Get Hyperlocal News for Your Application

Patch operates a network of local news and information sites in individual communities across the country. Each Patch site is run by a full-time professional editor and features breaking news; information about local businesses, events, and volunteer opportunities; and a blogging platform that allows locals to share their perspectives with their neighbors.

Now the Patch API lets you easily integrate the same professional hyperlocal content in your sites and applications. You’ll also see articles and blog posts from more than 70,000 RSS published by bloggers, mainstream media outlets, and independent new media sites across the country to round out the featured stories from Patch’s own journalists..

Get Started

  1. Get a key. 
  2. Browse the documentation.
  3. Follow @Patch_API on Twitter.

How it Works

Search for Stories

Send the name of any U.S. neighborhood, ZIP code, city, or state to our Stories Query Resource to get the most recent Patch stories from that region, along with locally relevant aggregated content from more than 60,000 other sources.

You can filter the stories returned by:

  • keyword: search within the titles, summaries, and topic tags associated with each story
  • timestamp: limit your results to stories of a specified age
  • feed category: our three-part source taxonomy allows you to specify the feeds you’d like to receive stories from by any or all of the following:
    • vertical: this includes topics like news, crime, and politics
    • format: this distinguishes by feeds that publish blog posts, traditional news articles, reviews, etc.
    • author type (for aggregated content only): this allows you to select stories published by mainstream media outlets, unaffiliated individual bloggers, sharing sites with multiple authors, etc.

Featured story results come directly from local Patch sites, with the dedicated, professional coverage our hyperlocal journalists are known for, with additional content from more than 70,000 RSS feeds published by bloggers, mainstream media outlets, and independent new media sites across the country.

Search for Locations

If you’re building an application that requires user input to identify a location, you can use our Locations Query Resource to find locations matching any string. The location metadata returned includes a unique identifier that can be used to lookup stories for any matching location.

Rate Limits

The Patch API is free to use for up to 5,000 queries per day or 4 queries per second. For a commercial agreement, please contact api@patch.com.

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