Facebook Scraper API · PHP

PHP client for the GetSocialAPI Facebook Scraper API.

• Groups: resolve links, overview, paginated members
• Profiles: resolve links, About/contacts in raw GraphQL
• Connections: followers, followings, friends
• Raw responses — no transformations
• Automatic retries on 429/502/503, typed exceptions
• Zero runtime dependencies — cURL only

Installation

composer require getsocialapi/facebook-scraper-api

Quickstart

use GetSocialAPI\Facebook\Client;

// Get your API key at https://getsocialapi.com/dashboard/
$client = new Client(apiKey: 'gsa_live_...');  // or set GETSOCIALAPI_FB_API_KEY

// Resolve any group link (slug, m.facebook, share/g) to a group_id
$group = $client->fb->resolve('https://www.facebook.com/groups/freegarden/');
$groupId = $group['group_id'];

// Profile links resolve the same way
$user = $client->fb->resolveProfile('https://www.facebook.com/nasa');
$userId = $user['user_id'];

// Group card
$client->fb->overview($groupId);

// Members: raw GraphQL pages (1st -> data.group, 2nd+ -> data.fetch__Group)
$page = $client->fb->members($groupId);  // fixed page of 15 members
$cursor = $page['data']['group']['group_member_profiles']['page_info']['end_cursor'];

// Next page: pass page_info.end_cursor as $after
$client->fb->members($groupId, after: $cursor);

Base URL: https://api.getsocialapi.com/fb — authenticate with the API key from your dashboard.

Client

new Client(?string $apiKey = null, ?string $baseUrl = null, int $timeout = 30, int $maxRetries = 3)

Parameter	Default	Description
$apiKey	env GETSOCIALAPI_FB_API_KEY	your API key
$baseUrl	API endpoint	override only for testing
$timeout	30	per-request timeout, seconds
$maxRetries	3	retries on 429/502/503/5xx and network errors

Methods

Method	Route	Description
resolve($url)	GET /resolve	group link → group_id (numeric id, slug, m.facebook, /share/g/…)
resolveProfile($url)	GET /resolve/profile	profile link → user_id
overview($groupId)	GET /overview	group card: name, visibility
members($groupId, $after = null)	GET /api/v1/members	raw GraphQL page of 15 (1st — data.group, 2nd+ — data.fetch__Group)
groupPosts($groupId, $after = null)	GET /api/v1/group_posts	group feed: page of 2–3 Story posts, cursor from group_feed.page_info.end_cursor
contacts($userId)	GET /api/v1/contacts	profile About: raw GraphQL
posts($userId, $after = null)	GET /api/v1/posts	user timeline: page of ~100 posts (the fixed service maximum), cursor from timeline_feed_units.page_info.end_cursor
feed($userId, $groupId, $perPage, $after)	GET /api/v1/feed	unified user/group feed, small pages: $perPage 3–20 (default 10); pass exactly one of $userId / $groupId
followers($userId, $after = null)	GET /api/v1/followers	raw GraphQL full_profile_list
followings($userId, $after = null)	GET /api/v1/followings	same shape
friends($userId, $after = null)	GET /api/v1/friends	same shape

Full request/response reference with live examples: getsocialapi.com/docs — API Reference / Facebook.

Pagination

Every method returns one raw page. Pass the connection's page_info.end_cursor as $after while has_next_page is true.

List	Page size (fixed)	Cursor source
posts	~100 posts — the service maximum, there is no count parameter	data.profile.timeline_feed_units.page_info.end_cursor
feed	$perPage 3–20 (default 10); a page may come back short — follow has_next_page	same connection as the target: timeline_feed_units / group_feed page_info.end_cursor
groupPosts	2–3 Story posts (skip GroupsSectionHeaderUnit edges, dedupe by cache_id)	data.group_address.group_feed.page_info.end_cursor
members	15	data.(group / fetch__Group).group_member_profiles.page_info.end_cursor
followers / followings / friends	15	…list_items.page_info.end_cursor

Cursors are reusable and not bound to a session; a broken or foreign cursor returns 400 Invalid Cursor — take end_cursor only from the connection's page_info, never from node fields.

$posts = [];
$after = null;
while (true) {
    $page = $client->fb->posts($userId, $after);
    $tfu = $page['data']['profile']['timeline_feed_units'];
    foreach ($tfu['edges'] as $edge) {
        $posts[] = $edge['node'];
    }
    $pi = $tfu['page_info'] ?? [];
    if (empty($pi['has_next_page']) || empty($pi['end_cursor'])) {
        break;
    }
    $after = $pi['end_cursor'];
}

Response notes

• members page 1 lives in data.group, following pages in data.fetch__Group
• connection lists: can_see_follower_list: false means the list is hidden by privacy settings (only the count is available)

Errors

Exception	HTTP	Notes
GetSocialFacebookError	—	base class; also network errors
BadRequestError	400	bad parameters
APIKeyError	401	invalid key
RateLimitError	429	->limit from the response
UpstreamError	502	temporary upstream error — retried automatically
ServiceUnavailableError	503	service overloaded — retried automatically

All exception classes live in the GetSocialAPI\Facebook\Exception namespace and expose ->httpStatus, ->headers and ->body.

Only successful responses count against your quota. Plans and rate limits: getsocialapi.com/#pricing.

Support

• Telegram: @getsocialapi
• Email: hello@getsocialapi.com
• Website: getsocialapi.com
• Documentation: getsocialapi.com/docs
• Status: getsocialapi.com/status

License

MIT