Wikimedia Commons Abuse Filters Scraper

Wikimedia Commons Abuse Filters Scraper

Scrape Wikimedia Commons abuse filters by ID, status, or action, up to a million per run. Each filter returns its full description, enabled state, actions, and deletion flag from the public API. No login or API key. Export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML.

Wikimedia Commons moderators configure hundreds of abuse filters to catch spam, vandalism, and policy violations. This reads the public MediaWiki API endpoint directly and returns every filter's metadata in one fixed schema, bypassing manual Special:AbuseFilter page checks.

Who uses it	What they scrape Wikimedia Commons for
Wikimedia moderators	Review and document the active abuse filter rules protecting Commons.
Spam researchers	Study the wording and patterns used in Wikimedia Commons abuse filters.
Tool builders	Sync Wikimedia Commons abuse filter configurations into external monitoring dashboards.

What it does

This Actor collects Wikimedia Commons abuse filter records via the public query API and returns each filter as a flat row with its description, enabled status, actions, and deleted flag.

• 📋 Flat filter list: each row contains the filter ID, description, enabled state, actions, and deleted status.
• 🔢 Max items control: set an integer limit from 1 to 1,000,000 to cap the number of filters fetched.
• 📤 Multi-format export: download results as JSON, CSV, Excel, or XML from the Apify dataset.

Results export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML, or straight from the API.

What you can do with Wikimedia Commons data

📋 Audit active filters.

A Wikimedia Commons moderator fetches all enabled abuse filter descriptions and actions to prepare a quarterly rule review.

🔍 Cross-wiki filter comparison.

A tool builder scrapes Wikimedia Commons abuse filter data and compares it with filter lists from other Wikimedia projects.

📊 Historical filter tracking.

A researcher runs weekly scrapes to record when Wikimedia Commons abuse filters are enabled, disabled, or deleted.

Why choose this scraper

	What you get
Filter metadata	Get every filter's ID, description, enabled state, and actions in one call.
No authentication	Uses the public Wikimedia API, no OAuth or app registration.
Scalable fetch	Up to 1,000,000 records per run for paid users, unlimited history analysis.

What a Wikimedia Commons record looks like

Every record returns as one flat JSON row. Here is a real one from a run:

{
 "id": 1,
 "description": "Large, browser-crashing tables",
 "actions": "disallow",
 "deleted": true,
 "enabled": false,
 "scrapedAt": "2026-09-05T03:36:15.765Z"
}

Every value above comes from a real run. A field a record does not have comes back as null.

Configure the run

Drive the Actor by setting a max items limit, and every abuse filter available through the public API is returned in your dataset. The Input tab lists every parameter.

A first run with the defaults:

{
 "maxItems": 10
}

A larger pull:

{
 "maxItems": 200
}

Free users

Free-plan runs return up to 10 results as a preview. Upgrade your Apify plan to collect up to 1,000,000 results per run.

Run it

1. Create a free Apify account.
2. Open the Wikimedia Commons Abuse Filters Scraper.
3. Set your inputs and any filters, then click Start.
4. Export the results as CSV, Excel, JSON, or XML from the Dataset tab.

Run it programmatically through the Apify API (run-sync-get-dataset-items) or the ApifyClient for JavaScript and Python.

Use with AI agents (MCP)

Give an AI agent live access to Wikimedia Commons through the Model Context Protocol. Add the Actor to Claude, Cursor, or any MCP client:

claude mcp add --transport http apify "https://mcp.apify.com?tools=parseforge/wikimedia-commons-abuse-filters-scraper"

Then prompt it in plain language to run the scraper and read back the results.

Troubleshooting

Why am I getting only 10 results?

The free preview cap limits output to 10 items. Switch to a paid Apify plan and set a higher maxItems value in the input to fetch more filters.

Why are some filters missing from the list?

Deleted filters still appear but are marked true in the deleted field. If a filter is permanently hidden or restricted on the wiki side, the API may omit it. Verify the filter exists on Special:AbuseFilter.

The run finished but my dataset is empty.

Check that maxItems is set to at least 1. If Wikimedia Commons returns an error through the API, the actor logs will capture the HTTP response for debugging.

Why do I see stale filter data?

The actor queries the live API each run, so data reflects the current state. If you suspect caching, re-run the actor or check the API response timestamp.

FAQ

Question	Answer
Do I need a Wikimedia account or API key to scrape abuse filters?	No. The actor calls the public MediaWiki query API without authentication, so you can fetch the abuse filter list right away.
What does the deleted field mean in the results?	A true value indicates the abuse filter has been marked as deleted on Wikimedia Commons. A false or absent value means it is still in the filter list.
How many abuse filters can I scrape in one run?	Free users get a preview capped at 10 filters. Paid Apify users can raise the max items limit up to 1,000,000 per run.
Can I scrape only enabled filters?	The API returns all filters regardless of status. After export, you can filter rows on the enabled field in your CSV, JSON, or spreadsheet to keep the ones you need.
What data does each row contain?	Each row includes the filter ID, description, enabled state, actions assigned to the filter, and whether the filter has been deleted.
Is this scraper faster than browsing Special:AbuseFilter manually?	Yes. It fetches structured JSON directly from the API, so you collect the entire filter list in seconds instead of loading HTML pages one by one.
Why is the result count sometimes lower than my maxItems?	Wikimedia Commons has a finite set of abuse filters. The actor returns all available filters up to your limit, so a smaller count means fewer filters exist at the moment.
Can I schedule this scraper to run daily?	Yes. Use Apify schedules to run the actor automatically and track when Wikimedia Commons abuse filters are added, changed, or removed.

🆘 Need help? Email parseforge@protonmail.com with your run ID, your input, and what you expected.