# TikTok Search API (https://www.socialcrawl.dev/platforms/tiktok/search)

> Searches TikTok for videos matching a keyword query. Returns a list of matching videos with view counts, like counts, captions, author info, and thumbnails. TikTok itself ends one query's results at about 200 to 400 videos; send `expand=true` to keep paging through TikTok's related searches for the query and its other rankings (1,244 distinct videos for `coffee` on 26/10/2026, against 292 for the query alone). Each page aims at 25 or more videos the walk has not returned: when `since`/`until` or the walk's de-duplication removes rows, the page reads further on before it is served, at no extra credits. A shorter page is normal near the end of TikTok's results.For one hashtag's own feed, use /v1/tiktok/search/hashtag. Every row carries post.ext.region, the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country TikTok registered the video to (normally the creator's account country when they posted). The region= request parameter only sets the proxy; it does not filter. Keep one country by filtering on post.ext.region. Every row also carries the creator on it: post.author.username, post.ext.author_id (the creator's numeric user id) and post.ext.author_followers, the creator's follower count as the search source reported it, so a page filtered on post.ext.region is already a creator list for that country. For the creator's current exact follower count, bio and links, pass the username or id to /v1/tiktok/profile (?handle= or ?user_id=) at 1 credit, or batch up to 50 usernames per call through POST /v1/prism/profiles at 1 credit per resolved profile. Deduplicate creators across the whole crawl first; the same creators recur across keywords. `post.ext.matched_song_id` is the catalogue song TikTok matched the row's sound to, present when it made a match: an official clip and the original sounds creators upload with it have different `post.ext.music_id` values and one `matched_song_id`, so group on it to count a song's uses (it is not a clipId for `/v1/tiktok/song/videos`).

TL;DR: `GET /v1/tiktok/search` costs 1 credit for the page, including any limit of 30 or less. A limit above 30 holds ceil(N/4)+2 credits for the N rows the source fills (60 to 120, rounded up to a multiple of 30), 17 at 60 and 32 at 120, and unfilled slots are refunded. Repeated videos are removed after billing. Relevance against your query (by default, or with relevance=) is free. Adding relevant_to= holds 5 extra credits and refunds down to 1 credit per started 25 rows that were newly judged: rows already judged for the same topic are free, a page where nothing could be judged refunds the whole extra, and a cached page is free. The default labels (sponsored, intent, niche) are free. label=mention, quality, ai_style, ai_written, injection, or label=intent with offer=, holds 5 extra credits and refunds down to 1 credit per started 25 posts that were newly judged: posts already labelled are free, a page where nothing could be judged refunds the whole extra, and a cached page is free. With `max_pages`, `max_items` or `max_credits`, each page walked is billed at this price (a cached page is free), and `max_credits` caps the total. With `seen`, a page's price falls with its share of rows you already received under that id; credits for joined data (`include=`) are never discounted. and returns SocialCrawl's unified JSON schema. Single x-api-key auth, 100 free credits on signup.

