GDELT CloudGDELT Cloud
Data & sources · Updated 13 November 2026

Conflict data API

GDELT Cloud codes political violence, demonstrations and strategic developments from world news into structured conflict Events, and serves them through the same REST API, MCP server and bulk files as every other Event. The documentation is public, with no account and no login wall.

Conflict Events dated 11 November 2026
250
Documentation
Public, no login
Continuous coding since
1 March 2026
Ingest
Hourly

Read everything before you sign up

Every page of the documentation is public at docs.gdeltcloud.com: the conflict data guide, the conflict code reference with a definition for every event type and sub-event type, the parameter reference and the error reference. No account is needed to read them.

An account is needed only to call the API. A free account includes a one-time 200-call starter credit for the REST API and MCP[1].

How conflict events are coded

Conflict Events follow the event types, sub-event types and actor types of ACLED's published codebook[2]. GDELT Cloud generates its own records from Story clusters built on the GDELT Project article stream, and does not use, license or redistribute ACLED's dataset[3]. Coding is automated, runs every hour and is in beta[3][4].

Each record carries its event type and sub-event type, the actors on each side, fatalities where a source reports them, whether civilians were targeted, a location down to a first-level division and named place with coordinates and their precision, the event date with the evidence for it, and the Story and source articles behind it. A value no source reports is null, never zero.

A real request

Three categories separated by commas are an OR filter. This request returned the most significant political-violence Events dated 11 November 2026[5]:

Request
curl "https://gdeltcloud.com/api/v2/events?category=Battles,Explosions/Remote%20violence,Violence%20against%20civilians&date_start=2026-11-11&date_end=2026-11-11&limit=3" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $GDELT_API_KEY"
Political-violence Events dated 11 November 2026
EventWhereTypeFatalities
Nigerian military airstrikes kill 19 suspected insurgents in BornoBorno State, NigeriaExplosions/Remote violence · Air/drone strike19
Pakistani security forces kill 10 TTP militants in OrakzaiKhyber Pakhtunkhwa, PakistanBattles · Armed clash10
Colombian forces kill eight Clan del Golfo members in airstrikeAntioquia, ColombiaExplosions/Remote violence · Air/drone strike8
Response, first record (excerpt)Captured 13 November 2026 · 1 Query Unit
{
  "id": "conflict_3c2b294628fd321e",
  "url": "https://gdeltcloud.com/events/nigerian-military-airstrikes-kill-19-suspected-insurgents-in--conflict_3c2b294628fd321e",
  "family": "conflict",
  "title": "Nigerian military airstrikes kill 19 suspected insurgents in Borno",
  "summary": "On 2026-11-11, the Nigerian military reportedly carried out airstrikes around Bulabulutube in Ngala Local Government Area and elsewhere in the Lake Chad region. The report attributed at least 19 suspected terrorist deaths to the operations and said a separate strike destroyed a suspected logistics structure.",
  "event_date": "2026-11-11",
  "observed_at": "2026-11-11T06:45:00.000Z",
  "coded_at": "2026-11-11T07:23:46Z",
  "category": "Explosions/Remote violence",
  "subcategory": "Air/drone strike",
  "subcategory_label": "Air/drone strike",
  "event_code": null,
  "geo": {
    "country": "Nigeria",
    "region": "Western Africa",
    "continent": "Africa",
    "admin1": "Borno State",
    "location": "Bulabulutube",
    "latitude": 12.36,
    "longitude": 14.18,
    "geo_precision": 2,
    "geo_precision_label": "nearby_area"
  },
  "actors": [
    {
      "name": "Nigerian military",
      "country": "Nigeria",
      "role": "actor1",
      "primary": true
    },
    {
      "name": "Unidentified Armed Group (Nigeria)",
      "country": "Nigeria",
      "role": "actor2",
      "primary": true
    }
  ],
  "metrics": {
    "significance": 0.6454,
    "goldstein_scale": -9.5,
    "confidence": 0.78,
    "article_count": 2,
    "evidence_source_count": 1
  },
  "has_fatalities": true,
  "fatalities": 19,
  "story_refs": [
    {
      "id": "df2b4aca7af5",
      "url": "https://gdeltcloud.com/stories/nigerian-military-airstrikes-kill-19-suspected-terrorists-in-df2b4aca",
      "title": "Nigerian military airstrikes kill 19 suspected terrorists in Borno State",
      "story_date": "2026-11-11",
      "article_count": 2
    }
  ],
  "top_articles": [
    {
      "url": "https://dailypost.ng/2026/11/11/military-airstrikes-decimate-terrorists-in-borno-kill-19-fighters/",
      "title": "Military airstrikes decimate terrorists in Borno, kill 19 fighters",
      "domain": "dailypost.ng"
    }
  ]
}

