DEV Community: Divya Raj

Bilibili API in 2026: Is There an Official API? 5 Ways to Get Bilibili Data (Compared)

Divya Raj — Tue, 03 Nov 2026 18:01:44 +0000

Short answer: Bilibili (哔哩哔哩, B站) has no official public API for comments, danmaku, video stats or creator data. The endpoints that bilibili.com itself uses are undocumented, require WBI signing (w_rid and wts parameters), and block unsigned or fast requests with errors like -352 and -412. To get Bilibili data in 2026 you either handle that yourself or use a scraper that already does.

This guide covers:

Whether a Bilibili API key or official docs exist
What -352, -412 and "request was banned" mean, and how to fix them
5 ways to get Bilibili data, compared
A working Python example (no login)

Is there an official Bilibili API?

No, not for public data. There is no self-serve Bilibili API key that gives you comments, danmaku, video stats or creator profiles. What developers call "the Bilibili API" is the set of internal web endpoints under api.bilibili.com that the website calls in your browser. They're undocumented and they change without notice.

Is there a Bilibili API key or documentation?

There is no public API key for this data. The only "documentation" is community-maintained notes on GitHub, written by reverse-engineering the website. They're useful, but they go out of date whenever Bilibili changes its signing or risk control.

Why does the Bilibili API return -352 or -412?

Error	What it means	Fix
`-352`	Risk control: the request is missing a valid WBI signature (`w_rid` / `wts`), or looks automated	Sign the request with fresh WBI keys, send device cookies (`buvid3`), slow down
`-412` / HTTP 412	"Request was banned": your IP is sending too much, too fast	Back off, add delays, rotate to another IP or proxy
`code: 0` but empty data	Silent risk control: Bilibili returns only a `v_voucher` instead of data	Detect it and retry; don't treat it as an empty page

Most tutorials written before 2023 use old unsigned endpoints, which is why they now fail with these errors.

How do you get the `w_rid` parameter?

w_rid is an MD5 signature that Bilibili calls WBI. Your client fetches two keys (img_key and sub_key) from the nav endpoint, mixes them into a "mixin key", sorts the request parameters, adds a timestamp (wts) and hashes everything. The keys rotate, so they have to be refreshed when a signature is rejected.

You can implement it yourself, or use a library or scraper that already does it.

5 ways to get Bilibili data (compared)

Method	Cost	Setup	Handles WBI and risk control	Best for
1. Official API	n/a	n/a	n/a	Doesn't exist for public data
2. DIY `requests` script	Free	Hours to days	You build and maintain it	Learning, one-off jobs
3. Community Python libraries	Free	Minutes	Partly; they can break when Bilibili changes	Developers who don't mind fixing breakages
4. Open-source scraper (self-host)	Free	Minutes	Yes	Developers who want full control
5. Hosted scraper (no code)	Pay per result	Seconds	Yes, plus proxies	Analysts, marketers, scheduled monitoring

Options 4 and 5 can be the same tool. The Bilibili Scraper is open source (GitHub, MIT) and also runs as a hosted, no-code tool on Apify.

What data can you get without a login?

Data	Login needed?
Comments, with full nested reply threads (23 fields each)	No
Danmaku (弹幕, bullet comments) with playback timestamps	No
Video stats: views, likes, coins, favourites, shares	No
UP主 (creator) profiles: followers, likes, level, verified	No
A creator's uploads, keyword search, popular and ranking feeds	No
Subtitles and AI captions	Yes: a `SESSDATA` cookie

In a side-by-side test on 26 Oct 2026, the scraper's video stats and top 20 comments matched Bilibili exactly.

Bilibili API in Python: a working example

git clone https://github.com/Dunkmap/Bilibili-Scraper
cd Bilibili-Scraper
pip install -e .

import asyncio
from bilibili_scraper import Scraper

async def main():
    # No cookie or login needed; WBI signing and retries are handled for you
    async with Scraper(rate=4) as s:
        video = await s.video("BV1xx411c7mD")
        print(video["title"], video["views"])

        async for c in s.comments(video["bvid"], limit=200, replies=True):
            print(c["uname"], c["like"], c["content"])

        up = await s.user(video["owner_mid"])          # UP主 profile
        print(up["name"], up["followers"])

asyncio.run(main())

Or from the command line:

bili video BV1xx411c7mD -o videos.csv
bili comments BV1xx411c7mD --replies -o comments.csv
bili search "原神" --order click --limit 200 -o search.csv

No-code: the Bilibili API as a hosted tool

If you don't want to run Python, the hosted version works like an API you call from a form, a schedule, or code:

Open the Bilibili Scraper and click Try for free.
Choose videos, comments, danmaku, subtitles or users (UP主).
Paste links or type keywords, then click Start.
Export to Excel, CSV or JSON, or call it over Apify's REST API, Make, Zapier or MCP for AI agents.

