Is there an official TikTok API?

Several. The Display API shows a signed-in user's own profile and Videos, the Research API serves non-commercial academic and not-for-profit research, the Commercial Content API returns Ads shown in the EU, and the API for Business manages your own ad accounts. None of them gives a brand or agency other accounts' Videos for marketing.

Is it legal to scrape TikTok?

This is not legal advice. TikTok's terms forbid scraping and automated access without written approval, and whether collecting public data is lawful depends on your country, the data and its use. Personal data protection law can apply even to public posts. Ask a lawyer before you build a scraper for a business.

Can the TikTok API read another account's Videos?

The Display API reads only accounts that sign in to your app and grant access. The Research API reads public accounts, but only for approved non-commercial research.

How can Claude or ChatGPT read TikTok?

Connect an MCP server that reads TikTok. With ShortsIntel connected, the Assistant can search Videos, look up Creators, Hashtags, Sounds and Keywords, score Videos, get a Video's analysis and search the TikTok Ad Library, then answer from that data.

Data access

TikTok API vs scraping: which one your AI agent needs

By Jackson Gathondu. Published 1 November 2026. Updated 1 November 2026.

There is no single TikTok API. TikTok runs several official APIs, each built for one narrow purpose, and none of them lets a brand or agency read a competitor's Videos for marketing. That gap is why people search for a TikTok scraper.

This guide covers what each official TikTok API returns and who can use it as of November 2026, what running your own scraper involves, and how an MCP server or data API compares when the goal is an Assistant such as Claude or ChatGPT that reads TikTok for you.

TikTok's official APIs

Checked against TikTok's developer pages on 1 November 2026. TikTok changes access rules, so read the current docs before you build on one.

Sources: TikTok for Developers (Display API overview, updated 4 August 2026; Display API get started, 19 August 2026; Research API product page and FAQ, 1 September 2026; Commercial Content API, 27 August 2026) and TikTok Ads Help (About API for Business). Checked 2026-11-01.
Official API	What it returns	Who can use it
Display API	A user's basic profile (display name, avatar, bio) and metadata for their recently posted public Videos.	Any approved developer app, but only for TikTok users who sign in through Login Kit and grant the user.info.basic and video.list scopes. It reads the accounts that authorised your app, not other accounts.
Research API	Public Videos, comments and accounts, including follower and following lists, and liked, pinned and reposted Videos.	Academic researchers in the US, EEA, UK, Canada and Switzerland, not-for-profit research bodies in the EU (with a beta in a few other countries), and Brazilian academic or not-for-profit groups studying youth safety. Applicants must be independent of commercial interests and the research must be non-commercial.
Commercial Content API	Ads by Advertiser name or keyword, with first and last shown dates, targeting, reach and Advertiser details.	The public and researchers, after an approved application. The current phase covers Ads shown in EU countries only.
API for Business (Marketing API)	Campaign management and reporting for your own TikTok Ads Manager accounts.	Advertisers and their partners, for the ad accounts that authorise the app. It does not read other brands' Ads or organic Videos.

The TikTok Research API, and why marketers cannot use it

The Research API is the official API with the most public data in it, which is why it comes up in every search for TikTok data. It is also the one most marketers cannot get. TikTok limits it to academic and not-for-profit researchers who are independent of commercial interests, working on non-commercial projects. Applicants disclose their funding, submit a research proposal and show an ethical review. A brand, an agency or a marketing tool does not qualify.

For approved researchers, the TikTok FAQ (updated 1 September 2026) sets a quota of 1,000 requests and 100,000 records a day across the Research APIs, with 100 records per request. Video search runs on archived data: new Videos can take up to 48 hours to appear, and view and follower counts can take up to 10 days to update.

That lag makes it a poor fit for tracking which hooks are working this week, even for teams that qualify.

What a TikTok scraper involves

A TikTok scraper is code that loads public TikTok pages or the requests behind them and pulls out Videos, captions, counts and profiles. It reaches what a logged-out visitor can see, which covers most of what a marketer wants: a competitor's recent Videos, a Hashtag's top posts, search results for a Keyword.

Keeping it running is the main cost. TikTok signs its web requests, changes them often and blocks traffic it sees as automated, so a working scraper needs request signing, rotating proxies, retries and someone to fix it when a page changes. It also returns raw metadata. To learn what a Video's hook was or what its on-screen text said, you still have to download the Video and analyse it yourself.

