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Tiktok Crawling

Use for TikTok crawling, content retrieval, and analysis.

Rating: 4.8 (353 reviews)
Downloads: 1,006 downloads
Version: 1.0.0

Overview

Use for TikTok crawling, content retrieval, and analysis.

Complete Documentation

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TikTok Scraping with yt-dlp

yt-dlp is a CLI for downloading video/audio from TikTok and many other sites.

Setup

bash

# macOS
brew install yt-dlp ffmpeg

# pip (any platform)
pip install yt-dlp
# Also install ffmpeg separately for merging/post-processing

Download Patterns

Single Video

bash

yt-dlp "https://www.tiktok.com/@handle/video/1234567890"

Entire Profile

bash

yt-dlp "https://www.tiktok.com/@handle" \
  -P "./tiktok/data" \
  -o "%(uploader)s/%(upload_date)s-%(id)s/video.%(ext)s" \
  --write-info-json

Creates:

text

tiktok/data/
  handle/
    20260220-7331234567890/
      video.mp4
      video.info.json

Multiple Profiles

bash

for handle in handle1 handle2 handle3; do
  yt-dlp "https://www.tiktok.com/@$handle" \
    -P "./tiktok/data" \
    -o "%(uploader)s/%(upload_date)s-%(id)s/video.%(ext)s" \
    --write-info-json \
    --download-archive "./tiktok/downloaded.txt"
done

Search, Hashtags & Sounds

bash

# Search by keyword
yt-dlp "tiktoksearch:cooking recipes" --playlist-end 20

# Hashtag page
yt-dlp "https://www.tiktok.com/tag/booktok" --playlist-end 50

# Videos using a specific sound
yt-dlp "https://www.tiktok.com/music/original-sound-1234567890" --playlist-end 30

Format Selection

bash

# List available formats
yt-dlp -F "https://www.tiktok.com/@handle/video/1234567890"

# Download specific format (e.g., best video without watermark if available)
yt-dlp -f "best" "https://www.tiktok.com/@handle/video/1234567890"

Filtering

By Date

bash

# On or after a date
--dateafter 20260215

# Before a date
--datebefore 20260220

# Exact date
--date 20260215

# Date range
--dateafter 20260210 --datebefore 20260220

# Relative dates (macOS / Linux)
--dateafter "$(date -u -v-7d +%Y%m%d)"           # macOS: last 7 days
--dateafter "$(date -u -d '7 days ago' +%Y%m%d)" # Linux: last 7 days

By Metrics & Content

bash

# 100k+ views
--match-filters "view_count >= 100000"

# Duration between 30-60 seconds
--match-filters "duration >= 30 & duration <= 60"

# Title contains "recipe" (case-insensitive)
--match-filters "title ~= (?i)recipe"

# Combine: 50k+ views from Feb 2026
yt-dlp "https://www.tiktok.com/@handle" \
  --match-filters "view_count >= 50000" \
  --dateafter 20260201

Metadata Only (No Download)

Preview What Would Download

bash

yt-dlp "https://www.tiktok.com/@handle" \
  --simulate \
  --print "%(upload_date)s | %(view_count)s views | %(title)s"

Export to JSON

bash

# Single JSON array
yt-dlp "https://www.tiktok.com/@handle" --simulate --dump-json > handle_videos.json

# JSONL (one object per line, better for large datasets)
yt-dlp "https://www.tiktok.com/@handle" --simulate -j > handle_videos.jsonl

Export to CSV

bash

yt-dlp "https://www.tiktok.com/@handle" \
  --simulate \
  --print-to-file "%(uploader)s,%(id)s,%(upload_date)s,%(view_count)s,%(like_count)s,%(webpage_url)s" \
  "./tiktok/analysis/metadata.csv"

Analyze with jq

bash

# Top 10 videos by views from downloaded .info.json files
jq -s 'sort_by(.view_count) | reverse | .[:10] | .[] | {title, view_count, url: .webpage_url}' \
  tiktok/data/*/*.info.json

# Total views across all videos
jq -s 'map(.view_count) | add' tiktok/data/*/*.info.json

# Videos grouped by upload date
jq -s 'group_by(.upload_date) | map({date: .[0].upload_date, count: length})' \
  tiktok/data/*/*.info.json

Tip: For deeper analysis and visualization, load JSONL/CSV exports into Python with pandas. Useful for engagement scatter plots, posting frequency charts, or comparing metrics across creators.

Ongoing Scraping

Archive (Skip Already Downloaded)

The --download-archive flag tracks downloaded videos, enabling incremental updates:

bash

yt-dlp "https://www.tiktok.com/@handle" \
  -P "./tiktok/data" \
  -o "%(uploader)s/%(upload_date)s-%(id)s/video.%(ext)s" \
  --write-info-json \
  --download-archive "./tiktok/downloaded.txt"

Run the same command later—it skips videos already in downloaded.txt.

