Card type
Knowledge card API
One named person, place or chemical element: a photo, a summary, key facts, a fun fact and a panel for its kind (a locator map, a timeline, its place in the periodic table). data.focus says what was asked; other things of the same name come as alternatives.
Card type entity · version 1 · schema entity.v1.schema.json
Layouts
Every card type has full. Pick a layout with the element's layout attribute, render.layout, or a theme.
Fields
The fields of card.data. Values a source doesn't provide are null; new optional fields can appear within version 1.
| Field | Type | Required | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
kind | enum | yes | What the thing is. It decides which blocks are filled. Entity cards cover person, place and element; the other kinds are reserved for later and use the same common fields. person · place · element · species · celestial_body · landmark · work · organization · event |
focus | enum | yes | What the question asked about: the thing in general, where it is, when it lived or happened, or one fact about it. overview · location · dates · fact |
id | string | yes | Wikidata item id. A refine with {card: "entity", id} answers with this item. |
name | string | yes | |
description | string | null | yes | One line saying what the thing is, in the answer's locale. |
summary | string | null | yes | The opening of the Wikipedia article in the answer's locale; null when that Wikipedia has no article. |
image | image | null | yes | |
image.url | url | yes | WebKnox media URL: https://webknox.com/media/v1/<host>/<path>. Treat it as opaque. |
image.width | integer | null | ||
image.height | integer | null | ||
image.credit | string | yes | |
image.license | string | yes | |
image.source_url | url | yes | |
dates | object | null | yes | |
dates.start | date | null | yes | Born, founded or begun. |
dates.start.year | integer | yes | Historical numbering: -428 is 428 BC, never 0. Dates before 1582 may be Julian, as the source gives them. |
dates.start.month | integer | null | yes | |
dates.start.day | integer | null | yes | |
dates.start.precision | enum | yes | day · month · year · decade · century |
dates.start.circa | boolean | yes | |
dates.start.display | string | yes | Ready to show in the answer's locale, e.g. "c. 428 BC". |
dates.end | date | null | yes | Died, dissolved or ended; null while it lasts. |
dates.end.year | integer | yes | Historical numbering: -428 is 428 BC, never 0. Dates before 1582 may be Julian, as the source gives them. |
dates.end.month | integer | null | yes | |
dates.end.day | integer | null | yes | |
dates.end.precision | enum | yes | day · month · year · decade · century |
dates.end.circa | boolean | yes | |
dates.end.display | string | yes | Ready to show in the answer's locale, e.g. "c. 428 BC". |
facts[] | object[] | yes | Key facts, ready to display, most telling first. |
facts[].label | string | yes | |
facts[].value | string | yes | |
related[] | object[] | yes | Things one refine away, in reading order (a teacher before the person, a student after). |
related[].relation | string | yes | How it relates, e.g. Teacher, Student, Spouse. |
related[].id | string | yes | |
related[].name | string | yes | |
location | object | null | yes | |
location.lat | number | yes | |
location.lon | number | yes | |
location.country | string | null | yes | ISO 3166-1 alpha-2; null when not one country. |
location.relative[] | string[] | yes | Where it is in words, e.g. "165 km south of Berlin". |
location.map | object | null | yes | |
location.map.src | string | yes | A WebKnox map image: https://webknox.com/geo/v1/<ISO 3166-1 alpha-2>.svg for a country, world.svg for the world. |
location.map.width | integer | yes | |
location.map.height | integer | yes | |
location.map.points[] | object[] | yes | |
location.map.inset | object | null | yes | A small world map that shows where the main map is. |
element | object | null | yes | |
element.symbol | string | yes | |
element.number | integer | yes | |
element.mass | number | null | yes | Standard atomic weight in daltons. |
element.period | integer | yes | |
element.group | integer | null | yes | Null for the lanthanides and actinides. |
element.block | enum | yes | s · p · d · f |
element.category | string | null | yes | e.g. actinide, noble gas, in the answer's locale. |
scale | object | null | yes | The thing measured against familiar ones, drawn as bars from zero. |
scale.label | string | yes | What is compared, with its unit, e.g. "Density, g/cm³". |
scale.items[] | object[] | yes | |
scale.items[].name | string | yes | |
scale.items[].v | number | yes | |
scale.items[].display | string | yes | |
scale.items[].highlight | boolean | yes | true for the thing itself. |
timeline[] | object[] | yes | Points on one proportional time axis, oldest first; the last is usually today. |
timeline[].year | integer | yes | Historical numbering: -428 is 428 BC; there is no year 0, so the span from 1 BC to AD 1 is one year. |
timeline[].label | string | yes | |
timeline[].highlight | boolean | yes | true for the thing itself. |
fun_fact | object | null | yes | |
fun_fact.text | string | yes | |
fun_fact.kind | enum | yes | computed: worked out from the card's own data; article: taken from the Wikipedia article. computed · article |
fun_fact.source_url | url | null | yes | |
alternatives[] | object[] | yes | Other things with the same name, of a kind entity cards cover, one refine away; the card shows the one most people look up. |
alternatives[].id | string | yes | |
alternatives[].name | string | yes | |
alternatives[].description | string | null | yes | |
source_url | url | yes | The Wikipedia article, or the Wikidata item when there is none. |
Example
A recorded answer to “Who is Plato?”. Open it in the Answer Lab to see every layout and style.
