4chan

4chan is a simple image-based bulletin board where anyone can post comments and share images across topic-specific boards. 4chan exposes a read-only JSON API (launched September 2012) that serves the same board, thread, catalog, and archive data consumed by the public site via static JSON files at a.4cdn.org. The API supports GET/HEAD/OPTIONS only — there is no posting, authentication, or write surface.

4chan is listed with 6 APIs on the APIs.io network, including Archive API, Boards API, Catalog API, and 3 more. Tagged areas include Social, Bulletin Board, Imageboard, Read Only, and JSON.

The 4chan catalog on APIs.io includes 1 JSON-LD context and 2 Spectral governance rulesets.

4chan’s developer surface includes documentation, tooling, and 21 more developer resources.

🌐 Visit website 📡 Profile data on GitHub

31.3/100 thin ▬ flat Agent 23/100 agent aware Heartbeat 91/100 alive saas Full breakdown ↓
scored 2026-11-06 · rubric v0.27.0 · Show this score on your site →

AccessFreemium

6 APIs

SocialBulletin BoardImageboardRead Only JSON Public APIs Community

Kin Score

Kin Score How this is scored →
scored 2026-11-06 · rubric v0.27.0

Composite quality — 31.3/100 · thin

Contract Quality 4.5 / 21

Developer Ergonomics 5.3 / 17

Access Clarity 4.9 / 17

Operational Transparency 2.3 / 11

Contract Governance 2.8 / 10

Discoverability 6.1 / 9

Regulatory Posture 3.1 / 15

Agent readiness — 23/100 · agent aware

Machine-Readable Contract 18 / 18

Agentic Access Contract 10 / 10

Documented Reversibility 6 / 6

MCP Server 0 / 12

Machine-Readable Auth 0 / 10

Idempotency 9 / 9

Stable Error Semantics 0 / 8

Request/Response Examples 7 / 7

Rate-Limit Signaling 7 / 7

Typed Event Surface 0 / 6

Agent Skills 0 / 5

Well-Known Catalog 0 / 4

Consent & Bot Identity 0 / 3

A2A Agent Card 0 / 8

Dry-Run / Simulate Mode 4 / 4

Delegated User Identity 0 / 6

Protected Resource Metadata 0 / 5

Registration Without a Human 0 / 6

Agentic Commerce Well-Known Document 0 / 5

Pagination 0 / 5

Distinct Operations 3 / 3

MCP Tool Quality 6 / 6

Regulatory Posture applies to this provider. Its tags matched the Horizontal (data, software, accessibility, platform) regime, so Regulatory Posture carries 15 points of the composite. If this regime is wrong for your business, say so on your provider repo — the applicability map is public and we will correct it.

Create-or-Update Ergonomics does not apply to this provider. The published contracts declare no write operations, and a read-only API cannot create-or-update. The facet is excluded from this provider's denominator entirely — not scored zero. A reference or data API is not deficient for being unable to upsert.

The six quality facets above are damped to 85 points between them, because the conditional facet above carries the other 15. That is why each facet's contribution is shown against a damped maximum: raising a quality facet moves the composite by 85% of its nominal weight, not 100%. The full arithmetic is at apis.io/rating/.

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Agent readiness — checks not met, largest first (exact, from this profile):

MCP Server +12 pts — deployment.mode + probe verdict on the mcp/ manifest, not the pointer; an unprobed slug falls back to authorship
Machine-Readable Auth +10 pts — a served openid-configuration/oauth-authorization-server carrying `issuer` (served), else the securitySchemes class in the provider OpenAPIs — bound (mutualTLS, DPoP, Signature) > negotiable (oauth2 authorizationCode/clientCredentials, openIdConnect) > bearer (http bearer, apiKey)
Stable Error Semantics +8 pts — OpenAPI $refs a shared error schema across 4xx/5xx responses (verified), else common[].type includes ErrorCatalog / ErrorCodes / DeclineCodes
A2A Agent Card +8 pts — a2a/-a2a.yml manifest, graded on conformance.grade against A2A 1.0.0
Registration Without a Human +6 pts — a `registration_endpoint` in the served RFC 8414 / OIDC discovery document
Delegated User Identity +6 pts — a served discovery document listing authorization_code in grant_types_supported (served), else an oauth2 authorizationCode flow or openIdConnect declared in an OpenAPI (documented)

7 more unmet checks in the Agent Readiness table above.