Common queries

Each request below is valid against today's published contract. Add your key as Authorization: Bearer gdelt_sk_…, and pass pagination.next_cursor back as cursor with the same filters until it is null.

Common conflict data requests
QuestionRequest
Political violence in Sudan over the last 30 daysGET /api/v2/events?country=Sudan&category=Battles,Explosions/Remote%20violence,Violence%20against%20civilians&days=30
Events with reported fatalities within 100 km of El GeneinaGET /api/v2/events?near=13.45,22.45&radius_km=100&has_fatalities=true&days=30
Protests and riots in Kenya this week, newest firstGET /api/v2/events?country=Kenya&category=Protests,Riots&days=7&sort=recent
Daily counts of political violence in MyanmarGET /api/v2/events/summary?country=Myanmar&category=Battles,Explosions/Remote%20violence,Violence%20against%20civilians&group_by=date&days=30

Compared with ACLED and GDELT Project events

Conflict event sources compared
GDELT Cloud conflict EventsACLEDGDELT Project Events
How records are madeAutomated coding from news, every hour[4]Coded by researchers in real time and published weekly[6]Automated CAMEO coding, new files every 15 minutes[7][8]
AccessAPI key; documentation public[1]A myACLED account is required for the API[9]No key: file downloads and BigQuery[7]
Coverage startContinuous from 1 March 2026From 1997 for most of Africa; later years for other regions[10]1979 for version 1.0; February 2015 for version 2.0[11][7]
LicenceSet by plan[12]Non-commercial by default; commercial entities need a corporate licence[13]Free, including commercial use, with a citation and link[14]

A broader comparison, including news APIs, is on GDELT Project alternatives compared.

Next

Conflict code reference ↗Get an API key ↗Global events database →GDELT Project API guide →

Sources

  1. [1] GDELT Cloud docs, API keyschecked 13 November 2026
  2. [2] ACLED, ACLED Codebookchecked 13 November 2026
  3. [3] GDELT Cloud docs, Conflict datachecked 13 November 2026
  4. [4] GDELT Cloud, Methodologychecked 13 November 2026
  5. [5] GDELT Cloud, API responses captured for these pagesOur requestchecked 13 November 2026
  6. [6] ACLED, When are ACLED data updated?checked 13 November 2026
  7. [7] The GDELT Project, GDELT 2.0: Our Global World in Realtimechecked 13 November 2026
  8. [8] The GDELT Project, GDELT Event Codebook V2.0 (PDF)checked 13 November 2026
  9. [9] ACLED, API documentation: getting startedchecked 13 November 2026
  10. [10] ACLED, Country and time period coveragechecked 13 November 2026
  11. [11] The GDELT Project, GDELT 1.0 event fileschecked 13 November 2026
  12. [12] GDELT Cloud, Terms of Service: display rights by planchecked 13 November 2026
  13. [13] ACLED, End User License Agreementchecked 13 November 2026
  14. [14] The GDELT Project, Terms of usechecked 13 November 2026