4chan API

Welcome

Welcome to 4chan's poorly documented read-only JSON API guide!

JSON representations of threads and indexes are exposed at the following URLs:

http(s)://api.4chan.org/board/res/threadnumber.json
http(s)://api.4chan.org/board/pagenumber.json (0 is main index)

A JSON representation of all thread OPs from an individual board can be found at the following URL:

http(s)://api.4chan.org/board/catalog.json

A list of boards is exposed at the following URL:

http(s)://api.4chan.org/boards.json

CORS is supported with an origin of http(s)://boards.4chan.org

Supported request methods are: GET, HEAD, OPTIONS

Questions? Please e-mail api@4chan.org.

This guide was last updated January 4, 2013.

API Rules

1. Do not make more than one request per second.
2. Thread updating should be set to a minimum of 10 seconds, preferably higher.
3. Use If-Modified-Since when doing your requests.
4. Make API requests using the same protocol as the app. Only use SSL when a user is accessing your app over HTTPS.
5. More to come later...

API Terms of Service

1. You may not use "4chan" in the title of your application, product, or service.
2. You may not use the 4chan name, logo, or brand to promote your application, product, or service.
3. You must disclose the source of the information shown by your application, product, or service as 4chan, and provide a link.
4. You may not market your application, product, or service as being "official" in any way.
5. You may not clone the live site and its functionality. This means don't suck down our JSON, host it elsewhere, and throw ads around it.
6. These terms are subject to change without notice.

Posts Object

attribute	value	description	possible values	example value
no	integer	Post number	1-9999999999999	9001
resto	integer	Reply to	0 (is thread), 1-9999999999999	0
sticky	integer	Stickied thread?	0 (no), 1 (yes)	1
closed	integer	Closed thread?	0 (no), 1 (yes)	0
now	string	Date and time	MM/DD/YY(Day)HH:MM (:SS on some boards)	08\/08\/12(Wed)01:11
time	integer	UNIX timestamp	UNIX timestamp	1344570123
name	string	Name	text	moot
trip	string	Tripcode	text (format: !tripcode!!securetripcode)	!Ep8pui8Vw2
id	string	ID	text (8 characters), Mod, Admin, Developer	Admin
capcode	string	Capcode	none, mod, admin, admin_highlight, developer	admin
country	string	Country code	text (2 characters, ISO 3166-1 alpha-2), XX (unknown)	XX
country_name	string	Country name	text	Unknown
email	string	Email	text	moot@4chan.org
sub	string	Subject	text	This is a subject
com	string	Comment	text (includes escaped HTML)	This is a comment
tim	integer	Renamed filename	UNIX timestamp + microseconds	1344402680740
filename	string	Original filename	text	OPisa
ext	string	File extension	.jpg, .png, .gif, .pdf, .swf	.jpg
fsize	integer	File size	1-8388608	2500
md5	string	File MD5	text (24 character, packed base64 MD5 hash)	NOetrLVnES3jUn1x5ZPVAg==
w	integer	Image width	1-10000	500
h	integer	Image height	1-10000	500
tn_w	integer	Thumbnail width	1-250	250
tn_h	integer	Thumbnail height	1-250	250
filedeleted	integer	File deleted?	0 (no), 1 (yes)	0
spoiler	integer	Spoiler image?	0 (no), 1 (yes)	0
custom_spoiler	integer	Custom spoilers?	1-99	3
omitted_posts	integer	# replies omitted	1-10000	33
omitted_images	integer	# image replies omitted	1-10000	21
replies	integer	# replies total	0-99999	231
images	integer	# images total	0-99999	132
bumplimit	integer	Bump limit met?	0 (no), 1 (yes)	0
imagelimit	integer	Image limit met?	0 (no), 1 (yes)	1

Note the following attributes are optional:
sticky closed (only displays on OPs when true)
id (only displays when board has DISPLAY_ID set)
name (only displays if name is present, which is always unless there is a blank name and tripcode)
trip (only displays if tripcode is present)
email (only displays if email is present)
sub (only displays if subject is present)
com (only displays if comment is present)
capcode (only displays when using a capcode)
country country_name (only displays when board uses country flags)
filename (only displays when image uploaded)
ext (only displays when image uploaded)
fsize (only displays when image uploaded)
md5 (only displays when image uploaded)
w (only displays when image uploaded)
h (only displays when image uploaded)
tn_w (only displays when image uploaded)
tn_h (only displays when image uploaded)
filedeleted (only displays when image uploaded)
spoiler (only displays when image uploaded)
custom_spoiler (only display on OPs, only displays when board has custom spoiler images)
omitted_posts (only displays on OPs on index pages)
omitted_images (only displays on OPs on index pages)
replies (only displays on OPs)
images (only displays on OPs)
bumplimit (only displays on OPs when true)
imagelimit (only displays on OPs when true)

Note about custom spoilers:
custom_spoiler describes the number of custom spoilers that exist for the specified board. If the number is 4, it means that you can choose anywhere from 1 to 4. For our imageboard pages, the custom spoiler images changes every time a new post is made. If you are writing a browser add-on with auto-update functionality, you should first check the HTML to see if a custom spoiler has been posted, and use the same number, so when new spoiler posts come in, they match the pre-existing ones. If there are no custom spoilers already in a thread, you can just random whatever you'd like, since there is no need to match pre-existing ones.

Where are the files?

Boards: http(s)://boards.4chan.org/board/
Indexes: http(s)://boards.4chan.org/board/[1-10] (# of pages varies per board, directory root is page 0)

Threads: http(s)://boards.4chan.org/board/res/resto
Replies: http(s)://boards.4chan.org/board/res/resto#pno

Images: http(s)://images.4chan.org/board/src/tim.ext
Thumbnails: http(s)://thumbs.4chan.org/board/thumb/tims.jpg

Spoiler image: http(s)://static.4chan.org/image/spoiler.png
Custom spoilers: http(s)://static.4chan.org/image/spoiler-boardcustom_spoiler.png

Closed thread icon: http(s)://static.4chan.org/image/closed.gif
Sticky thread icon: http(s)://static.4chan.org/image/sticky.gif
Admin capcode icon: http(s)://static.4chan.org/image/adminicon.gif
Mod capcode icon: http(s)://static.4chan.org/image/modicon.gif
Developer capcode icon: http(s)://static.4chan.org/image/developericon.gif
File deleted (for OPs): http(s)://static.4chan.org/image/filedeleted.gif
File deleted (for replies): http(s)://static.4chan.org/image/filedeleted-res.gif

Country flags: http(s)://static.4chan.org/image/country/country.gif
/pol/ country flags: http(s)://static.4chan.org/image/country/troll/country.gif

Examples

To view a pretty-printed version of our thread, index, and catalog JSON, use JSONLint.