Find items by external ID

⚠️ Prefer GET /redirect + a cached detail endpoint over /search/id for almost every external-ID lookup

The recommended two-step flow is materially cheaper, faster, and edge-cached:

Step 1 — Resolve the external ID to a Simkl ID. Call GET /redirect?to=simkl&<external_id>=… and read (don’t follow) the Location header. Parse the Simkl ID out of the URL path. No JSON body to download, no JSON to parse — just HTTP headers.

Step 2 — Fetch the full record from the cached detail endpoint. Use the parsed Simkl ID with the matching:

• Movies → GET /movies/{simkl_id}
• TV shows → GET /tv/{simkl_id}
• Anime → GET /anime/{simkl_id}
• Episode lists → GET /tv/episodes/{simkl_id} or GET /anime/episodes/{simkl_id}

These detail endpoints are Cloudflare-cached by Simkl ID with automatic server-side cache invalidation on metadata updates. Popular titles come straight from the edge cache and cost almost nothing.

Why this beats /search/id:

• /redirect returns just HTTP headers (no JSON body). /search/id returns JSON every call.
• The detail endpoints are Cloudflare-cached. /search/id is a search query that hits origin every time.
• Two requests both cheap > one request that always hits origin.
• Concurrent / parallel lookups against the cached detail endpoints are explicitly allowed (see Rate limits → Parallel requests). /search/id should be called sequentially.

When /search/id is still the right call (rare):

• You need the legacy response shape for a code path you can’t change.
• You need a type-agnostic lookup that returns the type field upfront without parsing the Location URL.

Look up Simkl records by any external ID — IMDB, TMDB, TVDB, MAL, AniDB, AniList, Kitsu, anisearch, anime-planet, livechart, letterboxd, Netflix, Trakt slug. Pass the ID as a query parameter (e.g. ?imdb=tt4574334).

Response shape (per item)

{
  "type": "anime",
  "title": "Attack on Titan",
  "poster": "39/396870bc78f2ba7e",
  "year": 2013,
  "status": "ended",
  "total_episodes": 75,
  "anime_type": "tv",
  "ids": {
    "simkl": 39687,
    "slug": "attack-on-titan"
  },
  "mal": {
    "id": 16498,
    "type": "tv"
  }
}

status is one of released, upcoming, ended, aired, tba. total_episodes is omitted for movies.