Zhihu Hot list API

POST

API health

24h health: Normal
24h average time: —

Healthy / normal
Available
Limited
Mostly down

Normal

Last 24 hours

Last 30 days

Take Zhihu's hot list in one call, up to 30 questions. Each has rank, title, excerpt, heat value as a whole number, answer count, number of followers, comment count and cover image. Heat compares only within the list. Pass a question's link to question_answers to read its answers.

Price $0.81 per 1,000 requests ($0.000806 per call). Failed calls and empty results are not charged. Synchronous. For slow jobs add "mode": "async" to the body, take the job_id and poll.

AI prompt

Please help me write a data collection script with the EveryInfra Zhihu Hot list endpoint (zhihu/hot_list).

How the endpoint works:
- Request: POST https://api.everyinfra.com/api/v1/social with the header Authorization: Bearer <API key>. Read the key from the EVERYINFRA_API_KEY environment variable and never hard-code it.
- In the request body, set platform to zhihu and action to hot_list, and put the parameters inside params.
- No required parameters.
- Optional parameters:
  - limit: The most rows to return in this call, an integer from 1 to 30. The default applies when you leave it out, and a call can return fewer rows. Larger values are accepted and capped at the maximum. (default: 30)
- Returns a list of records. Main fields of each record: rank (Hot-list position from 1 (hot_list), in…), id, type, title, text, url, hot_value (Heat shown on the hot list (hot_list),…), answer_count (Answer count: on profile, the answers t…), follower_count (Followers: on hot_list, people followin…), comment_count, posted_at, cover_image_url (Cover image URL).
- Example request body:
{
  "platform": "zhihu",
  "action": "hot_list",
  "params": {}
}
- Price: $0.81 per 1,000 requests; failed and empty results are not charged.
- For dozens or hundreds of targets, add "mode": "async" to the body: you get a job_id at once and poll GET https://api.everyinfra.com/api/v1/jobs/{job_id} for the result.
- On 422, fix the request using the suggested parameter names and allowed values in the error; on 429 or 503, wait for Retry-After and try again.

Before writing code, ask me which targets I need, how many, which fields, and what output format I want; then confirm the plan and the rough cost with me.

Request parameters

Name	In	Type	Required	Default	Description
`Authorization`	header	`string`	Yes	-	Bearer followed by your API key. Create it in the console; never put it in a URL or a code repository.
`platform`	body	`string`	Yes	`zhihu`	Platform identifier, fixed value.
`action`	body	`string`	Yes	`hot_list`	Capability identifier, fixed value.
`limit`	body.params	`integer (1–30)`	No	`30`	The most rows to return in this call, an integer from 1 to 30. The default applies when you leave it out, and a call can return fewer rows. Larger values are accepted and capped at the maximum.

Code samples

bash

curl -X POST 'https://api.everyinfra.com/api/v1/social' \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $EVERYINFRA_API_KEY" \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --data-raw '{
  "platform": "zhihu",
  "action": "hot_list",
  "params": {}
}'

OpenAPI definition (JSON)Samples read the key from the EVERYINFRA_API_KEY environment variable; copied code never contains your key.

Response example

Field preview

No sample response is available for these parameters yet. This preview shows the response shape and fields from the API definition, with … as placeholders; it is not the result of a live call.

json

{
  "id": "req_…",
  "platform": "zhihu",
  "action": "hot_list",
  "results": [
    {
      "rank": …,
      "id": …,
      "type": …,
      "title": …,
      "text": …,
      "url": …,
      "hot_value": …,
      "answer_count": …,
      "follower_count": …,
      "comment_count": …,
      "posted_at": …,
      "cover_image_url": …,
      "platform": …
    }
  ],
  "count": …,
  "billing": {
    "charged": …,
    "charged_usd": …,
    "balance_after_usd": …,
    …
  },
  "quota": { … }
}

Response fields

Business data is in results. The table lists the fields a record can contain; values the platform does not show are never made up.

Field	Meaning
`rank`	Hot-list position from 1 (hot_list), in Zhihu's order.
`id`	The record's unique ID on the platform. Unique only within one platform; IDs can repeat across platforms.
`type`	Record type; values depend on the capability (for example video / image / text).
`title`	Title. null when the platform has no titles (for example text-only posts).
`text`	Body text with HTML removed, returned in full and never cut short (on a few platforms the list results themselves carry only an excerpt; the platform's field notes say so).
`url`	Link to the record on the platform.
`hot_value`	Heat shown on the hot list (hot_list), converted from text such as 5.97 million heat to the whole number 5970000; compare it only within the list.
`answer_count`	Answer count: on profile, the answers the author has written; on hot_list, the answers under the question.
`follower_count`	Followers: on hot_list, people following the question; on user_search, the user's followers; on column_search, people following the column.
`comment_count`	Comments. null means not disclosed, not 0.
`posted_at`	Publish time in ISO 8601, UTC (for example 2026-08-07T12:34:56+00:00). Non-standard strings from the platform are passed through as is, so parse defensively. null means the platform does not disclose it.
`cover_image_url`	Cover image URL.
`platform`	Source platform identifier, the same as platform in the request (for example xiaohongshu, tiktok).

Errors and billing

401: Missing or invalid key.
402: Insufficient balance. Top up first.
422: Invalid parameter name or value. Fix it using the suggestions in the error. No charge.
429: Per-minute request limit reached. Wait for Retry-After, then try again.
503: Could not complete. The held charge is returned to your balance. If the outcome is unknown, verify it before you retry.
200 empty: No data. No charge.

Errors