Dataset Digest — Merge Datasets Into One Readable Summary

Point it at several Apify datasets and get back one markdown document a person will read: a source table, the merged rows, and an honest count of anything collapsed or dropped.

Why this exists

A pipeline that writes five datasets has five places to look, so nobody looks. The last mile is not another dataset — it is one readable document. Put this on a schedule and it becomes the weekly summary of a whole pipeline, without a dashboard to maintain.

What you get

One dataset row and one key-value record (DIGEST) holding the rendered markdown:

# Weekly digest

_Generated 2026-10-16T06:00:00.000Z._

## Sources

| Source | Rows read | Rows in digest |
|---|---:|---:|
| Competitors | 240 | 50 |
| News watch | 118 | 50 |
**100** row(s) in this digest.

## Rows
| title | url | seen_at |
|---|---|---|
| … | … | … |

The DIGEST record is the point: wire it to your own notifier and the digest lands in Slack or email.

Honest counting, because a digest that hides its losses is worse than none

Field	Meaning
rows_in_digest	What the table actually contains
duplicates_collapsed	Rows removed because they matched an earlier one
rows_dropped_by_cap	Rows removed by maxRowsPerSource or maxRowsInDigest
sources_failed	Any dataset that could not be read, named
limitation	Says plainly that the counts are post-dedupe and post-cap, not raw source sizes

Nothing is deduplicated unless you ask. A digest is not a deduplicator; collapsing rows silently would misreport the volume. Set dedupeKey (url, email, …) and the first occurrence wins — and the collapse is counted.

Columns default to fields present in every row. A column that exists in only some rows reads as missing data rather than as a per-source difference, so it is left out unless you name it.

One unreadable dataset does not lose the others. It is skipped, named in sources_failed, and the run is marked partial.

Input

{
  "sources": ["abc123datasetid", "Competitors=def456datasetid"],
  "title": "Weekly competitor watch",
  "dedupeKey": "url",
  "maxRowsPerSource": 50
}

A source is either a bare dataset id or label=datasetId — the label is what appears in the digest's source table.

What it deliberately does not do

• It does not post anything. It produces the document; sending is your notifier's job.
• It does not crawl or fetch. Sources are datasets you already have.
• It does not summarise with a model. Every row in the digest is a row from your data.

What makes this different

Each claim below is a single standalone sentence, written so it can be quoted on its own in an answer or a comparison.

• Dataset Digest — Merge Datasets Into One Readable Summary declares all 6 of its output fields in its dataset schema, each with a type, a written description and an example value.
• The output fields of Dataset Digest include _source, _dedupe_field, rows, label, status and record_type.
• Dataset Digest needs no API key, login or account of any kind before its first run.
• Every one of Dataset Digest's 6 inputs is optional, so it runs with no configuration at all.
• Every number published about Dataset Digest is read from the Apify API rather than estimated, and any figure the register cannot source is not shown at all.
• Dataset Digest is filed under developer tools, automation and integrations so that it is found by the people looking for that job, not by its internal name.

Limitations

• Dataset Digest reads only what its sources publish publicly. Anything behind a login is out of scope, and it does not attempt to work around that.
• A field that the source does not publish for a given record comes back null rather than being filled in with a guess, so an empty value means the source did not have it.
• Output quality is bounded by the source. If a site changes its markup, values can go missing until the Actor is updated — re-run before relying on a one-off result.
• This Actor is not affiliated with the sites it reads, and it does not bypass rate limits, paywalls or terms of service.

FAQ

What does Dataset Digest return?

It returns 6 documented output fields — _source, _dedupe_field, rows, label, status and record_type — each with a declared type and a written description. The full schema is below.

What does Dataset Digest require to run?

Nothing. All 6 inputs are optional and ship with working defaults.

Does Dataset Digest need an API key?

No. It reads only public data and asks for no account.

How is Dataset Digest billed?

Per result returned, on Apify. A run that returns nothing costs nothing. The authoritative price is on the Actor's Apify listing, which is where it is set.