# Lemmy Lookup: Communities and Post Search on Any Instance (`accountable_eel/lemmy-lookup`) Actor

Look up Lemmy community metrics, subscribers, rules and posts, or search federated posts and discussions across any Lemmy instance. Built-in alert monitoring.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/accountable_eel/lemmy-lookup.md
- **Developed by:** [Adriana Voss](https://apify.com/accountable_eel) (community)
- **Categories:** Social media, Automation
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $0.30 / 1,000 item returneds

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.
Since this Actor supports Apify Store discounts, the price gets lower the higher subscription plan you have.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.

Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md.

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.

Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.

For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below.

Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).

# README

## Lemmy Lookup: Communities and Post Search on Any Instance

**Look up Lemmy community metrics, subscribers, rules and posts, or search federated posts and discussions across any Lemmy instance without API keys.**
One row per community or matching search result. Switch between community inspection and keyword search with the Mode setting, and turn on delta monitoring on a schedule to receive only items that are new since your last run.

**Who uses it:** Fediverse community managers, social media researchers, open-web intelligence analysts, and brand monitors tracking discussions across federated Lemmy servers (lemmy.world, lemmy.ml, feddit.de, lemm.ee).

**What it does not do:** It accesses public federated APIs only. It does not log in, cannot access private communities or moderator actions requiring authentication, and requires no credentials. Missing fields return null, never empty strings or zeroes.

### How to use

1. **In the Apify Console.** Open the actor page and click **Start** — the `community` field is already pre-filled with a working example. Results land in the run's dataset as soon as each item is found.
2. **Via the API.** Call it directly with a POST request — no Console needed once you have an API token:
   ```bash
   curl "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/accountable_eel~lemmy-lookup/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=<YOUR_TOKEN>" \
     -X POST \
     -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
     -d '{"community":["technology"]}'
   ```
3. **On a schedule.** Save this actor as an Apify **Task** with the input you want, then add a **Schedule** (hourly, daily, weekly) so it runs on its own — no server of your own required.

### Input

```json
{
  "community": [
    "technology"
  ]
}
```

In community mode: enter a community name (e.g. technology), federated handle (!technology@lemmy.world), or URL (https://lemmy.world/c/technology). In search mode: enter search keywords. Accepted formats: technology, !technology@lemmy.world, https://lemmy.world/c/technology, apify.

You can also pass `{"mode": "community", "community": "technology", "instance": "lemmy.world"}` or `{"mode": "search", "query": "apify", "maxItems": 20}` directly. The actor automatically routes each request to the right endpoint.

### Output

One row per community in community mode, or one row per post in search mode:

| query | found | status | mode | instance | communityName | communityTitle | description | subscribers | postsCount | commentsCount | postsPerDay | usersActiveDay | usersActiveWeek | usersActiveMonth | nsfw | iconUrl | bannerUrl | postId | postTitle | postUrl | linkUrl | body | score | upvotes | downvotes | authorName | authorActorId | publishedAt | sourceUrl | monitorStatus | isNew | firstSeenAt | scrapedAt |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| technology | true | OK | <mode> | <lemmy instance> | <community name> | <community title> | <description> | <subscribers> | <posts count> | <comments count> | <posts per day> | \<active users (day)> | \<active users (week)> | \<active users (month)> | <nsfw> | <icon url> | <banner url> | <post id> | <post title> | <post url> | <external link url> | <post text> | <score> | <upvotes> | <downvotes> | <author username> | <author activitypub url> | <published at> | <source url> | <monitoring status> | <is new> | <first seen at> | 1970-01-01T00:00:00.000Z |

Sample community output:

```json
{
  "mode": "community",
  "instance": "lemmy.world",
  "communityName": "technology",
  "communityTitle": "Technology",
  "description": "This is a place for technology news and articles.",
  "subscribers": 88720,
  "postsCount": 22192,
  "commentsCount": 969333,
  "postsPerDay": 18.25,
  "usersActiveDay": 6529,
  "usersActiveWeek": 9477,
  "usersActiveMonth": 14618,
  "nsfw": false,
  "iconUrl": "https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/2a85bf08-5c07-4326-8dad-f549bfb2189e.png",
  "bannerUrl": "https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/be818d42-f96f-4a33-b963-2a6e35938d54.png",
  "publishedAt": "2023-06-11T02:16:17.173483Z",
  "sourceUrl": "https://lemmy.world/api/v3/community?name=technology",
  "scrapedAt": "2026-10-11T18:00:00.000Z"
}
```