Kin Score — facets with the most composite points still available (weight × headroom):

Contract Quality scores 21.3 — up to +19.7 composite points
Access Clarity scores 28.9 — up to +14.2 composite points
Developer Ergonomics scores 31.0 — up to +13.8 composite points

Each check links to what satisfies it. Publish the artifact, or tell us where it already lives, and the score moves on the next scoring run.

Improve this rating by publishing the missing artifacts — every area above can be raised, and the full rubric is at apis.io/rating/. Every facet and dimension name above is a link: it opens that measurement's own page — what it means, the exact checks that feed it, how the whole catalog distributes on it, and the providers at the top of it. This rating is computed from the provider profile at artifacts.apis.io/4chan/apis.yml: open an issue on github.com/api-evangelist/4chan to ask a question or point us at an artifact you publish. Submit an artifact on GitHub — free → Manage your own listing — the Influence plan, $499/mo →

Standards implemented 2

Standards this provider implements or carries. De facto ones are profiled and measured by the API Commons; formal ones come from the standards directory and are linked by the provider's own tags. The evidence column says how each claim was established — not that it was made.

JSON

OPEN COLLECTION

4chan Read-Only JSON Archive Threads API

OPEN COLLECTION

Scroll for all 7

4chan API pricing

Not yet checked against 4chan's own pricing page. Compiled by API Evangelist on 2026-05-28 from github.com/4chan/4chan-API; confirm before you rely on a figure. A free plan or tier is listed.

Plan	Price
Read-Only JSON API — Free freemium	Free
4chan Pass (consumer, not API) subscription	—

Plan details, limits and sources →

Rate limits

Global request rate (all endpoints): 1 requests per second
Per-thread polling interval: 6 requests per minute
HTTP methods accepted: Only GET / HEAD / OPTIONS — POST / PUT / PATCH / DELETE are rejected varies

Compiled by API Evangelist, not yet checked against 4chan's documentation. All 4 limits →

Pricing Plans 1

Published pricing tiers and plan structures.

4Chan Plans Pricing

2 plans

PLANS

Rate Limits 1

Documented rate limits and quota policies.

4Chan Rate Limits

4 limits

RATE LIMITS

Service Levels 1

Uptime the provider promises or reports, as SLA4OAI. Read from its own pages; APIs.io runs no monitors.

4chan

SLA

Semantic Vocabularies 1

JSON-LD contexts and semantic vocabularies used across these APIs.

4Chan Context

10 classes · 76 properties

JSON-LD

Spectral Rules 2

Spectral governance rulesets for linting and validating these APIs.

4chan — jsonschema rules

5 rules · 4 warnings 1 info

SPECTRAL

4chan API Rules

45 rules · 14 errors 23 warnings 8 info

SPECTRAL

JSON Schema 13

Standalone JSON Schema definitions for this provider's data models.

ArchiveResponse

0 properties

JSON SCHEMA

Board

2 properties

JSON STRUCTURE

4Chan Api Threadlist Response Structure

0 properties

JSON STRUCTURE

Scroll for all 13

2 fields

EXAMPLE

Scroll for all 10

Security Posture 2

Authentication, domain security, vulnerability disclosure, and trust-center signals.

4Chan Domain Security

TLSv1.3 · DNSSEC · DMARC

SECURITY

4Chan Vulnerability Disclosure

Hackerone

SECURITY

Agentic Access 1

Recommended x-agentic-access execution contracts for AI agents.

