All-in-One RedNote (Xiaohongshu) Scraper

A powerful, all-in-one scraper for Xiaohongshu (RedNote / 小红书), one of China's largest social media and lifestyle platforms with over 320 million users. Extract search results, post details, comments, user profiles, user posts, and video download URLs — all from a single Actor.

Features

• Search Posts — Search by keywords with advanced sorting (general, latest, popular) and note type filtering (all, video, image).
• Post Detail — Extract comprehensive post data: full description text, all images, video URLs, tags, and engagement metrics (likes, comments, collects, shares).
• Comments — Scrape comments and nested replies with user info, timestamps, IP locations, and like counts.
• User Profile — Extract profile data: nickname, RED ID, gender, bio, follower/following counts, likes & collects, tags, and avatar.
• User Posts — Collect all posts from a user profile with cover images and engagement metrics.
• Video Download — Extract watermark-free video URLs in multiple quality options with full metadata.

Input Parameters

Parameter	Type	Description
mode	String	search, postDetail, comments, profile, userPosts, or videoDownload
keywords	Array	Keywords to search (search mode)
postUrls	Array	Post URLs (postDetail, comments, videoDownload modes)
profileUrls	Array	Profile URLs (profile, userPosts modes)
maxItems	Integer	Max items per keyword/URL (default: 20, max: 1000)
sortBy	String	Search sort: general, time_descending, popularity_descending
noteType	String	Search filter: all, video, normal
sessionCookie	String	Your browser cookie string for authenticated scraping (highly recommended)
proxyConfiguration	Object	Proxy settings (Apify Proxy recommended)

How to Get Your Session Cookie (Step-by-Step Guide)

Xiaohongshu requires login for full data access. Providing your session cookie dramatically improves scraping success rates and data quality. Without cookies, many pages will show a login wall after a few requests.

Why Do I Need Cookies?

Mode	Without Cookie	With Cookie
Search	First page only, login wall after a few requests	Full pagination, unlimited results
Post Detail	Basic SSR data, may be blocked	Full post data with all metrics
Comments	Almost no data (API requires auth)	All comments and replies
Profile	May show login wall	Full profile data
User Posts	First few posts only	All posts with pagination
Video Download	SSR data only	Full video URLs and metadata

Method 1: Chrome DevTools (Recommended)

1. Open Chrome and go to https://www.xiaohongshu.com
2. Log in to your Xiaohongshu account (sign up at https://www.xiaohongshu.com if you don't have one)
3. Open DevTools: Press F12 or Ctrl+Shift+I (Windows) / Cmd+Option+I (Mac)
4. Go to the Network tab
5. Reload the page (F5 or Ctrl+R)
6. Click on any request to www.xiaohongshu.com (usually the first one)
7. In the Headers tab, scroll down to Request Headers
8. Find the Cookie header and copy the entire value
9. Paste it into the Session Cookie field in the actor input

Example cookie string (yours will be much longer):

a1=1912c3e4a27xbhq2kl1c3lqirhh70j6o6u1u50000313575; webId=46ae16...; web_session=040069b2c4...; xsecappid=xhs-pc-web; websectiga=9ef3...

Method 2: Chrome Application Tab

1. Open Chrome DevTools (F12)
2. Go to the Application tab
3. In the left sidebar, expand Cookies → click https://www.xiaohongshu.com
4. You'll see a table of all cookies. You need to copy them all.
5. Quick way: Open the Console tab and run:

document.cookie

6. Copy the output and paste it into the actor's Session Cookie field.

Method 3: Cookie Editor Extension

1. Install a browser extension like EditThisCookie or Cookie-Editor
2. Go to https://www.xiaohongshu.com and log in
3. Click the extension icon → Export (as JSON)
4. Paste the JSON directly into the Session Cookie field — the actor accepts JSON format too!

