Know Your Meme JS

A scraper npm package to search and get information about memes from KnowYourMeme.com.

GitHub: knowyourmeme-js

Features

• 🔍 Search memes by query with customizable result limits
• 📖 Get detailed meme information including images, tags, origin, and more
• 📝 Markdown body — the full article converted to clean markdown (headings, links, images, embedded videos) for easy rendering
• 📦 ES6 modules support
• 🔵 TypeScript support
• 🛡️ Error handling with descriptive error messages

Installation

npm install knowyourmeme-js

Usage

Basic Search

import { search } from 'knowyourmeme-js';

// Search for memes
const { results, totalResults } = await search('shrek');
console.log(`Found ${totalResults} memes`);
console.log(results);

Search with Options

import { search } from 'knowyourmeme-js';

// Search with custom limit (default is 10, more than 16 results are fetched automatically)
const { results } = await search('shrek', 5);
console.log(`Got ${results.length} results`);
console.log(results);

Get Meme Details

import { getMeme } from 'knowyourmeme-js';

// Get detailed information about a specific meme
const meme = await getMeme('https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/shrek-rizz');
console.log(meme);

API Reference

search(query, max)

Searches for memes on KnowYourMeme.com using the site's search API.

Parameters:

• query (string): Search query
• max (number): Maximum number of results (default: 10). When max exceeds the page size (16), additional pages are fetched automatically.

Returns: Promise<SearchResults>:

{
  query: string,            // the query that was searched
  totalResults: number,     // total matching memes on the site
  results: MemeResult[]
}

Search Result Object (MemeResult):

{
  title: string,
  link: string,
  thumbnail: { url: string, alt: string },
  summary?: string,     // short description
  views: number | null,
  nsfw: boolean,        // flagged as not-safe-for-work
  year: number | null,  // year the meme originated
  origin: string | null, // e.g. "Tumblr", "4chan"; null when absent
  region: string | null, // e.g. "Japan"; null when absent
}

getMeme(url)

Gets detailed information about a specific meme.

Parameters:

• url (string): URL of the meme page on KnowYourMeme.com

Returns: Promise - Promise of MemeDetails

MemeDetails Object:

{
  title: string,
  link: string,
  image: { url: string, alt: string },
  views: number | null,
  body: string,                 // full article as markdown
  sections: MemeSection[],      // typed content blocks grouped by heading
  googleTrendsUrl: string | null, // Google Trends embed URL; null when none
  imgflipUrl: string | null,    // imgflip "Meme Generator" link (normalized to /memegenerator/); null when none
  type: string[] | null,        // e.g. ["Exploitable", "Photoshop"]; null when absent
  year: string | null,          // e.g. "2011"; null when absent
  origin: string | null,        // e.g. "Tumblr"; null when absent
  region: string | null,        // e.g. "United States"; null when absent
  tags: string[] | null,        // entry tags; null when absent
}

MemeSection Object:

{
  title: string,      // heading text (e.g. "About", "Origin", "Spread")
  level: number,      // normalized heading level: 2 = main (##), 3 = subsection (###)
  contents: SectionBlock[]
}

SectionBlock (union):

{ type: 'text', text: string }                                  // inline markdown paragraph
{ type: 'quote', text: string }                                 // blockquote
{ type: 'image', url: string, alt: string, nsfw: boolean, pageUrl?: string }  // pageUrl = KnowYourMeme photo page; nsfw = true when hidden behind a click-to-view overlay
{ type: 'video', url: string }                                  // YouTube / TikTok / Instagram / Tumblr link

The body field is markdown ready for renderers (e.g. Raycast's Detail view). Headings are normalized so main sections render as ## and subsections as ###, embedded videos become links, images keep their real URLs (including NSFW images that would otherwise be hidden behind a click-to-view overlay), and footnote references are stripped.

Requirements

• Node.js 14.0.0 or higher
• ES6 modules support

Dependencies

• node-fetch: lightweight HTTP client for making requests
• cheerio: HTML parsing and manipulation

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

Disclaimer

This project is not affiliated with or endorsed by KnowYourMeme.com.
It simply scrapes publicly available data for educational and personal use.
Please use this library responsibly and respect the website’s Terms of Service.