Universal Search News API
Returns one deduplicated list of news articles for a query from the Google News editions of the countries you pick, in each one's language, grouped into stories about the same event.
GET /v1/search/newsLast updated November 2026Maintained by the SocialCrawl team
When to use the Universal Search News API
Use it for news coverage across several countries at once; for one topic across social platforms use search/everywhere.
From the API reference
Plans your query into search angles, localizes each angle into the language of every requested country edition (one combined LLM call, fail-open), then fans out up to 12 parallel legs per engine and merges the articles into one deduplicated list. Two independent news indexes are available through engines: google (the default, 50 country editions) and bing (49 of those editions). They overlap very little in practice, so asking for both roughly doubles the distinct articles a query returns and is the way to get a text snippet on most rows: the google engine returns headline, publisher, link, image and an exact publish time but rarely a snippet, while the bing engine returns a description on effectively every row. Every article carries engine provenance and a published_at_precision of exact or approximate, because the two indexes do not report publish times with the same fidelity. Every leg reports truthful localization provenance: query_source says whether its keyword was translated, confirmed original, or a fallback_original after a localization failure. Supports streaming via Accept: text/event-stream (the plan_refined chunk always carries the expanded legs with per-leg provenance before any leg settles) and sync via Accept: application/json. Filters: publisher and from/to exact date windows (google engine only; they pin its legs to the primary source), time_range recency, depth per-leg article depth, sort result ordering, max_legs cost cap. Billing is metered and settles down to the work actually done; empty, skipped and failed legs bill 0.
Searching 69 platforms in parallel
What can you do with the News API?
The News endpoint gives you structured Universal Search data with computed fields in a single request. No scraping infrastructure to build or maintain.
Example Request
# GET /v1/search/news: Metered: holds 14 credits per call up front and refunds what the call does not use. Cache hits are free and failed calls are refunded.
# Check the price first for 0 credits: add dry_run=1 to the query. Nothing is fetched or charged.
# --max-time 60: the API's own time limit for this endpoint.
# --retry 3: retries timeouts, 429 and 5xx, honoring Retry-After.
# -o response.json keeps only the final attempt's body.
# One Idempotency-Key per request, reused on every retry, so a retried call is never charged twice.
IDEMPOTENCY_KEY=$(od -An -N16 -tx1 /dev/urandom | tr -d ' \n')
curl -sS --max-time 60 --retry 3 -o response.json \
-H "x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY" \
-H "Idempotency-Key: $IDEMPOTENCY_KEY" \
"https://www.socialcrawl.dev/v1/search/news?query=samsung+galaxy+launch&countries=KR%2CUS%2CJP&engines=google%2Cbing&sort=date&time_range=week&from=2026-07-01&to=2026-07-31&publisher=bbc.com&depth=10&max_legs=4" && cat response.json# GET /v1/search/news: Metered: holds 14 credits per call up front and refunds what the call does not use. Cache hits are free and failed calls are refunded.
# Check the price first for 0 credits: add dry_run=1 to the query. Nothing is fetched or charged.
import os
import random
import time
import uuid
import requests
API_KEY = os.environ.get("SOCIALCRAWL_API_KEY", "YOUR_API_KEY")
TIMEOUT_S = 60 # the API's own time limit for this endpoint.
MAX_RETRIES = 3
URL = "https://www.socialcrawl.dev/v1/search/news"
def backoff(attempt):
# Exponential backoff with jitter: about 1 s, 2 s, then 4 s.
return 2 ** attempt * (0.5 + random.random() / 2)
def socialcrawl(params):
# One Idempotency-Key per request, reused on every retry, so a retried call is never charged twice.
idempotency_key = str(uuid.uuid4())
for attempt in range(MAX_RETRIES + 1):
try:
res = requests.get(
URL,
params=params,
headers={"x-api-key": API_KEY, "Idempotency-Key": idempotency_key},
timeout=TIMEOUT_S,
)
body = res.json()
except (requests.RequestException, ValueError):
# A timeout, a dropped connection or a non-JSON gateway page: retry with the same key.
if attempt == MAX_RETRIES:
raise
time.sleep(backoff(attempt))
continue
if body["success"]:
return body
error = body["error"]
# Branch on error["type"], never on the message text.
if error["type"] == "RESOURCE_NOT_FOUND":
return None # refunded: nothing to read
retry_after = res.headers.get("Retry-After")
# SERVICE_UNAVAILABLE without Retry-After is a withdrawn endpoint: permanent.
permanent = error["type"] == "SERVICE_UNAVAILABLE" and retry_after is None
if not error.get("retryable") or permanent or attempt == MAX_RETRIES:
raise RuntimeError(f"{error['type']}: {error['message']} (request_id {body['request_id']})")
# Retry-After (seconds) wins; otherwise back off.
time.sleep(float(retry_after) if retry_after else backoff(attempt))
params = {
"query": "samsung galaxy launch",
"countries": "KR,US,JP",
"engines": "google,bing",
"sort": "date",
"time_range": "week",
"from": "2026-07-01",
"to": "2026-07-31",
"publisher": "bbc.com",
"depth": "10",
"max_legs": "4",
}
body = socialcrawl(params)
if body is not None:
print(body["data"])// GET /v1/search/news: Metered: holds 14 credits per call up front and refunds what the call does not use. Cache hits are free and failed calls are refunded.
