# How do I get a Douyin user's sec_uid from a profile link?

> What Douyin's sec_uid is, why API calls need it instead of the Douyin number, and how to get it from a profile link, a share link or any of the user's videos.

Canonical page: https://okdata.online/answers/douyin-sec-uid/

**Short answer: **Send the profile link or a v.douyin.com share link to the okdata Douyin account profile endpoint; the id it returns is the sec_uid, along with followers, likes and video count, for $0.002. Any video or search result from that user also carries the sec_uid as author.id, so you often have it already.

Douyin knows each account by several identifiers. The Douyin number (抖音号) on the profile is the one people see and can change. The numeric `uid` is internal. The `sec_uid`, a long string starting with `MS4wLjABAAAA`, is what Douyin's web and app APIs use to fetch a profile or its videos, and it is what most tools ask for. Scrapers fail with "failed to extract sec_user_id" when a link format changes or a short link does not redirect the way they expect. The quickest way to get it is a profile lookup from any link to the account.

## Three ways to get it

1. **From a profile link.** Call [Douyin account profile](/apis/douyin/users/get/) with `url=https://www.douyin.com/user/MS4w...` (the sec_uid is already in the path) or with a v.douyin.com share link copied from the app's profile share button. The response `id` is the sec_uid.
2. **From one of their videos.** [Video detail](/apis/douyin/videos/get/) returns `author.id`, which is the author's sec_uid. Useful when all you have is a video link.
3. **From search.** Every [video search](/apis/douyin/videos/search/) result includes `author.id` as well.

## What you do with it

[Account videos](/apis/douyin/users/videos/list/) requires the sec_uid as `id`. So does calling the profile again later without a link.

| Step | Calls | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Profile link to sec_uid and stats | 1 | $0.002 |
| Then the latest 20 videos | 1 | $0.002 |
| 100 accounts, both steps | 200 | $0.40 |

## Example

```bash
curl -G "https://api.okdata.online/v1/douyin/users/get" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $OKDATA_API_KEY" \
  --data-urlencode 'url=https://v.douyin.com/iAbCdEf/' \
  --data-urlencode 'fields=id,name,username,followers,posts'
```

`id` is the sec_uid, `username` the Douyin number shown in the app.

## Limits

- There is no lookup by Douyin number or nickname in this catalog. If that is all you have, open the profile in the app and use its share link, or find one of their videos.
- Converting a sec_uid to the numeric uid is not offered as a separate call; with `view=full` the profile response includes `ext.uid` when Douyin provides it.
- Banned or deleted accounts return `not_found`, which is free.

## Alternatives

For one account, open it in a browser: the sec_uid is in the address bar after `/user/`. Open-source tools like TikTokDownloader extract it from links locally and are fine when they keep up with link formats. For tracking many accounts, see [creator discovery](/solutions/creator-discovery/).

## Endpoints used

- [Douyin account profile](https://okdata.online/apis/douyin/users/get/) `douyin.users.get`: $0.002 per call
- [Douyin account videos](https://okdata.online/apis/douyin/users/videos/list/) `douyin.users.videos.list`: $0.002 per call · about 20 videos per page
- [Douyin video detail](https://okdata.online/apis/douyin/videos/get/) `douyin.videos.get`: $0.002 per call

Updated 2026-11-12