meta

Type:

Default: true, or false when function is the only thing requested

It enables normalized metadata detection over the target url.

The following examples show how to use the Microlink API with CLI, cURL, JavaScript, Python, Ruby, PHP & Golang, targeting 'https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9P6rdqiybaw' URL with 'meta' API parameter:

CLI Microlink API example

microlink https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9P6rdqiybaw&meta

cURL Microlink API example

curl -G "https://api.microlink.io" \
  -d "url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9P6rdqiybaw" \
  -d "meta=true"

JavaScript Microlink API example

import createClient from 'microlink.io'

const microlink = createClient()

const data =
  await microlink.metadata('https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9P6rdqiybaw')

Python Microlink API example

import requests

url = "https://api.microlink.io/"

querystring = {
    "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9P6rdqiybaw",
    "meta": "true"
}

response = requests.get(url, params=querystring)

print(response.json())

Ruby Microlink API example

require 'uri'
require 'net/http'

base_url = "https://api.microlink.io/"

params = {
  url: "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9P6rdqiybaw",
  meta: "true"
}

uri = URI(base_url)
uri.query = URI.encode_www_form(params)

http = Net::HTTP.new(uri.host, uri.port)
http.use_ssl = true

request = Net::HTTP::Get.new(uri)
response = http.request(request)

puts response.body

PHP Microlink API example

<?php

$baseUrl = "https://api.microlink.io/";

$params = [
    "url" => "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9P6rdqiybaw",
    "meta" => "true"
];

$query = http_build_query($params);
$url = $baseUrl . '?' . $query;

$curl = curl_init();

curl_setopt_array($curl, [
    CURLOPT_URL => $url,
    CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,
    CURLOPT_ENCODING => "",
    CURLOPT_MAXREDIRS => 10,
    CURLOPT_TIMEOUT => 30,
    CURLOPT_HTTP_VERSION => CURL_HTTP_VERSION_1_1,
    CURLOPT_CUSTOMREQUEST => "GET"
]);

$response = curl_exec($curl);
$err = curl_error($curl);

curl_close($curl);

if ($err) {
    echo "cURL Error #: " . $err;
} else {
    echo $response;
}

Golang Microlink API example

package main

import (
    "fmt"
    "net/http"
    "net/url"
    "io"
)

func main() {
    baseURL := "https://api.microlink.io"

    u, err := url.Parse(baseURL)
    if err != nil {
        panic(err)
    }
    q := u.Query()
    q.Set("url", "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9P6rdqiybaw")
    q.Set("meta", "true")
    u.RawQuery = q.Encode()

    req, err := http.NewRequest("GET", u.String(), nil)
    if err != nil {
        panic(err)
    }

    client := &http.Client{}
    resp, err := client.Do(req)
    if err != nil {
        panic(err)
    }
    defer resp.Body.Close()

    body, err := io.ReadAll(resp.Body)
    if err != nil {
        panic(err)
    }

    fmt.Println(string(body))
}

import createClient from 'microlink.io'

const microlink = createClient()

const data =
  await microlink.metadata('https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9P6rdqiybaw')

Normalized data fields are enabled by default, so explicit setting to true is unnecessary.

"status": "success",
  "data": {
    "title": "Wormholes Explained – Breaking Spacetime",
    "description": "Are wormholes real or are they just magic disguised as physics and maths? And if they are real how do they work and where can we find them?Sources and furthe...",
    "lang": "en",
    "author": null,
    "publisher": "YouTube",
    "image": {
      "url": "https://img.youtube.com/vi/9P6rdqiybaw/maxresdefault.jpg",
      "type": "jpg",
      "size": 120116,
      "height": 720,
      "width": 1280,
      "size_pretty": "120 kB"
    },
    "date": "2021-12-17T23:29:01.000Z",
    "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9P6rdqiybaw",
    "logo": {
      "url": "https://www.youtube.com/s/desktop/21ad9f7d/img/favicon_144x144.png",
      "type": "png",
      "size": 1664,
      "height": 145,
      "width": 145,
      "size_pretty": "1.66 kB"
    }
  }
}

Functions

When function is the only thing you ask for, the function is the answer to the request, so metadata is off by default and nothing is fetched on your behalf.

