# stackexchange.answer

**stable** **Standard**

An answer by id (with body).

`GET /v1/stackexchange/answer`

## What you get

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

## 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) | Question id | max 10 chars; must match `[0-9]{1,10}`; trimmed |
| `site` | string | no | - | Stack Exchange site, default stackoverflow | max 41 chars; must match `[a-z][a-z.]{1,40}`; trimmed, lowercased |

## Request

```bash
curl "https://api.onekey.dev/v1/stackexchange/answer?id=11227902" \
  -H "x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY"
```

```python
import requests

res = requests.get(
    "https://api.onekey.dev/v1/stackexchange/answer",
    params={"id": "11227902"},
    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({ id: "11227902" });
const res = await fetch(`https://api.onekey.dev/v1/stackexchange/answer?${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 Stack Exchange response, recorded and returned in Onekey's shape. Fields the platform does not provide are `null`.

```json
{
  "success": true,
  "data": {
    "content": {
      "id": "11227902",
      "text": "You are a victim of branch prediction fail. What is Branch Prediction? Consider a railroad junction: Image by Mecanismo, via Wikimedia Commons. Used under the CC-By-SA 3.0 license. Now for the sake of argument, suppose this is back in the 1800s - before long-distance or radio communication. You are a blind operator of a junction and you hear a train coming. You have no idea which way it is supposed to go. You stop the train to ask the driver which direction they want. And then you set the switch appropriately. Trains are heavy and have a lot of inertia, so they take forever to start up and slow down. Is there a better way? You guess which direction the train will go! If you guessed right, it continues on. If you guessed wrong, the driver will stop, back up, and yell at you to flip the switch. Then it can restart down the other path. If you guess right every time , the train will ne",
      "createdAt": "2012-06-27T13:56:42Z"
    },
    "ext": {
      "questionId": "11227809",
      "accepted": true
    },
    "engagement": {
      "likes": 35297
    },
    "author": {
      "id": "922184",
      "username": "Mysticial",
      "url": "https://stackoverflow.com/users/922184/mysticial",
      "avatarUrl": "https://i.sstatic.net/h7WDB.jpg?s=256",
      "reputation": 473513
    }
  },
  "metadata": {
    "platform": "stackexchange",
    "endpoint": "answer",
    "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](https://onekey.dev/docs/schema.md). Fields the source lacks come back as `null`.

| Source path | Onekey field | Transform |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `answer_id` | `content.id` | `toString` |
| `question_id` | `ext.questionId` | `toString` |
| `body` | `content.text` | `stripHtml` |
| `creation_date` | `content.createdAt` | `toIsoDate` |
| `is_accepted` | `ext.accepted` | `toBoolean` |
| `score` | `engagement.likes` | `toNumber` |
| `owner.user_id` | `author.id` | `toString` |
| `owner.display_name` | `author.username` | `htmlUnescape` |
| `owner.link` | `author.url` | `safeUrl` |
| `owner.profile_image` | `author.avatarUrl` | `safeUrl` |
| `owner.reputation` | `author.reputation` | `toNumber` |

## 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](https://onekey.dev/pricing); 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](https://onekey.dev/docs/errors.md) for the full list and retry guidance.

Status: stable (verified against the live source).