Important Cookies

These are the key cookies the actor needs. Make sure they're included:

Cookie	Purpose	Required?
a1	Primary session token	Essential
web_session	Web session identifier	Essential
webId	Web visitor ID	Recommended
xsecappid	App identifier	Recommended
websectiga	Security token	Recommended

Cookie Tips

• Cookies expire — If scraping stops working, re-export fresh cookies from your browser
• Stay logged in — Don't log out of your Xiaohongshu account in the browser while the actor is running
• One account — Don't use the same cookies in multiple concurrent actor runs
• Session length — Cookies typically last 7–30 days before expiring
• Safety — Your cookies are only used for this actor and are not stored or shared. Treat them like a password.

Input Examples

Search Mode (with cookie)

{
    "mode": "search",
    "keywords": ["ai", "fashion"],
    "maxItems": 20,
    "sortBy": "general",
    "noteType": "all",
    "sessionCookie": "a1=your_token; web_session=your_session; webId=your_webid; ..."
}

Post Detail Mode

{
    "mode": "postDetail",
    "postUrls": [
        "https://www.xiaohongshu.com/explore/670a46a50000000024017580"
    ],
    "sessionCookie": "a1=your_token; web_session=your_session; ..."
}

Comments Mode (cookie strongly recommended)

{
    "mode": "comments",
    "postUrls": [
        "https://www.xiaohongshu.com/explore/6764f52c000000000900c655?xsec_token=ABQuGdhHV4zPI_3lR2iWdS9VxX_4RmI3bUSh394ppVitk="
    ],
    "maxItems": 50,
    "sessionCookie": "a1=your_token; web_session=your_session; ..."
}

Profile Mode

{
    "mode": "profile",
    "profileUrls": [
        "https://www.xiaohongshu.com/user/profile/6784ba7f00000000080191fb"
    ],
    "sessionCookie": "a1=your_token; web_session=your_session; ..."
}

User Posts Mode

{
    "mode": "userPosts",
    "profileUrls": [
        "https://www.xiaohongshu.com/user/profile/639946a0000000002702b173"
    ],
    "maxItems": 50,
    "sessionCookie": "a1=your_token; web_session=your_session; ..."
}

Video Download Mode

{
    "mode": "videoDownload",
    "postUrls": [
        "https://www.xiaohongshu.com/explore/6795e093000000001902c0dd?xsec_token=ABMWHV4ZQpvHMK27K3aBzT_xu4JqjfqMuQx5pUUZLqm8g="
    ],
    "sessionCookie": "a1=your_token; web_session=your_session; ..."
}

Output Samples

Search Mode Output

[
    {
        "mode": "search",
        "keyword": "ai",
        "id": "670a46a50000000024017580",
        "type": "normal",
        "title": "国内AI工具推荐，亲测好用！",
        "user": {
            "userId": "620232b1000000001000d406",
            "nickname": "千寻AI部落",
            "avatar": "https://sns-avatar-qc.xhscdn.com/avatar/..."
        },
        "likes": 13759,
        "cover": {
            "url": "http://sns-webpic-qc.xhscdn.com/...",
            "width": 1242,
            "height": 1660
        },
        "imageCount": 9,
        "url": "https://www.xiaohongshu.com/explore/670a46a50000000024017580",
        "scrapedAt": "2025-01-17T03:06:58.355Z"
    }
]

Post Detail Output

[
    {
        "mode": "postDetail",
        "postUrl": "https://www.xiaohongshu.com/explore/670a46a50000000024017580",
        "id": "670a46a50000000024017580",
        "type": "normal",
        "title": "国内AI工具推荐，亲测好用！",
        "description": "Full post description text here...",
        "content": "Full post content...",
        "user": {
            "userId": "620232b1000000001000d406",
            "nickname": "千寻AI部落",
            "avatar": "https://..."
        },
        "likes": 13759,
        "comments": 892,
        "collects": 5423,
        "shares": 234,
        "tags": [
            { "id": "5c2cc7bd...", "name": "AI", "type": "topic" }
        ],
        "images": [
            {
                "width": 1242,
                "height": 1660,
                "urls": [
                    { "scene": "WB_DFT", "url": "http://..." },
                    { "scene": "WB_PRV", "url": "http://..." }
                ]
            }
        ],
        "video": null,
        "ipLocation": "北京",
        "scrapedAt": "2025-01-17T03:06:58.355Z"
    }
]

