> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://mastodon.gitbook.io/mastodon/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://mastodon.gitbook.io/mastodon/methods/search.md).

# search

## Search results

<mark style="color:blue;">`GET`</mark> `https://mastodon.example/api/v2/search`

**Returns:** Results\
**OAuth:** User token + `read:search`\
**Version history:**\
2.4.1 - added, limit hardcoded to 5\
2.8.0 - add type, limit, offset, min\_id, max\_id, account\_id\
3.0.0 - add `exclude_unreviewed` param

#### Query Parameters

| Name                | Type    | Description                                                                                |
| ------------------- | ------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| account\_id         | string  | If provided, statuses returned will be authored only by this account                       |
| max\_id             | string  | Return results older than this id                                                          |
| min\_id             | string  | Return results immediately newer than this id                                              |
| type                | string  | Enum(accounts, hashtags, statuses)                                                         |
| exclude\_unreviewed | boolean | Filter out unreviewed tags? Defaults to false. Use true when trying to find trending tags. |
| q                   | string  | The search query                                                                           |
| resolve             | boolean | Attempt WebFinger lookup. Defaults to false.                                               |
| limit               | integer | Maximum number of results to load, per type. Defaults to 20. Max 40.                       |
| offset              | integer | Offset in search results. Used for pagination. Defaults to 0.                              |
| following           | boolean | Only include accounts that the user is following. Defaults to false.                       |

#### Headers

| Name          | Type   | Description          |
| ------------- | ------ | -------------------- |
| Authorization | string | Bearer \<user token> |

{% tabs %}
{% tab title="200 Truncated results of a sample search for "cats" with limit=2." %}

```javascript
{
  "accounts": [
    {
      "id": "180744",
      "username": "catstar",
      "acct": "catstar@catgram.jp",
      "display_name": "catstar",
      ...
    },
    {
      "id": "214293",
      "username": "catsareweird",
      "acct": "catsareweird",
      "display_name": "Cats Are Weird",
      ...
    }
  ],
  "statuses": [
    {
      "id": "103085519055545958",
      "created_at": "2019-11-05T13:23:09.000Z",
      ...
      "content": "<p>cats<br>cats never change</p>",
      ...
    },
    {
      "id": "101068121469614510",
      "created_at": "2018-11-14T06:31:48.000Z",
      ...
      "spoiler_text": "Cats",
      ...
      "content": "<p>Cats are inherently good at self-care. </p><p><a href=\"https://mspsocial.net/tags/cats\" class=\"mention hashtag\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">#<span>cats</span></a></p>",
      ...
  ],
  "hashtags": [
    {
      "name": "cats",
      "url": "https://mastodon.social/tags/cats",
      "history": [
        {
          "day": "1574553600",
          "uses": "10",
          "accounts": "9"
        },
        ...
      ]
    },
    {
      "name": "catsofmastodon",
      "url": "https://mastodon.social/tags/catsofmastodon",
      "history": [
        {
          "day": "1574553600",
          "uses": "6",
          "accounts": "5"
        },
        ...
      ]
    }
  ]
}
```

{% endtab %}

{% tab title="401 Invalid or missing Authorization header" %}

```javascript
{
  "error": "The access token is invalid"
}
```

{% endtab %}
{% endtabs %}

## (DEPRECATED) Search results

<mark style="color:blue;">`GET`</mark> `https://mastodon.example/api/v1/search`

**Returns:** Results, but hashtags is an array of strings instead of an array of Tag.\
**OAuth:** User token + `read:search`\
**Version history:**\
1.1 - added, limit hardcoded to 5\
1.5.0 - now requires authentication\
2.8.0 - added limit, pagination, and account options\
3.0.0 - removed; use v2 instead

#### Query Parameters

| Name        | Type   | Description                                            |
| ----------- | ------ | ------------------------------------------------------ |
| q           | string | The search query                                       |
| resolve     | string | Attempt Webfinger lookup. Defaults to false.           |
| limit       | string | Max number of results to load per type. Defaults to 20 |
| type        | string | Enum(accounts,hashtags,statuses)                       |
| offset      | string | Offset in search results.                              |
| min\_id     | string | Return results immediately newer than this id          |
| max\_id     | string | Return results older than this id                      |
| account\_id | string | Return statuses only from this account                 |

{% tabs %}
{% tab title="200 v1 search was deprecated because hashtags were returned as strings instead of as Tag entities." %}

```javascript
{
  "accounts": [...],
  "statuses": [...],
  "hashtags": ["cats","catsofmastodon"]
}
```

{% endtab %}

{% tab title="401 Invalid or missing Authorization header" %}

```javascript
{
  "error": "The access token is invalid"
}
```

{% endtab %}
{% endtabs %}