The following examples show how to use the Microlink API with CLI, cURL, JavaScript, Python, Ruby, PHP & Golang, targeting 'https://example.com' URL with 'function' API parameter:

CLI Microlink API example

microlink https://example.com&function='() => 420'

cURL Microlink API example

curl -G "https://api.microlink.io" \
  -d "url=https://example.com" \
  -d "function=()%20%3D%3E%20420"

JavaScript Microlink API example

import createClient from 'microlink.io'

const microlink = createClient()

const { value } = await microlink.function('https://example.com', () => 420)

Python Microlink API example

import requests

url = "https://api.microlink.io/"

querystring = {
    "url": "https://example.com",
    "function": "() => 420"
}

response = requests.get(url, params=querystring)

print(response.json())

Ruby Microlink API example

require 'uri'
require 'net/http'

base_url = "https://api.microlink.io/"

params = {
  url: "https://example.com",
  function: "() => 420"
}

uri = URI(base_url)
uri.query = URI.encode_www_form(params)

http = Net::HTTP.new(uri.host, uri.port)
http.use_ssl = true

request = Net::HTTP::Get.new(uri)
response = http.request(request)

puts response.body

PHP Microlink API example

<?php

$baseUrl = "https://api.microlink.io/";

$params = [
    "url" => "https://example.com",
    "function" => "() => 420"
];

$query = http_build_query($params);
$url = $baseUrl . '?' . $query;

$curl = curl_init();

curl_setopt_array($curl, [
    CURLOPT_URL => $url,
    CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,
    CURLOPT_ENCODING => "",
    CURLOPT_MAXREDIRS => 10,
    CURLOPT_TIMEOUT => 30,
    CURLOPT_HTTP_VERSION => CURL_HTTP_VERSION_1_1,
    CURLOPT_CUSTOMREQUEST => "GET"
]);

$response = curl_exec($curl);
$err = curl_error($curl);

curl_close($curl);

if ($err) {
    echo "cURL Error #: " . $err;
} else {
    echo $response;
}

Golang Microlink API example

package main

import (
    "fmt"
    "net/http"
    "net/url"
    "io"
)

func main() {
    baseURL := "https://api.microlink.io"

    u, err := url.Parse(baseURL)
    if err != nil {
        panic(err)
    }
    q := u.Query()
    q.Set("url", "https://example.com")
    q.Set("function", "() => 420")
    u.RawQuery = q.Encode()

    req, err := http.NewRequest("GET", u.String(), nil)
    if err != nil {
        panic(err)
    }

    client := &http.Client{}
    resp, err := client.Do(req)
    if err != nil {
        panic(err)
    }
    defer resp.Body.Close()

    body, err := io.ReadAll(resp.Body)
    if err != nil {
        panic(err)
    }

    fmt.Println(string(body))
}

import createClient from 'microlink.io'

const microlink = createClient()

const { value } = await microlink.function('https://example.com', () => 420)

Ask for it explicitly to get both:

The following examples show how to use the Microlink API with CLI, cURL, JavaScript, Python, Ruby, PHP & Golang, targeting 'https://example.com' URL with 'function' & 'meta' API parameters:

CLI Microlink API example

microlink https://example.com&function='() => 420'&meta

cURL Microlink API example

curl -G "https://api.microlink.io" \
  -d "url=https://example.com" \
  -d "function=()%20%3D%3E%20420" \
  -d "meta=true"

JavaScript Microlink API example

import createClient from 'microlink.io'

const microlink = createClient()

const { value } = await microlink.function('https://example.com', () => 420)

Python Microlink API example

import requests

url = "https://api.microlink.io/"

querystring = {
    "url": "https://example.com",
    "function": "() => 420",
    "meta": "true"
}

response = requests.get(url, params=querystring)

print(response.json())

