# Craigslist Scraper (`automatic/craigslist-scraper`) Actor

Find listings across Craigslist cities for sale, housing, jobs, gigs and services.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/automatic/craigslist-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Philip Kirkbride](https://apify.com/automatic) (community)
- **Categories:** E-commerce
- **Security:** Limited permissions
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $1.00 / 1,000 listings

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

## Craigslist Scraper

Find listings across Craigslist city sites for sale, housing, jobs, gigs and services. Compare titles, prices, locations and photo counts in a downloadable dataset.

Enter city site codes such as `sfbay`, choose a category and add search words. Optional minimum and maximum prices narrow the results. `maxItems` defaults to 50; `includeDetails` adds posting dates, available property or vehicle attributes.

Each row includes a posting identifier, title, price and currency, category, city site, neighborhood, posting date, coordinates, image count and listing URL. Missing information is empty. Posting dates generally require details. Only the available result set per city is returned, so the requested maximum is a limit, not a guarantee.

What each category returns:

- For sale: price with currency, plus coordinates and image count on most rows.
- Housing: price, but the currency is often empty because Craigslist does not state it. No coordinates or image count.
- Jobs, gigs and services: no price, coordinates or image count. Titles, neighborhoods and links are included.

Contact information is excluded. Seller names are filtered heuristically and some may remain. Reply links, phone numbers and emails are excluded.

Pricing: see the Pricing tab for the current price per listing and per run start.

Privacy filtering can leave the title or listing link empty; the posting identifier remains available. Descriptions are excluded. Details add dates and strictly validated property or vehicle attributes. Ambiguous prices and locations are left empty. Dates without a timezone are interpreted only for supported cities; unrecognized dates remain empty.

# Actor input Schema

## `citySites` (type: `array`):

Enter 1–20 Craigslist city site codes, such as sfbay or newyork. Omit this field to use sfbay; an empty list is not allowed.

## `category` (type: `string`):

Choose the Craigslist category to search, such as for-sale or housing. The default is for-sale.

## `query` (type: `string`):

Optionally enter search words, such as bicycle. Leave the value empty to search without keywords.

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

Enter the maximum total number of listings to return across all city sites, from 1 to 5000. The default is 50; available results may be fewer.

## `includeDetails` (type: `boolean`):

Enable this option to fetch individual listings for additional details, such as posting dates and available attributes. This option is disabled by default.

## `minPrice` (type: `number`):

Optionally enter a minimum price, such as 100, in the currency used by the selected Craigslist sites. Leave this field empty to apply no minimum price filter.

## `maxPrice` (type: `number`):

Optionally enter a maximum price, such as 500, in the currency used by the selected Craigslist sites. Leave this field empty to apply no maximum price filter.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "citySites": [
    "sfbay"
  ],
  "category": "for-sale",
  "query": "bicycle",
  "maxItems": 50,
  "includeDetails": false
}
```

# 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 = {};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("automatic/craigslist-scraper").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 = {}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("automatic/craigslist-scraper").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 '{}' |
apify call automatic/craigslist-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

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

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/SXhfhpEP5rphLMd7x/builds/VFJxLyAAVXqjMFogi/openapi.json