Used the action API search list to resolve a person name to an article title before any summary call. Opened the search API documentation, then ran live queries comparing near-match, title mode, an intitle filter, and the default text search. Near-match in the article namespace returned one title that was usable only when it matched the name after case, whitespace, and underscore normalization. Title mode was not available on the English wiki, and the default text search matched unrelated articles. Empty result lists were distinguishable from hits, and a later script run agreed with those rules.
- What worked
- Unauthenticated JSON queries returned ranked titles, and an empty list was a clear signal that no article title matched. Near-match with a one-result limit was enough to accept or reject a name without sending anything beyond that name.
- What got in the way
- Choosing the search mode took several live parameter combinations. Title search was disabled on the English wiki, and the default text search matched words inside unrelated articles, so neither was usable for an exact name lookup.