# stackexchange.question

**stable** **Standard**

A question by id (with body).

`GET /v1/stackexchange/question`

## 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.

**Also works with:** [URL lookup](https://onekey.dev/docs/lookup.md) (`stackoverflow.com/questions/{id}/**`, `stackoverflow.com/q/{id}`) · [Computed block](https://onekey.dev/docs/computed.md) (`engagement_rate`, `language`). Any [batch](https://onekey.dev/docs/batch.md) 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) | 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/question?id=11227809" \
  -H "x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY"
```

```python
import requests

res = requests.get(
    "https://api.onekey.dev/v1/stackexchange/question",
    params={"id": "11227809"},
    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: "11227809" });
const res = await fetch(`https://api.onekey.dev/v1/stackexchange/question?${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": "11227809",
      "title": "Why is conditional processing of a sorted array faster than of an unsorted array?",
      "url": "https://stackoverflow.com/questions/11227809/why-is-conditional-processing-of-a-sorted-array-faster-than-of-an-unsorted-array",
      "text": "In this C++ code, sorting the data ( before the timed region) makes the primary loop ~6x faster: #include <algorithm> #include <ctime> #include <iostream> int main() { // Generate data const unsigned arraySize = 32768; int data[arraySize]; for (unsigned c = 0; c < arraySize; ++c) data[c] = std::rand() % 256; // !!! With this, the next loop runs faster. std::sort(data, data + arraySize); // Test clock_t start = clock(); long long sum = 0; for (unsigned i = 0; i < 100000; ++i) { for (unsigned c = 0; c < arraySize; ++c) { // Primary loop. if (data[c] >= 128) sum += data[c]; } } double elapsedTime = static_cast<double>(clock()-start) / CLOCKS_PER_SEC; std::cout << elapsedTime << '\\n'; std::cout << \"sum = \" << sum << '\\n'; } Without std::sort(data, data + arraySize); , the code runs in 11.54 seconds. With the sorted data, the code runs in 1.93 seconds. (Sorting itself takes more time than this one pass over the array, so it's not actually worth doing if we needed to calculate this for an unknown array.) Initially, I thought this might be just a language or compiler anomaly, so I tried Java: imp",
      "createdAt": "2012-06-27T13:51:36Z"
    },
    "entity": {
      "name": "java"
    },
    "engagement": {
      "likes": 27547,
      "comments": 25,
      "views": 2001635
    },
    "author": {
      "id": "87234",
      "username": "GManNickG",
      "url": "https://stackoverflow.com/users/87234/gmannickg",
      "avatarUrl": "https://i.sstatic.net/FkjBe.png?s=256",
      "reputation": 507417
    }
  },
  "metadata": {
    "platform": "stackexchange",
    "endpoint": "question",
    "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 |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `question_id` | `content.id` | `toString` |
| `title` | `content.title` | `htmlUnescape` |
| `link` | `content.url` | `safeUrl` |
| `body` | `content.text` | `stripHtml` |
| `creation_date` | `content.createdAt` | `toIsoDate` |
| `tags.0` | `entity.name` | - |
| `score` | `engagement.likes` | `toNumber` |
| `answer_count` | `engagement.comments` | `toNumber` |
| `view_count` | `engagement.views` | `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).