Comments Output

[
    {
        "mode": "comments",
        "postUrl": "https://www.xiaohongshu.com/explore/...",
        "noteId": "6764f52c000000000900c655",
        "comment": {
            "id": "6764f606000000000e01f2e9",
            "parentId": null,
            "content": "Great post! Very helpful.",
            "likes": 7,
            "createTime": 1734669831000,
            "ipLocation": "湖南",
            "subCommentCount": 28,
            "user": {
                "userId": "66178cdc000000000d0248dd",
                "nickname": "coconut",
                "avatar": "https://..."
            },
            "replyTo": null
        },
        "scrapedAt": "2025-01-17T05:45:22.613Z"
    }
]

Profile Output

[
    {
        "mode": "profile",
        "profileUrl": "https://www.xiaohongshu.com/user/profile/6784ba7f00000000080191fb",
        "userId": "6784ba7f00000000080191fb",
        "redId": "95435108495",
        "nickname": "hopeawinters",
        "description": "fashion | teacher",
        "gender": 2,
        "avatar": "https://sns-avatar-qc.xhscdn.com/avatar/...",
        "ipLocation": "美国",
        "follows": 40,
        "fans": 206881,
        "interaction": 294998,
        "tags": [
            { "name": "25岁", "type": "info" }
        ],
        "scrapedAt": "2025-01-17T15:51:01.110Z"
    }
]

Video Download Output

[
    {
        "mode": "videoDownload",
        "url": "https://www.xiaohongshu.com/explore/...",
        "noteId": "6795e093000000001902c0dd",
        "title": "Post title here",
        "author": "hopeawinters",
        "type": "video",
        "duration": 117,
        "thumbnail": "http://...",
        "medias": [
            {
                "url": "https://sns-video-hw.xhscdn.com/pre_post/...",
                "quality": "NW_X265_MP4",
                "extension": "mp4",
                "type": "video"
            },
            {
                "url": "http://sns-video-al.xhscdn.com/stream/...",
                "quality": "WM_X264_MP4",
                "extension": "mp4",
                "type": "video"
            }
        ],
        "likes": 1000,
        "comments": 10,
        "collects": 500,
        "shares": 50,
        "tags": [],
        "scrapedAt": "2025-01-27T09:35:00.000Z"
    }
]

Use Cases

• Market Research & Trend Analysis — Track trending topics, hashtags, and content styles.
• Influencer Discovery — Find and evaluate influencers by engagement metrics and content quality.
• Competitor Intelligence — Monitor competitor brands and product mentions.
• Consumer Insights — Analyze product reviews and user opinions at scale.
• Social Media Monitoring — Track brand mentions and sentiment across posts and comments.
• Content Strategy — Discover high-performing content formats and topics.
• Video Content Archiving — Download and archive video content for analysis.

Limitations

• Respects Xiaohongshu's rate limits with built-in random delays.
• Session cookie is highly recommended for reliable access. Without it, Xiaohongshu shows login walls after a few requests.
• Comments mode requires authentication (session cookie) — the comments API does not work without login.
• Maximum 1,000 items per run recommended for optimal performance.
• Video download extracts URLs only (no file downloading).
• Session cookies expire after 7–30 days and need to be refreshed.

Tips for Best Results

1. Provide a session cookie for the most reliable and complete scraping results.
2. Use Apify Proxy for reliable access and to avoid rate limiting.
3. Set reasonable maxItems limits — start small and scale up.
4. Run during off-peak hours (Chinese timezone) for better performance.
5. Use specific keywords for more targeted search results.
6. Combine modes in separate runs to build comprehensive datasets.
7. Refresh cookies if you notice increased login wall errors.

Pricing

• $4.99 per 1,000 results — Pay only for what you scrape.
• Actor start cost is negligible.

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