What is a Xiaohongshu note ID, and where do I find it?
A Xiaohongshu note ID is the 24-character hexadecimal code in a note's link, after `/explore/` or `/discovery/item/`. On its own it does not open the note on the web, because Xiaohongshu also asks for a token. A call here takes the ID alone, or the whole link, at 12 credits and hands back a link that opens.
Where it is
| You have | What it looks like | The ID |
|---|---|---|
| A link from the address bar | https://www.xiaohongshu.com/explore/6ac76250000000000a021233?xsec_token=… | Between /explore/ and ? |
| A link from the web version's share | https://www.xiaohongshu.com/discovery/item/6ac76250000000000a021233?… | Between /discovery/item/ and ? |
| A share text from the app | http://xhslink.com/… | Not visible: it is behind the short link. Paste the whole text into a call instead |
What its first 8 characters tell you
They read as a time: taken as a hexadecimal number, they are the seconds since 1970. We compared 13 notes on 2026-11-05: for 10, that time was the same minute as the note's published_at, and for the other 3 it was 2 to 14 hours earlier. So it is a good guess at when a note was made when you have only the link. This is our measurement, not something Xiaohongshu documents, and it could change.
new Date(parseInt("6ac76250000000000a021233".slice(0, 8), 16) * 1000).toISOString()Why the ID alone does not open the note
Measured 2026-11-05, signed out: /explore/<id> without a token is Xiaohongshu's 404 page, in a browser or not. The token is the xsec_token in the link; an account's list of notes does not give one. So keep the whole link when you paste it. Through the call below the ID is enough, and the answer's url carries a token.
One real request
curl https://api.socialtoai.com/v1/detail \ -H "Authorization: Bearer $SOCIALTOAI_API_KEY" \ -H "Idempotency-Key: $(uuidgen)" \ -H "Content-Type: application/json" \ -d '{ "platform": "xiaohongshu", "id": "6ac76250000000000a021233" }'{ "request_id": "req_00000000-0000-4000-8000-000000000001", "schema_version": "v1", "fetched_at": "2026-10-10T12:46:15.000Z", "action": "detail", "platform": "xiaohongshu", "status": "ok", "items": [ { "platform": "xiaohongshu", "id": "…", "ref": "…", "approx": [], "type": "content", "url": "https://example.com/…", "format": "image", "title": "…", "text": "…", "published_at": "2026-10-09T01:00:34.000Z", "author": { "id": "…", "username": "…", "name": "…", "verified": null, "followers": null }, "metrics": { "likes": 927, "comments": 122, "shares": 256, "collects": 59, "views": null, "reposts": null }, "images": ["https://example.com/…", "https://example.com/…"], "hashtags": ["…", "…"], "is_pinned": false } ], "unavailable": ["author.verified", "author.followers", "metrics.views", "metrics.reposts"], "warnings": [], "applied_params": { "id": "6ac76250000000000a021233" }, "cost_credits": 12, "billing": { "cost_credits": 12, "balance_credits": 88, "today_spend_credits": 12, "daily_limit_credits": null, "daily_remaining_credits": null, "display": "This call: 12 credits (≈ $0.04). Balance: 88 credits (≈ $0.29)." }, "replayed": false}FAQ
Is note_id the same as the ID in a share link?
No. A short link hides it; it leads to a link that holds the ID. Paste the short link or the whole share text into the call and it is worked out for you.
Can I read comments with only the ID?
Yes. The comments call takes the ID or the link, 12 credits a page.
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