## Parameters

| Parameter | Required | Description |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `query` | yes | Search keyword or phrase to find TikTok videos |
| `date_posted` | no | Time Frame (yesterday \| this-week \| this-month \| last-3-months \| last-6-months \| all-time) |
| `sort_by` | no | Sort by (relevance \| most-liked \| date-posted) |
| `region` | no | Sets the proxy country (ISO 3166-1 alpha-2). It does not filter the page to that country. Each row already carries post.ext.region, the country the video is registered to; filter on that leaf when you need only one country. |
| `cursor` | no | Cursor to get more videos. Get 'cursor' from previous response. Ignored when `limit` is above 30: that call is a single page. |
| `trim` | no | Accepted for compatibility; the response is already the canonical shape, so this flag has no effect. |
| `limit` | no | A limit of 30 or less returns the first limit rows of the normal page for 1 credit; next_cursor still steps the whole page of about 30, so the rest of that page is skipped. A limit above 30 selects the bulk labeled page: up to 120 videos in one call, each with post.ext.region. The value rounds up to the next multiple of 30 (60, 90 or 120). 17 credits at 60, 32 at 120; slots the source does not fill are refunded. date_posted and sort_by apply on the bulk page too. The source can repeat a video; repeats are removed, so a 120 page is often a little under 120 unique videos. Does not filter by country; drop rows yourself on post.ext.region. |
| `expand` | no | Send `true` to keep paging past TikTok's own limit for one query, which ends a walk at about 200 to 400 videos. When your ranking runs out, the walk continues with TikTok's related searches for your query that contain every word of it (for `coffee`: `iced coffee at home`, `coffee cold brew recipe`) and then with the other two rankings, each to its end, keeping your `date_posted` and `region`. A video can come up again on a later step, so deduplicate on `post.id`. Rows after your own ranking are not in your `sort_by` order. Every page is 1 credit, as usual; page with `cursor`, or collect many pages in one call with `max_items`. |
| `relevance` | no | Optional. Without this param every row already carries computed.relevance against your query, free ({ p, sense, depth, spam }: is this row about what your query means, or a different thing that shares its words?), and nothing is dropped or reordered. score asks for it explicitly and waits for every row; filter also drops the rows that are not about your query, and lists their ids in data.relevance.dropped_ids. Your query is the topic; nothing to configure. A row that could not be judged is never dropped and carries relevance: null. Pagination is unchanged, so a filtered page can hold fewer rows. Free with your query as the topic; with relevant_to it adds 1 credit per started 25 newly judged rows (rows already judged for the same topic are free, and so is a cached page). (score \| filter) |
| `relevance_threshold` | no | Optional, only with relevance. The probability (0 to 1) a row must reach to be kept by relevance=filter. Default 0.5. Lower keeps more rows, higher keeps fewer. |
| `relevant_to` | no | Optional, only with relevance. Up to 200 characters describing what you mean, used as the topic instead of the query. Use it when the query is ambiguous, for example query=cleopatra with relevant_to=Cleopatra, the IGT slot game. |
| `judgments` | no | Optional, on (the default) or off. By default every row gains free SocialCrawl judgments (computed.labels, and computed.relevance on search endpoints), reported in data.labels (mode default) and data.relevance (origin default), each with a status (complete, partial or skipped) and pending: the rows still being judged when the page was sent, which carry null now and are filled on your next call or cached read. Default judgments never add credits, never change an existing field, and never drop or reorder a row. off returns the page exactly as before, with none of those keys. label=none does the same. (on \| off) |
| `dry_run` | no | Optional. When 1, return a cost preview for this labelled or relevance-filtered request without fetching the page or judging any row. data.estimate reports rows_expected, rows_cached, label_credits_min, label_credits_max and base_credits. 0 credits charged. (1) |
| `fit` | no | Optional. When goal, keep the rows and fields needed for the goal you pass in goal= (plus any that are uncertain, and the first and last), and replace the rest with a stub. data.held_back lists the held ids and a recall id that re-reads the full page from cache at no extra charge. Without this param the page is unchanged. (goal) |
| `goal` | no | Required by fit=goal. What you are trying to do, in your own words, up to 300 characters. |
| `fit_tokens` | no | Optional, only with fit=goal. Soft cap on how much of the page to keep, in tokens. Uncertain blocks and the first and last block are kept even if they exceed it. |
