Zhihu CLI

Command-line tool for searching, reading, and interacting with Zhihu (知乎). Supports hot topics, content search, article reading, user info, and Browser Relay...

A CLI tool for interacting with Zhihu (知乎) content.

Installation

# Install globally
npm install -g zhihu-cli

# Or use npx
npx zhihu-cli <command>

Commands

Command	Description
zhihu login	Auto-extract cookies from Chrome
zhihu whoami	Check login status
zhihu set-cookie <cookie>	Set cookie manually
zhihu hot	Get hot topics
zhihu search <keyword>	Search content
zhihu topics <keyword>	Search topics
zhihu read <url>	Read answer/article
zhihu user <token>	Get user info by url_token
zhihu vote <url>	Browser Relay vote instructions
zhihu follow [url]	Browser Relay follow instructions
zhihu post	Browser Relay post instructions

Features

• 🔍 Search Zhihu content
• 🔥 Get hot topics
• 📖 Read answers/articles
• 👤 View user info
• 👍 Vote (via Browser Relay)
• 👣 Follow users (via Browser Relay)
• 🔐 Auto cookie extraction from Chrome

Cookie Setup

Option 1: Auto (recommended)

zhihu login

Opens Chrome and extracts cookies automatically.

Option 2: Manual

zhihu set-cookie "your_zhihu_cookie_string"

Browser Relay Operations

Some operations (vote, follow, post) require Browser Relay due to API limitations.

Setup

1. Ensure OpenClaw Browser Relay is connected
2. Use the respective command to get instructions

Voting

zhihu vote <answer_url>

Then click the vote button in browser or use JS:

const btn = document.querySelector('button[class*="VoteButton"]');
if (btn) btn.click();

Following

zhihu follow <user_url>

Or click the follow button in browser.

API Limitations

Zhihu has restricted API access for:

• Vote/unvote (use Browser Relay)
• Follow/unfollow (use Browser Relay)
• Comments (partially available)

Read operations (search, hot, read, user) work via API.

Examples

# Get hot topics
zhihu hot

# Search for Python tutorials
zhihu search Python教程

# Read an answer
zhihu read https://www.zhihu.com/question/123456/answer/789012

# Get user info
zhihu user lightislost

# Check login
zhihu whoami

Notes

• Cookie is stored in ~/.zhihu-cookie
• Some features require login (votes, follows)
• Browser Relay provides more reliable write operations