Price: pay per result, no subscription. $0.005 per comment, video or creator profile and $0.001 per danmaku, so about $5 per 1,000 comments.

For bullet comments only, the Bilibili Danmaku Scraper adds a keyword filter and a free per-video highlight timeline.

FAQ

Does Bilibili have an official API?
Not for public data such as comments, danmaku, video stats or creator profiles. Developers use the website's internal endpoints instead.

How do I get a Bilibili API key?
There isn't one for this data. The internal endpoints need WBI signing and device cookies, not an API key.

What does Bilibili error -352 mean?
Risk control: the request has a missing or stale WBI signature, or looks automated. Re-sign it with fresh keys and slow down.

What does "request was banned" (-412) mean?
Your IP sent too many requests. Back off, add delays, or switch IP or proxy.

Can I use the Bilibili API without logging in?
Yes, for comments, danmaku, videos, search, creators and trending. Only subtitles need a login cookie.

Is there a Bilibili API for Python?
Yes. Community libraries exist, and the open-source Bilibili Scraper offers both a Python library and a CLI, with WBI signing built in.

Is scraping Bilibili legal?
It reads public data the same way the bilibili.com website does. Follow Bilibili's terms of service, keep request rates reasonable, and don't republish personal data.

Also read:

Questions about a specific error code? Ask in the comments and I'll help you debug it.

What Is Danmaku? How to Download Bilibili Bullet Comments and Find Any Video's Highlight Of Bilibili

Divya Raj — Mon, 02 Nov 2026 18:48:52 +0000

If you've ever opened a video on Bilibili (哔哩哔哩, B站), you've seen them: comments flying across the screen, right on top of the video. Those are danmaku (弹幕, "bullet comments"), and they're one of the most interesting datasets on the Chinese internet.

In this post:

What danmaku actually is, and why it's useful data
How to download Bilibili bullet comments without a login (no code, or Python)
How to find any video's highlight moment from danmaku density

👉 Tool used: Bilibili Danmaku Scraper on Apify · Source on GitHub

What is danmaku (弹幕)?

Danmaku literally means "bullet curtain". On Bilibili, each danmaku is a short comment that viewers post at a specific second of the video. Everyone who watches later sees it fly across the screen at that same moment.

Some you'll see everywhere:

Danmaku	Meaning
前方高能	"High energy ahead!" (something big is about to happen)
名场面	An iconic scene
awsl	"Too cute, I'm dying"
2333	Laughing (like "lol")
泪目	Tears in my eyes

Unlike normal comments, every danmaku has a timestamp. That makes it unusually good data:

Highlight detection: where danmaku spike, something happened.
Second-by-second audience reaction: for trailers, ads, product launches or game reveals.
Sentiment over time: when do viewers love it, and when do they complain?
Clip finding: creators use spikes to decide which moments to cut into shorts.

How to download Bilibili bullet comments (no login)

Bilibili has no public API for danmaku, and there's a catch: logged out, Bilibili serves danmaku from two different endpoints. One gives a sample across the video's whole lifetime, the other the most recent few thousand. They barely overlap, so most simple scripts miss a lot.

The Bilibili Danmaku Scraper merges both. On a 34-minute video that gave 5,416 danmaku rows without logging in.

Option 1: No code

Open the Bilibili Danmaku Scraper and click Try for free.
Paste video links, or give it search keywords, UP主 (creator) IDs or the popular/ranking feed.
Click Start, then Export to Excel, CSV or JSON.

Example input: the danmaku of the top 10 search results for a keyword, plus a free summary per video:

{
  "searchQueries": ["原神"],
  "maxVideosPerSource": 10,
  "videoSummary": true
}

Each row is one bullet comment:

Field	Meaning
`time`	Playback position in seconds
`content`	The text
`mode`, `fontsize`, `color`	Scrolling / top / bottom, size, colour
`ctime`	When it was sent
`bvid`, `page`	Which video and part

Pricing: $1 per 1,000 danmaku, no subscription. The per-video summary rows are free.

