nzsl.nz APInzsl.nz ↗
Access 5000+ New Zealand Sign Language signs via 9 endpoints. Search by English or Māori keyword, filter by topic, handshape, location, and retrieve video URLs.
curl -X GET 'https://api.parse.bot/scraper/32e15753-dcec-46d1-97a3-d1a0c5e8ad76/search_signs?query=hello' \ -H 'X-API-Key: $PARSE_API_KEY'
Search for signs by keyword (English or Māori) with optional filters. Returns paginated results. When no query or filters are provided, returns all signs.
| Param | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| page | integer | Page number for pagination. |
| query | string | Search keyword in English or Māori (e.g. 'hello', 'water'). |
| topic | string | Topic category filter. Use the decoded tag value from list_topics (e.g. 'Animals', 'Actions and activities', 'Direction, location and spatial relations'). |
| usage | string | Usage filter (e.g. 'archaic', 'informal'). |
| location | string | Body location ID filter. |
| handshape | string | Handshape ID filter (e.g. '1.1.1'). |
| location_group | string | Location group ID filter. |
{
"type": "object",
"fields": {
"results": "array of sign summaries with sign_id, english_name, maori_name, word_class, video_url, drawing_url",
"pagination": "object with current_page and total_pages, or null when no pagination exists"
},
"sample": {
"data": {
"results": [
{
"sign_id": "1301",
"video_url": "https://nzsl-signbank-media-production.s3.amazonaws.com/glossvideo/1301/hello.1301.main_glosses.sp.r480x360.mp4",
"maori_name": null,
"word_class": null,
"drawing_url": "https://nzsl-signbank-media-production.s3.amazonaws.com/glossvideo/1301/hello-1301-high_resolution.png",
"english_name": "goodbye, hello"
}
],
"pagination": {
"total_pages": 1,
"current_page": 1
}
},
"status": "success"
}
}About the nzsl.nz API
The NZSL Dictionary API provides structured access to over 5000 New Zealand Sign Language signs across 9 endpoints, covering sign search, detailed sign data, topic browsing, and reference pages. The get_sign_detail endpoint returns main video URLs, slow-motion video URLs, handshape images, location images, Māori translations, and example sentences with English glosses — all keyed by a numeric sign ID obtained from search_signs.
Search and Filter Signs
The search_signs endpoint accepts a query string in English or Māori, plus optional filters for topic, usage, handshape, location, and location_group. Results are paginated and each item in the results array includes sign_id, english_name, maori_name, word_class, video_url, and drawing_url. Topic values for the filter come from list_topics, which returns each topic's tag (the exact string to pass as the topic parameter) and its human-readable name. To page through the full dictionary without any filters, use get_all_signs with the page parameter.
Sign Detail and Reference Data
get_sign_detail accepts a numeric sign_id and returns the most complete data for a single sign: main_video_url and slow_video_url for playback, arrays of handshapes and locations as image URLs, maori_names as an array, and an examples array where each item carries nzsl_gloss, english_translation, and video_url. Three static reference endpoints cover fingerspelling, numbers, and classifiers. get_alphabet_page returns per-letter image_url values and demonstration_videos. get_numbers_page and get_classifiers_page both return categorized items arrays with label, optional sign_id, and image_url, organized under a title field.
Discovery Utilities
get_sign_of_the_day returns a daily-featured sign with its name, sign_id, video_url, and drawing_url — useful for vocabulary-building features or daily digest integrations. get_search_autocomplete accepts a term parameter and returns matching sign glosses, supporting typeahead search interfaces.
- Build an NZSL learning app that plays main and slow-motion videos from
get_sign_detailfor each vocabulary item. - Populate a topic-based browse screen using
list_topicstags as filters passed tosearch_signs. - Implement a typeahead search field using
get_search_autocompleteto suggest sign names as the user types. - Display a daily sign widget by polling
get_sign_of_the_dayfor the featured sign video and drawing. - Create a fingerspelling reference tool using the
alphabet_itemsanddemonstration_videosfromget_alphabet_page. - Filter signs by
handshapeID or bodylocationto support linguistic research or structured NZSL lessons. - Export English–Māori–NZSL trilingual glossaries by iterating
get_all_signsand enriching withmaori_namesfromget_sign_detail.
| Tier | Price | Credits/month | Rate limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0/mo | 100 | 5 req/min |
| Hobby | $30/mo | 1,000 | 20 req/min |
| Developer | $100/mo | 5,000 | 250 req/min |
One credit = one API call regardless of which marketplace API you call. Exceeding the rate limit returns a 429 response. Authenticate with the X-API-Key header.
Does nzsl.nz have an official developer API?+
What does `get_sign_detail` return beyond what appears in search results?+
search_signs and get_all_signs return summary fields: sign_id, english_name, maori_name, word_class, video_url, and drawing_url. get_sign_detail adds slow_video_url, an examples array (each with nzsl_gloss, english_translation, and video_url), handshapes as an array of image URLs, locations as an array of image URLs, and maori_names as a full array rather than a single value.Can I filter signs by multiple topics or handshapes simultaneously?+
search_signs accepts one value per filter parameter at a time — a single topic tag, a single handshape ID, and a single location ID. Multi-value filtering in one request is not currently supported. You can fork the API on Parse and revise it to add a multi-filter endpoint if your use case requires it.Does the API expose user-contributed content such as regional variation videos or community submissions?+
How fresh is the sign data, and does the pagination cover the full dictionary?+
get_all_signs endpoint returns current_page and total_pages in its pagination object, allowing you to iterate through the full sign set page by page. search_signs also returns the same pagination structure, or null when results fit a single page.