TikTok API — Transport + Ingestion for a Real Account
You own the wire: authenticate to a TikTok account, publish video, pull the numbers, and write those numbers into the wiki as a durable feedback log. You do not decide what to make, when to post it, or how to caption it — that is the shortform strategy/packaging family. Deliver clean transport and a queryable log; let the siblings interpret.
TikTok splits across three separate APIs, and a real account touches all three:
- Content Posting API —
https://open.tiktokapis.com/v2/post/publish/...— the write side: init a publish, transfer the file, poll status. Audit-gated. - Display API —
https://open.tiktokapis.com/v2/video/...— the cheap read side: your own profile and basic per-video counters (view_count, like_count, comment_count, share_count). - TikTok API for Business — the rich read side: watch time, completion, impression sources. Enabled through a separate business portal, not the standard developer app.
Auth is user OAuth v2 via Login Kit, never a service token. A human owns the account; you act on their behalf with a refresh token. There is no official TikTok SDK — you call the REST endpoints directly with any HTTP client. Treat the access token as a short-lived, refreshable credential object, never a hardcoded literal.
When to use / When NOT
Use when:
- Wiring a script or agent to publish to an account: Direct Post or upload-to-draft via
/v2/post/publish/video/init/(or/inbox/for a draft), thenFILE_UPLOADchunked PUT orPULL_FROM_URL, then poll/v2/post/publish/status/fetch/. - Pulling an account's own video stats: counters via Display
POST /v2/video/query/(or/v2/video/list/); watch-time / completion / impression-source via the Business Account API. - Building the recurring "fetch performance → write to
02-DOCS/wiki/shortform/" loop that turns API responses into an account feedback log siblings can read. - Debugging TikTok-specific failures:
scope_not_authorized,url_ownership_unverified,rate_limit_exceeded(6 req/min), 24-hour access-token expiry, audit/video.publishnot approved, unaudited-app private-only posting.
Do NOT use when (route to the sibling that owns it):
| You actually want | Go to |
|---|---|
| What to post / cadence / niche / hook strategy | shortform-strategy (catalog id) |
| Clip ideas, hooks, a topic backlog | shortform-ideation (catalog id) |
| Caption / cover / title packaging, A/B framing | shortform-packaging (catalog id) |
| Cut/caption/render the actual clip file | shortform-editing (catalog id) |
| Render a video file programmatically | ../remotion-video/SKILL.md |
| Post one asset to TikTok + IG + YouTube at once | ../social-publisher/SKILL.md |
| Instagram's Graph / Content Publishing API | ../instagram-api/SKILL.md |
| YouTube's two APIs (same family, other platform) | ../youtube-api/SKILL.md |
| Wrap an arbitrary REST provider with OAuth + retries | api-connector-builder (catalog id) |
| Chain publish → Notion row → Slack across tools | automation-flows (catalog id) |
One line: this skill authenticates, calls, and ingests TikTok's Content Posting + Display + Business APIs into the wiki. What to post and how to package it belong to the shortform-strategy / shortform-ideation / shortform-packaging siblings; multi-network posting belongs to social-publisher.
1. One-time setup (do this before any code)
A checklist, because each missing step produces a distinct, confusing failure later:
- Register a TikTok developer app in the developer portal.
- Add the products you need: Login Kit (OAuth), Content Posting API (publish), Display API (read counts). Insights live in the separate TikTok for Business portal — enable that account access too if you need watch time/completion.
- Set an exact redirect URI for the OAuth flow.
- Submit the app for audit before posting public content. An unaudited app can only post privately (
SELF_ONLY) and only to a limited set of test users. This is the #1 "works on my machine, breaks in prod" surprise — see rule below. - If you publish by URL (
PULL_FROM_URL), verify the domain / URL-prefix in the portal (DNS TXT or URL-prefix), or every init returnsurl_ownership_unverified.
The three gates are independent. Do not assume one approval covers everything:
Bad: "My app is approved, so publish + insights both work."
Good: Content Posting *audit* gates public publish;
Display *scope* (video.list) gates own-video counts;
Business *portal* access gates watch time / completion / impression sources.
Three separate gates — check each.
