# How to get every video a WeChat Channels account has posted

> Find a WeChat Channels account by name, read its profile, then page through its videos with likes, comments, shares and saves: the account ID, the parameters, Python and cost.

Canonical page: https://okdata.online/guides/wechat-channels-user-videos/

Three endpoints, in this order: WeChat Channels account search (name to the v2_…@finder account ID), account profile, then account videos page by page. The worked example below is 6 calls and costs $0.12; a failed call is not charged.

Updated 2026-11-12

The job: one WeChat Channels (视频号) account matters to you, maybe a competitor, maybe a creator you are thinking of paying, and you want its videos in a sheet. For each video you get the description, the time it went up, likes, comments, shares and saves, and its length. The profile adds what WeChat shows on the account page: name, signature, number of videos, IP location and the Official Account linked to it.

Before you start, know which ID you need. The 视频号 ID that the app and 视频号助手 display starts with `sph` and is short. The endpoints here do not take it. They take the account ID WeChat uses internally, a long string that starts with `v2_` and ends with `@finder`, for example `v2_060000231003b20faec8c353a18ebca650858991e19fab55aa5e12f6d5010f5e0eeaaafc3520@finder`. None of the endpoints turns the first into the second, so you find the account by name (step 1) or read `author.id` from one of its videos.

## Step by step

### Step 1: find the account ID

Call [WeChat Channels account search](https://okdata.online/apis/wechat_channels/users/search/) with the account's name as `query`. The search runs through WeChat Search, which usually returns just the one account whose name matches best, for $0.02. You get `id` (the `v2_…@finder` ID), `name`, `bio`, `avatar_url` and `verified`; with `view=full`, `ext.verified_by` names who verified it, which helps when several accounts share a name.

```bash
curl -G "https://api.okdata.online/v1/wechat_channels/users/search" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $OKDATA_API_KEY" \
  --data-urlencode 'query=新华社' \
  --data-urlencode 'view=full'
```

If you already have a share link to one of the account's videos, you can skip the search: [WeChat Channels video detail](https://okdata.online/apis/wechat_channels/videos/get/) returns the account ID in `author.id`.

### Step 2: read the profile

Pass the ID to [WeChat Channels account profile](https://okdata.online/apis/wechat_channels/users/get/) ($0.02). It returns `name`, `bio` (the signature), `avatar_url`, `verified` and `posts`, the number of videos. With `view=full`, `ext` adds `ip_location`, `verified_reason`, `live_hours` (total hours live) and `linked_accounts`, such as the Official Account tied to it. `posts` tells you how deep the list goes: divide by 15 for the number of pages.

```bash
curl -G "https://api.okdata.online/v1/wechat_channels/users/get" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $OKDATA_API_KEY" \
  --data-urlencode 'id=v2_060000231003b20faec8c353a18ebca650858991e19fab55aa5e12f6d5010f5e0eeaaafc3520@finder' \
  --data-urlencode 'view=full'
```

`followers` and `likes` are often null. WeChat hides them on many accounts, large media accounts among them, and `meta.unavailable` then marks them `platform`.

### Step 3: page through the videos

[WeChat Channels account videos](https://okdata.online/apis/wechat_channels/users/videos/list/) takes the same `id` and returns the account's videos newest first, about 15 a page, for $0.02 per page. Each video has a numeric `id`, `text`, `published_at` and `metrics.likes`, `metrics.comments`, `metrics.shares` and `metrics.favorites`. With `view=full` you also get `ext.duration_s` and `ext.location`.

```bash
curl -G "https://api.okdata.online/v1/wechat_channels/users/videos/list" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $OKDATA_API_KEY" \
  --data-urlencode 'id=v2_060000231003b20faec8c353a18ebca650858991e19fab55aa5e12f6d5010f5e0eeaaafc3520@finder' \
  --data-urlencode 'view=full'
```

The video's `url` is not a page you can open. WeChat gives Channels videos no web page, so `url` is the video file itself, and that file is encrypted. The key to decrypt it is in `ext.decode_key` of the same answer (with `view=full`). For counting and comparing you never need the file.

For the next page, send `page.next_cursor` back as `cursor`, unchanged. On big accounts the list can run to thousands of videos, so decide in advance where to stop: a page count, or a date.

