lobsters.story

stable Standard

A Lobsters story by short id.

GET /v1/lobsters/story

What you get#

One Lobsters record in Onekey's unified shape, in data. If the record does not exist you get a 404 not_found and are not charged.

Also works with: URL lookup (lobste.rs/s/{id}/**). Any batch can include it.

What it costs#

Standard · 1 credit 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
`id`	string	yes	(required)	Story short id, e.g. q2rymh	max 6 chars; must match `[a-z0-9]{6}`; trimmed, lowercased

Request#

curl "https://api.onekey.dev/v1/lobsters/story?id=q2rymh" \
  -H "x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY"

Try it

Add your key to run this call right here. No key? Get one free. The key stays in this tab.

Recorded response#

A real Lobsters response, recorded and returned in Onekey's shape. Fields the platform does not provide are null.

json

{
  "success": true,
  "data": {
    "content": {
      "id": "q2rymh",
      "title": "What Would A Serious AI Product Look Like?",
      "url": "https://blog.glyph.im/2026/09/serious-ai-product.html",
      "text": "",
      "createdAt": "2026-09-28T17:01:01Z"
    },
    "author": {
      "username": "Corbin"
    },
    "engagement": {
      "likes": 10,
      "comments": 2
    },
    "ext": {
      "discussionUrl": "https://lobste.rs/s/q2rymh/what_would_serious_ai_product_look_like"
    },
    "entity": {
      "name": "a11y"
    }
  },
  "metadata": {
    "platform": "lobsters",
    "endpoint": "story",
    "cached": false,
    "stale": false,
    "age_s": 0,
    "fetched_at": "2026-01-01T12:00:00+00:00",
    "credits_charged": 1,
    "request_id": "7f3a9c2e5b1d4c8fa2e6d0b9c4f18e37"
  },
  "error": null
}

Field mapping#

How this endpoint's source fields become Onekey's unified schema. Fields the source lacks come back as null.

Source path	Onekey field	Transform
`short_id`	`content.id`	-
`title`	`content.title`	-
`url`	`content.url`	`safeUrl`
`description_plain`	`content.text`	-
`created_at`	`content.createdAt`	`toIsoDate`
`submitter_user`	`author.username`	-
`score`	`engagement.likes`	`toNumber`
`comment_count`	`engagement.comments`	`toNumber`
`comments_url`	`ext.discussionUrl`	`safeUrl`
`tags.0`	`entity.name`	-

Caching and freshness#

Fresh for about 30 minutes. Repeat calls in that window are served from cache and are free.
Between 30 minutes and 6 hours 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 day more (marked stale).
A "not found" is remembered for 5 minutes 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; your balance must cover the price.
404	`not_found`	That record does not exist. Free; do not retry.
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 for the full list and retry guidance.

Status: stable (verified against the live source).