/acled/search

POST /api/acled/search

Price: 20 credits

Search ACLED's site: analysis, monthly regional updates, country and armed-group pages, data pages and methodology guides, filtered by content type, label, collection, armed group, language and publication date

How to use it

Matches pages across the whole acleddata.com site; is_restricted marks pages the site labels restricted. Combine content_types, labels and collections to narrow to one publication series.

Parameters

• access-token string required

Request body

• timeout integer — Max scrapping execution timeout (in seconds) (default: 300; min: 20; max: 1500)
• query string nullable — Words to search for (examples: "sudan", "drone strikes"; maxLength: 300)
• content_types array nullable — Only these kinds of content (one of: "armed_group", "article", "collection", "country", "data", "event", "member_page", "guide", "organisation", "page", "person", "region", "theme", "tool"; examples: ["article"])
• labels array nullable — Only content carrying one of these labels (one of: "actor_profile", "aggregated", "annual_report", "api_documentation", "archived", "armed_group", "author", "board", "brief", "country", "curated", "data_update", "data_use_guide", "event", "expedited", "expert_comment", "external", "faq", "former_staff", "funder", "general_guide", "in_focus", "infographic", "launch", "local_network_member", "media_citation", "methodology", "monitor", "newsletter", "observatory", "organization", "platform", "policy", "press", "q_and_a", "reactivation", "region", "region_profile", "report", "results", "series", "staff", "strategic_partner", "themed", "update", "update_log", "use_and_access", "video", "webinar"; examples: ["update"])
• collections array nullable — Only content in one of these collections (one of: "mozambique_conflict_monitor", "ukraine_conflict_monitor", "monthly_regional_updates", "in_the_news", "conflict_watchlist_2025", "west_africa_illicit_economies", "us_monitor", "election_watch", "yemen_conflict_monitor", "conflict_watchlist_2024", "violence_targeting_local_officials", "conflict_watchlist_2023", "yemen_territorial_control", "syria_territorial_control", "conflict_watchlist_2022", "conflict_index", "gaza_conflict_monitor", "raleigh_report", "india_2024_election_series", "mexico_2024_election_series", "data_and_platforms", "middle_east_conflict_monitor", "conflict_watchlist_2022_mid_year", "conflict_index_mid_year_2024", "russia_ukraine_shadow_war", "militarized_self_defense", "covid19_disorder_tracker", "violence_targeting_local_officials_inaugural", "conflict_watchlist_2026", "iran_war_updates", "violence_targeting_local_officials_2026", "podcast"; examples: ["monthly_regional_updates"])
• actors array nullable — Only content tagged with one of these armed groups (one of: "al_shabaab", "m23", "proud_boys", "wagner_group_africa_corps"; examples: ["m23"])
• languages array nullable — Only content in one of these languages (one of: "en", "fr", "es", "pt", "ar", "he", "am", "uk"; examples: ["en"])
• date_from string nullable — Only content published on or after this date (YYYY-MM-DD) (examples: "2026-01-01")
• date_to string nullable — Only content published on or before this date (YYYY-MM-DD) (examples: "2026-06-30")
• count integer required — Max number of results to return (examples: 20; min: 1; max: 500)

Response

• @type string (default: "AcledSearchResult")
• url string required
• description string nullable
• published_date string nullable
• section string nullable
• is_restricted boolean (default: false)

Errors

• 422 — The request body did not validate Check the fields against this schema. A URN with the wrong prefix is the most common cause.
• 408 — The request ran past its time limit Raise `timeout` in the request body, up to the maximum this endpoint documents. Lowering `count` or turning off the `with_*` flags also helps, because less work finishes sooner.
• 412 — The entity was not found, or a precondition failed Retrying will not help: either the entity does not exist, or the input points at a different one.
• 429 — Too many requests: a rate limit or a usage window is exhausted When the response carries an X-Retry-After header, wait that many seconds and retry: the same number is in the body as `detail.retry_after`, and the limit clears once that window passes. The message in the body names the limit that was hit.
• 500 — Something broke on our side Retrying will not help. If it keeps happening, send us the X-Request-ID from the response headers.
• 529 — Rate limit reached, or the endpoint is overloaded Wait at least 30 seconds, then retry.

Response headers

• X-Error — Error message text (present only on error)
• X-Request-ID — Unique request identifier
• X-Execution-Time — Execution time in seconds
• X-Result-Count — How many records the body carries. 0 means an empty result, which is a normal answer and not by itself an error. A non-zero count can come back together with X-Error when the failure happened partway through — read this header and X-Error independently.
• X-Total-Available-Results — How many records exist for this query, when the endpoint can say. On a `dry_run` request this is the answer and the body is empty. It saturates: the endpoint's documented maximum means 'at least that many', any smaller number is exact.
• X-Warning — Present when the request body carried keys this endpoint does not document. They were ignored, so any filter you meant to apply through them did not apply. Check the spelling against this schema and retry.
• X-Retry-After — Seconds to wait before retrying. Present only on 429.