Douyin API

Scrape Douyin data with one API

Name: Douyin Data API
Brand: SocialCrawl
Availability: InStock

Fetch public Douyin videos, creators, comments, reply threads, and the hot-search board as structured JSON with one SocialCrawl API key. Same Post, Comment, and Author schema as every other platform. Reads are priced in credits.

Read the docs How it works Try live

/v1/douyin

8 active endpoints

GET /v1/douyin/search
GET /v1/douyin/profile
GET /v1/douyin/profile/posts
GET /v1/douyin/post
GET /v1/douyin/post/comments
GET /v1/douyin/comment/replies
GET /v1/douyin/search/users
GET /v1/douyin/trending

What Douyin endpoints does SocialCrawl ship?

8 live read endpoints for public Douyin data. Keyword video search, creator profiles and their uploads, single videos, comments, reply threads, creator search, and the hot-search board. Data API only. No posting and no private messages.

Search

metered, min 5 credits

/v1/douyin/search

Search Douyin videos.

query, limit, sort, published, duration

Profile

6 credits

/v1/douyin/profile

Get a Douyin creator profile.

handle, url, id

Profile posts

metered, min 5 credits

/v1/douyin/profile/posts

List a Douyin creator's videos.

handle, url, id, limit

Post

10 credits

/v1/douyin/post

Get a Douyin video.

url

Post comments

metered, min 2 credits

/v1/douyin/post/comments

Get Douyin video comments.

url, limit

Comment Replies

metered, min 5 credits

/v1/douyin/comment/replies

Get replies to a Douyin comment.

url, comment_id, limit, cursor

User search

metered, min 5 credits

/v1/douyin/search/users

Search Douyin creators.

query, limit, cursor, followers, user_type

How the Douyin API works

Douyin is a normal SocialCrawl social surface. You call GET /v1/douyin/… with an API key, spend credits on live misses, and get a single JSON envelope back. No Chinese account, no VPN, and no second SDK.

Authenticate every call

Send your key in the x-api-key header. The same key works across the SocialCrawl catalog.

GET with query params

Routes are GET. Pass handles, urls, queries, and cursors as query strings. We validate formats before charging.

Pay in credits, not seats

Live misses debit the route tier. Cache hits cost 0. Empty or hard failures refund.

Read one JSON envelope

Every response is the same shape: success, data, credits_used, credits_remaining, request_id, cached.

The usual integration chain

Most products search a topic, resolve the creators behind it, then deepen only the videos and threads that matter.

01Search

GET /v1/douyin/search

PostList of videos for a keyword, with engagement

Chinese, English, and mixed queries all work.

02Creator

GET /v1/douyin/profile

Author-shaped profile: followers, likes received, region

Resolve a sec_uid once, then track it over time.

03Video

GET /v1/douyin/profile/posts

Full Post including music, place, and dimensions

Search rows carry less than the single-video record.

04Thread

GET /v1/douyin/post

CommentList, then replies keyed to a parent comment

Every reply carries the parent id, so a thread rebuilds exactly.

request

GET /v1/douyin/search
  ?query=美食
Host: www.socialcrawl.dev
x-api-key: sc_your_api_key_here

response envelope

{
  "success": true,
  "data": { "/* Author | Post | PostList | CommentList | … */": true },
  "credits_used": 1,
  "credits_remaining": 9999,
  "request_id": "req_…",
  "cached": false
}

What lands in data

Field names match the rest of SocialCrawl where archetypes align.

Authorsearch

id, username, display_name, avatar_url, bio, followers, url, ext

PostList / Postprofile

items[].post with id, url, content, engagement, author, published_at, ext

CommentListprofile/posts

items[] with author, content.text, engagement, published_at when comments ship

Search / Mediapost

search hits, media metadata, or transcripts depending on route

Inside the gateway

Same request lifecycle as every other /v1 platform endpoint.

Edge receives the call

Next.js catch-all routes into the Hono social API. We mint a request_id, authenticate the key, then enforce rate limit and concurrency.

Validate, then debit

Registry lookup finds the route. Required params run first. Invalid input returns 400 with no charge. Valid calls debit before upstream work.

Cache or fetch

A deterministic cache key is built from platform + resource + params. Hit: credits_used = 0. Miss: upstream fetch with retries and circuit breaker.

Normalize and return

Upstream JSON is mapped to Author / Post / PostList / CommentList (or route archetype), validated, wrapped in the success envelope, and logged for billing audit.

Billing rules that matter in production

Standard live miss: tier cost (often 1 credit)
Advanced reads: typically 5 credits
Premium reads: typically 10 credits
Metered routes: min floor when documented
Cache hit: 0 credits
Empty / hard fail: auto-refund
Bad params: 400, never charged
No credits: 402, never charged
Disabled routes: 503, never charged

How we get the data

Douyin is public-read data on SocialCrawl. We normalize it into the shared schema so your code does not learn a second OAuth flow.

What Douyin is for this API

Public Douyin surfaces exposed by the registry. Read-only for research, monitoring, and product jobs.

How SocialCrawl reaches it

Social-read upstreams behind one gateway. Prism composites combine legs when a fat route is registered.

What leaves our edge

Unified JSON envelope: success, data, credits_used, request_id, cached. Shared Author / Post / Comment leaves where archetypes align.

What we do not ship live

No write endpoints and no private inbox. Disabled routes stay out of the active count. Prefer registry docs for the live inventory.

field map sketch

public profile / channel→ author.*profile identity and counters

public post / media→ post.* / items[].postpost content and engagement

comment page / tree→ CommentList items[]comments or search hits when present

What this API is used for

The jobs this API is most often used for.

