Incoming Changes to itemdb API

The itemdb API is used in a wide variety of projects that are useful to the Neopian community (such as Lebron, Castleneo, and several userscripts…), and to ensure it remains consistently available, we need to make some changes.

What’s going to change?

Starting on March 23th, 2026 we are increasing the level of control over how our API is used. In most cases, you, as a user, will not notice any difference, but developers may need to update their userscripts or other applications that use our API.

In simple terms, we want to continue supporting userscripts that improve quality of life on Neopets, while also combating the growing misuse of our resources.

For itemdb users

Nothing changes. You can continue searching, creating lists, and checking the most up-to-date prices as usual.

For userscript users

You will need to visit the site from time to time for the script to continue working. Additionally, userscripts that use the itemdb API may not work on sites other than Neopets (and some other whitelisted sites). Also check the Troubleshooting Tool if your scripts are not working anymore.

Regular itemdb users probably won’t notice any change. Also some browser privacy settings may affect this usage…

For developers

Userscripts may require changes, and other applications will need an API key to access itemdb resources. We have a dedicated page with the changes you may need here.

With these changes, we are also expanding the scope of our rate limit to ensure that our API is being used fairly.

Why are we making these changes?

As itemdb grows, it is natural that more developers start using our API in their projects. While many of them are well-intentioned and follow our Terms of Use, it is very common for some to use our API to download the entire site’s dataset

This behavior impacts our servers and puts our site — which is used by thousands of Neopians every day — at risk. We have also observed an increase in usage related to cheating and automated bots.

These changes will not eliminate cheats, bots, or other forms of misuse, but they will make it less trivial to build such tools using our resources — while also giving us greater control over who is using them.

What do you need to do?

• As an itemdb user -> nothing, these changes will not impact you.
• As a userscript user -> make sure your script is updated with the latest changes from the developer
• As a developer -> visit our docs and check if your code needs changes. And follow the damn rules 🙂