// Check the price first for 0 credits: add dry_run=1 to the query. Nothing is fetched or charged.
const API_KEY = process.env.SOCIALCRAWL_API_KEY ?? "YOUR_API_KEY";
const TIMEOUT_MS = 60_000; // the API's own time limit for this endpoint.
const MAX_RETRIES = 3;
type Page = { next_cursor: string | null; has_more: boolean };
type SocialCrawlResponse =
| { success: true; data: any; pagination?: Page; credits_used: number; request_id: string }
| { success: false; error: { type: string; message: string; retryable: boolean }; request_id: string };
const sleep = (ms: number) => new Promise((resolve) => setTimeout(resolve, ms));
// Exponential backoff with jitter: about 1 s, 2 s, then 4 s.
const backoffMs = (attempt: number) => 2 ** attempt * 1000 * (0.5 + Math.random() / 2);
async function socialcrawl(url: URL) {
// One Idempotency-Key per request, reused on every retry, so a retried call is never charged twice.
const idempotencyKey = crypto.randomUUID();
for (let attempt = 0; ; attempt++) {
let res: Response;
let body: SocialCrawlResponse;
try {
res = await fetch(url, {
headers: {
"x-api-key": API_KEY,
"Idempotency-Key": idempotencyKey,
},
signal: AbortSignal.timeout(TIMEOUT_MS),
});
body = (await res.json()) as SocialCrawlResponse;
} catch (error) {
// A timeout, a dropped connection or a non-JSON gateway page: retry with the same key.
if (attempt >= MAX_RETRIES) throw error;
await sleep(backoffMs(attempt));
continue;
}
if (body.success) return body;
// Branch on error.type, never on the message text.
if (body.error.type === "RESOURCE_NOT_FOUND") return null; // refunded: nothing to read
const retryAfter = res.headers.get("Retry-After");
// SERVICE_UNAVAILABLE without Retry-After is a withdrawn endpoint: permanent.
const permanent = body.error.type === "SERVICE_UNAVAILABLE" && retryAfter === null;
if (!body.error.retryable || permanent || attempt >= MAX_RETRIES) {
throw new Error(`${body.error.type}: ${body.error.message} (request_id ${body.request_id})`);
}
// Retry-After (seconds) wins; otherwise back off.
await sleep(retryAfter ? Number(retryAfter) * 1000 : backoffMs(attempt));
}
}
const url = new URL("https://www.socialcrawl.dev/v1/search/news");
url.searchParams.set("query", "samsung galaxy launch");
url.searchParams.set("countries", "KR,US,JP");
url.searchParams.set("engines", "google,bing");
url.searchParams.set("sort", "date");
url.searchParams.set("time_range", "week");
url.searchParams.set("from", "2026-07-01");
url.searchParams.set("to", "2026-07-31");
url.searchParams.set("publisher", "bbc.com");
url.searchParams.set("depth", "10");
url.searchParams.set("max_legs", "4");
const body = await socialcrawl(url);
if (body) console.log(body.data);Parameters
| Parameter | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|
| query | Yes | News topic or question (1-500 chars). Boolean AND/OR/NOT and quoted phrases are supported; Google advanced operators (site:, intitle:, before:) are rejected. |
| countries | No | CSV of ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country codes to search (1-12 of the 50 supported editions, default US). Each country searches its news edition in its default language; duplicates collapse. |
| engines | No | CSV of news indexes to search: google (default) and bing. Asking for both runs the same plan on each and merges the results, which roughly doubles distinct articles and adds a snippet to most rows. The bing engine serves 49 of the 50 editions (not CN) and is priced per article; `publisher` and `from`/`to` are google-only. |
| sort | No | Ordering of the merged articles: relevance (default, each engine's own ranking) or date (newest first, undated articles last). (relevance | date) |
| time_range | No | Recency window (day | week | month | year, default day). Ignored when from/to is present. (day | week | month | year) |
| from | No | Lower publish-date bound, YYYY-MM-DD or Unix seconds. Pins every leg to the primary news source. |
| to | No | Upper publish-date bound, YYYY-MM-DD or Unix seconds. Pins every leg to the primary news source. |
| publisher | No | Bare publisher domain filter (e.g. bbc.com; no scheme or path). Pins every leg to the primary news source. |
| depth | No | Articles requested per leg (10-100 in steps of 10, default 10). The google engine is priced per call, so depth is free there; the bing engine is priced per article and caps its own legs at 20. |
| max_legs | No | Hard cap on billable legs (1-12, default 12). The upfront hold shrinks with it. |
| group | No | Optional. stories groups the articles that report the same event across editions, outlets and languages into data.stories[] ({ id, head_id, member_ids, size, outlets, outlet_count, countries, languages, first_seen, last_seen, judged }), where every id is an article's canonical_url (or url). items[] and its order are unchanged. data.story_grouping reports how many articles were judged and what it cost. An article that could not be judged is its own story with judged: false; if grouping is unavailable, stories is null and data._warnings says stories_unavailable. JSON responses only (ignored on the event stream). Grouping is on by default now (see judgments); group=stories asks for it explicitly with a longer time budget. Free. (stories) |
| judgments | No | Optional. on (default) or off. On, JSON responses also carry data.stories and data.story_grouping (see group), grouped under a short time budget; when grouping does not finish in time, stories is null and data._warnings says stories_pending (stories_unavailable when it failed). items[], their order and the price are unchanged. off returns the response without them. (on | off) |
What does the Universal Search News API return?