4Chan Agentic Access

6 operations

6 operations · 0 acting

AGENTIC

Resources

Documentation 1

Reference material describing how the API behaves

Documentation

Documentation

Agent Surfaces 1

MCP servers, agent skills, and machine-readable catalogs

AgenticAccess

AgenticAccess

Design & Contract 3

Pagination, idempotency, versioning, errors, and events

Vocabulary

Vocabulary

SpectralRules

SpectralRules

JSONLD

JSONLD

Build 10

SDKs, sample code, and the tooling you integrate with

GitHubOrganization

GitHubOrganization

4chan native browser extension source

SourceCode

MCP Server (community, unofficial)

Tools

Python Wrapper (BASC-py4chan, community)

SDKs

Python Wrapper (py-4chan, community)

SDKs

Node.js Client (4chanjs, community)

SDKs

Go Client (go-4chan-api, community)

SDKs

Rust Client (rchan, community)

SDKs

Racket Client (yotsubAPI, community)

SDKs

BA Thread Archiver (community)

Tools

Scroll for all 10

Access & Security 2

Authentication, authorization, and security posture

VulnerabilityDisclosure

VulnerabilityDisclosure

DomainSecurity

DomainSecurity

Operate 3

Status, limits, changes, and where to get help

IssueTracker

IssueTracker

ContactEmail

ContactEmail

RateLimits

RateLimits

Commercial 1

Pricing, plans, and the legal terms of use

Plans

Plans

Company 1

The organization behind the API

Website

Website

Other 1

Properties that don't map to a standard resource type

PublicAPIsListing

PublicAPIsListing

Source (apis.yml)

