# lemmy.search_comments **stable** **Advanced** Search Lemmy comments. `GET /v1/lemmy/search_comments` ## What you get A list of Lemmy results in Onekey's unified shape, in `data` (an array). An empty array is a normal, successful answer and is charged like any other; a source that reports "nothing found" as an error returns a free `404 not_found` instead. ## What it costs - **Advanced ยท 5 credits** for a fresh fetch, charged only when it succeeds. - **Free when served from cache (0.2 credit for a cached response over 100 KB).** - **Free** if the request is invalid (never charged) or the source fails or reports not found (refunded). ## Parameters | Name | Type | Required | Default | What it is | Constraints | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | `instance` | string | no | - | Known Lemmy instance (allowlisted), default lemmy.world | max 253 chars; must match `[a-z0-9.-]{3,253}`; trimmed, lowercased | | `q` | string | yes | (required) | Search query | max 200 chars; trimmed, repeated spaces collapsed | ## Request ```bash curl "https://api.onekey.dev/v1/lemmy/search_comments?q=python" \ -H "x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY" ``` ```python import requests res = requests.get( "https://api.onekey.dev/v1/lemmy/search_comments", params={"q": "python"}, headers={"x-api-key": "YOUR_API_KEY"}, ) body = res.json() if body["success"]: print(body["data"]) else: print(body["error"]["code"], body["error"]["message"]) ``` ```javascript const params = new URLSearchParams({ q: "python" }); const res = await fetch(`https://api.onekey.dev/v1/lemmy/search_comments?${params}`, { headers: { "x-api-key": "YOUR_API_KEY" }, }); const body = await res.json(); if (body.success) console.log(body.data); else console.error(body.error.code, body.error.message); ``` ## Recorded response A real Lemmy response, recorded and returned in Onekey's shape. Fields the platform does not provide are `null`. ```json { "success": true, "data": [ { "content": { "id": "16428265", "text": "It depends on how long you use it:\n\n**Year 1:** Ok, this is kinda cool, but why does it keep fucking breaking? \n\n**Year 2:** How is it still fucking breaking?\n\n**Year 3:** I just don't fucking care why it keeps breaking. I think I hate this program.\n\n**Year 4:** I hate this program\n\n**Year 5:** Let the hate flow through you, consume you. Feel the dark side flowing through your fingertips. Yes. Good. Why is it breaking? It's the end users. Yes... they've been plotting against you from the beginning - hiding columns, erasing formulas and even... \n\n**merging cells**\n\n*Que heavy breathing through a respirator.*\n\n**Year 6:** It's a board meeting. They ask you if you can average all the moving averages of average sales per month and provide an exponential trendline to forecast growth on five million rows of data. \n\nYou say \"sure, boss, I can knock that for you in Excel in about an hour or two.\" \n\nYour team leader interjects \"I believe what he was trying to say was we'll use Tableau and it will take about a month.\"\n\nYou turn to him with a steely glare.\n\n\"I find your lack of faith disturbing.\"\n\n**Year 7:** Your team leader is gone after you pointed out he fucked up one of your sheets that run the business by merging a cell. All data flows through you and the holy spreadsheet, and the board is terrified of firing you because no one knows how your sheets work but you and their entire inventory system would collapse if you leave. \n\nBut then the inevitable happens. Dissension in the ran", "createdAt": "2025-04-13T19:40:33Z", "title": "Excel" }, "ext": { "path": "0.16428265", "apUrl": "https://lemmy.world/comment/16428265" }, "author": { "id": "283886", "username": "arotrios", "displayName": null, "avatarUrl": "https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/510446a9-ca5a-4923-85a1-36f75a11d080.png" }, "engagement": { "likes": 299, "comments": 21 } }, { "content": { "id": "12380074", "text": "Wow, the text generator that doesn't actually understand what it's \"writing\" is making mistakes? Who could have seen that coming?\n\nI once asked one to write a basic 50-line Python program (just to flesh things out), and it made so many basic errors that any first-year CS student could catch. Nobody should trust LLMs with anything related to security, FFS. ", "createdAt": "2024-09-15T20:22:28Z", "title": "AI-Generated Code is Causing Outages and Security Issues in Businesses" }, "ext": { "path": "0.12380074", "apUrl": "https://reddthat.com/comment/13327401" }, "author": { "id": "3110951", "username": "Telorand", "displayName": null, "avatarUrl": null }, "engagement": { "likes": 273, "comments": 44 } } ], "metadata": { "platform": "lemmy", "endpoint": "search_comments", "cached": false, "stale": false, "age_s": 0, "fetched_at": "2026-01-01T12:00:00+00:00", "credits_charged": 5, "request_id": "7f3a9c2e5b1d4c8fa2e6d0b9c4f18e37" }, "error": null } ``` ## Field mapping How this endpoint's source fields become Onekey's [unified schema](https://onekey.dev/docs/schema.md). Fields the source lacks come back as `null`. | Source path | Onekey field | Transform | | --- | --- | --- | | `comment.id` | `content.id` | `toString` | | `comment.content` | `content.text` | - | | `comment.published` | `content.createdAt` | `toIsoDate` | | `comment.path` | `ext.path` | - | | `comment.ap_id` | `ext.apUrl` | `safeUrl` | | `creator.id` | `author.id` | `toString` | | `creator.name` | `author.username` | - | | `creator.display_name` | `author.displayName` | - | | `creator.avatar` | `author.avatarUrl` | `safeUrl` | | `post.name` | `content.title` | - | | `counts.score` | `engagement.likes` | `toNumber` | | `counts.child_count` | `engagement.comments` | `toNumber` | ## Caching and freshness - Fresh for about 2 minutes. Repeat calls in that window are served from cache and are free. - Between 2 minutes and 15 minutes the cached copy is still served instantly and marked `stale: true` while Onekey refreshes it in the background. - If the source is down when a refresh is needed, the last copy can be served for up to 1 hour more (marked stale). - A "not found" is remembered for 1 minute and is free. - The cache is shared across all customers, which is what keeps repeat calls cheap. ## What can go wrong | Status | Code | What to do | | --- | --- | --- | | 401 | `unauthorized` | Check the `x-api-key` header. | | 402 | `insufficient_credits` | [Add credits](https://onekey.dev/pricing); your balance must cover the price. | | 404 | `not_found` | Unknown endpoint path. | | 422 | `invalid_params` | Fix the parameters using the table above. Free. | | 429 | `rate_limited` | Wait `Retry-After` seconds, then retry. | | 502 | `upstream_error` | The source failed. Refunded; retry with backoff. | See [Errors](https://onekey.dev/docs/errors.md) for the full list and retry guidance. Status: stable (verified against the live source).