Option 2: Python

git clone https://github.com/Dunkmap/Bilibili-Danmaku-Scraper
cd Bilibili-Danmaku-Scraper
pip install -e .
bili danmaku BV1xx411c7mD -o danmaku.csv

Find a video's highlight from danmaku

The quick way: the free summary row

With videoSummary: true, every video gets one extra free row before its danmaku, with:

count: how many danmaku
density: a 20-slice timeline of how busy each part of the video is
peak_time: the busiest moment, which is usually the highlight
top_phrases: the most repeated phrases
samples: a handful of distinct texts

So you can find the highlight of 100 videos without paying for a single danmaku row. Just read peak_time.

The DIY way: pandas

If you exported the full danmaku as CSV:

import pandas as pd

df = pd.read_csv("danmaku.csv")
df = df[df["content"].notna()]          # keep danmaku rows only

# danmaku per 30-second window
df["window"] = (df["time"] // 30) * 30
per_window = df.groupby("window").size()

peak = per_window.idxmax()
print(f"Highlight around {int(peak // 60)}:{int(peak % 60):02d}")

# what people were saying at the peak
at_peak = df[df["window"] == peak]["content"]
print(at_peak.value_counts().head(10))

per_window.plot(kind="bar", figsize=(12, 4), title="Danmaku per 30 s")

At the peak you'll typically see a burst of 前方高能, 名场面 or 哈哈哈.

Useful extras

Keyword filter (keywords): keep only danmaku containing certain words, for example a brand or product name. Filtering happens before charging, so you only pay for matches.
Sentiment analysis: label each danmaku positive, neutral or negative.
Delta mode: for scheduled monitoring, return only danmaku that are new since the last run.

Need comments, video stats or UP主 profiles too? Use the full Bilibili Scraper.

FAQ

What does danmaku mean? 弹幕 (danmaku) means "bullet curtain": comments that fly across a video at the moment they were posted.

What is the difference between danmaku and comments? Comments sit below the video. Danmaku are tied to a playback second and appear on top of the video.

Can I download Bilibili danmaku without an account? Yes. No login or cookie is needed.

Can I export danmaku to Excel? Yes. On Apify, click Export → Excel. Locally, use -o danmaku.csv.

How do I hide danmaku on Bilibili? Click the 弹 toggle under the video player. (You don't have to hide it to scrape it. 😉)

Have you used danmaku data for something interesting, like trailers, esports or music videos? Tell me in the comments! And if you try the Bilibili Danmaku Scraper, I'd love your feedback.

What Is Danmaku? How to Download Bilibili Bullet Comments and Find Any Video's Highlight

Divya Raj — Mon, 02 Nov 2026 18:46:15 +0000

In this post:

What danmaku actually is, and why it's useful data
How to download Bilibili bullet comments without a login (no code, or Python)
How to find any video's highlight moment from danmaku density

👉 Tool used: Bilibili Danmaku Scraper on Apify · Source on GitHub

What is danmaku (弹幕)?

Some you'll see everywhere:

Danmaku	Meaning
前方高能	"High energy ahead!" (something big is about to happen)
名场面	An iconic scene
awsl	"Too cute, I'm dying"
2333	Laughing (like "lol")
泪目	Tears in my eyes

Unlike normal comments, every danmaku has a timestamp. That makes it unusually good data:

Highlight detection: where danmaku spike, something happened.
Second-by-second audience reaction: for trailers, ads, product launches or game reveals.
Sentiment over time: when do viewers love it, and when do they complain?
Clip finding: creators use spikes to decide which moments to cut into shorts.

How to download Bilibili bullet comments (no login)

The Bilibili Danmaku Scraper merges both. On a 34-minute video that gave 5,416 danmaku rows without logging in.

Option 1: No code

Open the Bilibili Danmaku Scraper and click Try for free.
Paste video links, or give it search keywords, UP主 (creator) IDs or the popular/ranking feed.
Click Start, then Export to Excel, CSV or JSON.

Example input: the danmaku of the top 10 search results for a keyword, plus a free summary per video:

{
  "searchQueries": ["原神"],
  "maxVideosPerSource": 10,
  "videoSummary": true
}

Each row is one bullet comment:

Field	Meaning
`time`	Playback position in seconds
`content`	The text
`mode`, `fontsize`, `color`	Scrolling / top / bottom, size, colour
`ctime`	When it was sent
`bvid`, `page`	Which video and part

Pricing: $1 per 1,000 danmaku, no subscription. The per-video summary rows are free.

