Do I need a TikTok developer account?

No. There is no TikTok app, OAuth flow or app review. One InsightSocial API key works for this endpoint and every other platform, and your first 10 calls priced at 100 credits or less are free.

How do I get every result, not just the first page?

This endpoint pages. Each response carries pagination.next_cursor and pagination.has_more. Send next_cursor back unchanged as the cursor parameter and stop when has_more is false. Every page is a separate call and is charged as one.

What happens if the account is private or nothing is found?

You get an error or an empty result, and it costs 0 credits. The API reads public TikTok data only, so private accounts and deleted content come back as not found rather than as partial data.

Can I call the TikTok Search API from Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor?

Yes. Add the hosted MCP server at https://api.insightsocial.app/mcp to your AI app and sign in. The assistant finds this endpoint by name, shows its price and calls it with your credits.

GET /v1/tiktok/search

TikTok Search API

Returns TikTok videos matching a keyword, each with caption, view and like counts, author details, a thumbnail, and post.ext.region (the country the video is registered to).

Get a free API key Full API reference

10–370 credits, metered · cursor pagination · failed calls free · 10 free calls to start

curl "https://api.insightsocial.app/v1/tiktok/search?query=cooking+recipes" \
-H "x-api-key: $INSIGHTSOCIAL_API_KEY"

200 OKJSON

{
"success": true,
"platform": "tiktok",
"endpoint": "/v1/tiktok/search",
"schema_version": "2",
"data": {
"items": [
{
"post": {
"id": "<string>",
"url": "<string | null>",
"kind": "<string | null>",
"content": {
"text": "<string | null>",
"media_urls": "<array | null>",
"thumbnail_url": "<string | null>",
"duration_seconds": "<number | null>"
},
"author": {
"id": "<string | null>",
"username": "<string | null>",
"display_name": "<string | null>",
"avatar_url": "<string | null>",
"verified": "<boolean | null>"
},
"engagement": {
"views": "<integer | null>",
"likes": "<integer | null>",
"comments": "<integer | null>",
"shares": "<integer | null>",
"saves": "<integer | null>"
},
"flags": {
"nsfw": "<boolean | null>",
"spoiler": "<boolean | null>",
"pinned": "<boolean | null>",
"deleted": "<boolean>",
"likes_hidden": "<boolean | null>",
"comments_hidden": "<boolean | null>",
"shares_hidden": "<boolean | null>",
"views_hidden": "<boolean | null>",
"saves_hidden": "<boolean | null>"
},
"published_at": "<string | null>",
"language": "<string | null>",
"ext": "<object | null>"
}
}
]
},
"pagination": {
"next_cursor": "<string | null>",
"has_more": "<boolean>"
},
"unavailable": [],
"credits_used": "<integer>"
}

When to use it

Use it for a video keyword search you can page and sort. region= only sets the proxy; filter on post.ext.region for one country. limit=120 returns one page of up to 120. search/top is the Top tab.

Parameters

Query parameters for GET /v1/tiktok/search. Send your key in the x-api-key header.

Name	Required	Description
query	Yes	Search keyword or phrase to find TikTok videos
date_posted	No	Time Frame
sort_by	No	Sort by
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 set: 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	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 (30, 60, 90 or 120). The source can repeat a video; repeats are removed, so a 120 page is often a little under 120 unique videos. Omit limit for the default page of about 30, which pages with cursor and carries the same post.ext.region. Does not filter by country; drop rows yourself on post.ext.region.
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.
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.
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).
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.
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.
max_pages	No	1 to 5 (default 1). 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 as one call to this endpoint; the whole walk counts once against your rate limit.

Response fields

The same unified schema every platform returns, so code written for TikTok works on the other eight. A field the platform did not provide is null and listed in unavailable.

Field	Type	Notes
id	string	An identifier, always a string. Never parse it as a number: several platforms use ids above 2^53.
url	string \| null
kind	string \| null	The format of the post. Format words only, never a platform name. short = short-form vertical video (a reel, a TikTok, a YouTube Short).
content.text	string \| null
content.media_urls	array \| null
content.thumbnail_url	string \| null
content.duration_seconds	number \| null
author.id	string \| null
author.username	string \| null
author.display_name	string \| null
author.avatar_url	string \| null
author.verified	boolean \| null
engagement.views	integer \| null	A count. null when the platform does not expose it; 0 only when it is really zero.
engagement.likes	integer \| null	A count. null when the platform does not expose it; 0 only when it is really zero.
engagement.comments	integer \| null	A count. null when the platform does not expose it; 0 only when it is really zero.
engagement.shares	integer \| null	A count. null when the platform does not expose it; 0 only when it is really zero.
engagement.saves	integer \| null	A count. null when the platform does not expose it; 0 only when it is really zero.
flags.nsfw	boolean \| null
flags.spoiler	boolean \| null
flags.pinned	boolean \| null
flags.deleted	boolean
flags.likes_hidden	boolean \| null
flags.comments_hidden	boolean \| null
flags.shares_hidden	boolean \| null
flags.views_hidden	boolean \| null
flags.saves_hidden	boolean \| null
published_at	string \| null	ISO-8601 timestamp in UTC, ending in Z.
language	string \| null	The content's language as the platform states it, e.g. en, pt-BR. Detected languages come later (§7.1).
ext	object \| null	Platform-specific fields, snake_case.

Every field, error and example is in the TikTok Search API reference.

How much does the TikTok Search API cost?

Metered: 10–370 credits a call. The ceiling is reserved when the call starts and you are charged what it actually read.

Failed calls are free
A call that errors or finds nothing costs 0 credits.
Know the price first
Add dry_run=1 and the response quotes the call without making it. Nothing is charged.
One balance
API calls and Chrome extension exports share the same credits, on the free plan too.

See plans and credit packs How credits work