stackexchange.question_comments

stable Advanced

Comments on a question.

GET /v1/stackexchange/question_comments

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/question_comments?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": "87601479",
        "text": "Another observation is that you don't need to sort the array, but you just need to partition it with the value 128. Sorting is n*log(n), whereas partitioning is just linear. Basically it is just one run of the quick sort partitioning step with the pivot chosen to be 128. Unfortunately in C++ there is just nth_element function, which partition by position, not by value.",
        "createdAt": "2018-05-11T12:45:08Z"
      },
      "ext": {
        "postId": "11227809"
      },
      "engagement": {
        "likes": 169
      },
      "author": {
        "id": "5649936",
        "username": "Šimon Hrabec",
        "url": "https://stackoverflow.com/users/5649936/%c5%a0imon-hrabec",
        "avatarUrl": "https://www.gravatar.com/avatar/661e20ca103f2357646581face8787be?s=256&d=identicon&r=PG&f=y&so-version=2",
        "reputation": 923
      }
    },
    {
      "content": {
        "id": "113534273",
        "text": "@screwnut here's an experiment which would show that partitioning is sufficient: create an unsorted but partitioned array with otherwise random contents. Measure time. Sort it. Measure time again. The two measurements should be basically indistinguishable. (Experiment 2: create a random array. Measure time. Partition it. Measure time again. You should see the same speed-up as sorting. You could roll the two experiments into one.)",
        "createdAt": "2020-10-05T08:26:16Z"
      },
      "ext": {
        "postId": "11227809"
      },
      "engagement": {
        "likes": 70
      },
      "author": {
        "id": "58668",
        "username": "Jonas Kölker",
        "url": "https://stackoverflow.com/users/58668/jonas-k%c3%b6lker",
        "avatarUrl": "https://www.gravatar.com/avatar/553fdb376e001fa69adb6b8046fd6a14?s=256&d=identicon&r=PG",
        "reputation": 7839
      }
    }
  ],
  "metadata": {
    "platform": "stackexchange",
    "endpoint": "question_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. Fields the source lacks come back as null.

Source path	Onekey field	Transform
`comment_id`	`content.id`	`toString`
`post_id`	`ext.postId`	`toString`
`body`	`content.text`	`stripHtml`
`creation_date`	`content.createdAt`	`toIsoDate`
`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).