---
title: "Every comment on a post, replies nested, server-paginated to completion."
method: GET
path: "/prism/comments"
tags: ["prism"]
---

# Every comment on a post, replies nested, server-paginated to completion.

`GET /prism/comments`

## Request

- Base URL: `https://www.socialcrawl.dev/v1`
- URL: `https://www.socialcrawl.dev/v1/prism/comments`
- Auth: API key in header `x-api-key`

Give it any TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, Reddit, Hacker News, or Instagram post URL and it harvests every top-level comment (paginated to the end) with replies nested where the platform supports it (TikTok, YouTube, Facebook). Reddit and Hacker News return their whole nested thread. Instagram comes back top-level only, because its comment source has no reply leg to walk; its replies are still reachable, one call per parent comment, from `GET /v1/instagram/post/comment/replies` (post `url` plus the parent `comment_id`, cursor-paged, 1 credit a call). Every Instagram comment carries `engagement.replies`, so call it only for the comments whose count is above zero. Pass `sort=top` to get the most-liked comments first (ranked by `engagement.likes`): ideal for pulling the top comments on a high-volume post; pair it with `limit` to cap how many you get back (e.g. `sort=top&max=500&limit=200` scans ~500 and returns the top 200). YouTube sorts upstream so its top set is exact; other platforms are sorted across the scanned set. Metered at 1 credit per internal page call (minimum 2): `sort`/`limit` never change the price, which always follows pages scanned (`max`). Instagram is the exception: an Instagram post URL is a flat 5 credits per call whatever `max` and `replies` you pass, because that source returns the comment set in one mobile-upstream call rather than by page. Returns sync JSON, or a typed SSE stream when you send `Accept: text/event-stream`: a `page` chunk lands as each page settles. The `next_cursor` is one opaque token that resumes every leg; `legs[]` reports each page's status, cost, and latency.

## Query parameters

- `url` string, required
- `max` integer
- `replies` boolean
- `cursor` string
- `sort` 'top' | 'recent'
- `limit` integer

## Headers

- `Cache-Control` string
- `Idempotency-Key` string

## Response `200`

Successful response

- object
  - `success` boolean, required: Whether the request succeeded
  - `platform` string, required: Platform name
  - `endpoint` string, required: API endpoint path
  - `data` object, required: Platform-specific response data
    - `metrics` object: Key performance metrics
      - `total_views` integer: Total view count
      - `total_likes` integer: Total like count
      - `total_comments` integer: Total comment count
      - `engagement_rate` number: Computed engagement rate (0-1)
    - `period` string, nullable: Time period for the analytics data
    - `breakdown` object[], nullable: Per-item or per-period breakdown
    - `_warnings` string[]: Non-fatal notices about this response (field-map drift, clamped computed values). Advisory only: its presence never means the request failed. Omitted entirely when there is nothing to report, so treat absent as 'no warnings'.
  - `credits_used` integer, required: Number of credits consumed
  - `credits_remaining` integer, nullable, required: Current account balance, or null when this response could not establish one. Free cache hits always return null because they do not establish an authoritative post-request balance. An idempotency replay also returns null when its current-balance lookup fails. It is never a fabricated zero, so a zero here means the account really is empty. The authoritative reading is the one on a billed response, which comes straight from the deduction.
  - `request_id` string, required: Unique request identifier for support
  - `cached` boolean, required: Whether the response was served from cache
  - `idempotent_replay` boolean: True only when this response is an idempotency replay
  - `meta` object: Optional. Present only when this call completed a pattern that one other call does more cheaply or in one step, at most once per pattern per API key per day. Send the header `X-SocialCrawl-Hints: off` to never receive it.
    - `hint` object: One suggestion: what to call instead and why, with the price when the suggested call costs more than the calls it replaces.
      - `code` string: creator_card | batch_profiles | search_multi | incremental_sync | comment_labels | search_repeat
      - `message` string: One sentence for a person or an agent to read.
      - `method` string: GET or POST.
      - `path` string: The call the hint points to.

## Other responses

- `400`: Invalid request - missing or malformed parameters
- `401`: Unauthorized - missing or invalid API key
- `402`: Payment required - the account balance is too low, or the calling key has spent its own per-key credit limit
- `404`: Not found - the endpoint does not exist, or the requested resource was not found upstream
- `405`: Method not allowed - wrong HTTP verb for this endpoint
- `409`: Conflict - an idempotent request is still in flight, its completed body exceeded the replay limit, or the cohort resource is not in a state that allows this operation
- `410`: Gone - the discover run's retention passed and its rows were deleted; start a new run
- `413`: Payload too large: the JSON request body exceeds the 1 MB size limit and is rejected before parsing, or a single cohort result cannot fit beneath the 1 MB response-page ceiling
- `422`: Idempotency payload mismatch - this Idempotency-Key was already used with a different request payload; or a discover request with async=false is over what one call can answer (NEEDS_ASYNC)
- `429`: Rate or concurrency limit exceeded. `RATE_LIMITED`: more than 600 requests in a 1-minute sliding window on this API key (headers `X-RateLimit-Limit`/`Remaining`/`Reset`; `Retry-After` is seconds until the window resets). `CONCURRENCY_LIMIT`: more than 50 simultaneous in-flight requests (headers `X-Concurrency-Limit`/`Remaining`; short static `Retry-After`). Both are unbilled. Honor `Retry-After`, then back off with jitter. See /docs/rate-limits.
- `500`: Internal server error - an immediate refund is attempted; credits_used reports the committed net charge and exact compensation is queued if that refund cannot commit
- `502`: Upstream error - the platform returned an error; an immediate refund is attempted and credits_used reports the committed net charge
- `503`: Service unavailable - the request is unbilled when rejected before deduction, otherwise an immediate refund is attempted and credits_used reports the committed net charge
- `504`: Gateway timeout - the request was still running close to the platform time limit and is answered as UPSTREAM_ERROR, the same code as 502. An immediate refund is attempted and credits_used reports the committed net charge. When details.retry_with is set, retryable is false and there is no Retry-After

---

[API](https://skmtc.dev/socialcrawl/apis/socialcrawl-api.md) · [All operations](https://skmtc.dev/socialcrawl/apis/socialcrawl-api/llms.txt) · [OpenAPI document](https://skmtc.dev/socialcrawl/apis/socialcrawl-api/revisions/a0ad2511004a?raw)