Scope table — request only what the job needs:
| Scope | Grants | Use for |
|---|---|---|
video.publish | Direct Post to the public feed | /post/publish/video/init/ (audit-gated) |
video.upload | Upload to drafts/inbox for the user to finish | /post/publish/inbox/video/init/ |
video.list | Read your own videos + basic counters | Display POST /v2/video/query/ |
user.info.basic | Read profile (open_id, display name, avatar) | POST /v2/user/info/ |
Full app-registration + product-enable walkthrough, the audit gate, and scope_not_authorized troubleshooting live in references/oauth-setup.md.
2. Get an authed client and keep the token alive
OAuth v2: send the user to https://www.tiktok.com/v2/auth/authorize/, receive a code at your redirect URI, exchange it at https://open.tiktokapis.com/v2/oauth/token/, and store the refresh token.
The lifecycle is the load-bearing fact: access token expires in 24 hours (expires_in: 86400); refresh token lasts 365 days (refresh_expires_in: 31536000) and renews without user re-consent. So a daily-pull cron MUST refresh the access token every run, and a long-idle account silently dies at the 365-day refresh boundary.
# python: raw REST, no official TikTok SDK. requests/httpx both fine.
import time, json, os, requests
TOKEN_URL = "https://open.tiktokapis.com/v2/oauth/token/"
STORE = "tiktok_token.json" # gitignored — holds the rotating refresh_token
def load(): return json.load(open(STORE)) if os.path.exists(STORE) else {}
def save(t): t["obtained_at"] = int(time.time()); json.dump(t, open(STORE, "w"))
def access_token():
t = load()
fresh = t.get("access_token") and time.time() < t.get("obtained_at", 0) + t["expires_in"] - 60
if fresh:
return t["access_token"]
r = requests.post(TOKEN_URL, data={ # refresh every run, 24h expiry
"client_key": os.environ["TIKTOK_CLIENT_KEY"],
"client_secret": os.environ["TIKTOK_CLIENT_SECRET"],
"grant_type": "refresh_token",
"refresh_token": t["refresh_token"], # 365-day lifetime; rotates
}, headers={"Content-Type": "application/x-www-form-urlencoded"})
r.raise_for_status()
new = r.json()
save(new) # persist the NEW refresh_token
return new["access_token"]
// node: built-in fetch, no SDK.
import fs from "node:fs";
const STORE = "tiktok_token.json";
async function accessToken() {
const t = JSON.parse(fs.readFileSync(STORE, "utf8"));
if (t.access_token && Date.now() / 1000 < t.obtained_at + t.expires_in - 60) return t.access_token;
const r = await fetch("https://open.tiktokapis.com/v2/oauth/token/", {
method: "POST",
headers: { "Content-Type": "application/x-www-form-urlencoded" },
body: new URLSearchParams({
client_key: process.env.TIKTOK_CLIENT_KEY,
client_secret: process.env.TIKTOK_CLIENT_SECRET,
grant_type: "refresh_token",
refresh_token: t.refresh_token,
}),
});
const n = await r.json();
n.obtained_at = Math.floor(Date.now() / 1000);
fs.writeFileSync(STORE, JSON.stringify(n)); // persist rotated refresh_token
return n.access_token;
}
Rule: persist the refresh token and re-read it each run, never a bare access_token. A hardcoded access_token=... literal is a guaranteed failure within 24 hours — and is exactly what verify.sh flags.
Full token-exchange flow (authorize URL params, PKCE, code exchange) is in references/oauth-setup.md.
