Chuck Norris Database API
Overview
The Chuck Norris Database API (ICNDB) delivers random Chuck Norris jokes as JSON with zero setup — no API key needed, just a simple GET request. You can filter by category, request a specific joke by ID, or replace the default name with a custom one using query parameters. It's one of the easiest APIs to start with for learning HTTP requests and JSON parsing.
Beginner Tip
Use the 'firstName' and 'lastName' query parameters to personalize jokes with any name, making it fun for building custom greeting bots.
Measurement Record
What actually happened when we called this API from our own infrastructure. Every value below was recorded by the request, not copied from the provider's documentation.
- Request
- GET https://api.chucknorris.io/jokes/random?category=science
- Result
- HTTP 200 · application/json · 474 bytes · compressed
- Response time
- 276 ms (median of 3) · fastest 272 ms
- Transport
- TLSv1.3 · TLS_AES_256_GCM_SHA384 · certificate issued by Google Trust Services
- Browser CORS
- Allowed — Access-Control-Allow-Origin: *
- Served by
- cloudflare
- Recorded
- 2026-08-10
Fields Returned
Top-level fields present in the response we captured, with the type and value we actually received.
| Field | Type | Value received |
|---|---|---|
| categories | array | [1 item] |
| created_at | string (date) | 2020-01-05 13:42:19.576875 |
| icon_url | string (url) | https://api.chucknorris.io/img/avatar/chuck-n… |
| id | string | ymizqu9lrcenixhy-nazka |
| updated_at | string (date) | 2020-01-05 13:42:19.576875 |
| url | string (url) | https://api.chucknorris.io/jokes/ymizqu9lrcen… |
| value | string | When J. Robert Oppenheimer said "I am become … |
Captured Response
Captured from a real request to https://api.chucknorris.io/jokes/random?category=science on 2026-08-10. Long arrays and nested objects are truncated to keep the shape readable.
{
"categories": [
"science"
],
"created_at": "2020-01-05 13:42:19.576875",
"icon_url": "https://api.chucknorris.io/img/avatar/chuck-norris.png",
"id": "ymizqu9lrcenixhy-nazka",
"updated_at": "2020-01-05 13:42:19.576875",
"url": "https://api.chucknorris.io/jokes/ymizqu9lrcenixhy-nazka",
"value": "When J. Robert Oppenheimer said \"I am become death, the destroyer Of worlds\", He was not referring to the atomic bomb. He was referring to the Chuck Norris h…"
} Field Reference
id Unique identifier for the joke, usable in the /jokes/{id} endpoint. value The joke text itself. categories List of category tags for the joke (e.g. 'science', 'sport'); empty array means uncategorized. url Direct permalink URL to this specific joke on the Chuck Norris IO website. Implementation Example
Calls a real endpoint of this API. Replace any placeholder credentials with your own key.
const url = "http://www.icndb.com/api/";
const response = await fetch(url);
if (!response.ok) throw new Error(`Request failed: ${response.status}`);
const data = await response.json();
console.log(data); What Can You Build?
Note: These code examples are AI-generated and unverified. Always refer to the official API documentation for accurate usage.
How This API Fails
We deliberately sent this API a broken request and recorded exactly what came back on 2026-08-10. Knowing the shape of an error before you hit it makes error handling much easier to write.
{
"timestamp": "2026-08-10T19:56:20.455Z",
"status": 404,
"error": "Not Found",
"path": "/jokes/random/apisscore-nonexistent-path"
} {
"timestamp": "2026-08-10T19:56:20.743Z",
"status": 404,
"error": "Not Found",
"path": "/jokes/random"
} Common Errors & Troubleshooting
Generated guidance based on this API's documentation, not observed by us. Treat it as a starting point and check against the provider's own error reference.
Measured Score Breakdown
Live HTTP request to the API endpoint
Fully tested on Aug 10, 2026
Technical Specifications
Related Tags
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