LurkAPI
Docs · Profile

Profile

An account's bio, avatar, banner and exact follower, following and post counts.

1 credit per callFresh within 30 secondsMCP tool: bluesky_profile
GEThttps://api.lurkapi.com/v1/bluesky/profile

Example response

When to use this

Use it to size up an account: exact followers, following and posts, plus bio, images and join date. did is the permanent id; the handle can change.

Accounts that chose to hide from logged-out visitors (Bluesky's !no-unauthenticated label) return 403 not_public.

Unknown, deactivated and suspended accounts return 404 not_found.

Example request

Copy one and replace YOUR_API_KEY with your API key (get one free). The code versions read the key from the LURKAPI_API_KEY environment variable instead.

Language

Parameters

Add them to the URL after a ?, as in ?handle=bsky.app. Join several with &.

ParameterDescription
handle
stringrequired
Handle (e.g. bsky.app, with or without @), a DID (did:plc:…) or the profile URL. A bare name like jay means jay.bsky.social.
Example
bsky.app

Example response

A real response, captured from the live API. Lists are trimmed to a couple of items, and long text such as media links is cut short with ….

Show the example response (1 KB)
{
  "success": true,
  "credits_remaining": 999976,
  "credits_charged": 1,
  "did": "did:plc:z72i7hdynmk6r22z27h6tvur",
  "handle": "bsky.app",
  "displayName": "Bluesky",
  "description": "official Bluesky account (check username👆)\n\nBugs, feature requests, feedback: support@bsky.app",
  "url": "https://bsky.app/profile/bsky.app",
  "avatar": "https://cdn.bsky.app/img/avatar/plain/did:plc:z72i7hdynmk6r22z27h6tvur/b…",
  "banner": "https://cdn.bsky.app/img/banner/plain/did:plc:z72i7hdynmk6r22z27h6tvur/b…",
  "followersCount": 35124784,
  "followsCount": 15,
  "postsCount": 865,
  "createdAt": "2023-04-12T04:53:57.057Z",
  "pinnedPost": "at://did:plc:z72i7hdynmk6r22z27h6tvur/app.bsky.feed.post/3l6oveex3ii2l",
  "verified": false,
  "trustedVerifier": true,
  "hiddenFromLoggedOut": false
}

Response fields

Every field in a successful response, and what it means. null means there's no value.

Show all 18 fields
FieldTypeDescription
successtrueAlways true here; errors have success: false.
credits_remainingnumberYour balance after this call. On anonymous playground calls: free tries left today.
credits_chargednumberCredits this call cost; 0 on free endpoints. On anonymous playground calls: tries used (1).
didstringThe account's permanent id, e.g. did:plc:z72i7hdynmk6r22z27h6tvur.
handlestringHandle, e.g. bsky.app.
displayNamestringcan be nullDisplay name; null if not set.
descriptionstringcan be nullBio text; null if not set.
urlstringThe profile on bsky.app.
avatarstringcan be nullAvatar image URL; null if none.
bannerstringcan be nullBanner image URL; null if none.
followersCountnumberFollowers, exact.
followsCountnumberAccounts they follow.
postsCountnumberPosts, replies included.
createdAtstringcan be nullWhen the account was created, ISO 8601.
pinnedPoststringcan be nullat:// URI of the pinned post; null if none.
verifiedbooleanVerified by Bluesky or a trusted verifier (the blue check). Trusted verifiers themselves, like bsky.app, are false unless also verified.
trustedVerifierbooleancan be nullA trusted verifier, which can verify other accounts (e.g. bsky.app). null when Bluesky doesn't report verification.
hiddenFromLoggedOutbooleanAlways false for returned profiles. Accounts hidden from logged-out visitors return 403 not_public.

Cost and freshness

Each call costs 1 credit. Calls turned away before they reach the platform (invalid parameters, a key or balance problem, a rate limit) are free, and so are 5xx errors. A not_found is charged, since the platform was checked. How charging works.

Answers are cached for up to 30 seconds. A repeat call within that time can return the same data, and costs the same.

Errors

A failed call returns success: false, an error message, a code your program can check, and a docs link. These are the errors this endpoint can return. All error codes.

StatusCodeMeaning
401missing_api_keyNo API key was sent. Put it in the x-api-key header.
401invalid_api_keyThis key doesn't exist or was revoked.
402insufficient_creditsNot enough credits for this call. Buy a pack, or wait for tomorrow's free top-up.
402over_max_creditsThis call would cost more than the max_credits you set. The error says what it needs; raise max_credits to allow it. Not charged.
403account_suspendedThis account is suspended. Email support@lurkapi.com. Not charged.
403not_publicThe platform shows this account or post only to people who are logged in. Try a public one. Charged, since the platform was checked.
404not_foundWhat you asked for (a post, an ad, a subreddit) doesn't exist, or there's no endpoint at that path. Charged if the platform was checked.
405method_not_allowedEndpoints only take GET, with parameters in the URL.
429rate_limitedToo many calls in a short time. Wait as many seconds as the retry-after header says, then retry.
500internal_errorSomething broke on our side. Retry. Not charged.
502upstream_errorThe platform didn't send a usable answer. Retry. Not charged.
503upstream_busyAll our connections to the platform are busy. Retry in a few seconds. Not charged.
504upstream_timeoutThe platform took over 30 seconds to answer (90 for web pages). Retry. Not charged.

Use it in Claude

Connect LurkAPI to Claude and ask in plain English. This endpoint is the bluesky_profile tool. For example:

Ask Claude
Use LurkAPI's bluesky_profile tool with handle "bsky.app", then summarize what you find.

Claude calls bluesky_profile with arguments like these, and each call costs 1 credit:

Tool arguments
{"handle": "bsky.app"}

To save tokens, tool results leave out empty fields, keep one URL per image or video, and give transcripts as plain text unless you pass timestamps=true. A result over 45,000 characters comes in parts. Its _note gives the offset for the next part, and later parts are free for 15 minutes. Pass trim=false for the full response.

From the blog

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