3. Publish a video (init → transfer → poll)
Publishing is always three steps: init the publish, transfer the bytes, poll until processing finishes (it is async). Pick the transfer mode first:
| Situation | Source | Endpoint |
|---|---|---|
| File is local / in your control | FILE_UPLOAD | /post/publish/video/init/ |
| File is at a verified HTTPS URL | PULL_FROM_URL | /post/publish/video/init/ |
| Should land as a draft the user finalizes | FILE_UPLOAD | /post/publish/inbox/video/init/ |
Init (FILE_UPLOAD) — returns publish_id and an upload_url:
import math, requests
CHUNK = 10 * 1024 * 1024 # 10 MB, inside the 5–64 MB window
size = os.path.getsize("clip.mp4")
chunk_count = 1 if size < 5 * 1024 * 1024 else math.ceil(size / CHUNK)
init = requests.post(
"https://open.tiktokapis.com/v2/post/publish/video/init/",
headers={"Authorization": f"Bearer {access_token()}",
"Content-Type": "application/json; charset=UTF-8"},
json={
"post_info": {"title": "caption #fyp", "privacy_level": "SELF_ONLY"}, # public needs audit
"source_info": {
"source": "FILE_UPLOAD",
"video_size": size,
"chunk_size": CHUNK if size >= 5 * 1024 * 1024 else size,
"total_chunk_count": chunk_count,
},
}).json()
publish_id = init["data"]["publish_id"]
upload_url = init["data"]["upload_url"]
Transfer — PUT chunks sequentially to upload_url with a Content-Range header. Chunk min 5 MB, max 64 MB (final chunk up to 128 MB), 1–1000 chunks; a file under 5 MB is one chunk equal to the file size. Each PUT returns 206 (more to send) or 201 (last chunk accepted):
with open("clip.mp4", "rb") as f:
for i in range(chunk_count):
first = i * CHUNK
data = f.read(CHUNK)
last = first + len(data) - 1
r = requests.put(upload_url, data=data, headers={
"Content-Type": "video/mp4",
"Content-Range": f"bytes {first}-{last}/{size}", # exact byte span
})
assert r.status_code in (206, 201), r.text # 206 = continue, 201 = done
Poll — TikTok processes asynchronously; check status until PUBLISH_COMPLETE. Respect the cap below — do not tight-loop:
import time
while True:
s = requests.post(
"https://open.tiktokapis.com/v2/post/publish/status/fetch/",
headers={"Authorization": f"Bearer {access_token()}",
"Content-Type": "application/json; charset=UTF-8"},
json={"publish_id": publish_id}).json()
status = s["data"]["status"]
if status in ("PUBLISH_COMPLETE", "FAILED"):
break
time.sleep(10) # 6/min cap — sleep, never spin
Rate limit: 6 requests/minute per user access token → rate_limit_exceeded. Throttle init/status calls and back off; a tight status-poll loop blows the budget in seconds.
PULL_FROM_URL requires the domain/URL-prefix to be verified in the portal (HTTPS only, no redirects, 1-hour download timeout) or init returns url_ownership_unverified. Full PULL_FROM_URL init body and verification steps are in references/metrics-and-publish.md.
4. Pull performance (two APIs, one rule)
The load-bearing distinction: Display gives you counters; only the Business API gives you watch time, completion, and traffic.
# (a) Display API — basic counters only. scope video.list, up to 20 ids/request.
counts = requests.post(
"https://open.tiktokapis.com/v2/video/query/",
params={"fields": "id,title,view_count,like_count,comment_count,share_count,duration,create_time"},
headers={"Authorization": f"Bearer {access_token()}",
"Content-Type": "application/json"},
json={"filters": {"video_ids": ["<id1>", "<id2>"]}}).json()
# returns: view_count, like_count, comment_count, share_count, duration, title, create_time
# (b) Business Account API — the real engagement signal.
# Returns the metrics Display CANNOT: average_time_watched, total_time_watched,
# full_video_watched_rate (completion), impression_sources (FYP / Following / profile /
# search), audience_countries. (Endpoint shape in references/metrics-and-publish.md.)
Bad: expect average_time_watched / full_video_watched_rate from /v2/video/query/
Good: counters from Display /v2/video/query/;
watch time + completion + impression_sources from the Business Account API.
Caveat: Business insight metrics lag 24–48h and can differ from the in-app numbers. Treat a fresh pull as provisional — the wiki log (next section) is where you watch them settle. Full metric catalog split by API is in references/metrics-and-publish.md.
5. Ingest into the wiki — the actual deliverable
A pull that prints to stdout and vanishes is wasted. Every pull appends a dated entry under 02-DOCS/wiki/shortform/, platform-namespaced, so the account's numbers become queryable history the strategy/packaging siblings can read.
02-DOCS/wiki/shortform/
index.md # rolling pointer to latest snapshot + open questions
tiktok-account-2026-06-02.md # dated account snapshot (one per pull)
videos/tiktok-<video_id>.md # per-video running log, newest entry on top
Filenames carry the tiktok- prefix because the same shortform/ wiki may also hold Instagram and YouTube pulls — namespacing keeps platforms from colliding.