Good fit: one narrow, high-volume dataset, an engineer to maintain it, and a budget where per-call pricing would cost more than that engineer's time.
Poor fit: a marketing team that wants answers in Claude or ChatGPT this week, across several Platforms, without running servers.

Note

Is scraping TikTok legal?

This is not legal advice. TikTok's US Terms of Service (updated 15 July 2026) say users may not scrape, crawl or otherwise extract data from the platform, or use automated systems except as approved in writing. Breaking a platform's terms is a contract question, which is separate from whether collecting the data is legal at all.
Whether scraping public data is lawful depends on your country, what you collect and how you use it. US courts have held that reading public, logged-out pages is not hacking under federal law, but contract and privacy claims are separate questions. In the EU and UK, personal data stays personal data under data protection law even when it is public. Logging in, getting past access controls or collecting personal details about private individuals carries more risk. Ask a lawyer before you build a scraper for a business.
ShortsIntel reads only public data that a logged-out visitor can see. It never logs in to TikTok accounts and never touches your ad accounts.

Official API, scraper or MCP server for TikTok

Question	Official TikTok API	Scraper you run	MCP server or data API
Can it read competitors' Videos?	No, unless you qualify for the Research API.	Yes, whatever is public.	Yes, whatever is public and the service covers.
Can it read competitors' Ads?	Commercial Content API, EU Ads only.	Yes, from the public Ad Library, if you build it.	Depends on the service. ShortsIntel reads the public TikTok Ad Library.
How fresh is the data?	Research API: archived, up to 48 hours for new Videos and 10 days for counts.	Live when it works.	Live at the time of the call.
Setup	Developer app, review and scopes. Research API needs an approved project.	Code, request signing, proxies and a server.	Add one server to your Assistant, or one API key to your code.
Upkeep	Low, until access rules change.	High: TikTok changes pages and blocks traffic.	The service fixes breakages.
Cost	Free within quota.	Your time, proxy traffic and hosting.	Per call.
Analysis of the Video itself	No. You get metadata.	No, unless you build it.	Depends on the service. ShortsIntel returns hook, format, on-screen text, call to action and transcript.
Works in Claude or ChatGPT	Only if someone wraps it as a tool.	Only if someone wraps it as a tool.	Yes, as a connector.

What an MCP server does on TikTok

An MCP server publishes tools that an Assistant calls on its own while it answers you. With ShortsIntel connected, you ask in plain language and the Assistant picks the calls: search TikTok Videos for a Keyword, look up a Creator and their usual views, score a Video against that baseline, read a Hashtag or Sound, get an analysis of what the Video does in its first seconds, or search the TikTok Ad Library.

Developers get the same data over a REST API with a key. The TikTok MCP page lists every TikTok tool and its price, and the data access hub compares the same three routes across Instagram, YouTube, Facebook and the ad libraries.

Data limits

TikTok data limits

The TikTok Ad Library covers Ads shown in the EU/EEA, the UK, Switzerland and Turkey only. Ads that ran only in the US or other markets are not in it.
TikTok Ad search takes no country filter and none of the Meta Ad Library filters (status, kind, media type), and it has no Ad analysis.
Scores cover Videos posted in the last 30 days. Older Videos come back with no Score and the reason aged_out.
Hashtag, Keyword and Sound view and engagement stats come from a sample of top Videos, not TikTok's own totals.
Refreshing a Research is TikTok only. Sounds are TikTok only, and so is the score_video tool; Creator lookups return Scores on other Platforms too.

What the data looks like

Two real calls on our own account, trimmed to fit. They were made over the REST API; the MCP tools named under each one return the same fields to your Assistant. TikTok's official APIs do not return either of these for another brand's account unless you qualify for the Research API.

TikTok, via REST API

Look up Duolingo on TikTok with its recent Videos, and tell me which ones beat its usual views.

