I’m trying to work with a Twitch API endpoint that returns chat viewer information in JSON format. The response contains various data about active chatters in a channel, but I only need to extract the specific field that shows the total count of people chatting.
I’m completely new to working with APIs and parsing JSON responses. What I want to do is make a request to get the channel data and then pull out just the numerical value that represents how many chatters are currently active. I need this value as either an integer or string that I can use in my application.
Could someone guide me through the process of making the API call and extracting this specific piece of information from the JSON response? Any code examples would be really helpful since I’m just starting out with API integration.
Auth setup’s the hardest part when moving from TMI to Helix API. I hit rate limits during dev because I was hammering test requests without managing tokens properly. Don’t forget token refresh logic - OAuth tokens expire.
For data extraction, the chatter count’s buried in a nested structure. You’ll find it under the response body’s total property, not in the data array. Store your client credentials securely and handle 401/403 errors - they pop up constantly if your token permissions are wrong.
TMI API’s been deprecated for ages, so you’ll need to switch to the Helix API. For chat viewer counts, hit the GET /chat/chatters endpoint with your channel ID and auth headers. The response has a ‘total’ field with the exact count you need. You’ll need an OAuth token with moderator:read:chatters scope since this endpoint requires elevated permissions. I had auth issues when I first tried this - getting your app registered properly in the Twitch Developer Console and handling OAuth flow correctly is key. Once auth works, JSON parsing is easy - just grab response.data.total from the returned object.
Yeah, the TMI to Helix shift caught me off guard too when I built my first Twitch integration. I set up a simple test environment first - saved me tons of headaches later. The /chat/chatters endpoint needs moderator permissions, so you’ve got to authenticate as the channel owner or an actual mod. This tripped me up because I thought any app token would work. Your OAuth flow needs to specifically request the moderator:read:chatters scope during authorization. The JSON response is pretty straightforward - you get a data object with pagination info, and the total field sits at the root level. Test it in Postman first to see the actual response structure before you write your parsing code.
u gotta switch to the Helix API since the TMI one’s gone. yeah, it’s a hassle with oauth tokens n permissions. but for viewer counts, check out the GET /chat/chatters endpoint. just make sure ur app is set up right in the dev console. gl!