th0rgall / private-api-examples

Readup Private API Examples

Readup Private API Examples

API Access

Readup doesn't have a public API yet but you can still poke around programmatically if you're so inclined. Readup captures a lot of interesting data and we're eager to build a proper public API for our users but in the mean time you can still make use of our private API using an HTTP client and the examples below.

Please keep in mind these APIs absolutely WILL change in the future! Also feel free to submit a pull request with any additional examples or corrections. Thanks!

Exploring the available API endpoints

Since September 2021, Readup is not packaged directly as a web app anymore but as a mobile/desktop app.

It can be cumbersome to explore and inspect the network requests of a mobile/desktop app. For development purposes, you can still access a part of the Readup app in your browser by navigating to https://readup.com/?clientType=App. By logging in and clicking around this SPA you will then be able to openly inspect the Readup API network requests that happen in your browser. You can visit most pages, including your own profile and My Reads, and perform actions like commenting on read articles.

Caveat: several important Readup features will not work since the expected native platform APIs are missing (for example, saving/reading/sharing articles).

Accessing Your Readup Reading History

1. First you need to obtain an authentication cookie from Readup. Replace EMAIL_ADDRESS and PASSWORD with your Readup credentials:

   curl --request POST --data "{\"email\":\"EMAIL_ADDRESS\",\"password\":\"PASSWORD\"}" --header "Content-Type: application/json" --header "X-Readup-Client: web/app/client#Browser@1.32.0" --cookie-jar readup-auth-cookie.txt https://api.readup.com/UserAccounts/SignIn

   This command will create a text file named "readup-auth-cookie.txt" in your current working directory containing your authentication cookie. Be sure to properly safeguard this file!

   You may need to change the JSON data escaping depending on your operating system or terminal software. See this StackOverflow question for more info: How do I POST JSON data with cURL?

2. Then you can make a request to list your reading history using those credentials:

   curl --request GET --header "X-Readup-Client: web/app/client#Browser@1.32.0" --cookie readup-auth-cookie.txt https://api.readup.com/Articles/ListHistory?pageNumber=1

   Article info will be returned in JSON format. Page size is fixed at 40 articles per page. In addition to setting pageNumber you can also specify minLength and/or maxLength (in minutes) in order to limit results by article length.