Readable Stackoverflow

Stack Overflow Question Reader

Uses the public Stack Exchange API. Anonymous usage is rate-limited to ~300 requests per IP per day.

Steps

1. Extract the question ID

From a URL like https://stackoverflow.com/questions/12345678/some-slug, the ID is 12345678.

2. Fetch the question body

curl -s --compressed \
  "https://api.stackexchange.com/2.3/questions/{id}?site=stackoverflow&filter=withbody"

3. Fetch the answers

curl -s --compressed \
  "https://api.stackexchange.com/2.3/questions/{id}/answers?site=stackoverflow&filter=withbody&sort=votes&order=desc"

The response uses gzip; the --compressed flag is required by the API.

4. Honor backoff

If a response includes a backoff field, do not call the API again for that many seconds.

Attribution

Stack Exchange content is licensed under CC BY-SA. When surfacing answers, include the question URL and note the source as Stack Overflow.

Reference

• API docs: https://api.stackexchange.com/docs
• Throttle / backoff: https://api.stackexchange.com/docs/throttle
• Data licensing: https://stackoverflow.com/help/licensing

Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

• Author: yamadashy
• Source: yamadashy/agent-readable
• License: MIT

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.