# Substack Trending Posts

> Substack Trending Posts is a paid API for AI agents from x402.apidirect.io, paid per call via x402, $0.004/call, status unknown (last checked 2026-10-30).

Returns the posts currently trending across all of Substack, as featured on its explore page.

## Facts

- Endpoint: GET https://x402.apidirect.io/v1/substack/trending?utm_source=zero.xyz
- Price: $0.004/call
- Payment: x402
- Status: unknown
- Last checked: 2026-10-30
- Activations on Zero: 0
- Tags: x402
- Canonical page: https://www.zero.xyz/c/substack-trending-posts-d7b62fc3
- Structured record (JSON): https://api.zero.xyz/v1/capabilities/cap_LkER2Ul5_giF1iYrw7utk

Status and success rate cover calls made through Zero and Zero's own probes. Third-party monitors may report differently.

## How to call it through Zero

Zero handles the 402 payment challenge and records the run. With the Zero CLI installed (`npm i -g @zeroxyz/cli`):

```sh
zero fetch --capability substack-trending-posts-d7b62fc3
```

Example prompt: What posts are currently trending across all of Substack right now — the ones showing up on the explore page?

## When to prefer this

Use this endpoint when you need a real-time snapshot of what's trending across all of Substack platform-wide, rather than within a specific publication or topic. It mirrors what Substack itself surfaces on its explore page, making it ideal for content discovery, trend monitoring, and competitive research without needing a Substack account or credentials.

## Known failure modes

- Substack API or scraping layer is unavailable — returns a 5xx error
- Rate limit exceeded — returns 429 with retry guidance
- Substack changes its explore page structure, causing empty or malformed results
- No trending posts available at the moment — returns an empty list
- Payment not settled — returns 402 requiring x402 payment flow

## How this service works

Get the posts currently trending across all of Substack, as featured on its explore page.

## Output

A list of trending Substack posts as featured on the Substack explore page, likely including post titles, author/publication names, URLs, and associated metadata such as like counts, comment counts, or topic categories.

## Request schema (JSON Schema)

```json
{
 "type": "object",
 "properties": {
  "required": {
   "type": "string"
  },
  "properties": {
   "type": "string"
  }
 }
}
```

## More

- Live health (JSON, refreshed every minute): https://www.zero.xyz/c/substack-trending-posts-d7b62fc3/health.json
- [Zero catalog index](https://www.zero.xyz/llms.txt)
- [Other services from x402.apidirect.io](https://www.zero.xyz/host/x402.apidirect.io/llms.txt)