Ruby Microlink API example

require 'uri'
require 'net/http'

base_url = "https://api.microlink.io/"

params = {
  url: "https://example.com",
  function: "() => 420",
  meta: "true"
}

uri = URI(base_url)
uri.query = URI.encode_www_form(params)

http = Net::HTTP.new(uri.host, uri.port)
http.use_ssl = true

request = Net::HTTP::Get.new(uri)
response = http.request(request)

puts response.body

PHP Microlink API example

<?php

$baseUrl = "https://api.microlink.io/";

$params = [
    "url" => "https://example.com",
    "function" => "() => 420",
    "meta" => "true"
];

$query = http_build_query($params);
$url = $baseUrl . '?' . $query;

$curl = curl_init();

curl_setopt_array($curl, [
    CURLOPT_URL => $url,
    CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,
    CURLOPT_ENCODING => "",
    CURLOPT_MAXREDIRS => 10,
    CURLOPT_TIMEOUT => 30,
    CURLOPT_HTTP_VERSION => CURL_HTTP_VERSION_1_1,
    CURLOPT_CUSTOMREQUEST => "GET"
]);

$response = curl_exec($curl);
$err = curl_error($curl);

curl_close($curl);

if ($err) {
    echo "cURL Error #: " . $err;
} else {
    echo $response;
}

Golang Microlink API example

package main

import (
    "fmt"
    "net/http"
    "net/url"
    "io"
)

func main() {
    baseURL := "https://api.microlink.io"

    u, err := url.Parse(baseURL)
    if err != nil {
        panic(err)
    }
    q := u.Query()
    q.Set("url", "https://example.com")
    q.Set("function", "() => 420")
    q.Set("meta", "true")
    u.RawQuery = q.Encode()

    req, err := http.NewRequest("GET", u.String(), nil)
    if err != nil {
        panic(err)
    }

    client := &http.Client{}
    resp, err := client.Do(req)
    if err != nil {
        panic(err)
    }
    defer resp.Body.Close()

    body, err := io.ReadAll(resp.Body)
    if err != nil {
        panic(err)
    }

    fmt.Println(string(body))
}

import createClient from 'microlink.io'

const microlink = createClient()

const { value } = await microlink.function('https://example.com', () => 420)

Or read it inside the function, which costs one page load rather than two:

The following examples show how to use the Microlink API with CLI, cURL, JavaScript, Python, Ruby, PHP & Golang, targeting 'https://example.com' URL with 'function' API parameter:

CLI Microlink API example

microlink https://example.com&function='async ({ page }) => (await page.metadata()).title'

cURL Microlink API example

curl -G "https://api.microlink.io" \
  -d "url=https://example.com" \
  -d "function=async%20(%7B%20page%20%7D)%20%3D%3E%20(await%20page.metadata()).title"

JavaScript Microlink API example

import createClient from 'microlink.io'

const microlink = createClient()

const { value } = await microlink.function(
  'https://example.com',
  async ({ page }) => (await page.metadata()).title
)

Python Microlink API example

import requests

url = "https://api.microlink.io/"

querystring = {
    "url": "https://example.com",
    "function": "async ({ page }) => (await page.metadata()).title"
}

response = requests.get(url, params=querystring)

print(response.json())

Ruby Microlink API example

require 'uri'
require 'net/http'

base_url = "https://api.microlink.io/"

params = {
  url: "https://example.com",
  function: "async ({ page }) => (await page.metadata()).title"
}

uri = URI(base_url)
uri.query = URI.encode_www_form(params)

http = Net::HTTP.new(uri.host, uri.port)
http.use_ssl = true

request = Net::HTTP::Get.new(uri)
response = http.request(request)

puts response.body

PHP Microlink API example

<?php

$baseUrl = "https://api.microlink.io/";

$params = [
    "url" => "https://example.com",
    "function" => "async ({ page }) => (await page.metadata()).title"
];

$query = http_build_query($params);
$url = $baseUrl . '?' . $query;