8active Douyin endpoints in the registry

1 / 5 / 10credit ladder across standard, advanced, premium

China market research and creator discovery

Callers concentrate on profile, content lists, search, and deepen paths on Douyin. Douyin is a separate network from TikTok, with its own creators, catalog, and trends. This is that data on the same schema and the same key as every global platform.

Detail reads are typically a few seconds on live miss. Search and fat composites are slower paths.

Use case examples

Common ways teams put this data to work, and the stack each one tends to run.

Monitoring jobs

Python, cron, Slack bots

Poll profiles and feeds on Douyin. Alert when engagement velocity jumps.

Research and VoC

Node, notebooks, BI loads

Search and expand posts for brand, product, and competitor language on Douyin.

Backend product jobs

Go, workers, Explorer

Wire resolve to list to detail into pipelines. Cache hits keep recurring runs cheap.

Call it in two lines

Live misses spend credits by tier. Cache hits are free. Empty or hard failures refund.

curl "https://www.socialcrawl.dev/v1/douyin/search?query=美食" \
  -H "x-api-key: sc_your_api_key_here"

curl "https://www.socialcrawl.dev/v1/douyin/profile?url=https://www.douyin.com/user/MS4wLjABAAAAtxsy7VmVkU3RN9oIX0vdkh_6-LlQAb0gwI-tDf-bYNg" \
  -H "x-api-key: sc_your_api_key_here"

Douyin on SocialCrawl

Same key as the rest of the catalog

Platform docs Get an API key

Endpoints

What data does the Douyin API return?

Every endpoint returns structured JSON in a unified envelope. Computed fields such as engagement rate and content category are included only where the endpoint supports them and the required source inputs are present.

SearchSearch Douyin videos ProfileGet a Douyin creator profile Profile PostsList a Douyin creator's videos PostGet a Douyin video Post CommentsGet Douyin video comments Comment RepliesGet replies to a Douyin comment Search UsersSearch Douyin creators TrendingGet the Douyin hot-search board

Comparison

How does SocialCrawl compare to DIY scraping for Douyin data?

Same Douyin data, two very different paths. Auth, rate limits, schema, and cost, side by side.

Feature	SocialCrawl	DIY scraping
Access from outside China	Works from anywhere with an API key	Needs CN residential egress you run yourself
Request signing	Handled for you	You reimplement a_bogus and refresh it when it changes
Response shape	Same canonical JSON as every other platform	Raw Douyin protobuf-ish JSON, hundreds of fields
View counts	Null, because Douyin does not publish them	A literal 0 that reads as no audience
Reply threading	Every reply carries its real parent comment ID	Depends which endpoint you hit
Billing	Per row actually returned	Proxy bills plus your own engineering time

Access from outside China

SocialCrawl

Works from anywhere with an API key

DIY scraping

Needs CN residential egress you run yourself

Request signing

SocialCrawl

Handled for you

DIY scraping

You reimplement a_bogus and refresh it when it changes

Response shape

SocialCrawl

Same canonical JSON as every other platform

DIY scraping

Raw Douyin protobuf-ish JSON, hundreds of fields

View counts

SocialCrawl

Null, because Douyin does not publish them

DIY scraping

A literal 0 that reads as no audience

Reply threading

SocialCrawl

Every reply carries its real parent comment ID

DIY scraping

Depends which endpoint you hit

Billing

SocialCrawl

Per row actually returned

DIY scraping

Proxy bills plus your own engineering time

FAQ

Have a question? We got answers

Find answers to frequently asked questions about SocialCrawl's API, pricing, and capabilities.

Is Douyin the same as TikTok?

No. Douyin is the mainland-China app and TikTok is the international one. They are separate networks with separate creators, separate catalogues and separate trending topics, so a Douyin search returns videos you will not find on TikTok.

Why is post.engagement.views always null on Douyin?

Douyin does not publish play counts outside its own app. Every source returns zero for that field, so returning null is the honest answer: a zero would read as a video with no audience. Likes, comments, shares and saves are all real numbers.

Do I need a Chinese IP address or a Douyin account?

No. You call the API with your SocialCrawl key from anywhere. The China-side access, request signing and residential egress are handled behind the endpoint, and no Douyin login or cookie is needed.

How do I identify a Douyin creator?

By sec_uid, the MS4wLjAB... string in a profile URL, or by the numeric user ID. Most Douyin creators never set a human handle, so author.username is often null and author.id carries the stable identifier to join on.

How is Douyin billed?

Search, creator posts, creator search and comment replies are metered per row at the rate shown on each endpoint, and you are charged only for rows actually returned. Single-video, profile and hot-search calls are flat priced.

Can I read a full Douyin comment thread?

Yes. Call the comments endpoint for top-level comments, then pass a comment ID with a non-zero reply count to the replies endpoint. Every reply comes back with parent_id set to the comment you asked about.

How much does the Douyin API cost?

Douyin endpoints are billed per call in credits: standard endpoints cost 1 credit, advanced 5, and premium 10. On Douyin that works out to between 1 and 25 credits per call. Every account starts with 100 free credits, and there is no subscription. You only pay for the calls you make.

Is scraping Douyin data legal?

SocialCrawl returns publicly available Douyin data and does not access private or login-gated content. Whether scraping fits your project depends on your use case and jurisdiction. You are responsible for complying with Douyin's terms of service and applicable data-protection laws such as GDPR and CCPA. This is general information, not legal advice.

Douyin scraping API vs the official Douyin API: what's the difference?

With SocialCrawl there is no app review or approval queue. Sign up and call Douyin endpoints immediately with a single x-api-key. Responses share one unified schema with every other SocialCrawl platform, and credit-based pricing replaces per-platform quotas. Official APIs are still the right choice for posting and other write actions: SocialCrawl is read-only data.

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Read the Douyin API reference in the docs

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