### Step 4: put it together in Python

The script finds the account, prints the profile and writes videos to a CSV until it has read `MAX_PAGES` pages or reaches a page where every video is older than `SINCE`.

```python
import csv
import os
import requests

API = "https://api.okdata.online"
HEADERS = {"Authorization": f"Bearer {os.environ['OKDATA_API_KEY']}"}
NAME = "新华社"
MAX_PAGES = 4                     # each page is one call, about 15 videos
SINCE = "2026-09-01T00:00:00Z"    # ignore videos older than this


def get(path, **params):
    body = requests.get(API + path, headers=HEADERS, params=params, timeout=60).json()
    if body["code"] != "ok":
        raise RuntimeError(f"{body['code']}: {body['message']} (charged: {body['charged']})")
    return body


found = get("/v1/wechat_channels/users/search", query=NAME)["data"]["items"]
if not found:
    raise SystemExit(f"No Channels account found for {NAME}")
account_id = found[0]["id"]

profile = get("/v1/wechat_channels/users/get", id=account_id, view="full")["data"]["item"]
print(profile["name"], "|", profile["posts"], "videos | followers:", profile["followers"])

with open("channels_videos.csv", "w", newline="", encoding="utf-8-sig") as f:
    out = csv.writer(f)
    out.writerow(["video_id", "published_at", "text", "likes", "comments", "shares", "favorites", "duration_s"])
    cursor = None
    for _ in range(MAX_PAGES):
        params = {"id": account_id, "view": "full", **({"cursor": cursor} if cursor else {})}
        body = get("/v1/wechat_channels/users/videos/list", **params)
        items = body["data"]["items"]
        for v in items:
            if v["published_at"] >= SINCE:
                m = v["metrics"]
                out.writerow([v["id"], v["published_at"], v["text"], m["likes"], m["comments"],
                              m["shares"], m["favorites"], v["ext"].get("duration_s")])
        if not items or all(v["published_at"] < SINCE for v in items) or not body["page"]["has_more"]:
            break
        cursor = body["page"]["next_cursor"]
```

Four pages is the worked example above. Twenty pages, about 300 videos, would be $0.40 for the list alone.

## Good to know

- **Two IDs.** `sph…` is the display ID; `v2_…@finder` is the one the endpoints take. Keep the `v2_` ID once you have it, so later runs skip the search.
- **Look-alike names.** Search matches on the name, so when a fan account or a namesake could come up first, check `ext.verified_by` and `bio` before going on.
- **The end of the list.** On large accounts, `page.has_more` can stay `true` until a page comes back with no videos. Treat an empty page as the end too, as the script does.
- **No play counts.** WeChat does not show plays for Channels videos, so `metrics.views` is null.
- **Hidden counts.** Null `followers` or `likes` mean WeChat did not show them, not that they are zero.
- **Live streams.** Replays of an account's live streams are a separate list: [WeChat Channels live replays](https://okdata.online/apis/wechat_channels/users/live_replays/list/).
- **Retries and missing accounts.** Send an `Idempotency-Key` header: the same request with the same key within 24 hours returns the stored answer with `meta.replayed: true` and no new charge. An ID that matches no account answers `not_found`, which is free.

For what people say under those videos, pass a video `id` to [WeChat Channels video comments](https://okdata.online/apis/wechat_channels/videos/comments/list/). For tracking several accounts every week, see [competitor monitoring](https://okdata.online/solutions/competitor-monitoring/).

## What the example costs

Find the account 新华社 by name, read its profile, then the 4 newest pages of its videos (about 60 videos)

| Endpoint | Calls | Price | Subtotal |
|---|---|---|---|
| [WeChat Channels account search](https://okdata.online/apis/wechat_channels/users/search/) | 1 | $0.02 | $0.02 |
| [WeChat Channels account profile](https://okdata.online/apis/wechat_channels/users/get/) | 1 | $0.02 | $0.02 |
| [WeChat Channels account videos](https://okdata.online/apis/wechat_channels/users/videos/list/) | 4 | $0.02 | $0.08 |
| Total | 6 |  | $0.12 |

Prices in force when this page was built. A failed call costs nothing.

## In your AI (MCP)

Connect the MCP server once, then say what you want. The agent finds these endpoints, reads their prices and calls them on your balance.

Say: Find the WeChat Channels account 新华社, show me its profile, then list its newest 60 or so videos in a table: date, description, likes, comments, shares, saves and length.

```json
{
  "endpoint": "wechat_channels.users.search",
  "params": {
    "query": "央视新闻"
  },
  "idempotency_key": "<a new UUID>"
}
```

MCP: `https://api.okdata.online/mcp`

## Endpoints in this guide

- [WeChat Channels account search](https://okdata.online/apis/wechat_channels/users/search/) `wechat_channels.users.search`: $0.02 per call · about 1 accounts per page
- [WeChat Channels account profile](https://okdata.online/apis/wechat_channels/users/get/) `wechat_channels.users.get`: $0.02 per call
- [WeChat Channels account videos](https://okdata.online/apis/wechat_channels/users/videos/list/) `wechat_channels.users.videos.list`: $0.02 per call · about 15 videos per page

## More about WeChat Channels

- [WeChat Channels API](https://okdata.online/apis/wechat_channels/)
- [WeChat Channels API in Python: videos and comments (2026)](https://okdata.online/guides/wechat-channels-api-python/)
- [How to export WeChat Channels video comments and replies](https://okdata.online/guides/wechat-channels-video-comments/)
- [What is a WeChat Channels account ID (v2_…@finder), and why doesn't the sph ID work?](https://okdata.online/answers/wechat-channels-finder-id/)
- [Profile API](https://okdata.online/roles/accounts-get/)
- [Account posts API](https://okdata.online/roles/accounts-posts-list/)
- [Account search API](https://okdata.online/roles/accounts-search/)