MediaWiki Tips and Tricks

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Demystifying MediaWiki Extension API

Pulling the Curtain on MediaWiki Extension API Ever stared at the MediaWiki API docs and thought, “Is this a secret club or a user‑friendly toolbox?”—you’re not alone. The Extension API is that quiet backstage crew that lets you whisper to a wiki, pull data out, or even

Mastering ParserFunctions in MediaWiki: Logical and String Functions for Dynamic Content

ParserFunctions Unleashed: From Simple Logic to String Sorcery Ever stared at a wiki page that felt as static as a marble statue? Then you probably missed the hidden gears of ParserFunctions humming underneath. Imagine you could ask, “Show this text only if the user is logged in,” or “Trim a

Why ConfirmEdit is a Must‑Have Extension on Every Wiki

Why ConfirmEdit is a Must‑Have Extension on Every Wiki Running a public MediaWiki installation means you constantly battle automated spam, credential‑stuffing attacks and low‑quality edits. While MediaWiki ships with basic anti‑spam filters, they are not enough to stop bots that can programmatically submit forms. The ConfirmEdit

Building Custom Reports in MediaWiki Using Lua Modules

Why Lua modules matter for MediaWiki reporting At first glance a MediaWiki installation looks like a giant collection of wikitext pages, nothing more than a glorified blog. In practice, though, the platform hides a surprisingly powerful scripting layer called Scribunto. With Scribunto you can write Lua code that lives inside

Improving MediaWiki Search Using Machine Learning

Why machine‑learning belongs in MediaWiki search

Implementing a Custom Search Index in MediaWiki with Elasticsearch

Why a Custom Search Index? MediaWiki ships with a simple MySQL‑based search engine that works for tiny wikis, but it quickly becomes a bottleneck as the amount of content grows. Extension:CirrusSearch replaces the native engine with Elasticsearch, giving you full‑text relevance, fast autocomplete, and the ability to

Introduction to Semantic MediaWiki

What is Semantic MediaWiki? Semantic MediaWiki (SMW) is a powerful MediaWiki extension that lets you turn a regular wiki into a collaborative knowledge base. By adding simple #set and #ask markup, you can store structured data (properties and values) directly on wiki pages and query that data across the whole

MediaWiki Configuration 101

Why a solid configuration matters MediaWiki ships with a huge set of defaults in DefaultSettings.php. Changing the right few variables in LocalSettings.php tailors the wiki to your domain, improves performance, and hardens security. The checklist below follows the official Configuration settings manual and the practical DigitalOcean guide. Core

Integrating REST API in MediaWiki: Building Dynamic Applications

Why the MediaWiki REST API matters (and why you might care) Picture this: you’re building a mobile app that lets people browse Wikipedia articles offline, or a dashboard that pulls the latest revision stats for a set of internal wiki pages. You could hack together a bunch of action=

Best Practices for Backing Up MediaWiki Installations

Why a MediaWiki Backup Is More Than Just “Copy‑Paste” Imagine you’ve spent months curating a niche wiki about vintage arcade cabinets. One night a power surge knocks the server offline and, when it boots, the latest articles have vanished. The feeling is a bit like watching a favorite