| `label` | no | Optional CSV of SocialCrawl labels to add to every post. Without this param every page already carries sponsored, intent and niche, free; label= adds the labels you name to them (the defaults keep running). sponsored, intent and niche are free when asked for too; mention, quality, ai_style, intent with offer=, and injection add 1 credit per started 25 newly judged posts. judgments=off (or label=none) turns the default labels off. sponsored: is the post a paid or gifted promotion (p, 0 to 1), did it carry a disclosure marker such as #ad or 광고 (disclosed), is it likely paid with no marker (undisclosed), and which of the accounts it mentions does it promote (brand, or null). These are signals to review, never a finding. mention (needs brand=): is the post about that brand rather than something that shares its name (about_brand, 0 to 1), how it feels about the brand on five levels (sentiment_level 0 to 4 and sentiment_score 0 to 1, null when the post is not about the brand), is it sarcastic, which aspect it talks about (taste_or_quality, price_or_value, availability_or_delivery, health_or_safety, advertising_or_campaign, customer_service, none), and did the author buy or use it (first_hand). intent: what the author is mainly doing (label: asking_for_recommendation, comparing_options, switching_away, complaining, promoting, news_or_discussion, other, or null when unsure, with confidence), whether they read as a potential buyer rather than a seller (buyer, seller), how pressing the need is (urgency, 0 to 3), and, when you pass offer=, whether your offer would plausibly help them (fits_offer). niche: which of the 33 niches of the published taxonomy sc-niche-v1 the caption belongs to, or personal_no_niche, or other (label, confidence, taxonomy), with label null when the caption is too thin to tell or the pick is unsure. It reads the caption only, not the video. quality: how much checkable detail the caption carries (fact_density 0 to 3), whether it mainly asks for likes, replies, shares, follows or tags (engagement_bait, 0 to 1), whether it is written to provoke anger as a way to get engagement (rage_bait, 0 to 1; about the writing, never the side taken), whether it only repeats someone else's news or view (secondhand, 0 to 1), and what the post is mainly doing (post_aim: inform, opinion, sell, entertain, provoke, other). exclude=engagement_bait drops posts whose engagement_bait is 0.8 or higher. ai_style: writing patterns common in AI-generated text, judged on the text alone. It does not say who wrote the post, and a person who writes in this style is flagged too. Six patterns are judged, each a probability (0 to 1): binary_contrast ("This is not X. It's Y."), faux_insight ("Here's what nobody tells you" and throat-clearing openers), colon_reveal ("The best part: it learns."), profound_kicker (ends on an aphorism or mic-drop line), puffery ("marks a pivotal moment", "highlighting the importance of") and rhetorical_setup ("What if I told you", a question the post answers itself, "Not a X. Not a Y. A Z."). Four are counted in the text: slop_words (words and phrases such as delve, leverage, robust, game changer, at the end of the day), em_dashes, emoji_bullets (lines that start with an emoji or a symbol bullet) and one_line_paragraphs (paragraphs that are one short line). pattern_count is how many patterns are present (a judged pattern at 0.8 or higher, slop_words 1 or more, em_dashes 2 or more, emoji_bullets 2 or more, one_line_paragraphs 5 or more) and markers lists their names, comma-separated. A post with less than about eight words of text is only counted, with every judged pattern 0. The judged patterns read the first 400 and the last 150 characters of a long post, and the counts read the whole post. exclude=ai_style drops posts with 2 or more patterns. ai_written: how likely the post was written by an AI model, from SocialCrawl's own text classifier, reading the opening of the post (about 1,000 characters): p (0 to 1, calibrated), level (likely (p 0.95 or higher), possible (p 0.71 or higher) or unlikely) and model (the model name; a new name means a new scale). A post under 8 words is too short to read: p null, level too_short. It is a probability, not proof: a person can be flagged and an AI-written post can pass, and the shorter the post the less certain it is. exclude=ai_written drops likely posts. injection flags text that addresses an AI system and tries to direct it (flagged, p); it never drops or rewrites a row. A post that could not be judged carries labels: null. Posts already labelled for anyone are free, and so is a cached page. data.labels reports what was judged and billed. |
| `exclude` | no | Optional CSV (engagement_bait, ai_style, ai_written). engagement_bait, only with label=quality, drops posts whose engagement_bait probability is 0.8 or higher. ai_style, only with label=ai_style, drops posts that show 2 or more of its writing patterns (pattern_count 2 or higher). ai_written, only with label=ai_written, drops posts whose level is likely (p 0.95 or higher), or whose p reaches your ai_written_threshold; a post too short to read is never dropped. Dropped posts are listed in data.labels.dropped_ids. A post that could not be judged is never dropped. |
| `ai_written_threshold` | no | Optional, only with label=ai_written and exclude=ai_written. The p (0 to 1) at which exclude=ai_written drops a post. Default 0.95 (level likely). 0.71 also drops possible posts: more AI posts go, and more posts by people with them. |
| `brand` | no | Required by label=mention, ignored otherwise. The brand or product the posts are judged against, up to 300 characters, for example brand=Buldak. Without it label=mention is skipped with the warning label_mention_needs_brand and is not billed. |
| `brand_description` | no | Optional, with label=mention. One plain sentence saying what the brand is, for example brand_description=Samyang's spicy instant noodle brand. Use it when the name is also an ordinary word or another company's name. |
| `offer` | no | Optional, with label=intent. One or two plain sentences saying what you sell, up to 300 characters, for example offer=A web design agency that builds websites for small businesses. Adds fits_offer to every post; without it fits_offer is null. |
