KBBI-JS

Unofficial JavaScript library and CLI for the official Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia at kbbi.kemendikdasmen.go.id. Anonymous lookups out of the box, optional login for etymology data.

Highlights

• No account required. Anonymous lookups return the full meanings, word classes, and examples.
• No browser required. Native fetch (Node 18+) by default. The Playwright path is optional and only loads when you ask for it.
• Lean install. ~9 MB of dependencies, zero Chromium download in the default flow.
• Fast. Single lookup in under 1 second; a 13-word batch finishes in around 3 seconds at --concurrency 4.
• Programmatic login. Login is a plain HTTPS POST against the ASP.NET MVC form. No headless browser needed.
• Batch CLI. Pass multiple words on one command; results are emitted as a JSON array or formatted text.

Why version 2

The KBBI portal moved from kbbi.kemdikbud.go.id to kbbi.kemendikdasmen.go.id after the Indonesian ministry was reorganised, and the old hostname is no longer in DNS. Version 2 retargets the new host, removes the hard Playwright dependency, and exposes the cookie path as opt-in (it was treated as required in 1.x).

Installation

# Default install. No Chromium download.
npm install -g @doedja/kbbi-js

# One-off, no install:
npx @doedja/kbbi-js cinta

Need the optional browser fallback?

npm install playwright
npx playwright install chromium

CLI

kbbi cinta
kbbi cinta makan air                     # batch, parallel
kbbi cinta --json
kbbi cinta --scrape --json               # adds eid + etymology when logged in
kbbi --login --email [email protected] --password '...'
kbbi --cookie-manage list
kbbi --cookie-manage add:AspNetCookieValue
kbbi --cookie-manage delete:AspNetCookieValue
kbbi cinta --browser                     # optional Playwright path
kbbi --help

Anonymous JSON output:

{
  "kata": "cinta",
  "host": "kbbi.kemendikdasmen.go.id",
  "authenticated": false,
  "entri": [
    {
      "nama": "cin.ta",
      "nomor": "",
      "id": null,
      "akarkata": "",
      "jenis": "",
      "makna": [
        {
          "definisi": "suka sekali; sayang benar",
          "kelaskata": [{ "kode": "a", "nama": "Adjektiva" }],
          "contoh": [
            { "nomor": 1, "teks": "orang tuaku -- kepada kami semua" },
            { "nomor": 2, "teks": "-- kepada sesama makhluk" }
          ]
        }
      ],
      "etimologi": null,
      "turunan": [],
      "gabungan": [],
      "peribahasa": [],
      "idiom": []
    }
  ],
  "mirip": []
}

When more than one word is given, the command emits a JSON array (one record per word). Failed lookups are reported as { "kata": "...", "error": "..." } entries and set a non-zero exit code.

What anonymous vs authenticated unlocks

| Field | Anonymous | Logged in | | --------------------- | --------- | --------- | | nama, nomor | Yes | Yes | | makna definitions | Yes | Yes | | kelaskata | Yes | Yes | | contoh examples | Yes | Yes | | etimologi | No (gated by KBBI server) | Yes | | turunan, gabungan, peribahasa, idiom | No (KBBI hides them) | Yes | | id (eid) | No (hidden in edit links) | Yes | | --scrape Phase 2 (/DataDasarEntri/Details) | Skipped (server redirects to login) | Followed |

JavaScript API

const KBBI = require('@doedja/kbbi-js');

(async () => {
  const kbbi = new KBBI(); // no options needed
  const result = await kbbi.lookup('cinta');
  console.log(result.authenticated, result.entries.length, 'meanings');
})();

Optional configuration:

const kbbi = new KBBI({
  useBrowser: false,   // set true to force the Playwright fallback
  headless: true,
  debug: false,
  timeout: 20000
});

With stored cookies (optional)

const Auth = require('@doedja/kbbi-js/lib/auth');
const auth = new Auth();
await auth.addCookie('AspNetCookieValue');
const kbbi = new KBBI({ auth });

Programmatic login (no browser)

const auth = new Auth();
await auth.login('[email protected]', 'secret');
// Cookie is now persisted under data/kbbi-cookies.json and reused on next lookups.

How it works

1. CLI parses positional args as words and any --flag value pairs.
2. Each lookup hits https://kbbi.kemendikdasmen.go.id/entri/<word> via fetch.
3. lib/parser.js (Cheerio) walks the h2[style*="margin-bottom:3px"] headings and their following <ol> / <ul> lists into { nama, nomor, makna[], etimologi, terkait }.
4. --scrape adds a per-eid call to /DataDasarEntri/Details for callers that supplied a session cookie. The endpoint redirects anonymous callers to /Account/Login, so it is skipped silently in that case.
5. --browser swaps step 2 for a headless Chromium via Playwright. Use it only if KBBI ever fronts the site with Cloudflare or another JS challenge.

Notes

• KBBI gates some data (etymology, derivations, idioms, edit-page IDs) to logged-in accounts on the server side. There is no way to retrieve those fields without a session cookie.
• Login uses a normal ASP.NET MVC POST with the __RequestVerificationToken cookie + form-token pair. No captcha as of this writing; if KBBI adds one, the --browser --login combination (after installing Playwright) is the fallback.
• The legacy --save-cookie, --add-cookie, and --list-cookies flags from 1.x were dropped in favour of --cookie-manage. Calling --login now expects --email and --password.

License

MIT