Authentication (Private/Restricted Content)

bash

# Use cookies from browser (recommended)
yt-dlp --cookies-from-browser chrome "https://www.tiktok.com/@handle"

# Or export cookies to a file first
yt-dlp --cookies tiktok_cookies.txt "https://www.tiktok.com/@handle"

Scheduled Scraping (Cron)

bash

# crontab -e
# Run daily at 2 AM, log output
0 2 * * * cd /path/to/project && ./scripts/scrape-tiktok.sh >> ./tiktok/logs/cron.log 2>&1

Example scripts/scrape-tiktok.sh:

bash

#!/bin/bash
set -e

HANDLES="handle1 handle2 handle3"
DATA_DIR="./tiktok/data"
ARCHIVE="./tiktok/downloaded.txt"

for handle in $HANDLES; do
  echo "[$(date)] Scraping @$handle"
  yt-dlp "https://www.tiktok.com/@$handle" \
    -P "$DATA_DIR" \
    -o "%(uploader)s/%(upload_date)s-%(id)s/video.%(ext)s" \
    --write-info-json \
    --download-archive "$ARCHIVE" \
    --cookies-from-browser chrome \
    --dateafter "$(date -u -v-7d +%Y%m%d)" \
    --sleep-interval 2 \
    --max-sleep-interval 5
done
echo "[$(date)] Done"

Troubleshooting

Problem	Solution
Empty results / no videos found	Add --cookies-from-browser chrome — TikTok rate-limits anonymous requests
403 Forbidden errors	Rate limited. Wait 10-15 min, or use cookies/different IP
"Video unavailable"	Region-locked. Try --geo-bypass or a VPN
Watermarked videos	Check -F for alternative formats; some may lack watermark
Slow downloads	Add --concurrent-fragments 4 for faster downloads
Profile shows fewer videos than expected	TikTok API limits. Use --playlist-end N explicitly, try with cookies

Debug Mode

bash

# Verbose output to diagnose issues
yt-dlp -v "https://www.tiktok.com/@handle" 2>&1 | tee debug.log

Reference

Key Options

Option	Description
-o TEMPLATE	Output filename template
-P PATH	Base download directory
--dateafter DATE	Videos on/after date (YYYYMMDD)
--datebefore DATE	Videos on/before date
--playlist-end N	Stop after N videos
--match-filters EXPR	Filter by metadata (views, duration, title)
--write-info-json	Save metadata JSON per video
--download-archive FILE	Track downloads, skip duplicates
--simulate / -s	Dry run, no download
-j / --dump-json	Output metadata as JSON
--cookies-from-browser NAME	Use cookies from browser
--sleep-interval SEC	Wait between downloads (avoid rate limits)

Output Template Variables

Variable	Example Output
%(id)s	7331234567890
%(uploader)s	handle
%(upload_date)s	20260215
%(title).50s	First 50 chars of title
%(view_count)s	1500000
%(like_count)s	250000
%(ext)s	mp4

Full template reference →

Installation

Terminal bash


openclaw install tiktok-crawling

Copied!

💻Code Examples

# Also install ffmpeg separately for merging/post-processing

-also-install-ffmpeg-separately-for-mergingpost-processing.txt

---

## Download Patterns

### Single Video

yt-dlp -f "best" "https://www.tiktok.com/@handle/video/1234567890"

yt-dlp--f-best-httpswwwtiktokcomhandlevideo1234567890.txt

---

## Filtering

### By Date

--dateafter 20260201

---dateafter-20260201.txt

---

## Metadata Only (No Download)

### Preview What Would Download

tiktok/data//.info.json

-tiktokdatainfojson.txt

> **Tip:** For deeper analysis and visualization, load JSONL/CSV exports into Python with `pandas`. Useful for engagement scatter plots, posting frequency charts, or comparing metrics across creators.

---

## Ongoing Scraping

### Archive (Skip Already Downloaded)

The `--download-archive` flag tracks downloaded videos, enabling incremental updates:

--download-archive "./tiktok/downloaded.txt"

---download-archive-tiktokdownloadedtxt.txt

Run the same command later—it skips videos already in `downloaded.txt`.

### Authentication (Private/Restricted Content)

echo "[$(date)] Done"

echo-date-done.txt

---

## Troubleshooting

| Problem                                  | Solution                                                                    |
| ---------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Empty results / no videos found          | Add `--cookies-from-browser chrome` — TikTok rate-limits anonymous requests |
| 403 Forbidden errors                     | Rate limited. Wait 10-15 min, or use cookies/different IP                   |
| "Video unavailable"                      | Region-locked. Try `--geo-bypass` or a VPN                                  |
| Watermarked videos                       | Check `-F` for alternative formats; some may lack watermark                 |
| Slow downloads                           | Add `--concurrent-fragments 4` for faster downloads                         |
| Profile shows fewer videos than expected | TikTok API limits. Use `--playlist-end N` explicitly, try with cookies      |

### Debug Mode

example.sh

# macOS
brew install yt-dlp ffmpeg

# pip (any platform)
pip install yt-dlp
# Also install ffmpeg separately for merging/post-processing

example.sh

yt-dlp "https://www.tiktok.com/@handle" \
  -P "./tiktok/data" \
  -o "%(uploader)s/%(upload_date)s-%(id)s/video.%(ext)s" \
  --write-info-json

example.txt

tiktok/data/
  handle/
    20260220-7331234567890/
      video.mp4
      video.info.json

example.sh

for handle in handle1 handle2 handle3; do
  yt-dlp "https://www.tiktok.com/@$handle" \
    -P "./tiktok/data" \
    -o "%(uploader)s/%(upload_date)s-%(id)s/video.%(ext)s" \
    --write-info-json \
    --download-archive "./tiktok/downloaded.txt"
done