Red Note Scraper

Red Note Scraper creates a structured dataset of Red Note (Xiaohongshu) posts collected from rednote.com. Each dataset item represents one post and can include the title, description, tags, cover and gallery media, engagement counts, and author; when enabled, it also attaches the creator profile and top comments. Query the source with home-feed categories, category names or keys via searchQueries, or note and profile URLs, control the result limit with maxItems, and retrieve records through the Apify Dataset API or export them as JSON, CSV, Excel, XML, or another supported format.

Dataset at a glance

Property	Value
Source	Red Note (Xiaohongshu) — rednote.com
Record unit	One post (note)
Input methods	categories, searchQueries, startUrls
Main identifiers	noteId, url
Delivery	Apify Dataset and API
Export formats	JSON, CSV, Excel, HTML, XML
Update model	Fresh records per Actor run
Pricing	Pay-per-event: $1.50 / 1,000 posts; optional profiles and comments billed separately

Coverage and available records

The Actor accepts three starting points, which can be combined in one run:

• Home-feed categories — categories is a multi-select of the keys for_you, fashion, food, beauty, tv_movies, career, love_life, home_decor, gaming, travel, fitness, and videos. searchQueries accepts the same values as names or keys (for example fashion or For you).
• Post (note) URLs — full note URLs, including xhslink short links. These yield full post records with a stable noteId, description, gallery, and video URL.
• Profile and home-feed URLs — creator profile URLs and the home feed are accepted. Posts gathered from a profile grid may omit noteId, so the record keeps title, cover, engagement, and author but not the full description or gallery.

Optional enrichment is conditional:

• scrapeProfiles (default false) attaches the creator profile — Red ID, bio, gender, IP location, follows/followers, likes-and-saves, and profile tags — once per unique creator.
• scrapeComments (default false) attaches top-level comments with nested replies (subComments), capped per post by maxComments.

maxItems limits the total posts collected across all categories and URLs (0 = unlimited). Pagination over a category is capped by the number of posts the feed returns for the requested category; the Actor does not crawl the entire site.

Data dictionary

Field	Type	Nullable	Description	Example
noteId	string	Yes	Unique post identifier; empty for profile-grid cards	"64aac459000000002f02b151"
url	string	No	Canonical post URL	"https://www.rednote.com/explore/64aac459..."
noteUrl	string	Yes	Post URL alias	"https://www.rednote.com/explore/..."
type	string	No	Post kind	"normal"
title	string	Yes	Post title	"178🥕不是高腰！！"
description	string	Yes	Post body text	"上半身长度38.5cm不会是高腰的！..."
tags	array	Yes	Topic tags	["原创设计", "Lolita"]
publishedAt	string (ISO 8601)	Yes	Publish timestamp	"2023-07-09T14:29:45+00:00"
likedCount	integer	No	Likes	1485
collectedCount	integer	No	Saves	378
commentCount	integer	No	Comments	251
shareCount	integer	No	Shares	60
coverUrl	string	Yes	Cover image URL	"https://sns-webpic-qc.xhscdn.com/..."
imageUrls	array	Yes	Gallery image URLs	["https://sns-webpic-qc.xhscdn.com/..."]
videoUrl	string	Yes	Video URL (video posts)	""
videoDuration	number	Yes	Video length in seconds	null
authorId	string	Yes	Creator ID	"62c834b7000000000303ed1e"
authorName	string	Yes	Creator display name	"胖苹果原创"
authorUrl	string	Yes	Creator profile URL	"https://www.rednote.com/user/profile/..."
categoryLabel	string	Yes	Category label when scraped from a feed	"Fashion"
sourceQuery	string	No	Seed that produced the row (category, query, or url)	"url"
profile	object	Yes	Creator profile; present only when scrapeProfiles is on	see below
comments	array	Yes	Top comments; present only when scrapeComments is on	see below

The optional profile object carries redId, bio, gender, ipLocation, follows, followers, likesAndSaves, and tags. Each item in comments carries commentId, noteId, content, likedCount, publishedAt, authorName, isAuthor, and nested subComments.

The best stable field for deduplication is noteId, with url as a fallback when noteId is empty.

