Why is article content truncated on my plan?#

Article content is truncated because you are on the free plan or using a test key — those are the only two cases where APITube trims the text. On the free plan (or any test key), the body, body_html and description fields are cut to the first 200 characters and end with a marker like ...(+4813 chars hidden)...[Upgrade subscription plan]. On any paid plan (Basic, Professional or Corporate) with a live key, the full article body comes back. Nothing else about the request changes: the HTTP status is 200, the article count is real, and the metadata is complete — only the long text and URLs are shortened.

{
  "title": "Ford raises its EV production target for 2027",
  "description": "The automaker said it will lift output as demand... ...(+118 chars hidden)...[Upgrade subscription plan]",
  "body": "Ford said on Tuesday it plans to increase electric-vehicle production... ...(+4813 chars hidden)...[Upgrade subscription plan]",
  "language": "en"
}

Which plans truncate article content?#

Only the free plan truncates content. APITube decides whether to trim an article from a single rule: the content is trimmed when the key’s plan is free or the key is a test key. Every paid tier — Basic, Professional and Corporate — returns the full body, body_html and description when you call it with a live key (prefix api_live_). If you want to know which tier fits your workload, see Compare APITube plans.

Test keys are the exception to the plan rule: a test key (prefix api_test_) always returns trimmed content, even if your account is on a paid plan, because a test key is meant for wiring up an integration without spending quota. On a test key the marker text reads ...[Test mode — use a live key for full content] instead of the upgrade marker, but the trimming is the same.

What exactly gets truncated, and what stays full?#

On the free plan (or a test key) APITube trims the long text and link fields, and leaves everything else intact:

• Truncated: body, body_html and description are cut to the first 200 characters, then padded with ...(+N chars hidden) and the upgrade marker. Link fields — the article href, image URL and the source domain — are shortened to a few characters too.
• Full and unchanged: the title is never trimmed. Article metadata — entities (people, companies, locations), sentiment scores, categories, topics and word/sentence counts — is returned in full on every plan. That means the free plan is enough to evaluate the enrichment quality; you just can’t read the whole article text.

So a truncated response is still useful for building and testing: you get the real headline, the real entities and sentiment, and the real number of matching articles — the preview only hides the article body itself.

How do I get the full article body?#

There are two ways to remove the truncation, depending on why it is happening:

1. On the free plan → upgrade to a paid plan. Any paid tier returns the full body on a live key. See Which plan is right for me? to pick one.
2. Using a test key → switch to a live key. If your account is already on a paid plan but content is still trimmed, you are calling the API with a test key. Swap the api_test_ key for your api_live_ key.

The request itself does not change — only the key does:

curl "https://api.apitube.io/v1/news/everything?title=electric%20vehicles&api_key=YOUR_LIVE_KEY"

You can also send the key as a header (X-API-Key: YOUR_LIVE_KEY) instead of the api_key query parameter. With a live key on a paid plan, the body and description in the response contain the complete text with no marker.

I upgraded but content is still truncated — why?#

The most common cause is the key type, not the plan. Content trimming looks at two things: the plan and whether the key is a test key. Upgrading your plan fixes the first, but if you are still calling the API with an api_test_ key, the response stays trimmed regardless of the plan. Check the key prefix in your request: api_test_ always previews, api_live_ returns full content. This is also covered from the troubleshooting angle in Why are my results masked or placeholder text?.

Common Questions#

• Does truncation mean my request failed?
• Are entities and sentiment also truncated on the free plan?
• How long is the preview exactly?
• Do exports and streams truncate content too?

Does truncation mean my request failed?#

No. Truncation is expected behaviour on the free plan and on test keys — it is not an error. The HTTP status is 200, the article count and all metadata are real, and the API matched genuine articles. Only the long text fields (body, body_html, description) and the URLs are shortened to a preview.

Are entities and sentiment also truncated on the free plan?#

No. Entities, sentiment scores, categories, topics and the word/sentence counts are returned in full on every plan, including free. The trimming only applies to the article body, description and link URLs. You can evaluate the full enrichment on a free plan before deciding to upgrade.

How long is the preview exactly?#

The body, body_html and description are cut to the first 200 characters. After the cut, APITube appends ...(+N chars hidden) — where N is the number of characters it removed — followed by the marker ...[Upgrade subscription plan] (or the test-mode marker on a test key).

Do exports and streams truncate content too?#

Yes. The same rule applies everywhere: search endpoints, retrieval endpoints, exports (CSV, RSS and so on) and real-time SSE streams all return the trimmed preview when the key is on the free plan or is a test key. Switching to a live key on a paid plan returns full content across all of them.