Getting Started
Set up your API key and make your first request in under 5 minutes.
1. Get Your API Key
- Go to the Fast News Previews API page on RapidAPI
- Choose a subscription plan (free tiers may be available)
- Subscribe — your API key appears on the Endpoints tab
You'll need these two headers for every request:
| Header | Value |
|---|---|
x-rapidapi-key | Your personal API key |
x-rapidapi-host | fast-news-with-previews.p.rapidapi.com |
When using RapidAPI's test console, both headers are included automatically.
2. Make Your First Request
Search for news about artificial intelligence:
curl -X GET "https://fast-news-with-previews.p.rapidapi.com/news?topic=artificial+intelligence&language=en" \
-H "x-rapidapi-key: YOUR_RAPIDAPI_KEY" \
-H "x-rapidapi-host: fast-news-with-previews.p.rapidapi.com"
Replace YOUR_RAPIDAPI_KEY with your key from the RapidAPI dashboard.
3. Understand the Response
{
"topic": "artificial intelligence",
"geo": "all",
"language": "en",
"count": 10,
"items": [
{
"title": "Made-up article about AI",
"source": "example-news.com",
"published_at": "2026-04-16T10:30:00Z",
"url": "https://example-news.com/articles/ai-update",
"image_url": "https://cdn.example-news.com/thumb.jpg",
"preview": "A short excerpt from the article body..."
}
]
}
Each article in items contains a title, source, published_at date, direct url, thumbnail image_url, and a text preview (up to 250 characters).
4. Explore Endpoints
| Endpoint | Use It To |
|---|---|
GET /news/advanced | Filter by source, require thumbnails, or sort results |
GET /news/trending?language=en | Get top headlines for any language |
GET /news/topic?topic1=technology&language=en | Browse predefined categories |
GET /news/local?query=Tokyo&language=en | Find news about a specific area |
GET /health | Verify the API is reachable |
See the Endpoints section for full parameter docs.
What's Next
- Copy code examples in Python, JavaScript, Go, or cURL
- Set up MCP integration to query news from AI coding agents
- Read about error handling for troubleshooting