Example dataset record

The following record was produced from a note URL with scrapeProfiles and scrapeComments enabled. Long media arrays are truncated for readability.

{
  "noteId": "64aac459000000002f02b151",
  "url": "https://www.rednote.com/explore/64aac459000000002f02b151",
  "noteUrl": "https://www.rednote.com/explore/64aac459000000002f02b151",
  "type": "normal",
  "title": "178🥕不是高腰！！",
  "description": "上半身长度38.5cm不会是高腰的！\n在打二版样衣了！！",
  "tags": ["吃我一口lolita安利", "原创设计", "Lolita"],
  "publishedAt": "2023-07-09T14:29:45+00:00",
  "likedCount": 1485,
  "collectedCount": 378,
  "commentCount": 251,
  "shareCount": 60,
  "coverUrl": "https://sns-webpic-qc.xhscdn.com/...",
  "imageUrls": ["https://sns-webpic-qc.xhscdn.com/..."],
  "videoUrl": "",
  "authorId": "62c834b7000000000303ed1e",
  "authorName": "胖苹果原创",
  "authorUrl": "https://www.rednote.com/user/profile/62c834b7000000000303ed1e",
  "sourceQuery": "url",
  "profile": null,
  "comments": [
    {
      "commentId": "64aac869000000001802bfb4",
      "noteId": "64aac459000000002f02b151",
      "content": "今天有点中暑了[哭惹R]后续会出q and a...",
      "likedCount": "10+",
      "publishedAt": "2023-07-09T14:47:05+00:00",
      "authorName": "胖苹果原创",
      "isAuthor": true,
      "subComments": [
        { "commentId": "64aac8840000000019031c5e", "content": "宝宝可以看一下我的建议...", "authorName": "桔梗.", "likedCount": "1" }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

This record is a video-optional post; videoUrl is empty for image posts, and profile is null because the run collected the note without resolving that creator's profile.

Query and input reference

Input	Type	Required	Default	Accepted values	Description
searchQueries	array	No	["fashion"]	category names or keys	Home-feed categories written as names or keys (e.g. fashion, For you).
categories	array	No	["for_you"]	for_you, fashion, food, beauty, tv_movies, career, love_life, home_decor, gaming, travel, fitness, videos	Home-feed categories to scrape.
startUrls	array	No	rednote.com home	note, profile, or home-feed URLs	Red Note / Xiaohongshu URLs.
maxItems	integer	No	0	0 = unlimited	Maximum posts across all seeds.
scrapeProfiles	boolean	No	false	true / false	Attach creator profile per unique creator.
scrapeComments	boolean	No	false	true / false	Attach top-level comments.
maxComments	integer	No	10	0 = all on first pages	Top comments per post.
detailConcurrency	integer	No	5	1–10	Parallel detail/profile/comment workers.
proxyConfiguration	object	No	Apify RESIDENTIAL	proxy config	Proxy settings; residential recommended.

At least one of searchQueries, categories, or startUrls must be provided. A minimal request and an advanced request:

{ "categories": ["fashion"], "maxItems": 10 }

{
  "searchQueries": ["for_you"],
  "categories": ["for_you"],
  "startUrls": [{ "url": "https://www.rednote.com/explore/64aac459000000002f02b151" }],
  "maxItems": 5,
  "scrapeProfiles": true,
  "scrapeComments": true,
  "maxComments": 5,
  "detailConcurrency": 3,
  "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": true, "apifyProxyGroups": ["RESIDENTIAL"] }
}

Retrieve the data through the API

1. Start the Actor with a JSON input.
2. Wait for the run to finish, or use the synchronous ?waitForFinish= endpoint when appropriate.
3. Read items from the run's default dataset.
4. Paginate or export the dataset.

A Python example using the Apify client:

from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient("YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN")
run = client.actor("datascrapers/rednote-scraper").call(
    run_input={"categories": ["fashion"], "maxItems": 10}
)
items = client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).list_items().items
print(len(items), "posts")

For other languages, use the generated API tab on the Actor page. Never place a real token in a URL or example.

