# Source Citation Freshness Checker (`autosecurelogin/source-citation-freshness`) Actor

Check saved excerpts against public HTTPS sources. Download a report of matches, missing figures, HTTP errors and unverifiable sources. No login or model needed.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/autosecurelogin/source-citation-freshness.md
- **Developed by:** [Hunter Melnick](https://apify.com/autosecurelogin) (community)
- **Security:** Limited permissions
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

$0.05 / actor start

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

## Source Citation Freshness Checker

Check whether the text you quoted is still present on its source page. Supply one to three public HTTPS URLs and the excerpts you previously saved. Get a JSON report and a spreadsheet-ready CSV distinguishing matching excerpts, missing excerpts, HTTP errors and sources that could not be checked. Nothing is written to the source site.

**Try the sample.** The prefilled input checks “Example Domain” against its source. Replace the example with your own URLs and excerpts, start the Actor, then open **Report and CSV downloads**. Open **OUTPUT** for the complete report or download **CITATIONS.csv**. Each result includes the stored excerpt's SHA-256; successful fetches include the HTTP status, final URL, observation evidence and hashes of the body and extracted visible text. The run timestamp is UTC.

| Status | What to do |
|---|---|
| excerpt-present | The normalized excerpt occurs on the page. This does not verify the meaning or accuracy of the claim. |
| review | The excerpt was absent. Review the source and any listed missing numbers before updating the quote. |
| http-error | The source returned an unsuccessful HTTP status. An error alone does not establish removal. |
| unverifiable | The source could not be compared, for example because of a timeout, blocked request, empty page or unsupported format. |

**Scope.** HTML and plain text only. Whitespace and case are normalized. JavaScript is not run; scripts, styles and navigation are excluded. For plain-text responses, angle-bracket markup is treated as markup by the text extractor. No PDF/OCR, cookies, credentials, proxies or login. No automatic baseline changes. Use public URLs you are authorized to fetch; do not submit secrets in URLs or excerpts.

**Limits.** Up to 3 articles and 8,000 characters per excerpt; 128 KiB total input. Public DNS names only, HTTPS port 443, validated public addresses and IPv4 transport. Every redirect is rechecked (3 maximum). 12 seconds per distinct fetch including DNS and TLS, 1 MiB per response; compressed responses and unsupported encodings produce an unverifiable result. Fixed 256 MB; 60-second Actor timeout.

**Price:** $0.05 per Actor start, including platform usage, all checks and both exports. No per-URL or per-result charge. Set the maximum run cost to at least $0.05. Invalid inputs and runs where a source is unavailable still incur the start charge.

Apify stores your submitted input and generated reports under its storage access and retention settings. The checker does not persist fetched page bodies. For support, use the Actor Issues tab with a run ID and a non-sensitive example.

# Actor input Schema

## `articles` (type: `array`):

One to three objects. Each has a public HTTPS url and the saved text excerpt (up to 8000 characters).

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "articles": [
    {
      "url": "https://example.com/",
      "text": "Example Domain"
    }
  ]
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `files` (type: `string`):

No description

## `summary` (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 = {
    "articles": [
        {
            "url": "https://example.com/",
            "text": "Example Domain"
        }
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("autosecurelogin/source-citation-freshness").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 = { "articles": [{
            "url": "https://example.com/",
            "text": "Example Domain",
        }] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("autosecurelogin/source-citation-freshness").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 '{
  "articles": [
    {
      "url": "https://example.com/",
      "text": "Example Domain"
    }
  ]
}' |
apify call autosecurelogin/source-citation-freshness --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,autosecurelogin/source-citation-freshness"
        }
    }
}
```

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/ZVbyy2ZMLdu9ImPSa/builds/LGviDjkdnrb2OiqGw/openapi.json