{
"v": 2,
"id": "ans_8ouw2gxlc6ub6j63",
"matched": true,
"locale": "en",
"skill": "facts",
"confidence": 0.9,
"text": "Plato was an ancient Greek philosopher of Classical Athens who is most commonly considered the foundational thinker of the Western philosophical tradition.",
"speech": "Plato was an ancient Greek philosopher of Classical Athens who is most commonly considered the foundational thinker of the Western philosophical tradition.",
"card": {
"type": "entity",
"version": 1,
"data": {
"kind": "person",
"focus": "overview",
"id": "Q859",
"name": "Plato",
"description": "4th-century BCE Greek philosopher",
"summary": "Plato was an ancient Greek philosopher of Classical Athens who is most commonly considered the foundational thinker of the Western philosophical tradition.",
"image": {
"url": "https://webknox.com/media/v1/thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/88/Plato_Silanion_Musei_Capitolini_MC1377.jpg/960px-Plato_Silanion_Musei_Capitolini_MC1377.jpg",
"width": 960,
"height": 1440,
"credit": "Marie-Lan Nguyen",
"license": "CC BY 2.5",
"source_url": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Plato_Silanion_Musei_Capitolini_MC1377.jpg"
},
"dates": {
"start": {
"year": -428,
"precision": "year",
"circa": true,
"display": "c. 428 BC",
"month": null,
"day": null
},
"end": {
"year": -348,
"precision": "year",
"circa": true,
"display": "c. 348 BC",
"month": null,
"day": null
}
},
"facts": [
{
"label": "Born",
"value": "c. 428 BC, Athens"
},
{
"label": "Died",
"value": "c. 348 BC, Athens (aged about 80)"
},
{
"label": "Occupation",
"value": "Philosopher, epigrammatist, poet"
},
{
"label": "Notable works",
"value": "Apology, Crito"
}
],
"related": [
{
"relation": "Teacher",
"id": "Q913",
"name": "Socrates"
},
{
"relation": "Teacher",
"id": "Q712328",
"name": "Theodoros of Cyrene"
},
{
"relation": "Student",
"id": "Q868",
"name": "Aristotle"
},
{
"relation": "Student",
"id": "Q185150",
"name": "Eudoxus of Cnidus"
},
{
"relation": "Student",
"id": "Q214121",
"name": "Xenocrates"
}
],
"location": null,
"element": null,
"scale": null,
"timeline": [
{
"year": -2670,
"label": "Pyramid of Djoser",
"highlight": false
},
{
"year": -428,
"label": "Plato",
"highlight": true
},
{
"year": 2026,
"label": "Today",
"highlight": false
}
],
"fun_fact": {
"text": "Plato was born closer in time to the building of the Pyramid of Djoser (about 2,240 years earlier) than to today (about 2,450 years later).",
"kind": "computed",
"source_url": null
},
"alternatives": [],
"source_url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plato"
}
},
"sources": [
{
"name": "Wikipedia",
"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plato",
"license": "CC BY-SA 4.0"
},
{
"name": "Wikidata",
"url": "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q859",
"license": "CC0"
},
{
"name": "Wikimedia Commons",
"url": "https://commons.wikimedia.org",
"license": "per image"
}
],
"follow_ups": [
"Who is Socrates?",
"Who is Aristotle?"
],
"actions": [],
"usage": {
"billable": true
}
}