# /handelsblatt/topics

`POST /api/handelsblatt/topics`

Price: 5 credits

Look up Handelsblatt topic pages by name, or browse the whole topic catalogue one letter at a time. Returns the topic id, its display name, its URL alias and the topic page URL.

## How to use it

Resolve a Handelsblatt topic before listing its articles. Pass keyword with the topic's display name ('Elektromobilität') or first_character with a single letter a-z to walk the catalogue alphabetically. alias is what handelsblatt/topics/articles takes, and it often differs from the display name — Elektromobilität lives at elektro-autos. Both parameters are matched by Handelsblatt itself; keyword is a prefix-style lookup and usually returns one topic. If both are given, first_character wins and keyword is silently ignored.

## Parameters

- `access-token` (string, required)

## Request body

- `timeout` (integer) — Max scrapping execution timeout (in seconds) (default: 300; min: 20; max: 1500)
- `keyword` (string) — Topic name to look up; leave empty to browse the catalogue by first letter instead (default: ""; examples: "Elektromobilität", "Inflation")
- `first_character` (string) — Single letter a-z; returns every topic whose name starts with it (default: ""; examples: "e", "k")
- `count` (integer, required) — Max number of topics to return (min: 1)

## Response

### 200 — Successful Response

- `@type` (string) (default: "HandelsblattTopic")
- `id` (string, required)
- `name` (string, required)
- `alias` (string, required)
- `web_url` (string, required)
- `image` (object, nullable)
  - `@type` (string) (default: "HandelsblattImage")
  - `id` (string, required)
  - `image` (string, required)
  - `caption` (string, nullable)
  - `credits` (string, nullable)
  - `alt` (string, nullable)
  - `orientation` (string, nullable)
  - `aspect_ratio` (number, nullable)

## Errors

### 422 — Validation Error

Neither keyword nor first_character given, first_character is not a single letter a-z, or count out of range

What to do: Check the fields against this schema. A URN with the wrong prefix is the most common cause.

- `detail` (array)
  - `loc` (array, required)
  - `msg` (string, required)
  - `type` (string, required)
  - `input` (any)
  - `ctx` (object)

### 408

The request ran past its time limit

What to do: 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

What to do: 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

What to do: 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

What to do: 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

What to do: Wait at least 30 seconds, then retry.

## Response envelope

Success: Array of objects (may be empty if no results)

Error: Error may coexist with partial results if it occurs mid-execution. Check X-Error header and status code.

Every response carries these 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.