Facebook Event Search API

What is the Facebook Event Search API?

Search public Facebook events with a topic query (e.g. comedy) and optional location / from / to / upcoming filters. Each result uses the same Event shape as Event Details and Profile Events — every field present, null when Facebook omits it: startDate/endDate as ISO with the host timezone offset (calendar day matches startTime — evening CDT events do not roll to the next UTC day), IANA timezone (from venue lat/lng when present — never Etc/*), startTime (always includes the year), isPast, eventType (discovery category, e.g. Comedy), visibility (public|private|friends|… from Facebook's *_TYPE), location{name,city,latitude,longitude,countryCode} (all five keys always — null when unknown), description, image, organizers, ticketsUrl, categories, and usersGoing/usersInterested when exposed. Relative labels like "Happening now" are never returned as startTime. Billing: flat 2 credits on every successful call — check source / x-captapi-source (native|extended). Envelope timings{serpMs,hydrateMs,hydrateAttempts,discoveryMs,totalMs,path} exposes per-stage latency. Set client timeouts ≥130s until typical searches stay under 60s.

What you get

• Ranked, structured result list
• Title, URL, author, and thumbnail per result when available
• Engagement metrics where the platform exposes them
• Configurable result limit

Platform limits

Honest ceilings from the upstream platform surface — not Captapi bugs. Unexpected truncation here is usually the platform, not us.

• Facebook/SERP discovery can return past events. Use upcoming=true (sets from=today UTC) or from=YYYY-MM-DD for a forward window, or filter client-side on isPast — same pattern as playCount absence on Spotify search.
• timezone is a real IANA zone or null — never Etc/GMT. Prefer location.latitude/longitude → IANA when coords exist.
• location is a geo filter (timezone / city / coords near the place) — not a required substring of the event title. Most London venues do not contain "London" in their name.
• Client timeouts ≥130s recommended — native path hydrates event pages (timings.hydrateMs is usually the dominant stage).

Fill in the parameters below and copy a ready-to-run request, or open the live Playground to run it against your account (no API key paste).

curl "https://api.captapi.com/v1/facebook/event-search?q=comedy%20Chicago" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer capt_live_..."
# or: -H "x-api-key: capt_live_..."

Example response

{
  "success": true,
  "data": {
    "query": "comedy Chicago",
    "location": "Chicago",
    "totalReturned": 5,
    "events": [
      {
        "platform": "facebook",
        "id": "1501904507609251",
        "url": "https://www.facebook.com/events/1501904507609251/",
        "name": "The Best of Chicago Comedy Showcase at Zanies Rosemont",
        "description": "Get ready for an unforgettable evening of laughter as Chicago's comedy scene brings its A-game to the stage! \"The Best of Chicago Showcase\" features a dynamic lineup of the city's funniest stand-up comedians, delivering a blend of fresh, cutting-edge material and beloved, time-tested jokes.",
        "startDate": "2026-08-19T19:00:00-05:00",
        "endDate": "2026-08-19T20:30:00-05:00",
        "timezone": "America/Chicago",
        "startTime": "Wednesday 19 August 2026 from 19:00-20:30 CDT",
        "duration": "1 hr 30 min",
        "durationSeconds": 5400,
        "eventType": "Comedy",
        "isOnline": false,
        "isPast": false,
        "isCanceled": false,
        "address": "5437 Park Pl, Des Plaines, IL 60018-3732, United States",
        "image": "https://lookaside.fbsbx.com/lookaside/crawler/media/?media_id=1501904507609251",
        "location": {
          "name": "5437 Park Place, Rosemont, IL, United States, Illinois 60018",
          "city": "Rosemont, IL",
          "latitude": 41.97826,
          "longitude": -87.86738,
          "countryCode": "US"
        },
        "organizers": [
          {
            "id": "100064546187809",
            "name": "Zanies Rosemont Comedy Club",
            "url": "https://www.facebook.com/RosemontZanies",
            "verified": false
          }
        ],
        "ticketsUrl": "https://www.etix.com/ticket/p/74170542/the-best-of-chicago-showcase-rosemont-zanies-rosemont",
        "categories": [
          {
            "label": "Comedy",
            "url": "https://www.facebook.com/events/search/?filters=eyJmaWx0ZXJfZXZlbnRzX2NhdGVnb3J5OjAiOiJ7XCJuYW1lXCI6XCJmaWx0ZXJfZXZlbnRzX2NhdGVnb3J5XCIsXCJhcmdzXCI6XCI2NjAwMzI2MTc1MzYzNzNcIn0ifQ%3D%3D&q=Comedy"
          }
        ]
      },
      {
        "platform": "facebook",
        "id": "1345542687414105",
        "url": "https://www.facebook.com/events/1345542687414105/",
        "name": "Anthony Mrocka at Zanies Rosemont",
        "startDate": "2026-08-05T19:00:00-05:00",
        "timezone": "America/Chicago",
        "startTime": "Wed, Aug 5 at 7:00 PM CDT",
        "eventType": "PUBLIC_TYPE",
        "isPast": false,
        "isCanceled": false,
        "location": {
          "name": "5437 Park Place, Rosemont, IL, United States, Illinois 60018",
          "city": "Rosemont, IL",
          "countryCode": "US"
        },
        "organizers": [
          {
            "id": "100064546187809",
            "name": "Zanies Rosemont Comedy Club",
            "url": "https://www.facebook.com/RosemontZanies",
            "verified": false
          }
        ]
      }
    ]
  }
}

Billing metadata is returned in response headers: X-Captapi-Credits (credits charged), X-Captapi-Cache (hit or miss), and X-Captapi-Source. Failed requests (4xx/5xx) are never charged. See the full list of error codes in the error reference.

Response structure

A successful call returns success, cached, creditsUsed, and a data object with the following fields:

Parameters

Authentication: send your key as Authorization: Bearer capt_live_.... A typical call costs 2 credits. Pass cache=true for a free 24h cache hit; default is always fresh.

How it works

1. 1. Sign up — get 100 free credits, no card required.
2. 2. Create a key from your dashboard.
3. 3. Send one request to /v1/facebook/event-search and parse the JSON response.

Use cases

Frequently asked questions

More Facebook Events APIs