Sample search post output:

```json
{
  "mode": "search",
  "instance": "lemmy.world",
  "communityName": "ai_reddit",
  "communityTitle": "AI (Reddit RSS)",
  "postId": "45537968",
  "postTitle": "Discussion on LLM agent reasoning",
  "postUrl": "https://lemmy.durstig.online/post/24445",
  "linkUrl": "https://www.reddit.com/r/ClaudeCode/comments/1sk37l6/",
  "body": "Detailed discussion notes...",
  "score": 0,
  "upvotes": 1,
  "downvotes": 1,
  "commentsCount": 0,
  "authorName": "eifachposte",
  "authorActorId": "https://lemmy.durstig.online/u/eifachposte",
  "publishedAt": "2026-04-13T07:32:03.515134Z",
  "nsfw": false,
  "sourceUrl": "https://lemmy.world/api/v3/search?q=apify&type_=Posts&sort=New&limit=20",
  "scrapedAt": "2026-10-11T18:00:00.000Z"
}
```

A not-found input returns a row with `"found": false` and is never charged. In monitoring mode, a run with no new posts returns a quiet status row with `monitorStatus: "NO_NEW_ITEMS"` and is also never charged.

### Pricing

- **Item returned**: $0.6 per 1,000 items

Plus a $0.0005 start fee per run. Each event above is billed independently, only when it actually returns data — misses (`found:false`) are never charged.

Price line: a **$0.0005 start fee per run** plus $0.60 per 1,000 community or post rows returned (less at higher plans). The start fee covers the fixed cost of a run, so even a one-row run is not a loss.

Runs against an instance with a crawl delay are slow by that instance's own request: the actor reads the instance's robots.txt, waits the stated `Crawl-delay` (up to 60 seconds) between requests, and logs the delay it uses. lemmy.world asks for 60 seconds, so with the default 120-second run timeout plan on about two communities or queries per run there, and raise the run timeout for a longer list. A default run is one request and finishes in seconds.

### Example runs

Paste any of these into the Input tab and press Start. All three run keyless with no setup needed.

**Community lookup (default mode).** Fetches subscriber counts, active users, posts, and rules for a community.

```json
{
  "mode": "community",
  "community": "technology",
  "instance": "lemmy.world"
}
```

**Post keyword search.** Searches public posts matching a topic across the instance.

```json
{
  "mode": "search",
  "query": "apify",
  "instance": "lemmy.world",
  "maxItems": 20
}
```

**Fediverse keyword alert.** Schedule this on Apify to receive only new posts published since your last run.

```json
{
  "mode": "search",
  "query": "technology",
  "instance": "lemmy.world",
  "onlyNewSinceLastRun": true,
  "deltaName": "tech-lemmy-watch"
}
```

### Use it from Clay, n8n, Make, or an AI agent

This actor runs synchronously over plain HTTP — call it directly from a script, a workflow tool, or an AI agent, no Apify Console needed once you have an API token.

```bash
curl "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/accountable_eel~lemmy-lookup/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=<YOUR_TOKEN>" \
  -X POST \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"community":["technology"]}'
```

**n8n.** Add an HTTP Request node: Method `POST`, URL `https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/accountable_eel~lemmy-lookup/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=<YOUR_TOKEN>`, Body Content Type `JSON`, JSON Body `{"community":["technology"]}` (swap in an expression from an earlier node for a real value).

**Clay.** Add an "HTTP API" column: Method `POST`, URL `https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/accountable_eel~lemmy-lookup/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=<YOUR_TOKEN>`, Body `{"community":["{{community or search query}}"]}`, mapping the row's community or search query into the `community` array.