aid: 4chan
name: 4chan
description: 4chan is a simple image-based bulletin board where anyone can post comments and share images across topic-specific
  boards. 4chan exposes a read-only JSON API (launched September 2012) that serves the same board, thread, catalog, and archive
  data consumed by the public site via static JSON files at a.4cdn.org. The API supports GET/HEAD/OPTIONS only — there is
  no posting, authentication, or write surface.
url: https://github.com/4chan/4chan-API
deliveryModel:
  model: saas
  license_evidence:
    not_product:
    - 4chan/4chan-js
  open_source: unknown
  commercial: true
  callable_host: true
  label: Hosted service · you call their endpoint
  confidence: low
  source:
  - openapi
  - pricing
  - repository-not-product
  generated: '2026-09-25'
  method: derived
accessModel:
  pricing: freemium
  onboarding: unknown
  trial: false
  try_now: false
  public: false
  label: Freemium
  confidence: low
  source:
  - plans
  - security
  generated: '2026-11-06'
  method: derived
image: https://s.4cdn.org/image/fp/logo-transparent.png
specificationVersion: '0.23'
created: '2026-05-28'
modified: '2026-05-28'
x-source: public-apis/public-apis
x-type: company
x-category: Social
x-tier: 2
x-tier-reason: documented-read-only-json-api-with-active-community-clients
tags:
- Social
- Bulletin Board
- Imageboard
- Read Only
- JSON
- Public APIs
- Community
apis:
- aid: 4chan:4chan-archive-api
  name: 4chan Archive API
  description: Per-board list of OP numbers for closed, archived threads.
  humanURL: https://github.com/4chan/4chan-API
  baseURL: https://a.4cdn.org
  tags:
  - Archives
  tags_raw:
  - Archive
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/4chan-archive-api-openapi.yml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://github.com/4chan/4chan-API
  - type: Signup
    url: https://github.com/4chan/4chan-API#api-rules
  - type: Support
    url: mailto:api@4chan.org
  - type: TermsOfService
    url: https://github.com/4chan/4chan-API#api-terms-of-service
- aid: 4chan:4chan-boards-api
  name: 4chan Boards API
  description: List of all boards on 4chan and 4channel and their per-board settings.
  humanURL: https://github.com/4chan/4chan-API
  baseURL: https://a.4cdn.org
  tags:
  - Boards
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/4chan-boards-api-openapi.yml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://github.com/4chan/4chan-API
  - type: Signup
    url: https://github.com/4chan/4chan-API#api-rules
  - type: Support
    url: mailto:api@4chan.org
  - type: TermsOfService
    url: https://github.com/4chan/4chan-API#api-terms-of-service
- aid: 4chan:4chan-catalog-api
  name: 4chan Catalog API
  description: Per-board catalog snapshot containing every OP and its preview replies, grouped by index page.
  humanURL: https://github.com/4chan/4chan-API
  baseURL: https://a.4cdn.org
  tags:
  - Catalog
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/4chan-catalog-api-openapi.yml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://github.com/4chan/4chan-API
  - type: Signup
    url: https://github.com/4chan/4chan-API#api-rules
  - type: Support
    url: mailto:api@4chan.org
  - type: TermsOfService
    url: https://github.com/4chan/4chan-API#api-terms-of-service
- aid: 4chan:4chan-indexes-api
  name: 4chan Indexes API
  description: Per-board, per-page index document of threads (each with a posts array including the OP and a small number
    of preview replies).
  humanURL: https://github.com/4chan/4chan-API
  baseURL: https://a.4cdn.org
  tags:
  - Index
  tags_raw:
  - Indexes
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/4chan-indexes-api-openapi.yml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://github.com/4chan/4chan-API
  - type: Signup
    url: https://github.com/4chan/4chan-API#api-rules
  - type: Support
    url: mailto:api@4chan.org
  - type: TermsOfService
    url: https://github.com/4chan/4chan-API#api-terms-of-service
- aid: 4chan:4chan-threadlist-api
  name: 4chan Threadlist API
  description: Per-board summary list of every live thread (id, last-modified, reply count) grouped by index page.
  humanURL: https://github.com/4chan/4chan-API
  baseURL: https://a.4cdn.org
  tags:
  - Threadlist
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/4chan-threadlist-api-openapi.yml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://github.com/4chan/4chan-API
  - type: Signup
    url: https://github.com/4chan/4chan-API#api-rules
  - type: Support
    url: mailto:api@4chan.org
  - type: TermsOfService
    url: https://github.com/4chan/4chan-API#api-terms-of-service
- aid: 4chan:4chan-threads-api
  name: 4chan Threads API
  description: Single-thread document containing the OP and every reply.
  humanURL: https://github.com/4chan/4chan-API
  baseURL: https://a.4cdn.org
  tags:
  - Threads
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/4chan-threads-api-openapi.yml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://github.com/4chan/4chan-API
  - type: Signup
    url: https://github.com/4chan/4chan-API#api-rules
  - type: Support
    url: mailto:api@4chan.org
  - type: TermsOfService
    url: https://github.com/4chan/4chan-API#api-terms-of-service
common:
- type: IssueTracker
  url: https://github.com/4chan/4chan-JS/issues
- type: AgenticAccess
  url: agentic-access/4chan-agentic-access.yml
- type: VulnerabilityDisclosure
  url: security/4chan-vulnerability-disclosure.yml
- type: DomainSecurity
  url: security/4chan-domain-security.yml