Data quality and record handling

• Conditional fields — description, imageUrls, videoUrl, and noteId depend on the starting point. Posts resolved from a profile grid may omit noteId, the full description, and the gallery.
• Completeness — engagement counts are numeric where Red Note exposes them; the source also renders abbreviated text such as 2万, which is not preserved numerically.
• Deduplication — within a run, posts are deduplicated by noteId when present; profile-grid cards without a note id are keyed by title and cover so they are not collapsed. Deduplicate across runs on noteId (or url).
• Retries — failed detail/profile/comment requests are retried with backoff; keep detailConcurrency modest (3–5) to avoid blocks.
• Normalization — timestamps are ISO 8601; source field names are preserved in camelCase.
• Raw versus derived — all fields are source values; the Actor does not compute derived engagement metrics.

Export and pipeline examples

Destination	Recommended method	Typical use
PostgreSQL / Supabase	Dataset API or webhook consumer	Store post and comment records for trend analysis
Google Sheets	Apify integration	Share category snapshots with a team
S3 / cloud storage	Scheduled export or integration	Archive daily feed snapshots
Data warehouse	Scheduled run + export	Join post engagement with creator profiles

Pricing and cost examples

Billing is pay-per-event. Each charge is a dataset record or optional enrichment:

Event	What counts	Rate (per 1,000)
Post (dataset-item)	Each post pushed to the dataset	$1.50
Profile Details (profile-details)	Each unique creator profile, when scrapeProfiles is on	$2.00
Comment (comment)	Each comment, when scrapeComments is on	$1.50

Higher Apify plan tiers apply a discount (per 1,000): posts and comments Bronze $1.40 / Silver $1.30 / Gold $1.20; profiles Bronze $1.90 / Silver $1.80 / Gold $1.70. A one-time Actor Start event ($0.00005) is also applied per run.

Records	Estimated base cost
1,000 posts (listing only)	$1.50
10,000 posts (listing only)	$15.00
1,000 posts + 1,000 profiles	$3.50

Estimates assume the standard tier and no profile/comment enrichment unless stated. Profiles and comments are only charged when the corresponding toggle is enabled.

Limitations and responsible data use

• The Actor collects publicly accessible Red Note content only.
• Feed categories return what Red Note surfaces for that feed; there is no guarantee of full-site or historical coverage.
• Some fields are conditional or empty depending on the starting point (see Data quality).
• No historical snapshots are guaranteed unless you store the exported datasets yourself.
• You are responsible for complying with applicable privacy, contractual, and legal requirements when using the data.

Dataset questions

What does one dataset item represent?

One Red Note post (note), optionally enriched with its creator profile and top comments when those toggles are enabled.

Which field should I use as a unique identifier?

Use noteId when present. For records gathered from profile grids where noteId is empty, fall back to url or a combination of title and cover.

Are fields nullable or conditional?

Yes. noteId, description, imageUrls, videoUrl, and profile are conditional on the starting point and enrichment toggles. Treat every field except url as possibly empty.

Can I retrieve the records as CSV or JSON?

Yes. Open the run in the Apify Console, go to the Storage/Dataset tab, and export JSON, CSV, Excel, HTML, or XML; or read the dataset through the API.

How do I paginate large datasets?

Use the Dataset API's offset and limit parameters, or export the full dataset in one step from the Console.

Does the Actor return historical data?

No. Each run returns the records available at crawl time. Schedule recurring runs to build your own history.

What counts as a billable result?

Every post is a Post charge; each unique profile (when scrapeProfiles is on) is a Profile Details charge; each comment (when scrapeComments is on) is a Comment charge.

Related datasets from Data Scrapers

• Instagram Post Scraper — post and media records from Instagram profiles; complements Red Note posts for cross-platform trend research.
• Instagram Comment Scraper — comment records by Instagram post URL; useful alongside Red Note comment collection for UGC analysis.
• TikTok Profile Scraper — creator profile and post metadata for short-video platforms.
• TikTok Comment Scraper — comment records for TikTok videos, comparable to Red Note comment extraction.
• Twitter X Profile Scraper — profile and post data from X/Twitter for social monitoring.
• YouTube Channel Scraper — channel-level metadata for creator research.

Data Scrapers support

Need an additional field, record type, or export workflow? Contact Data Scrapers at stardustspotlight@gmail.com. Include a sample source URL, the required fields, the expected record volume, and your preferred delivery format.