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TikTok Live API Python Guide

Connect to any TikTok LIVE stream from Python using TikTool Live's WebSocket API. Receive real-time chat messages, gifts, viewer counts, and more — production-ready, no reverse engineering.

Get Started Live Captions Docs
tiktok.com/@
Stream offlineEnter a live TikTok username above
Connecting to @ live
Offline
Live Stream Monitor
@
<50msLatency
99.9%Uptime
FreeTo Test

Why Use TikTool Live for Python?

The popular TikTokLive Python library connects directly to TikTok's internal WebCast service using reverse engineering. While it works, its maintainers explicitly warn it is not production-ready — it breaks frequently when TikTok updates their protocol.

TikTool Live is a managed API service that handles protocol changes, provides 99.9% uptime, and works with any language via standard WebSocket. No reverse engineering — just connect and receive events.

Stability✓ Managed API — 99.9% uptime✗ Breaks on TikTok updates
Setup✓ pip install websockets~ pip install TikTokLive
Live Captions✓ AI Speech-to-Text✗ Not available
Maintenance✓ Zero — we handle it✗ You fix breakages

Prerequisites

  • Python 3.8+ installed
  • A free TikTool Live API key — get one here

Option 1: asyncio + websockets

The simplest approach — use the standard websockets library to connect to TikTool Live's WebSocket API:

pip install websockets
import asyncio
import websockets
import json
import os

API_KEY = os.environ.get("TIKTOOL_API_KEY", "YOUR_API_KEY")
STREAMER = "tv_asahi_news"  # TikTok username (without @)

async def connect():
    uri = f"wss://api.tik.tools?uniqueId={STREAMER}&apiKey={API_KEY}"

    async with websockets.connect(uri) as ws:
        print(f"✅ Connected to @{STREAMER}")

        async for message in ws:
            event = json.loads(message)
            event_type = event.get("event", "")
            data = event.get("data", {})

            if event_type == "chat":
                user = data.get("user", {}).get("uniqueId", "?")
                comment = data.get("comment", "")
                print(f"[CHAT] {user}: {comment}")

            elif event_type == "gift":
                user = data.get("user", {}).get("uniqueId", "?")
                gift = data.get("giftName", "?")
                diamonds = data.get("diamondCount", 0)
                print(f"[GIFT] {user} sent {gift} ({diamonds} 💎)")

            elif event_type == "member":
                user = data.get("user", {}).get("uniqueId", "?")
                print(f"[JOIN] {user} joined")

            elif event_type == "roomUserSeq":
                viewers = data.get("viewerCount", 0)
                print(f"[VIEWERS] {viewers} watching")

asyncio.run(connect())

Option 2: REST API with requests

For one-off data fetching (room info, user profiles), use the REST API:

pip install requests
import requests

API_KEY = "YOUR_API_KEY"
BASE = "https://api.tik.tools"

# Get room info for a streamer
resp = requests.get(f"{BASE}/webcast/room_info/", params={
    "uniqueId": "tv_asahi_news",
    "apiKey": API_KEY,
})
data = resp.json()
print(f"Title: {data.get('title', 'N/A')}")
print(f"Viewers: {data.get('viewer_count', 0)}")
print(f"Status: {'LIVE' if data.get('alive') else 'OFFLINE'}")

Option 3: Live Captions (Speech-to-Text)

Transcribe and translate any TikTok LIVE stream's audio in real-time. This feature is unique to TikTool Live — no other service offers it.

import asyncio
import websockets
import json
import os

API_KEY = os.environ.get("TIKTOOL_API_KEY", "YOUR_API_KEY")
STREAMER = "tv_asahi_news"

async def captions():
    uri = (
        f"wss://api.tik.tools/captions"
        f"?uniqueId={STREAMER}"
        f"&apiKey={API_KEY}"
        f"&translate=en"
        f"&diarization=true"
    )

    async with websockets.connect(uri) as ws:
        print(f"🎤 Captions started for @{STREAMER}")

        async for message in ws:
            event = json.loads(message)
            msg_type = event.get("type", "")

            if msg_type == "caption":
                speaker = event.get("speaker", "")
                text = event.get("text", "")
                is_final = event.get("isFinal", False)
                prefix = f"[{speaker}] " if speaker else ""
                suffix = " ✓" if is_final else "..."
                print(f"{prefix}{text}{suffix}")

            elif msg_type == "translation":
                print(f"  → {event.get('text', '')}")

            elif msg_type == "credits":
                remaining = event.get("remaining", 0)
                total = event.get("total", 0)
                print(f"[CREDITS] {remaining}/{total} min remaining")

asyncio.run(captions())

Running the Scripts

# Set your API key as environment variable
export TIKTOOL_API_KEY=your_api_key_here

# Run the WebSocket example
python tiktok_live.py

# Run the captions example
python tiktok_captions.py

Expected Output

✅ Connected to @tv_asahi_news
[VIEWERS] 1,234 watching
[CHAT] viewer42: Hello everyone!
[GIFT] big_fan sent Rose (1 💎)
[CHAT] news_watcher: Great coverage
[JOIN] new_viewer joined
[VIEWERS] 1,237 watching

Next Steps

  • Store events in a database — pipe events to PostgreSQL, MongoDB, or SQLite
  • Build a dashboard — use Flask or FastAPI to create a real-time web dashboard
  • AI analysis — feed chat messages to GPT/Claude for sentiment analysis
  • Multi-stream — monitor multiple streams simultaneously (Pro tier: 50 connections)
  • Live subtitles — use the Captions API for accessibility or translation
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