Snapchat Explore Search Across Spotlight, Lenses & Places

Search public Snapchat Explore results by keyword and export the whole result page as structured rows: Spotlight videos with engagement counts, AR lenses, user cards, public profiles, show episodes, publishers, places, and related topics. No Snapchat account, cookies, or browser install is needed.

Snapchat's Explore page is server-rendered. The actor reads that public page directly, decodes the embedded result payload, and emits one record per card with a canonical Snapchat link.

What You Get

• Spotlight videos with creator, title, AI summary, keywords, views, likes, comments, shares, preview media, and thumbnail
• AR lenses with name, creator, official-creator flag, icon, preview image, unlock link, and canonical lens URL
• Users from the "Add Friends" card with username, display name, verification, story flag, avatar, and profile link
• Public profiles with handle, title, subtitle, description, logo, hero image, verification, story flag, and follower count
• Show episodes with title, publish date, thumbnail, publisher name/logo, and episode link
• Publishers and Shows with description, logo, follower count, and page link
• Places with address, category image, and place page link
• Related topics from the page's topic pills, with links to their topic hubs
• Every row carries query, resultType, rank, scrapedAt, and href

Input

Field	Type	Required	Default	Description
queries	string[]	Yes	—	Search keywords (e.g. food, new york, selenagomez). Legacy keywords, query, searchQueries and searchTerms inputs are still read in code.
mode	string	No	all	Result family: all, spotlight, lenses, users, profiles, episodes, publishers, topics, or places. users returns both user cards and public profiles. Legacy resultTypes is still read in code.
maxResultsPerQuery	integer	No	100	Records returned per query in the selected page window (1–500). Legacy maxResults and maxItems are still read in code.
page	integer	No	1	Page of the query's fixed result set to return (1–100). Legacy startPage is still read in code.
proxyConfiguration	object	No	—	Optional proxy override. Direct requests work by default.

Example Input

{
  "queries": ["tbilisi", "food"],
  "mode": "spotlight",
  "maxResultsPerQuery": 20,
  "page": 1
}

Legacy Input

Saved tasks that use the old fields keep working. The actor maps them in code, not in the visible schema:

{
  "keywords": ["food", "travel"],
  "resultTypes": ["spotlight", "lens", "topic", "user"],
  "maxResultsPerQuery": 50,
  "includeSpotlightDetails": true
}

includeSpotlightDetails is no longer needed because the current page already carries preview media and engagement counts; when it is supplied the actor logs that it was ignored.

Output

Every record starts with the common fields below. Type-specific fields are added beside them and empty values are omitted.

Field	Type	Description
query	string	Search keyword that produced this row
resultType	string	spotlight, lens, topic, user, snapProEntity, publisherEdition, publisher, or place
rank	integer	Position in the query's sorted result set (1-based)
scrapedAt	string	ISO 8601 UTC scrape timestamp
href	string	Canonical Snapchat URL for the card

Spotlight fields

storyId, rawSnapId, thumbnailUrl, mediaUrl, videoPreviewUrl, creatorUsername, creatorDisplayName, teaserText, rawCaption, title, description, keywords, viewCount, likeCount, commentCount, shareCount, gradientFrom, gradientTo, plus the legacy snapTitle, snapDescription, caption, postedAt, durationSeconds, width, height, boltVideoUrl, flatVideoUrl when an older page supplies them.

Lens fields

lensId, lensName, creatorName, creatorIsOfficial, iconUrl, thumbnailUrl, deeplinkUrl, unlockUrl, and the legacy thumbnailSequence when present.

User fields

userId, username, displayName, contextHint, profileLogoUrl, isOfficial, hasStory, and the legacy snapProId, isPopular, emoji when present.

Public profile fields (snapProEntity)

id, username, title, displayName, subtitle, description, logoUrl, profileLogoUrl, heroImageUrl, isOfficial, isOfficialAccount, hasStory, hostAccountUsername, followerCount, subscriberCount, and the legacy contact fields (phoneNumber, address, emailAddress, whatsappNumber, websiteUrl, category, tier, and so on) when an older page supplies them.

Episode, publisher and place fields

• publisherEdition: editionId, title, publishedAt, thumbnailUrl, deeplinkUrl, publisherName, publisherImageUrl, publisherHref, publisher, plus legacy storyDocId.
• publisher: publisherId, displayName, title, description, iconUrl, deeplinkUrl, followerCount, approxSubscriptionCount, subscriberCount, plus legacy isShow, showId, latestEditionId, businessProfileId, primaryColor.
• place: placeId, displayName, title, address, imageUrl, imageIsIcon, plus legacy locality, centerLat, centerLng, categoryName, categoryIconUrl, favoriteCount, isFavorited, boundingBox, storyPreview.

Example Output

{
  "query": "food",
  "resultType": "spotlight",
  "rank": 1,
  "scrapedAt": "2026-11-07T06:59:37.000000+00:00",
  "href": "https://www.snapchat.com/@foodasmr3/spotlight/W7_EDlXWTBiXAEEniNoMPwAAYZnV3bm5oeGVlAZ84zAenAZ84y_B7AAAAAQ",
  "storyId": "W7_EDlXWTBiXAEEniNoMPwAAYZnV3bm5oeGVlAZ84zAenAZ84y_B7AAAAAQ",
  "rawSnapId": "W7_EDlXWTBiXAEEniNoMPwAAYZnV3bm5oeGVlAZ84zAenAZ84y_B7AAAAAQ",
  "creatorUsername": "foodasmr3",
  "creatorDisplayName": "FOOD",
  "title": "Mukbang Magic: Spicy Ramen & Dumplings Feast!",
  "description": "Get ready for a mouthwatering mukbang experience...",
  "keywords": ["how to eat ramen", "spicy ramen recipe", "ramen bowl"],
  "viewCount": 68553,
  "likeCount": 5972,
  "commentCount": 83,
  "shareCount": 1530,
  "thumbnailUrl": "https://cf-st.sc-cdn.net/d/...",
  "videoPreviewUrl": "https://cf-st.sc-cdn.net/d/...",
  "mediaUrl": "https://cf-st.sc-cdn.net/d/...",
  "gradientFrom": "#2b2b35",
  "gradientTo": "#16191c"
}

FAQ

Does this need a Snapchat login or cookies? No. Explore search is public and the actor reads the server-rendered page without an account.

How many rows does one query return? Snapchat serves one fixed set per query. In current tests the page carries about 22 Spotlight videos, 24 lenses, 24 profiles, 15 episodes, 14 publishers, 10 places, and one user card. Totals vary by query and locale.

Can I go past the first page? Snapchat does not expose a page or cursor parameter for Explore search on the web, so there is no second upstream page. The page input splits the fixed result set into deterministic windows: page 1 is the first maxResultsPerQuery rows, page 2 the next batch. For a different result set, change the query.

What is the difference between users and profiles? users combines the "Add Friends" user cards and the public profiles section. profiles returns only the public profile cards (resultType: "snapProEntity").

Why are some fields missing on a row? Fields that Snapchat does not publish for a card are omitted rather than set to null. Older pages still provide the legacy Spotlight card map and Snap Pro contact fields; those values are kept when present.

What are the topic rows? They are the related topic pills rendered beside the results. Each row links to the topic hub and is tagged resultType: "topic".

Can I query several keywords in one run? Yes. Add one item per keyword to queries; rows from each keyword carry that keyword in the query field.

Is a proxy required? No. Direct access works. The optional proxy field exists only for users who want to route through their own Apify Proxy settings.

Is this affiliated with Snapchat? No. It is an independent tool that reads public Snapchat Explore pages and is not operated or endorsed by Snap Inc.