- type: Website
  url: https://www.4chan.org
- type: Documentation
  url: https://github.com/4chan/4chan-API
- type: GitHubOrganization
  url: https://github.com/4chan
- type: SourceCode
  url: https://github.com/4chan/4chan-JS
  title: 4chan native browser extension source
- type: ContactEmail
  url: mailto:api@4chan.org
- type: Tools
  title: MCP Server (community, unofficial)
  url: https://github.com/sh0n0/chan-mcp-server
- type: SDKs
  title: Python Wrapper (BASC-py4chan, community)
  url: https://github.com/bibanon/BASC-py4chan
- type: SDKs
  title: Python Wrapper (py-4chan, community)
  url: https://github.com/e000/py-4chan
- type: SDKs
  title: Node.js Client (4chanjs, community)
  url: https://github.com/yocontra/4chanjs
- type: SDKs
  title: Go Client (go-4chan-api, community)
  url: https://github.com/moshee/go-4chan-api
- type: SDKs
  title: Rust Client (rchan, community)
  url: https://github.com/insomnimus/rchan
- type: SDKs
  title: Racket Client (yotsubAPI, community)
  url: https://github.com/g-gundam/yotsubAPI
- type: Tools
  title: BA Thread Archiver (community)
  url: https://github.com/hydrusnetwork/BA-4chan-thread-archiver
- type: PublicAPIsListing
  url: https://github.com/public-apis/public-apis
- type: Plans
  url: plans/4chan-plans-pricing.yml
- type: RateLimits
  url: rate-limits/4chan-rate-limits.yml
- type: Vocabulary
  url: vocabulary/4chan-vocabulary.yml
- type: SpectralRules
  url: rules/4chan-rules.yml
- type: JSONLD
  url: json-ld/4chan-context.jsonld
features:
- name: Read-Only JSON Catalog
  description: Static JSON representations of boards, threads, catalogs, and archives are served from a.4cdn.org; clients
    use standard HTTP semantics including If-Modified-Since for caching.
- name: No Authentication
  description: The API requires no API key, no token, and no account; it is fully anonymous and serves the same data visible
    to anonymous web visitors.
- name: HTTP Caching Built In
  description: The API requires clients to send If-Modified-Since headers on repeated requests, allowing 304 Not Modified
    responses and reducing server load.
- name: CORS Restricted to 4chan Origins
  description: CORS is enabled but only for origins boards.4chan.org and boards.4channel.org via HTTP or HTTPS; only GET/OPTIONS/HEAD
    methods are accepted.
- name: Per-Board Catalog
  description: Every board (a, b, g, pol, po, etc.) exposes catalog, threadlist, archive, and per-page index endpoints with
    the same shape, making bulk crawling trivial.
- name: Static Media Domains
  description: User-uploaded images and thumbnails live at i.4cdn.org/{board}/{tim}.{ext}; static site assets including flags,
    spoiler images, and capcode icons live at s.4cdn.org.
useCases:
- name: Read-Only Board Crawlers
  description: Build research crawlers that periodically snapshot board catalogs, threads, and archives while respecting the
    1 request per second limit and 10 second per-thread refresh floor.
- name: Thread Archivers
  description: Mirror archived threads and their attached media to durable storage for academic study or cultural preservation
    (see BA Thread Archiver, Ayase / Asagi).
- name: Imageboard Analytics
  description: Use threads.json and catalog.json to chart posting volume, reply velocity, and moderator/admin capcode activity
    across boards over time.
- name: Language Models and Markov Chains
  description: Feed cleaned post comments from catalog.json and thread.json into text generation experiments (see 4chanMarkovText).
- name: Static Site Mirrors
  description: Combine boards.json + per-board catalog/thread JSON to build static site mirrors of individual threads suitable
    for read-only display.
integrations:
- name: BASC-py4chan
  description: Python wrapper providing Pythonic access to boards, threads, and posts.
- name: 4chanjs
  description: Node.js and browser client for the 4chan JSON API.
- name: go-4chan-api
  description: Go client for crawling and consuming 4chan board JSON.
- name: rchan
  description: Rust crate exposing typed boards/threads/posts and a basic client.
- name: Ayase / Asagi
  description: Archive middleware that ingests 4chan JSON and stores posts in SQL for replay.
- name: chan-mcp-server (community)
  description: Unofficial Model Context Protocol server exposing 4chan boards/threads/catalog as MCP tools.
solutions:
- name: Imageboard Research Archive
  description: Combine threads.json polling with archive.json snapshots and i.4cdn.org media downloads to build a long-term
    archive that respects the published rate limits.
- name: Capcode Activity Dashboard
  description: Use catalog.json/thread.json capcode and id fields to surface moderator and admin activity per board over time.
maintainers:
- FN: Kin Lane
  email: kin@apievangelist.com

4chan API — frequently asked questions

Does 4chan have an API?

Yes. APIs.io lists 6 APIs from 4chan, including 4chan Archive API, 4chan Boards API and 4chan Catalog API, and 3 more.

Is there an OpenAPI specification for the 4chan API?

Yes. APIs.io indexes 6 OpenAPI specifications for 4chan, each linked for download from this page.

How much does the 4chan API cost?

APIs.io lists 2 pricing plans for 4chan, with each plan's price, limits and inclusions under Pricing on this page.

Is the 4chan API ready for AI agents?

4chan has a Kin Score of 31.3 out of 100 (thin) and an Agent Readiness score of 22.7 (agent-aware), scored by API Evangelist on 2026-11-06.

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