{
  "run": { "kind": "creator_lookup", "status": "completed", "charge_credits": 6 },
  "result": {
    "platform": "tiktok",
    "handle": "duolingo",
    "verified": true,
    "follower_count": 18375906,
    "total_likes": 508558377,
    "video_count": 1157,
    "baseline": {
      "sample": 19,
      "median_views": 757600,
      "p90_views": 2080000,
      "posts_per_week": 6.25,
      "engagement_rate": 0.1596,
      "confidence": "high"
    },
    "videos": [
      {
        "description": "the capital of italy is what??",
        "posted_at": "2026-10-29T19:54:50.000Z",
        "duration_seconds": 7,
        "snapshot": { "views": 2000000, "likes": 210200, "comments": 4420, "shares": 36000, "saves": 26640 },
        "scores": {
          "outlier": 2.71,
          "outlier_p90": 0.98,
          "percentile": 88.89,
          "velocity": { "window": "lifetime", "views_per_hour": 28489.49 }
        }
      },
      {
        "description": "scary how good these fits are",
        "posted_at": "2026-10-29T16:02:45.000Z",
        "duration_seconds": 5,
        "snapshot": { "views": 1000000, "likes": 146400, "comments": 1567, "shares": 51300, "saves": 8452 },
        "scores": {
          "outlier": 1.36,
          "outlier_p90": 0.47,
          "percentile": 66.67,
          "velocity": { "window": "lifetime", "views_per_hour": 13500.85 }
        }
      }
    ]
  }
}
(19 Videos returned; 2 shown, with ids, URLs, Sounds and per-Video baselines trimmed)

Captured 1 November 2026. Tools used: get_creator, GET /v1/creators/tiktok/{handle}. Output trimmed; live results change.

TikTok, via REST API

What do TikTok Videos for protein powder get in views?

{
  "run": { "kind": "keyword_lookup", "status": "completed", "charge_credits": 3 },
  "result": {
    "phrase": "protein powder",
    "platform": "tiktok",
    "stats": {
      "sampled_videos": 12,
      "views_total": 2371310,
      "views_median": 145060,
      "views_max": 546143,
      "likes_total": 120976,
      "comments_total": 1300,
      "engagement_rate": 0.0774
    },
    "trend": { "since": null, "direction": null, "change_ratio": null },
    "top_videos": [ ... ]
  }
}
(10 top Videos returned and trimmed; trend is null on a first lookup because it needs an earlier snapshot to compare against)

Captured 1 November 2026. Tools used: get_keyword, GET /v1/keywords/{platform}. Output trimmed; live results change.

What it costs

ShortsIntel has no subscription. Each call that does work is a Run, paid from a prepaid Balance of Credits at 1,000 credits per US dollar. New accounts get 1,000 credits free, valid for 90 days. A Run that fails costs nothing, and a partial one is charged only for what finished.

On TikTok, a Creator lookup with recent Videos costs 6 credits, a Keyword lookup 3 credits, a Video lookup 3 credits, a Video's analysis 23 credits, a Score 9 credits and a page of TikTok Ad search 3 credits. Every paid call can quote its price first. The full list is on the pricing page.

Connect your Assistant

The MCP server address is https://www.shortsintel.com/api/mcp, the same for every Assistant. None of them needs an API key: you sign in to ShortsIntel and choose which organization pays. Developers can call the same data over REST with a key from the developer page.

Claude.ai

Web and desktop. No API key: Claude signs in to ShortsIntel for you.

Open Claude's add connector page with ShortsIntel filled in, and choose Add. Or go to Settings, Connectors, Add custom connector, and paste the endpoint below.
```
https://www.shortsintel.com/api/mcp
```
Sign in to ShortsIntel, approve the connection and choose the organization whose Balance pays for Runs.
In a chat, turn the ShortsIntel connector on and ask your question.

ChatGPT

Web and desktop, in Developer mode. No API key: ChatGPT signs in over OAuth.

Open ChatGPT's connector settings and switch Developer mode on.
Create a connector named ShortsIntel, paste the endpoint and choose OAuth.
```
https://www.shortsintel.com/api/mcp
```
Sign in to ShortsIntel and choose your organization.
In a new chat, choose the + next to the message box, then Developer mode, and turn ShortsIntel on.

Claude Code

One command, then sign in from Claude Code.

Add the server in your terminal.

claude mcp add --transport http --scope user shortsintel https://www.shortsintel.com/api/mcp

Run /mcp inside Claude Code, choose shortsintel and sign in.

Codex

One command; Codex signs in on first use.