii-lift-tragedy-durban-father-demands-ethekwini-report-nearly-a-year-after-twins-fall%2F" \
-H "x-api-key: $CRAWLORA_API_KEY"