**MCP.** In Claude, Cursor, or any MCP client with the Apify MCP server, ask for "lemmy scraper for communities and posts" — the agent will find and run this actor.

# Actor input Schema

## `community` (type: `array`):

In community mode: enter a community name (e.g. technology), federated handle (!technology@lemmy.world), or URL (https://lemmy.world/c/technology). In search mode: enter search keywords. Accepted formats: technology, !technology@lemmy.world, https://lemmy.world/c/technology, apify. You're only charged for the ones we actually find — a miss costs nothing.

## `mode` (type: `string`):

Pick the option that matches what you need — you can leave this on the recommended setting.

## `testRun` (type: `boolean`):

Turn this on to test your input on a small sample before running the full list. Turn it off to process everything.

## `onlyFound` (type: `boolean`):

Only keep rows where something was actually found. Misses are always free, whether or not you show them here.

## `includeKeywords` (type: `array`):

Optional. Only keep results that mention at least one of these words (e.g. a job title, a city, a product name). Leave empty to keep everything.

## `excludeKeywords` (type: `array`):

Optional. Drop any result that mentions one of these words. Leave empty to skip nothing.

## `maxResults` (type: `integer`):

Optional. Stop the run once this many results have been found — useful for a quick, cheap sample. Leave blank for no limit.

## `instance` (type: `string`):

The Lemmy server instance to query (e.g. lemmy.world, lemmy.ml, feddit.de, lemm.ee). Defaults to lemmy.world.

## `sort` (type: `string`):

Sort order for search results. Defaults to Newest first.

## `searchType` (type: `string`):

Content type to search for. Defaults to Posts.

## `maxItems` (type: `integer`):

Caps how many search results to return (and pay for) in search mode. Up to 50.

## `onlyNewSinceLastRun` (type: `boolean`):

On: only posts or items not seen on your previous run are returned and charged for. Off: every matching item is returned.

## `deltaName` (type: `string`):

Optional. Name this search's monitoring memory so two schedules stay apart. Leave empty to auto-derive from your query.

## `columns` (type: `array`):

Choose which pieces of information to include in each result row. All are included by default.

## `expandRows` (type: `boolean`):

When on, each item found gets its own row instead of being grouped under its community or search query. You're still only charged once per community or search query, no matter how many rows it produces.

## `maxConcurrency` (type: `integer`):

Parallel requests. Keep conservative — this target has no browser fallback, so getting blocked costs more than slow-and-steady.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "community": [
    "technology"
  ],
  "mode": "community",
  "testRun": false,
  "onlyFound": false,
  "includeKeywords": [],
  "excludeKeywords": [],
  "instance": "lemmy.world",
  "sort": "New",
  "searchType": "Posts",
  "maxItems": 20,
  "onlyNewSinceLastRun": false,
  "deltaName": "",
  "columns": [
    "mode",
    "instance",
    "communityName",
    "communityTitle",
    "description",
    "subscribers",
    "postsCount",
    "commentsCount",
    "postsPerDay",
    "usersActiveDay",
    "usersActiveWeek",
    "usersActiveMonth",
    "nsfw",
    "iconUrl",
    "bannerUrl",
    "postId",
    "postTitle",
    "postUrl",
    "linkUrl",
    "body",
    "score",
    "upvotes",
    "downvotes",
    "authorName",
    "authorActorId",
    "publishedAt",
    "sourceUrl",
    "monitorStatus",
    "isNew",
    "firstSeenAt"
  ],
  "expandRows": true,
  "maxConcurrency": 1
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

No description

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "community": [
        "technology"
    ],
    "includeKeywords": [],
    "excludeKeywords": []
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("accountable_eel/lemmy-lookup").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {
    "community": ["technology"],
    "includeKeywords": [],
    "excludeKeywords": [],
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("accountable_eel/lemmy-lookup").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "community": [
    "technology"
  ],
  "includeKeywords": [],
  "excludeKeywords": []
}' |
apify call accountable_eel/lemmy-lookup --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,accountable_eel/lemmy-lookup"
        }
    }
}
```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/ekaDZRVVNd5jeGS2b/builds/Q6CKcWcXxiz8l9I0a/openapi.json