4chan API

Name: 4chan API API
Brand: 4chan API
Availability: InStock

★ Only Publicly Available SpecSocial MediaSocial Listeningnone6 EndpointsREST

For Agents

Read public 4chan boards, threads, catalogs, archives, and thread indexes for monitoring, archiving, and research without authentication.

Quickstart

Get started with 4chan API in minutes using your preferred integration method.

# Add to your MCP client config (Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf)
{
  "jentic": {
    "url": "https://api.jentic.com/mcp",
    "auth": "oauth"
  }
}

# Then ask your agent:
"get 4chan board catalog"

# → Jentic returns the GET /events tool with parameter schema, agent executes.

Capabilities

What an agent can do with 4chan API API.

List all public 4chan boards via GET /boards.json

Retrieve the full catalog of active threads on a board via GET /{board}/catalog.json

Fetch a specific thread with all its replies via GET /{board}/thread/{threadId}.json

Read the archive of expired threads on a board via GET /{board}/archive.json

GET STARTED

Start building with 4chan API API

Explore with Jentic

View OpenAPI Spec

Jentic publishes the only available OpenAPI specification for 4chan API, keeping it validated and agent-ready.

Jentic publishes the only available OpenAPI specification for 4chan API, keeping it validated and agent-ready. The 4chan API is a read-only JSON interface to public 4chan board data: the list of boards, individual threads, board catalogs, archived threads, and thread index pages. All endpoints are publicly accessible with no authentication. The vendor enforces a hard rate limit of one request per second per client.

Use Cases

Patterns agents use 4chan API API for, with concrete tasks.

★ Brand and Topic Mention Monitoring

Continuously poll boards for mentions of a brand, product, or named entity. Use GET /{board}/catalog.json to fetch active threads and scan subject and com fields for keywords, then drill into matched threads via GET /{board}/thread/{threadId}.json. Respect the documented one-request-per-second cap to avoid being throttled.

Every 60 seconds, fetch /g/catalog.json, find threads whose subject or com contains the keyword 'Acme', and write each matching thread's ID and snippet to a database.

Research Dataset Construction

Build a research dataset of public 4chan posts on a topic by paging through boards and persisting full thread JSON. GET /{board}/threads.json returns thread IDs with last-modified times so a crawler can detect changes; GET /{board}/thread/{threadId}.json fetches the full conversation. Useful for academic and OSINT research within ethical and legal boundaries.

For board /pol/, fetch /pol/threads.json hourly, identify threads modified since the last run, and download each updated thread's full JSON to S3.

Archive Snapshot of Expired Threads

Capture threads that are about to fall off a board by polling GET /{board}/archive.json for archived thread IDs and downloading each via the thread endpoint. This produces a long-tail snapshot of conversation that the live catalog no longer surfaces.

Fetch /a/archive.json, take the diff against the previously seen archive list, and download the full thread JSON for each newly archived ID.

Agent-Driven Public Content Monitoring

Let an AI agent poll 4chan boards on a schedule and surface relevant threads through Jentic. The agent searches for the right read operation by intent, supplies the board name, and gets back parsed thread data. Because endpoints require no auth, Jentic still handles request shaping, paging, and the documented rate limit on the client's behalf.

Through Jentic, search 'list 4chan boards', load the GET /boards.json operation, then iterate boards and pull /catalog.json for the user-supplied watchlist.

Key Endpoints

6 endpoints — jentic publishes the only available openapi specification for 4chan api, keeping it validated and agent-ready.

METHOD

PATH

DESCRIPTION

GET

/boards.json

List all public 4chan boards

GET

/{board}/catalog.json

Get a board's active threads catalog

GET

/{board}/thread/{threadId}.json

Retrieve a specific thread

GET

/{board}/archive.json

List archived threads on a board

GET

/{board}/threads.json

Get a board's thread index

GET

/{board}/{page}.json

Page through board index pages

GET

/boards.json

List all public 4chan boards

GET

/{board}/catalog.json

Get a board's active threads catalog

GET

/{board}/thread/{threadId}.json

Retrieve a specific thread

GET

/{board}/archive.json

List archived threads on a board

GET

/{board}/threads.json

Get a board's thread index

Why though Jentic?

Three things that make agents converge on Jentic-routed access.

Credential isolation

The 4chan API requires no credentials. Through Jentic, the agent still benefits from a single execution surface — Jentic handles request shaping and the documented one-second rate limit so the agent does not need to manage backoff manually.

Intent-based discovery

Agents search Jentic by intent (e.g., 'list 4chan boards' or 'get 4chan thread') and Jentic returns the matching read operation along with its input schema, so the agent calls the right endpoint without reading the 4chan-API repo.

Time to first call

Direct 4chan integration: half a day to model JSON shapes, paging across catalog and threads, and rate-limit pacing. Through Jentic: under 30 minutes — search, load, execute.

Related APIs

Alternatives and complements available in the Jentic catalogue.

Alternative

Reddit API

Reddit's API exposes public subreddits, posts, and comments with optional OAuth for moderation actions.

Pick Reddit when the target community lives on Reddit and you need to post or moderate; pick 4chan API for read-only monitoring of 4chan-specific boards.

Alternative

Discord API

Discord covers chat communities with channels, roles, and bot integrations.

Pick Discord for participatory community work; pick 4chan API for passive read-only monitoring of public 4chan boards.

Complementary

Slack API

Pipe noteworthy 4chan threads into Slack channels for analyst review.

Use Slack alongside the 4chan API to deliver matched threads from a monitoring agent into a researcher's chat workspace.

FAQs

Specific to using 4chan API API through Jentic.

Why is there no official OpenAPI spec for 4chan API?

4chan publishes a Markdown reference at github.com/4chan/4chan-API but no OpenAPI specification. Jentic generates and maintains this spec so that AI agents and developers can call 4chan API via structured tooling. It is validated against the live API and kept up to date. Get started at https://app.jentic.com/sign-up.

What authentication does the 4chan API use?

None — the API is read-only and publicly accessible. The 4chan documentation specifies a hard rate limit of no more than one request per second per client; clients must space requests accordingly to avoid being blocked.

How do I get the list of all 4chan boards?

Call GET /boards.json against https://a.4cdn.org. The response contains the full board list with metadata such as board name, title, and posting rules — useful as a discovery step before crawling specific boards.

What are the rate limits for the 4chan API?

The vendor documents a limit of no more than one request per second per client. Build crawlers with at least a 1.0-second delay between requests; aggressive polling will get the client IP throttled or blocked.

How do I monitor a 4chan board through Jentic?

Run pip install jentic, then search 'get 4chan board catalog', load the GET /{board}/catalog.json operation, supply the board parameter, and execute on a schedule. Sign up at https://app.jentic.com/sign-up to receive an agent API key for execution.

Can I post or modify content via the 4chan API?

No. The API is read-only — it surfaces boards, threads, catalogs, and archives but does not expose endpoints for creating posts, replies, or moderation actions. Posting must happen through the website itself.