# npm Packages, Downloads, and Dependency Sentinel (`adaptive_nightmare/npm-package-sentinel`) Actor

Track npm package weekly downloads, maintainers, open-source licenses, quality scores, and dependencies across 2 million packages.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/adaptive_nightmare/npm-package-sentinel.md
- **Developed by:** [Darim Quraishi](https://apify.com/adaptive_nightmare) (community)
- **Categories:** Developer tools, Open source, Business
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

$0.90 / 1,000 results

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

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

## npm Package Downloads and Dependency Tracker

Extract npm package metadata, weekly download counts, maintainer emails, open-source licenses, and dependency trees from official npm endpoints.

### Features

- Searches packages by keyword, ecosystem topic, or exact package names.
- Retrieves weekly download figures from official npm metrics endpoints.
- Extracts maintainer usernames, publisher emails, and repository URLs.
- Pulls open-source licenses, version numbers, and publication dates.
- Collects package quality, popularity, and maintenance scores.
- Operates proxy-free with fast execution times.

### Input parameters

| Parameter | Type | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| `searchQuery` | String | `"scraper"` | Search keyword for npm packages. |
| `packageNames` | Array | `[]` | Optional list of specific package names to audit. |
| `sortBy` | String | `"popularity"` | `popularity`, `quality`, `maintenance`, or `optimal`. |
| `maxPackages` | Integer | `50` | Maximum number of packages to collect. |
| `includeDownloads` | Boolean | `true` | Fetch weekly download counts. |

### Output format

`json
{
  "name": "crawlee",
  "version": "3.18.2",
  "description": "Crawlee - The scalable web scraping and crawling library for Node.js",
  "weeklyDownloads": 142850,
  "license": "Apache-2.0",
  "author": "apify",
  "publisherEmail": "support@apify.com",
  "maintainersCount": 4,
  "npmUrl": "https://www.npmjs.com/package/crawlee",
  "repositoryUrl": "https://github.com/apify/crawlee",
  "popularityScore": 0.88,
  "qualityScore": 0.95,
  "maintenanceScore": 0.99,
  "dateUpdated": "2026-10-15T12:00:00.000Z",
  "scrapedAt": "2026-10-23T11:00:00.000Z"
}
`

### Use cases

- Dependency tracking: Monitor download trends and health metrics of open-source dependencies.
- Security review: Identify unmaintained packages or licensing conflicts.
- Developer tooling research: Spot rising packages and frameworks in the JavaScript ecosystem.
- Maintainer outreach: Connect with package authors for sponsorship or collaboration.

### Pricing and efficiency

- Typical runtime: 2 to 4 seconds per execution.
- Zero proxy costs: Runs over public REST and RSS endpoints without residential proxy pools.
- Suitable for scheduled runs and continuous monitoring under standard platform limits.

# Actor input Schema

## `searchQuery` (type: `string`):

Search keyword for npm packages (e.g. 'scraper', 'agent', 'fastapi', 'crawler').

## `packageNames` (type: `array`):

List of exact package names to audit. Example: \['express', 'crawlee', 'apify', 'playwright'].

## `sortBy` (type: `string`):

How to sort packages.

## `maxPackages` (type: `integer`):

Maximum number of packages to collect.

## `includeDownloads` (type: `boolean`):

Extract exact weekly download counts from npm statistics API.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "searchQuery": "scraper",
  "packageNames": [],
  "sortBy": "popularity",
  "maxPackages": 50,
  "includeDownloads": true
}
```

# 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 = {
    "searchQuery": "scraper",
    "packageNames": [],
    "sortBy": "popularity",
    "maxPackages": 50
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("adaptive_nightmare/npm-package-sentinel").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 = {
    "searchQuery": "scraper",
    "packageNames": [],
    "sortBy": "popularity",
    "maxPackages": 50,
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("adaptive_nightmare/npm-package-sentinel").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 '{
  "searchQuery": "scraper",
  "packageNames": [],
  "sortBy": "popularity",
  "maxPackages": 50
}' |
apify call adaptive_nightmare/npm-package-sentinel --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,adaptive_nightmare/npm-package-sentinel"
        }
    }
}
```

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/MaFCCUrnfmaRIGyjv/builds/mXZC9X610jUDn6Ubi/openapi.json