$curl = curl_init();

curl_setopt_array($curl, [
    CURLOPT_URL => $url,
    CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,
    CURLOPT_ENCODING => "",
    CURLOPT_MAXREDIRS => 10,
    CURLOPT_TIMEOUT => 30,
    CURLOPT_HTTP_VERSION => CURL_HTTP_VERSION_1_1,
    CURLOPT_CUSTOMREQUEST => "GET"
]);

$response = curl_exec($curl);
$err = curl_error($curl);

curl_close($curl);

if ($err) {
    echo "cURL Error #: " . $err;
} else {
    echo $response;
}

Golang Microlink API example

package main

import (
    "fmt"
    "net/http"
    "net/url"
    "io"
)

func main() {
    baseURL := "https://api.microlink.io"

    u, err := url.Parse(baseURL)
    if err != nil {
        panic(err)
    }
    q := u.Query()
    q.Set("url", "https://example.com")
    q.Set("function", "async ({ page }) => (await page.metadata()).title")
    u.RawQuery = q.Encode()

    req, err := http.NewRequest("GET", u.String(), nil)
    if err != nil {
        panic(err)
    }

    client := &http.Client{}
    resp, err := client.Do(req)
    if err != nil {
        panic(err)
    }
    defer resp.Body.Close()

    body, err := io.ReadAll(resp.Body)
    if err != nil {
        panic(err)
    }

    fmt.Println(string(body))
}

import createClient from 'microlink.io'

const microlink = createClient()

const { value } = await microlink.function(
  'https://example.com',
  async ({ page }) => (await page.metadata()).title
)

Asking for anything else at the same time — screenshot, pdf, insights, iframe, video, audio, palette, or a data rule — keeps metadata on.

Configurable detection

You can configure which specific metadata fields to detect by passing an object with field-specific settings:

Include specific fields

Detect only specific fields by setting them to true:

The following examples show how to use the Microlink API with CLI, cURL, JavaScript, Python, Ruby, PHP & Golang, targeting 'https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9P6rdqiybaw' URL with 'meta' API parameter:

CLI Microlink API example

microlink https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9P6rdqiybaw&meta.author&meta.title

cURL Microlink API example

curl -G "https://api.microlink.io" \
  -d "url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9P6rdqiybaw" \
  -d "meta.author=true" \
  -d "meta.title=true"

JavaScript Microlink API example

import createClient from 'microlink.io'

const microlink = createClient()

const data =
  await microlink.metadata('https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9P6rdqiybaw')

Python Microlink API example

import requests

url = "https://api.microlink.io/"

querystring = {
    "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9P6rdqiybaw",
    "meta.author": "true",
    "meta.title": "true"
}

response = requests.get(url, params=querystring)

print(response.json())

Ruby Microlink API example

require 'uri'
require 'net/http'

base_url = "https://api.microlink.io/"

params = {
  url: "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9P6rdqiybaw",
  meta.author: "true",
  meta.title: "true"
}

uri = URI(base_url)
uri.query = URI.encode_www_form(params)

http = Net::HTTP.new(uri.host, uri.port)
http.use_ssl = true

request = Net::HTTP::Get.new(uri)
response = http.request(request)

puts response.body

PHP Microlink API example

<?php

$baseUrl = "https://api.microlink.io/";

$params = [
    "url" => "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9P6rdqiybaw",
    "meta.author" => "true",
    "meta.title" => "true"
];

$query = http_build_query($params);
$url = $baseUrl . '?' . $query;

$curl = curl_init();

curl_setopt_array($curl, [
    CURLOPT_URL => $url,
    CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,
    CURLOPT_ENCODING => "",
    CURLOPT_MAXREDIRS => 10,
    CURLOPT_TIMEOUT => 30,
    CURLOPT_HTTP_VERSION => CURL_HTTP_VERSION_1_1,
    CURLOPT_CUSTOMREQUEST => "GET"
]);