Per-pull entry template. The frontmatter is OKF v0.1 conformant — a non-empty type is the only hard requirement; title/tags/timestamp are the recommended OKF surface; the domain date/range/account/platform/source keys the siblings parse are preserved additively (OKF tolerates extra keys). date is the reporting day; timestamp is the ISO 8601 write moment:
---
type: shortform-metrics
title: TikTok account snapshot — 2026-06-02
tags: [tiktok, metrics, snapshot]
timestamp: 2026-06-02T09:00:00Z
date: 2026-06-02
range: 2026-05-26..2026-06-01
account: <open_id>
platform: tiktok
source: display-api + business-account-api
---
## KPIs
views: 52,140 | likes: 3,902 | comments: 211 | shares: 488
## Watch
full_video_watched_rate: 28.4% | avg_time_watched: 6.1s | total_time_watched: 88h
## Impression sources (top 3)
For You 71% · Personal profile 14% · Search 7%
## What changed since last pull
completion +3.1pts after the tighter cold-open; FYP share up 5pts.
Rule: append, never overwrite. The feedback log is the value — overwriting yesterday's snapshot destroys the trend the siblings need, and erases the 24–48h settling you only see across pulls. The per-video log (videos/tiktok-<id>.md) is an OKF append-log: write its frontmatter header once, prepend each new dated block newest-first, never edit a past block. index.md is the OKF reserved file — no frontmatter, standard markdown links only. Exact file tree, frontmatter, naming, and how siblings read the log: references/wiki-schema.md.
6. Rate & failure math
The publish token is capped at 6 requests/minute. Wrap publish/status calls in a token-bucket or backoff-with-jitter helper, and refresh the access token (24h expiry) before each cron run.
Error → cause map:
| Symptom | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
scope_not_authorized | Scope missing or not approved for the app | Add the scope; re-consent; check app approval |
Only SELF_ONLY posts work | App not audited | Submit for audit; use test users until approved |
url_ownership_unverified on init | PULL_FROM_URL domain not verified | Verify domain/URL-prefix (DNS TXT) in the portal |
rate_limit_exceeded | >6 req/min on the user token | Throttle + backoff; stop tight-looping the poll |
401 / access_token_invalid mid-cron | 24h access token expired | Refresh before each run; persist refresh_token |
| Empty watch time / completion | Wrong API or <24–48h since post | Use the Business API, not Display; wait for lag |
| Refresh fails after long idle | 365-day refresh token expired | Re-run the OAuth consent flow |
Anti-patterns
| Anti-pattern | Why it bites | Do instead |
|---|---|---|
Commit client_secret / a token file holding refresh_token | Leaks full account control to anyone with repo read | Gitignore it; load from env/secret store |
Hardcode a 24h access_token literal | Dead within a day; breaks every cron | Persist the refresh token; refresh each run |
| Tight-loop the status poll | Blows the 6/min cap → rate_limit_exceeded | Sleep ~10s between polls; back off on 429 |
Expect watch time from Display video/query | That field does not exist there | Counts from Display, watch time from Business |
| Treat an unaudited app as production | Only SELF_ONLY posts work for real users | Submit for audit before public posting |
PULL_FROM_URL without domain verification | Every init returns url_ownership_unverified | Verify domain/URL-prefix first, HTTPS, no redirects |
| Assume one approval covers publish + insights | Three independent gates | Posting audit + Display scope + Business portal |
| Overwrite yesterday's wiki snapshot | Destroys the trend + the 24–48h settling | Append a new dated entry every pull |
Cross-references
../social-publisher/SKILL.md— when the asset goes to many networks, not just TikTok.../instagram-api/SKILL.md— same family pattern, Instagram's Graph/Content Publishing API.../youtube-api/SKILL.md— same transport+ingestion shape, YouTube's two APIs.../remotion-video/SKILL.md— produce the clip file this skill only uploads.shortform-strategy,shortform-ideation,shortform-packaging,shortform-editing(catalog ids) — what the numbers mean, what to make, and how to package/edit it.api-connector-builder,automation-flows,knowledge-ops(catalog ids) — generic connector wrapping, cross-tool chaining, and wiki conventions.