Option 2: Python

git clone https://github.com/Dunkmap/Bilibili-Danmaku-Scraper
cd Bilibili-Danmaku-Scraper
pip install -e .
bili danmaku BV1xx411c7mD -o danmaku.csv

Find a video's highlight from danmaku

The quick way: the free summary row

With videoSummary: true, every video gets one extra free row before its danmaku, with:

count: how many danmaku
density: a 20-slice timeline of how busy each part of the video is
peak_time: the busiest moment, which is usually the highlight
top_phrases: the most repeated phrases
samples: a handful of distinct texts

So you can find the highlight of 100 videos without paying for a single danmaku row. Just read peak_time.

The DIY way: pandas

If you exported the full danmaku as CSV:

import pandas as pd

df = pd.read_csv("danmaku.csv")
df = df[df["content"].notna()]          # keep danmaku rows only

# danmaku per 30-second window
df["window"] = (df["time"] // 30) * 30
per_window = df.groupby("window").size()

peak = per_window.idxmax()
print(f"Highlight around {int(peak // 60)}:{int(peak % 60):02d}")

# what people were saying at the peak
at_peak = df[df["window"] == peak]["content"]
print(at_peak.value_counts().head(10))

per_window.plot(kind="bar", figsize=(12, 4), title="Danmaku per 30 s")

At the peak you'll typically see a burst of 前方高能, 名场面 or 哈哈哈.

Useful extras

Keyword filter (keywords): keep only danmaku containing certain words, for example a brand or product name. Filtering happens before charging, so you only pay for matches.
Sentiment analysis: label each danmaku positive, neutral or negative.
Delta mode: for scheduled monitoring, return only danmaku that are new since the last run.

Need comments, video stats or UP主 profiles too? Use the full Bilibili Scraper.

FAQ

What does danmaku mean? 弹幕 (danmaku) means "bullet curtain": comments that fly across a video at the moment they were posted.

What is the difference between danmaku and comments? Comments sit below the video. Danmaku are tied to a playback second and appear on top of the video.

Can I download Bilibili danmaku without an account? Yes. No login or cookie is needed.

Can I export danmaku to Excel? Yes. On Apify, click Export → Excel. Locally, use -o danmaku.csv.

How do I hide danmaku on Bilibili? Click the 弹 toggle under the video player. (You don't have to hide it to scrape it. 😉)

Have you used danmaku data for something interesting, like trailers, esports or music videos? Tell me in the comments! And if you try the Bilibili Danmaku Scraper, I'd love your feedback.

How to Scrape Bilibili Comments, Danmaku and UP主 Data in Python (2026, No Login)

Divya Raj — Mon, 02 Nov 2026 18:39:02 +0000

Bilibili (哔哩哔哩, B站) is China's biggest video platform for anime, gaming, tech and lifestyle. Its comment sections and danmaku (弹幕, the bullet comments that fly across the video) are a goldmine for market research, sentiment analysis and influencer discovery.

The problem: Bilibili has no official public API for this data. Its web endpoints now need a w_rid / wts signature (WBI signing), they throw silent risk-control errors (-352, -412) and they rate-limit you. Most tutorials from before 2023 use old unsigned endpoints and simply don't work anymore.

In this post I'll show two ways to get the data without a Bilibili account:

No code: a ready-made Bilibili scraper on Apify, with a 1-click export to Excel.
Python: the same open-source library, run locally.

👉 Try it: Bilibili Scraper on Apify · Source on GitHub

What you can scrape

Data	What you get
Comments	Hot or newest first, with full nested reply threads. 23 fields per comment: user, likes, pinned, VIP, verified, "liked by uploader", IP location, reply count…
Danmaku (bullet comments)	Every bullet comment as its own row, with its playback time, colour, mode and send time
Videos	Views, likes, coins, favourites, shares, danmaku and reply counts, tags
UP主 (creators)	Name, bio, level, verified title, VIP, followers, following, video count, total likes
Creator uploads	Every video a creator uploaded, sorted by date, views or favourites
Search & trending	Keyword search (sort by views, date, danmaku…), the popular feed and the top-100 ranking
Subtitles / transcripts	Including AI captions. This is the one thing that needs a login cookie

Option 1: No code (Apify)

Open Bilibili Scraper and click Try for free. A free Apify account includes monthly credit.
Pick What to scrape: videos, comments, danmaku, subtitles or users.
Give it a source: paste video links, space.bilibili.com/... creator links or search links, or just type keywords such as 原神.
Click Start, then Export to Excel, CSV or JSON (or send it straight to Google Sheets).

