Is it a new issue? HTTP 403

[vrivoire]

import traceback

from imdbinfo.services import search_title, get_movie

try:
    print(search_title('Arcane 2021').__str__())
except Exception as ex:
    print(ex)
    print(traceback.format_exc())

print('----------------------------------------------------------')

try:
    print(get_movie('11126994').__str__())
except Exception as ex:
    print(ex)
    print(traceback.format_exc())

Got:

GraphQL request failed for 'Arcane 2021': HTTP 403
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "C:\Users\ADELE\Documents\NetBeansProjects\PycharmProjects\ImdbSearchPY\Test2.py", line 6, in <module>
    print(search_title('Arcane 2021').__str__())
          ~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "C:\Users\ADELE\Documents\NetBeansProjects\PycharmProjects\ImdbSearchPY\.venv\Lib\site-packages\imdbinfo\services.py", line 385, in search_title
    data = request_graphql_url(
        headers=headers,
    ...<2 lines>...
        url=GRAPHQL_URL,
    )
  File "C:\Users\ADELE\Documents\NetBeansProjects\PycharmProjects\ImdbSearchPY\.venv\Lib\site-packages\imdbinfo\services.py", line 251, in request_graphql_url
    raise GraphQLError(
    ...<5 lines>...
    )
imdbinfo.exceptions.GraphQLError: GraphQL request failed for 'Arcane 2021': HTTP 403

----------------------------------------------------------
Arcane: League of Legends (2021) - tt11126994 (tvSeries)

With:

annotated-types==0.8.0
certifi==2026.7.22
cffi==2.1.0
charset-normalizer==3.4.9
cryptography==49.0.0
curl_cffi==0.15.0
Deprecated==1.3.1
h11==0.16.0
imdbinfo==0.9.9
imdbinfo-aws==1.0.4
jh2==5.0.13
jmespath==1.1.0
jsonpickle==4.1.2
lxml==6.1.1
markdown-it-py==4.2.0
mdurl==0.1.2
niquests==3.21.0
packaging==26.2
pip-review==1.3.0
pycparser==3.0
pydantic==2.14.0a1
pydantic_core==2.47.0
Pygments==2.20.0
qh3==1.9.4
rich==15.0.0
typing-inspection==0.4.2
typing_extensions==4.16.0
urllib3-future==2.24.900
wassima==2.1.3
wrapt==2.3.0

[mh19971967]

I can confirm a similar 403 error when using imdbinfo. It used to work just fine until yesterday.

Otherwise an excellent package!

This:

from imdbinfo import search_title
search_title("test")

does result in:

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "test.py", line 130, in
search_title(„test")
~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^
File ".venv/lib/python3.13/site-packages/imdbinfo/services.py", line 364, in search_title
data = request_graphql_url(
headers=headers, search_term=search_term, payload=payload, url=url
)
File ".venv/lib/python3.13/site-packages/imdbinfo/services.py", line 249, in request_graphql_url
raise GraphQLError(
...<5 lines>...
)
imdbinfo.exceptions.GraphQLError: GraphQL request failed for ‚test': HTTP 403

with:

Package Version

---

annotated-types 0.8.0
certifi 2026.7.22
cffi 2.1.0
charset-normalizer 3.4.9
cinemagoer 2026.6.27
cryptography 50.0.0
curl_cffi 0.16.0b2
Deprecated 1.3.1
h11 0.16.0
idna 3.18
imdbinfo 0.9.9
imdbinfo-aws 1.0.4
IMDbPY 2022.7.9
jh2 5.0.13
jmespath 1.1.0
lxml 7.0.0a3
markdown-it-py 4.2.0
mdurl 0.1.2
niquests 3.21.0
pip 26.2
pycparser 3.0
pydantic 2.14.0a1
pydantic_core 2.47.0
Pygments 2.20.0
qh3 1.9.4
requests 2.34.2
rich 15.0.0
SQLAlchemy 2.1.0b3
tmdbv3api 1.9.0
typing_extensions 4.16.0
typing-inspection 0.4.2
urllib3 2.7.0
urllib3-future 2.24.900
wassima 2.1.3
wrapt 2.3.0

[pustinov88]

Try patching it locally:

--- a/imdbinfo/services.py
+++ b/imdbinfo/services.py
@@ def request_graphql_url(headers, search_term, payload, url) -> Any:
 def request_graphql_url(headers, search_term, payload, url) -> Any:
+    # IMDb's GraphQL endpoint returns HTTP 403 without a browser Referer.
+    headers = {"Referer": "https://www.imdb.com/", **headers}
     resp = niquests.post(url, headers=headers, json=payload)

[vrivoire]

@pustinov88 : Yep, it works !
One liner ! Good for me!

[mh19971967]

Can confirm also from my end. Many (many) thanks to @pustinov88!

Would it make sense to change the order, so that the referer is always the defined?

headers = {
**headers,
"Referer": "https://www.imdb.com/",
}