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SCMP API endpoint

SCMP article content API

Returns one public South China Morning Post article's metadata and body paragraphs from a canonical article URL. `content_locked` and `paywall_types` are the upstream's own restricted-access signals for that article, reported exactly as the site returns them; the body returned here is the same one the site's own page serves to an anonymous visitor. An article whose page genuinely withholds its body is reported as a restricted-access error instead of a hollow or truncated response.

GETapiKey2 credits/requestSCMPscmp.articleResponseDoc/scmp/article

Endpoint facts

Method: GET
API path: /scmp/article
Auth: apiKey
Credits: 2 credits/request
Charged on: Successful 2xx responses only
Platform: SCMP
Response schema: #/definitions/scmp.articleResponseDoc

South China Morning Post API Try SCMP article content API in Playground SCMP API documentation

How this endpoint behaves

Query parameter: required url, a canonical SCMP article URL (e.g. https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/society/article/3368530/example-slug). Query strings and fragments are stripped; the URL is canonicalized to https://www.scmp.com.

Returns one public SCMP article's metadata — title, description, published_at, updated_at, section, authors, image_url, topics — plus its body paragraphs in order, and the upstream's own restricted-access signals: content_locked and paywall_types.

Behavior:

content_locked and paywall_types are SCMP's own contentLock/paywallTypes fields for that article, reported exactly as the upstream returns them. The body returned here is the same one the site's own page serves to an anonymous visitor; every article sampled while building this endpoint returned its full body regardless of content_locked.
An article whose page genuinely carries no body content is reported as 403 (restricted) when the upstream also marked it content_locked or gave it a non-empty paywall_types, and as 503 otherwise (parser drift) — never as a hollow or truncated success.
Non-article URLs and non-SCMP hosts return 400 before any upstream request.

Sampled response

Request, 14 Oct 2026: GET /scmp/article?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.scmp.com%2Fnews%2Fhong-kong%2Fsociety%2Farticle%2F3368530%2Fhong-kong-pledges-lenient-approach-10-12-hours-civil-service-family-leave
Fields returned with a value: 11

Field	In the sample	Value in the sample
url	Has a value	scmp.com
title	Has a value	79 characters
description	Has a value	130 characters
published_at	Has a value	2026-09-23
updated_at	Has a value	2026-09-23
section	Has a value	“Society”
authors	Has a value	1 entry
image_url	Has a value	cdn.i-scmp.com
topics	Has a value	4 entries
content_locked	Has a value	true
paragraphs	Has a value	12 entries

Request parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description	Example
url	string	Yes		Canonical SCMP article URL	https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/society/article/3368530/example-slug
x-api-key (header)	string	Yes		API key required

cURL example

curl -X GET "https://api.crawlora.net/api/v1/scmp/article?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.scmp.com%2Fnews%2Fhong-kong%2Fsociety%2Farticle%2F3368530%2Fexample-slug" \
  -H "x-api-key: $CRAWLORA_API_KEY"

Example JSON response

{
  "code": 200,
  "msg": "OK",
  "data": {
    "url": "https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/society/article/3368530/example-slug",
    "title": "Example Article Title",
    "description": "An example teaser sentence for the article.",
    "published_at": "2026-09-23T04:15:50Z",
    "updated_at": "2026-09-23T04:15:50Z",
    "section": "Society",
    "authors": [
      "Jane Example"
    ],
    "image_url": "https://cdn.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/example.jpg",
    "topics": [
      "Example Topic"
    ],
    "content_locked": true,
    "paragraphs": [
      "First paragraph of the article.",
      "Second paragraph of the article."
    ]
  }
}

Request schema

No body schema

Response schema

#/definitions/scmp.articleResponseDoc

Field	Type	Required	Example
code	integer	No	200
data	scmp.ArticleResponse	No
data.authors	array	No
data.content_locked	boolean	No
data.description	string	No
data.image_url	string	No
data.paragraphs	array	No
data.paywall_types	array	No
data.published_at	string	No
data.section	string	No
data.title	string	No
data.topics	array	No
data.updated_at	string	No
data.url	string	No
msg	string	No	OK

Failure responses

Status	Description	Schema
400	Bad Request	#/definitions/app.Response
403	Forbidden	#/definitions/app.Response
404	Not Found	#/definitions/app.Response
429	Too Many Requests	#/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/scmp/article?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.scmp.com%2Fnews%2Fhong-kong%2Fsociety%2Farticle%2F3368530%2Fexample-slug" \
  -H "x-api-key: $CRAWLORA_API_KEY"