Example: the comments, with replies, on the top 20 search results for a keyword:

{
  "mode": "comments",
  "searchQueries": ["原神"],
  "maxVideosPerSource": 20,
  "maxCommentsPerVideo": 200,
  "includeReplies": true
}

Scraping UP主 (creator) profiles

Set mode to users and pass creator IDs (the number in space.bilibili.com/<UID>):

{
  "mode": "users",
  "userIds": ["2", "546195"]
}

Each row has name, sign (bio), level, verified, vip, followers, following, videos, likes and the profile url. To get a creator's videos instead, use mode: "videos" with the same userIds.

Pricing: pay per result, no subscription. $0.005 per comment, video or creator profile and $0.001 per danmaku, so 1,000 comments cost about $5.

Option 2: Python

The scraper is open source (MIT):

git clone https://github.com/Dunkmap/Bilibili-Scraper
cd Bilibili-Scraper
pip install -e .

From the command line:

bili comments BV1xx411c7mD --replies -o comments.csv
bili danmaku BV1xx411c7mD -o danmaku.csv
bili user 2                                   # UP主 profile
bili uploads 2 --order click --limit 100 -o uploads.csv
bili search "原神" --order click --limit 200 -o search.csv

Or as a library:

import asyncio
from bilibili_scraper import Scraper

async def main():
    async with Scraper(rate=4) as s:
        video = await s.video("BV1xx411c7mD")
        async for c in s.comments(video["bvid"], limit=500, replies=True):
            print(c["uname"], c["content"])

        creator = await s.user(video["owner_mid"])
        print(creator["name"], creator["followers"])

        async for v in s.user_videos(video["owner_mid"], order="click", limit=20):
            print(v["title"], v["views"])

asyncio.run(main())

How it handles w_rid signing and risk control

WBI signing: fetches img_key / sub_key, generates w_rid and wts, caches the keys and refreshes them when Bilibili rejects a signature (-352).
Silent risk control: Bilibili sometimes answers code: 0 with only a v_voucher and no data. The scraper detects this and retries instead of treating it as an empty page.
Device cookies: generates a buvid itself, so no account is needed.
Rate limits: jittered delays and backoff retries on -412. The cloud version also switches to a proxy when it gets blocked.

Extras

Sentiment analysis: label every comment and danmaku positive, neutral or negative, using your own free Groq API key.
Delta mode: scheduled runs return only items that are new since the last run, which is handy for brand monitoring.
Danmaku-only version: if you only need bullet comments, the Bilibili Danmaku Scraper adds a keyword filter and a free per-video "highlight" timeline.

FAQ

Is there an official Bilibili API? No public one for comments or danmaku. This project uses the same web endpoints bilibili.com uses and handles their signing for you.

Can I read Bilibili comments without an account? Yes. Comments, danmaku, videos, search, creators and trending all work logged out. Only subtitles need a cookie.

How do I generate w_rid? You don't have to. The scraper signs every request itself.

Can I export Bilibili comments to Excel? Yes. On Apify, click Export → Excel. Locally, use -o comments.csv.

Is this legal? It reads public data the same way the bilibili.com website does. Respect Bilibili's terms, keep the request rate reasonable, and don't republish personal data.

If this helped, try the Bilibili Scraper or ⭐ the GitHub repo. Questions and feature requests are welcome in the comments!

DEV Community: Divya Raj

Bilibili API in 2026: Is There an Official API? 5 Ways to Get Bilibili Data (Compared)

Is there an official Bilibili API?

Is there a Bilibili API key or documentation?

Why does the Bilibili API return -352 or -412?

How do you get the w_rid parameter?

5 ways to get Bilibili data (compared)

What data can you get without a login?

Bilibili API in Python: a working example

No-code: the Bilibili API as a hosted tool

FAQ

What Is Danmaku? How to Download Bilibili Bullet Comments and Find Any Video's Highlight Of Bilibili

What is danmaku (弹幕)?

How to download Bilibili bullet comments (no login)

Option 1: No code

Option 2: Python

Find a video's highlight from danmaku

The quick way: the free summary row

The DIY way: pandas

Useful extras

FAQ

What Is Danmaku? How to Download Bilibili Bullet Comments and Find Any Video's Highlight

What is danmaku (弹幕)?

How to download Bilibili bullet comments (no login)

Option 1: No code

Option 2: Python

Find a video's highlight from danmaku

The quick way: the free summary row

The DIY way: pandas

Useful extras

FAQ

How to Scrape Bilibili Comments, Danmaku and UP主 Data in Python (2026, No Login)

What you can scrape

Option 1: No code (Apify)

Scraping UP主 (creator) profiles

Option 2: Python

How it handles w_rid signing and risk control

Extras

FAQ

How do you get the `w_rid` parameter?