I built LurkAPI: public social media data as JSON from one GET request

I built LurkAPI, a social media data API. You send one GET request and get clean JSON from public pages: posts, profiles, comments, video transcripts, and the ads in Meta's, Google's, TikTok's and LinkedIn's ad libraries. It covers 16 platforms with 88 endpoints, and the same endpoints are an MCP server for AI apps.

One request

curl "https://api.lurkapi.com/v1/tiktok/profile?handle=nike" \
  -H "x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY"

The answer, trimmed to a few fields:

{
  "success": true,
  "credits_remaining": 99985,
  "credits_charged": 1,
  "user": {
    "uniqueId": "nike",
    "nickname": "Nike",
    "signature": "Just Do It.",
    "verified": true
  },
  "stats": {
    "followerCount": 9253124,
    "heartCount": 49280939,
    "videoCount": 1089
  }
}

Every answer has the same envelope: success, credits_charged, credits_remaining, then the data. Errors carry a code and a link to the docs.

The same endpoints as an MCP server

Add https://api.lurkapi.com/mcp to Claude, Cursor, VS Code, Claude Code or Codex (ChatGPT takes https://api.lurkapi.com/mcp?compact, which has two tools instead of one per endpoint). You sign in through the browser, so there's no key to paste. Then ask in plain English: "What ads is Allbirds running on Facebook right now?"

What I cared about

• Speed. Each request does the minimum: check the key, fetch, answer. It averages about a second.
• Price. Most calls cost 1 credit. Packs start at $9 for 10,000 credits, credits never expire, and there's no subscription. Calls with bad parameters, rate-limited calls and 5xx errors are free.
• Switching. 69 ScrapeCreators endpoints answer at the same path here, with the same x-api-key header, so moving is a change of base URL and key.
• Docs. Every endpoint page has curl, Node.js, Python, Go, PHP and Ruby, a real captured response and a live playground. There's an OpenAPI 3.1 spec and llms.txt too.

It reads public data only: it never logs in to anyone's account and can't post or message anyone.

New accounts get 100 free credits with no card, and a balance under 25 tops back up to 25 every day.

• Site: https://lurkapi.com
• Docs: https://lurkapi.com/docs

I'd like to hear what's missing, or what breaks when you try it.