Shared guides

Authentication Errors and retries Rate limits and credits Pricing Acceptable use

More SCMP endpoint docs South China Morning Post API SCMP author profile API documentation SCMP headlines API documentation SCMP sections API documentation

Open in Playground Back to group

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SCMP API endpoint

SCMP article content API

GETapiKey2 credits/requestSCMPscmp.articleResponseDoc/scmp/article

Endpoint facts

Method: GET
API path: /scmp/article
Auth: apiKey
Credits: 2 credits/request
Charged on: Successful 2xx responses only
Platform: SCMP
Response schema: #/definitions/scmp.articleResponseDoc

South China Morning Post API Try SCMP article content API in Playground SCMP API documentation

How this endpoint behaves

Behavior:

content_locked and paywall_types are SCMP's own contentLock/paywallTypes fields for that article, reported exactly as the upstream returns them. The body returned here is the same one the site's own page serves to an anonymous visitor; every article sampled while building this endpoint returned its full body regardless of content_locked.
An article whose page genuinely carries no body content is reported as 403 (restricted) when the upstream also marked it content_locked or gave it a non-empty paywall_types, and as 503 otherwise (parser drift) — never as a hollow or truncated success.
Non-article URLs and non-SCMP hosts return 400 before any upstream request.

Sampled response

Request, 14 Oct 2026: GET /scmp/article?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.scmp.com%2Fnews%2Fhong-kong%2Fsociety%2Farticle%2F3368530%2Fhong-kong-pledges-lenient-approach-10-12-hours-civil-service-family-leave
Fields returned with a value: 11

Field	In the sample	Value in the sample
url	Has a value	scmp.com
title	Has a value	79 characters
description	Has a value	130 characters
published_at	Has a value	2026-09-23
updated_at	Has a value	2026-09-23
section	Has a value	“Society”
authors	Has a value	1 entry
image_url	Has a value	cdn.i-scmp.com
topics	Has a value	4 entries
content_locked	Has a value	true
paragraphs	Has a value	12 entries

Request parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description	Example
url	string	Yes		Canonical SCMP article URL	https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/society/article/3368530/example-slug
x-api-key (header)	string	Yes		API key required

cURL example

curl -X GET "https://api.crawlora.net/api/v1/scmp/article?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.scmp.com%2Fnews%2Fhong-kong%2Fsociety%2Farticle%2F3368530%2Fexample-slug" \
  -H "x-api-key: $CRAWLORA_API_KEY"

Example JSON response

{
  "code": 200,
  "msg": "OK",
  "data": {
    "url": "https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/society/article/3368530/example-slug",
    "title": "Example Article Title",
    "description": "An example teaser sentence for the article.",
    "published_at": "2026-09-23T04:15:50Z",
    "updated_at": "2026-09-23T04:15:50Z",
    "section": "Society",
    "authors": [
      "Jane Example"
    ],
    "image_url": "https://cdn.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/example.jpg",
    "topics": [
      "Example Topic"
    ],
    "content_locked": true,
    "paragraphs": [
      "First paragraph of the article.",
      "Second paragraph of the article."
    ]
  }
}

Request schema

No body schema

Response schema

#/definitions/scmp.articleResponseDoc

Field	Type	Required	Example
code	integer	No	200
data	scmp.ArticleResponse	No
data.authors	array	No
data.content_locked	boolean	No
data.description	string	No
data.image_url	string	No
data.paragraphs	array	No
data.paywall_types	array	No
data.published_at	string	No
data.section	string	No
data.title	string	No
data.topics	array	No
data.updated_at	string	No
data.url	string	No
msg	string	No	OK

Failure responses

Status	Description	Schema
400	Bad Request	#/definitions/app.Response
403	Forbidden	#/definitions/app.Response
404	Not Found	#/definitions/app.Response
429	Too Many Requests	#/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/scmp/article?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.scmp.com%2Fnews%2Fhong-kong%2Fsociety%2Farticle%2F3368530%2Fexample-slug" \
  -H "x-api-key: $CRAWLORA_API_KEY"

Shared guides

Authentication Errors and retries Rate limits and credits Pricing Acceptable use

More SCMP endpoint docs South China Morning Post API SCMP author profile API documentation SCMP headlines API documentation SCMP sections API documentation

Open in Playground Back to group

SCMP article content API

Endpoint facts

How this endpoint behaves

Sampled response

Request parameters

cURL example

Example JSON response

Failure responses

Code examples

Shared guides

Related

SCMP article content API

Endpoint facts

How this endpoint behaves

Sampled response

Request parameters

cURL example

Example JSON response

Failure responses

Code examples

Shared guides

Related