$response = curl_exec($curl);
$err = curl_error($curl);

curl_close($curl);

if ($err) {
    echo "cURL Error #: " . $err;
} else {
    echo $response;
}

Golang Microlink API example

package main

import (
    "fmt"
    "net/http"
    "net/url"
    "io"
)

func main() {
    baseURL := "https://api.microlink.io"

    u, err := url.Parse(baseURL)
    if err != nil {
        panic(err)
    }
    q := u.Query()
    q.Set("url", "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9P6rdqiybaw")
    q.Set("meta.author", "true")
    q.Set("meta.title", "true")
    u.RawQuery = q.Encode()

    req, err := http.NewRequest("GET", u.String(), nil)
    if err != nil {
        panic(err)
    }

    client := &http.Client{}
    resp, err := client.Do(req)
    if err != nil {
        panic(err)
    }
    defer resp.Body.Close()

    body, err := io.ReadAll(resp.Body)
    if err != nil {
        panic(err)
    }

    fmt.Println(string(body))
}

import createClient from 'microlink.io'

const microlink = createClient()

const data =
  await microlink.metadata('https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9P6rdqiybaw')

This will only extract author and title metadata, ignoring other fields like description, image, etc.

Exclude specific fields

Detect all fields except those explicitly set to false:

The following examples show how to use the Microlink API with CLI, cURL, JavaScript, Python, Ruby, PHP & Golang, targeting 'https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9P6rdqiybaw' URL with 'meta' API parameter:

CLI Microlink API example

microlink https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9P6rdqiybaw

cURL Microlink API example

curl -G "https://api.microlink.io" \
  -d "url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9P6rdqiybaw" \
  -d "meta.image=false" \
  -d "meta.logo=false"

JavaScript Microlink API example

import createClient from 'microlink.io'

const microlink = createClient()

const data =
  await microlink.metadata('https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9P6rdqiybaw')

Python Microlink API example

import requests

url = "https://api.microlink.io/"

querystring = {
    "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9P6rdqiybaw",
    "meta.image": "false",
    "meta.logo": "false"
}

response = requests.get(url, params=querystring)

print(response.json())

Ruby Microlink API example

require 'uri'
require 'net/http'

base_url = "https://api.microlink.io/"

params = {
  url: "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9P6rdqiybaw",
  meta.image: "false",
  meta.logo: "false"
}

uri = URI(base_url)
uri.query = URI.encode_www_form(params)

http = Net::HTTP.new(uri.host, uri.port)
http.use_ssl = true

request = Net::HTTP::Get.new(uri)
response = http.request(request)

puts response.body

PHP Microlink API example

<?php

$baseUrl = "https://api.microlink.io/";

$params = [
    "url" => "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9P6rdqiybaw",
    "meta.image" => "false",
    "meta.logo" => "false"
];

$query = http_build_query($params);
$url = $baseUrl . '?' . $query;

$curl = curl_init();

curl_setopt_array($curl, [
    CURLOPT_URL => $url,
    CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,
    CURLOPT_ENCODING => "",
    CURLOPT_MAXREDIRS => 10,
    CURLOPT_TIMEOUT => 30,
    CURLOPT_HTTP_VERSION => CURL_HTTP_VERSION_1_1,
    CURLOPT_CUSTOMREQUEST => "GET"
]);

$response = curl_exec($curl);
$err = curl_error($curl);

curl_close($curl);

if ($err) {
    echo "cURL Error #: " . $err;
} else {
    echo $response;
}

Golang Microlink API example

package main

import (
    "fmt"
    "net/http"
    "net/url"
    "io"
)

func main() {
    baseURL := "https://api.microlink.io"

    u, err := url.Parse(baseURL)
    if err != nil {
        panic(err)
    }
    q := u.Query()
    q.Set("url", "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9P6rdqiybaw")
    q.Set("meta.image", "false")
    q.Set("meta.logo", "false")
    u.RawQuery = q.Encode()

    req, err := http.NewRequest("GET", u.String(), nil)
    if err != nil {
        panic(err)
    }

    client := &http.Client{}
    resp, err := client.Do(req)
    if err != nil {
        panic(err)
    }
    defer resp.Body.Close()

    body, err := io.ReadAll(resp.Body)
    if err != nil {
        panic(err)
    }

    fmt.Println(string(body))
}

import createClient from 'microlink.io'

const microlink = createClient()

const data =
  await microlink.metadata('https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9P6rdqiybaw')

This will extract all metadata fields except image and logo, which can help reduce response size and improve performance when you don't need heavy assets.

