Threads — Keyword & Hashtag Search

keyword + sort filter → list of matching posts with engagement metrics

Language

All process output to user (progress updates, process notifications) follows the user's language.

Objective

Search Threads for posts matching a keyword or hashtag and extract the results from SSR-embedded JSON, with support for top/recent sort ordering.

Prerequisites

• A browser is open and connected via browser-act
• No login required for public search results (unauthenticated: typically 17-18 results per query, no pagination)

Pre-execution Checks

1. Tool Readiness

If browser-act has been confirmed available in the current session → skip this step.

Invoke browser-act via Skill tool to load usage. If installation or configuration issues arise, follow its guidance to resolve then retry.

Capability Components

This Skill's operational boundary = what the user can manually do in their browser. It only reads data already displayed to the user on the page. JS code is encapsulated in Python files under the scripts/ directory, invoked via eval "$(python scripts/xxx.py {params})". $(...) is bash syntax; it is recommended to use the bash tool for execution.

SSR: Extract keyword search results

Navigate to the search page with the keyword and sort filter, then extract all results embedded in the initial HTML:

1. navigate https://www.threads.com/search/?q={keyword}&serp_type={filter}
   • {keyword}: URL-encoded search term or hashtag (e.g., AI or %23AI for #AI)
   • {filter}: top (default, most relevant) or recent (chronologically newest)
2. wait stable
3. eval "$(python scripts/extract-search-results.py '{keyword}' --filter {filter})"

Output example:

{
  "keyword": "AI",
  "filter": "top",
  "posts": [
    {
      "id": "3936653356768062022",          // post internal ID (pk)
      "code": "DZyvcdEl-W1",               // post short code for URL
      "url": "https://www.threads.com/@flower_popy/post/DZyvcdEl-W1",
      "text": "AI is changing everything...", // post text content, null if no caption
      "taken_at": 1781926571,              // Unix timestamp of post creation
      "like_count": 34,                    // number of likes
      "reply_count": 6,                    // number of direct replies
      "repost_count": 0,                   // number of reposts
      "quote_count": 0,                    // number of quote posts
      "is_reply": false,                   // true if this post is a reply
      "media_type": 19,                    // 1=photo, 2=video, 8=carousel, 19=text-only
      "has_media": false,                  // true if post contains image/video/carousel
      "user": {
        "pk": "14803522782",
        "username": "flower_popy",
        "full_name": "Flower",
        "is_verified": false
      }
    }
  ],
  "count": 17,
  "page_info": {
    "end_cursor": null,
    "has_next_page": false,
    "has_previous_page": false,
    "start_cursor": null
  }
}

Error handling: If error: true is returned, check that the search page loaded correctly by verifying the URL contains the query parameter. If searchResults not found, the page may have failed to render SSR data — retry navigate and wait stable once. If count: 0, no posts matched the keyword.

SSR: Hashtag search

Hashtag search uses the same URL pattern. Prefix keyword with #:

1. navigate https://www.threads.com/search/?q=%23{hashtag}&serp_type={filter}
   • Example: %23AI for #AI
2. wait stable
3. eval "$(python scripts/extract-search-results.py '#AI' --filter top)"

The # prefix in the keyword argument is for labeling only; the URL encoding %23 is what Threads uses to identify hashtag searches.

Enum Parameters

[DOM] filter — values: top (most relevant/popular posts), recent (newest posts first). Set via --filter argument and serp_type URL parameter.

Pagination

Pagination is not available for unauthenticated access on the search endpoint (has_next_page: false is returned regardless of result volume). Results are limited to approximately 17-18 posts per query without login. For broader coverage, run multiple searches with related keywords.

Success Criteria

result.count >= 1 and result.posts[0].id != null and result.posts[0].user.username != null

Known Limitations

• Unauthenticated access: no pagination; approximately 17-18 results per keyword
• Date filtering is not supported as a URL parameter; filter by taken_at (Unix timestamp) client-side after extraction
• Private account posts may appear in search results but their full content may be restricted
• Search index may not include very new posts (lag of minutes to hours)

Execution Efficiency

• Batch orchestration: Write a bash script to loop keywords serially within a single session. Add 1-2 second intervals between searches. For higher throughput, distribute keywords across multiple parallel browser sessions.
• Test before batch execution: Test with 1-2 keywords first before running full batch.
• Reduce redundant pre-operations: Each keyword requires a fresh navigate to the search URL — the search parameters are baked into the URL.
• Error resumption: Save results per keyword; on failure, resume from the breakpoint.

Experience Notes

Path: {working-directory}/browser-act-skill-forge-memories/threads-scraper-threads-keyword-search.memory.md

Before execution: If the file exists, read it first — it records unexpected situations encountered during past executions; adjust strategy order accordingly.

After execution: If an unexpected situation is encountered (strategy became ineffective, page redesigned, anti-scraping upgraded, better path discovered), append a line: {YYYY-MM-DD}: {what happened} → {conclusion}

Normal execution does not write to the file. Do not record what keywords were used or how many results were returned — those are task outputs, not experience.