Substack API endpoint
Searches public Substack profiles by name or handle. Each result carries the same subscriber signals as /substack/user, so a search enumerates writers without a second lookup per profile. Returns 20 profiles per page; use has_more rather than assuming a fixed depth, since result counts vary by query.
/substack/user/searchquery: required search text, matched against profile names and handles.page: optional zero-based page. Defaults to 0.Searches public Substack profiles. Each result is the same shape
/api/v1/substack/user returns, subscriber signals included, so a search
enumerates writers without a second lookup per profile.
Returns 20 profiles per page. Depth varies by query — a broad query returns
roughly three pages, a narrow one a single partial page. Page against
has_more rather than assuming a fixed number of pages.
Subscriber fields follow the same rules as
substack-user: total is opt-in per writer,
total_hidden distinguishes a hidden count from a real zero, and
paid_rough describes paid subscribers rather than a bucketed total.
| Field | Filled in, of 20 checked | Values in the sample |
|---|---|---|
| id | 20 | |
| handle | 20 | |
| slug | 20 | |
| name | 20 | |
| bio | 16 | median 132 characters |
| photo_url | 19 | substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com and 2 other hosts |
| profile_set_up_at | 20 | 2021-09-06 to 2026-09-23 |
| url | 20 | substack.com |
| bestseller_tier | 8 | 100 to 10,000, median 100 |
| subscribers | 20 | |
| publications | 19 | median 1 entry |
| subscriptions | 18 | median 26 entries |
| Parameter | Type | Required | Default | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| query | string | Yes | Search text matched against profile names and handles | pragmatic engineer | |
| page | integer | No | Zero-based page | ||
| x-api-key (header) | string | Yes | API key required |
curl -X GET "https://api.crawlora.net/api/v1/substack/user/search?query=pragmatic+engineer&page=1" \ -H "x-api-key: $CRAWLORA_API_KEY"
{
"code": 200,
"data": {
"query": "pragmatic engineer",
"page": 0,
"has_more": true,
"users": [
{
"id": 30107029,
"handle": "pragmaticengineer",
"name": "Gergely Orosz",
"url": "https://substack.com/@pragmaticengineer",
"bestseller_tier": 10000,
"subscribers": {
"total": 1100000,
"total_display": "1.1M+ subscribers",
"total_hidden": false,
"total_rough": "Millions",
"paid_rough": "Tens of thousands",
"paid_rough_int": 10000,
"paid_tier": 10000,
"follower_count": 1210186
}
}
]
},
"msg": "success"
}Request schema
No body schema
Response schema
#/definitions/substack.userSearchResponseDoc
| Field | Type | Required | Enum | Bounds | Example | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| code | integer | No | 200 | |||
| data | substack.UserSearchResult | No | ||||
| data.has_more | boolean | No | ||||
| data.page | integer | No | ||||
| data.query | string | No | pragmatic engineer | |||
| data.users | array | No | User record, 32 fields: bestseller_tier, bio, handle, id, name, photo_url, profile_set_up_at, publications, slug, subscribers, subscriptions, url. Described under Get a public Substack writer profile API. | |||
| msg | string | No | success |
| Status | Description | Schema |
|---|---|---|
| 400 | Bad Request | #/definitions/app.Response |
| 429 | Too Many Requests | #/definitions/app.Response |
| 503 | Service Unavailable | #/definitions/app.Response |
Use environment variables for secrets and keep Crawlora API keys server-side.
curl -X GET "https://api.crawlora.net/api/v1/substack/user/search?query=pragmatic+engineer&page=1" \
-H "x-api-key: $CRAWLORA_API_KEY"