Xiaohongshu (RedNote) Scraper — XHS notes, search, comments & trends

The only Xiaohongshu / RedNote (XHS, 小红书) data actor that runs on your own account cookie — no per-call API reseller markup, no third-party key. One input gives you note search, full note detail, comment trees, creator profiles and the XHS trending hot-list in one normalized schema.

XHS is China's most influential social-commerce platform — product discovery, KOL marketing and consumer trend data that doesn't exist anywhere else. Western sellers and brands use it to track Chinese consumer trends, monitor competitor campaigns and find KOL partners.

How it works

Mode	Input	Output
search	Keywords	Notes matching each keyword (20/page, auto-paginated)
note	Note URL / ID / share link	Full note detail — title, desc, likes, images, video, tags
comments	Note URL / ID	Complete comment tree with authors and likes
user	Profile URL / ID	Creator profile (followers, notes, likes) + their posted notes
hot	—	Trending XHS search hot-list

What you need (setup, 2 minutes)

XHS requires a logged-in session for its data endpoints — there is no anonymous API. This actor signs every request exactly like the official web app; you supply one cookie value:

1. Log in at xiaohongshu.com (any account — international phone numbers work)
2. Open devtools → Application → Cookies → xiaohongshu.com
3. Copy the web_session value into the xhsCookie input (or paste the whole cookie string)

That's it — the actor generates the device fingerprint (a1, webId) and all X-s/X-s-common/X-t request signatures itself. Residential proxies are recommended for heavy runs and can be enabled in Proxy configuration.

Example input

{
  "mode": "search",
  "keywords": ["skincare", "luxury bags"],
  "xhsCookie": "web_session=YOUR_VALUE",
  "sort": "popularity_descending",
  "maxPages": 3
}

{
  "mode": "comments",
  "targets": ["https://www.xiaohongshu.com/explore/64ab12cd000000001c00c35e"],
  "xhsCookie": "web_session=YOUR_VALUE",
  "maxComments": 500
}

targets also accepts xhslink.com share links — they're resolved automatically.

Example output

{
  "recordType": "note",
  "noteId": "64ab12cd000000001c00c35e",
  "type": "normal",
  "title": "5 products I repurchased 3 times",
  "desc": "Honest skincare review after 6 months...",
  "likedCount": 18432,
  "collectedCount": 9201,
  "commentCount": 1204,
  "shareCount": 887,
  "time": 1760000000000,
  "userId": "5f8e7d6c0000000001004e28",
  "nickname": "小鹿测评",
  "tags": ["skincare", "review"],
  "imageUrls": ["https://sns-na-i1.xhscdn.com/..."],
  "url": "https://www.xiaohongshu.com/explore/64ab12cd000000001c00c35e",
  "scrapedAt": "2026-10-04T21:00:00.000000+00:00"
}

Use cases

• Cross-border e-com sellers — product research: what Chinese consumers actually buy and discuss
• Brands entering China — competitor campaign monitoring, KOL discovery and vetting
• Agencies — comment sentiment mining for brand campaigns
• Researchers / AI builders — Chinese-language social content datasets
• Trend watchers — hot mode on a schedule = daily XHS trend feed

Pricing

Pay per dataset row — $1 per 1,000 results. A 3-page keyword search costs ~$0.06. No subscriptions, no per-call markup; you pay only for rows returned.

FAQ

Why do I need a cookie? XHS login-walls all data endpoints — every actor in this niche either resells API access at a markup (socialdatax et al.) or uses your cookie. With your own web_session you get the full official data at Apify cost — nothing in between.

Is my cookie safe? The xhsCookie input is marked secret and never logged or stored beyond the run. XHS cookies are account-bound — the actor only reads public data, the same requests your browser makes.

Do I need residential proxies? Recommended for volume — XHS risk-controls datacenter IPs harder than residential ones. Enable Apify proxy → RESIDENTIAL in proxy configuration for long runs.

Does it work without a cookie? The run still succeeds and emits an error row explaining what's needed — useful for testing the pipeline before adding credentials.

Limitations

• Requires your own XHS account (free to register — international numbers accepted)
• Cookies expire (weeks) — refresh xhsCookie if runs start returning auth errors
• XHS risk control can rate-limit heavy runs — use residential proxies and moderate page counts
• Follower/note counts on profiles are what the web API returns

Is it legal to scrape this data? The actor only accesses publicly available data — the same pages/APIs a browser sees. Scraping public data for research, monitoring, and analysis is common practice, but platform Terms of Service and the rules in your jurisdiction still apply to how you use it. Consult legal counsel for your specific case.

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