stackexchange.answers

stable Advanced

Answers to a question (with body).

GET /v1/stackexchange/answers

What you get#

A list of Stack Exchange 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 · 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
`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#

curl "https://api.onekey.dev/v1/stackexchange/answers?id=11227809" \
  -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 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
      }
    },
    {
      "content": {
        "id": "11227877",
        "text": "Branch prediction. With a sorted array, the condition data[c] >= 128 is first false for a streak of values, then becomes true for all later values. That's easy to predict. With an unsorted array, you pay for the branching cost.",
        "createdAt": "2012-06-27T13:54:45Z"
      },
      "ext": {
        "questionId": "11227809",
        "accepted": false
      },
      "engagement": {
        "likes": 4767
      },
      "author": {
        "id": "1011995",
        "username": "Daniel Fischer",
        "url": "https://stackoverflow.com/users/1011995/daniel-fischer",
        "avatarUrl": "https://i.sstatic.net/Jca5Q.jpg?s=256",
        "reputation": 184634
      }
    }
  ],
  "metadata": {
    "platform": "stackexchange",
    "endpoint": "answers",
    "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. 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 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; 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 for the full list and retry guidance.

Status: stable (verified against the live source).