If you don't need any of this, you can explicitly disable the default behavior

The following examples show how to use the Microlink API with CLI, cURL, JavaScript, Python, Ruby, PHP & Golang, targeting 'https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9P6rdqiybaw' URL with 'meta' API parameter:

CLI Microlink API example

microlink https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9P6rdqiybaw

cURL Microlink API example

curl -G "https://api.microlink.io" \
  -d "url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9P6rdqiybaw" \
  -d "meta=false"

JavaScript Microlink API example

import createClient from 'microlink.io'

const microlink = createClient()

const data =
  await microlink.metadata('https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9P6rdqiybaw')

Python Microlink API example

import requests

url = "https://api.microlink.io/"

querystring = {
    "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9P6rdqiybaw",
    "meta": "false"
}

response = requests.get(url, params=querystring)

print(response.json())

Ruby Microlink API example

require 'uri'
require 'net/http'

base_url = "https://api.microlink.io/"

params = {
  url: "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9P6rdqiybaw",
  meta: "false"
}

uri = URI(base_url)
uri.query = URI.encode_www_form(params)

http = Net::HTTP.new(uri.host, uri.port)
http.use_ssl = true

request = Net::HTTP::Get.new(uri)
response = http.request(request)

puts response.body

PHP Microlink API example

<?php

$baseUrl = "https://api.microlink.io/";

$params = [
    "url" => "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9P6rdqiybaw",
    "meta" => "false"
];

$query = http_build_query($params);
$url = $baseUrl . '?' . $query;

$curl = curl_init();

curl_setopt_array($curl, [
    CURLOPT_URL => $url,
    CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,
    CURLOPT_ENCODING => "",
    CURLOPT_MAXREDIRS => 10,
    CURLOPT_TIMEOUT => 30,
    CURLOPT_HTTP_VERSION => CURL_HTTP_VERSION_1_1,
    CURLOPT_CUSTOMREQUEST => "GET"
]);

$response = curl_exec($curl);
$err = curl_error($curl);

curl_close($curl);

if ($err) {
    echo "cURL Error #: " . $err;
} else {
    echo $response;
}

Golang Microlink API example

package main

import (
    "fmt"
    "net/http"
    "net/url"
    "io"
)

func main() {
    baseURL := "https://api.microlink.io"

    u, err := url.Parse(baseURL)
    if err != nil {
        panic(err)
    }
    q := u.Query()
    q.Set("url", "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9P6rdqiybaw")
    q.Set("meta", "false")
    u.RawQuery = q.Encode()

    req, err := http.NewRequest("GET", u.String(), nil)
    if err != nil {
        panic(err)
    }

    client := &http.Client{}
    resp, err := client.Do(req)
    if err != nil {
        panic(err)
    }
    defer resp.Body.Close()

    body, err := io.ReadAll(resp.Body)
    if err != nil {
        panic(err)
    }

    fmt.Println(string(body))
}

import createClient from 'microlink.io'

const microlink = createClient()

const data =
  await microlink.metadata('https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9P6rdqiybaw')

Doing that you can speed up response timing for those cases you are not interested in consuming the metadata, like screenshot or video.

This will be reflected at x-fetch-mode response header whose value should be 'skipped'.

cache-control: public, immutable, max-age=86399
x-cache-status: MISS
x-cache-ttl: 86400000
x-fetch-mode: skipped
x-pricing-plan: free
x-rate-limit-limit: 25
x-rate-limit-remaining: 24
x-rate-limit-reset: 1751787476
x-request-id: iad:ba5a0c60-db4e-48c8-be6d-05ebaca22c61
x-response-time: 5.1s