This example shows the endpoint's response shape and fields. Values are illustrative; this is not a live capture.
Example response
{
"success": true,
"platform": "search",
"endpoint": "/v1/search/news",
"data": {
"query": "samsung electronics",
"search_status": "succeeded",
"plan": {
"topic": "samsung electronics",
"source": "llm",
"degraded": false,
"subqueries": [
{
"id": "sq0",
"label": "Samsung Electronics 재무 실적",
"search_query": "Samsung Electronics quarterly results revenue profit guidance",
"ranking_query": "Focus on earnings, revenue/profit trends, guidance, and investor updates reported by major outlets.",
"weight": 1
}
],
"notes": [
"llm-plan"
]
},
"legs": [
{
"leg_id": "sq0|KR",
"country": "KR",
"language": "ko",
"angle_id": "sq0",
"angle_label": "Samsung Electronics 재무 실적",
"effective_query": "삼성전자 실적 매출 이익 전망",
"query_source": "translated",
"status": "succeeded",
"article_count": 10,
"quarantined_count": 0,
"credits_used": 1,
"latency_ms": 1452,
"error": null
},
{
"leg_id": "sq0|US",
"country": "US",
"language": "en",
"angle_id": "sq0",
"angle_label": "Samsung Electronics 재무 실적",
"effective_query": "Samsung Electronics earnings revenue profit guidance",
"query_source": "translated",
"status": "succeeded",
"article_count": 10,
"quarantined_count": 0,
"credits_used": 1,
"latency_ms": 3177,
"error": null
}
],
"items": [
{
"id": "gn_9599da30",
"title": "키움증권 \"삼성전자 3분기 영업이익 120조 전망, 메모리 가격 20% 오를 것\"",
"url": "https://www.businesspost.co.kr/BP?command=article_view&num=443626",
"canonical_url": "https://www.businesspost.co.kr/BP?command=article_view&num=443626",
"source_name": "비즈니스포스트",
"domain": "www.businesspost.co.kr",
"snippet": null,
"image_url": "https://www.businesspost.co.kr/news/photo/202306/20230629221229_98416.jpg",
"published_at": "2026-07-31T00:57:26.000Z",
"rank": 1,
"placement": "news_search",
"country_code": "KR",
"language_code": "ko",
"angle_id": "sq0",
"effective_query": "삼성전자 실적 매출 이익 전망",
"query_source": "translated",
"legs_returned": [
"sq0|KR"
]
},
{
"id": "gn_2c3f9190",
"title": "Samsung Sees Chip Crunch Through 2028 as Profit Soars to Record",
"url": "https://www.wsj.com/tech/samsungs-chip-earnings-push-net-profit-to-record-cf8711bc",
"canonical_url": "https://www.wsj.com/tech/samsungs-chip-earnings-push-net-profit-to-record-cf8711bc",
"source_name": "WSJ",
"domain": "www.wsj.com",
"snippet": null,
"image_url": "https://images.wsj.net/im-46577202?width=700&height=466",
"published_at": "2026-07-30T08:59:00.000Z",
"rank": 1,
"placement": "news_search",
"country_code": "US",
"language_code": "en",
"angle_id": "sq0",
"effective_query": "Samsung Electronics earnings revenue profit guidance",
"query_source": "translated",
"legs_returned": [
"sq0|US"
]
}
],
"total_articles": 20,
"countries_searched": [
"KR",
"US"
],
"credits_charged": 4,
"methodology_version": "search-news/1.0"
},
"credits_used": 4,
"credits_remaining": 9999,
"request_id": "req_example000000",
"cached": false
}Illustrative fixture for the documented response shape. Values are examples, not a production capture.
How does the Universal Search News API work?
Send a GET request with your API key and get back clean, structured JSON in our unified schema. Supported computed fields are populated when the source provides the required inputs.
Method
GET
Response
JSON
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import requests
response = requests.get(
'https://www.socialcrawl.dev/v1/tiktok/profile',
params={'handle': 'charlidamelio'},
headers={'x-api-key': 'sc_YOUR_API_KEY'}
)
data = response.json(){
"success": true,
"platform": "tiktok",
"data": {
"author": {
"username": "charlidamelio",
"followers": 152400000
},
"engagement": {
"likes": 12400000000,
"engagement_rate": 0.087
},
"metadata": {
"language": "en",
"content_category": "lifestyle"
}
}
}Have a question? We got answers
Find answers to frequently asked questions about SocialCrawl's API, pricing, and capabilities.
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