| `label_evidence` | no | Optional, only with label=. When 1, every labelled row also carries computed.labels_evidence.<preset> = { quote, sentence_index }: the sentence in the row that most clearly shows the label, copied verbatim. Absent or null when no single sentence shows it. (1) |
| `since` | no | Only rows published on or after this date: YYYY-MM-DD (midnight UTC) or an ISO 8601 timestamp. Rows older than it are left off each page. This list is not in date order, so the walk does not stop at the date: keep following `next_cursor`, and each page costs what a page costs even when every row on it is filtered out. A row with no date is kept. `published_after`, `start_date`, `from_date`, `publish_time` (`yesterday`, `this-week`, `this-month`, `last-3-months`, `last-6-months`) and `max_age_days` are accepted and applied as `since`. |
| `until` | no | Only rows published on or before this date: YYYY-MM-DD (that whole UTC day is included) or an ISO 8601 timestamp. Newer rows are left off each page and the walk does not stop, so older pages follow. A row with no date is kept. `published_before`, `end_date` and `to_date` are accepted and applied as `until`. |
| `min_views` | no | Keep only rows with at least this many views (`post.engagement.views`). A row whose view count is unknown is discarded, so every returned row meets the floor. Filtering runs on our side after each page is fetched, so every page walked is billed as usual; `data.walk.discarded` counts what was removed and why. Each page is its own entry in `GET /v1/credits/transactions`, under the page's request id listed in `data.walk.request_ids`. |
| `max_age_days` | no | Keep only rows published within this many days (`post.published_at`), 1 to 3650. A row with no date is discarded. Filtering runs on our side after each page is fetched, so every page walked is billed as usual; `data.walk.discarded` counts what was removed and why. Each page is its own entry in `GET /v1/credits/transactions`, under the page's request id listed in `data.walk.request_ids`. |
| `country` | no | Comma-separated two-letter ISO 3166-1 codes, for example `US,GB`. Keep only videos TikTok registers to one of these countries (`post.ext.region`); a row with no country is discarded. This filters rows; it does not change where the search runs (that is `region`). Filtering runs on our side after each page is fetched, so every page walked is billed as usual; `data.walk.discarded` counts what was removed and why. Each page is its own entry in `GET /v1/credits/transactions`, under the page's request id listed in `data.walk.request_ids`. |
| `exclude_country` | no | Comma-separated two-letter ISO 3166-1 codes, for example `IN`. Discard videos TikTok registers to any of these countries (`post.ext.region`); a row with no country is kept. Filtering runs on our side after each page is fetched, so every page walked is billed as usual; `data.walk.discarded` counts what was removed and why. Each page is its own entry in `GET /v1/credits/transactions`, under the page's request id listed in `data.walk.request_ids`. |
| `sort_rows` | no | `views`: return the kept rows ordered by view count, highest first, across every page walked. Rows without a view count go last. (views) |
| `max_pages` | no | 1 to 50 (default 1, or 50 when `max_items` or `max_credits` is sent). Walk up to this many pages in one call and return the rows from all of them (after any filter). Each page walked is billed exactly as one call to this endpoint (a cached page is free) and counts against your rate limit; its charge and any refund are recorded under the page's own request id, listed in `data.walk.request_ids`. The walk stops early at the last page, or when the request's time budget runs low; `data.walk.stopped` says why (`end`, `max_pages`, `max_items`, `max_credits`, `time_budget`, `page_error`) and `pagination.next_cursor` continues from where it stopped. |
| `max_items` | no | 1 to 5000. Get more in one call: keep walking pages until the response holds at least this many rows (after any filter), then stop with `data.walk.stopped: "max_items"`. The last page is returned whole (it was billed), so `data.items` can hold up to one page more than this, and `pagination.next_cursor` resumes right after it without skipping a row. Walks up to 50 pages unless `max_pages` says fewer; each page is billed as one call (a cached page is free). Add `max_credits` to cap the spend. A long walk can stop on the time budget first (`"time_budget"`): send the returned cursor with the same params to continue. |
| `max_credits` | no | 1 to 100000. The most this call may spend, across every page it walks. A page starts only while the credits already spent plus that page's price (or, when higher, the most any page of this walk has cost) still fit, so the call never goes past it; the walk then stops with `data.walk.stopped: "max_credits"` and the cursor to resume. Sent alone, it walks as far as the budget goes (up to 50 pages). A value below the price of one page is a free 400 whose `error.details.page_credits` names that price. Credits a row join (`include=`) adds are known only once a page has run, so page 1 is checked against its own price. |
| `seen` | no | An id you choose (1 to 64 letters, digits, `.`, `_` or `-`). Rows your account already received under the same `seen` id are removed from the page, and the page price falls with the share of repeats: page credits x new rows / rows on the page, rounded up, so a page of nothing but repeats is free. Only the page's own price is discounted: credits for joined data (`include=`) are charged only for rows you have not received, and are never discounted. The memory lasts 24 hours from the last call that used the id, holds row ids only, and is private to your account. Use one id across a set of related searches; `data.walk.repeats` counts what was removed. |

