Quickstart

PokéAPI requires zero configuration. There are no API keys to generate, no accounts to create, and no SDKs to install. The fastest path from zero to Pokémon data is a single HTTP request.

Make your first request

1. Pick a Pokémon

   PokéAPI accepts both numeric IDs and lowercase hyphenated names. Let's start with Pikachu (ID 25):

   bashbash

   curl https://pokeapi.co/api/v2/pokemon/pikachu

2. Read the response

   The response is a large JSON object. Here are the most useful top-level fields:

   {
     "id": 25,
     "name": "pikachu",
     "base_experience": 112,
     "height": 4,
     "weight": 60,
     "types": [
       {
         "slot": 1,
         "type": { "name": "electric", "url": "https://pokeapi.co/api/v2/type/13/" }
       }
     ],
     "stats": [
       { "base_stat": 35, "effort": 0, "stat": { "name": "hp", "url": "..." } },
       { "base_stat": 55, "effort": 0, "stat": { "name": "attack", "url": "..." } },
       { "base_stat": 90, "effort": 2, "stat": { "name": "speed", "url": "..." } }
     ],
     "sprites": {
       "front_default": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/PokeAPI/sprites/master/sprites/pokemon/25.png"
     }
   }

3. Follow a link

   Most fields that reference other resources include a url. You can fetch that URL to get the full resource:

   curl https://pokeapi.co/api/v2/type/13/

   This returns the full Electric type resource, including damage relations to other types.

Using JavaScript (fetch)

PokéAPI uses standard HTTPS — no special client needed. Here is a minimal browser/Node.js example:

async function getPokemon(nameOrId) {
  const res = await fetch(`https://pokeapi.co/api/v2/pokemon/${nameOrId}`);
  if (!res.ok) throw new Error(`${res.status} ${res.statusText}`);
  return res.json();
}
 
const pikachu = await getPokemon('pikachu');
console.log(pikachu.name, pikachu.types.map(t => t.type.name));
// → "pikachu" ["electric"]

Using a community wrapper

If you prefer a typed client, community wrappers exist for most languages:

npm install pokeapi-js-wrapper

import Pokedex from 'pokeapi-js-wrapper';
 
const P = new Pokedex();
const pikachu = await P.getPokemonByName('pikachu');

pip install pokebase

import pokebase as pb
 
pikachu = pb.pokemon('pikachu')
print(pikachu.name, pikachu.base_experience)

<dependency>
  <groupId>com.github.pokeapijava</groupId>
  <artifactId>pokeapijava</artifactId>
  <version>2.3.0</version>
</dependency>

PokeApi api = new PokeApiClient();
Pokemon pikachu = api.getResource(Pokemon.class, "pikachu");

What's next?