## Code example

```bash
curl -G "https://www.socialcrawl.dev/v1/tiktok/search" \
  --data-urlencode "query=cooking recipes" \
  -H "x-api-key: sc_YOUR_API_KEY"
```

## FAQ

### How do I search TikTok videos with an API?

Send a GET request to /v1/tiktok/search with the query parameter set to your keyword. SocialCrawl returns a paginated list of matching videos with view, like, comment, and share counts plus captions, thumbnails, and author info.

### Can I filter TikTok search results by date?

Yes. Pass date_posted with one of: yesterday, this-week, this-month, last-3-months, last-6-months, or all-time. Combine it with sort_by for targeted results.

### How do I sort TikTok search results?

Pass sort_by with one of three values: relevance (default), most-liked, or date-posted. Combined with date_posted you can find recent viral content or evergreen top performers.

### Does region filter search results to a country?

No. The region parameter routes the proxy through a specific country (e.g., US, GB, FR) so you can access content available in that region. It does not filter results to creators based in that country.

### How much does the TikTok Search API cost?

Each request costs 1 credit on the standard tier regardless of how many results are in the page. New accounts get 100 free credits with no credit card required.

See the full TikTok API: https://www.socialcrawl.dev/platforms/tiktok

## Pricing

- Standard endpoints: 1 credit per call
- Advanced endpoints: 5 credits per call
- Premium endpoints: 10 credits per call
- 100 free credits on signup, no credit card required. Cached responses cost 0 credits. Credit packs never expire.
- Full pricing: https://www.socialcrawl.dev/pricing

## Explore with AI

Questions this API answers, phrased for an AI assistant:

- How to search TikTok videos with the SocialCrawl API
- What filters does the SocialCrawl TikTok Search API support?