# Goodreads Book Search — Ratings, ISBN & Reviews (`axery/goodreads-search-scraper`) Actor

Search Goodreads books with author, ISBN, page count and a rating already split into average/rating-count/review-count. No login.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/axery/goodreads-search-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Axery](https://apify.com/axery) (community)
- **Categories:** Other, Automation, Integrations
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $0.80 / 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.
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?

Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
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.
Actors are written with capital "A".

## 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.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.

- **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use).
- **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`.
- **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`.
- **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`.
- **Any other language** — the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).

For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.

For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).

# README

## Goodreads Book Search Scraper

Scrapes book search results from **goodreads.com** over plain HTTP — no browser, no login, no cookies.

### What makes this different

**Rating arrives pre-split.** `aggregateRating.ratingValue`/`ratingCount`/`reviewCount` are separate fields at the source — no parsing a combined "4.28 · 3,231 ratings · 282 reviews" string.

**One schema, standard vocabulary.** Uses schema.org's `Book` type directly, so fields like `isbn`, `numberOfPages` and `bookFormat` mean exactly what they say with no site-specific renaming.

### How it works

Two-step scrape, the same pattern as this suite's Bayt and Funda Actors: the search page's plain HTML links point to book pages, and each book page carries a full schema.org `Book` JSON-LD block.

### Input

| Field | Type | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| `query` | string | Title, author or topic. |
| `maxItems` | integer | Pages automatically (~20/page) until this limit or the reachable depth. |
| `incremental` | boolean | Only books not seen in previous runs. |
| `proxyConfiguration` | object | Datacenter is enough; occasional 503s are handled by the built-in retry/backoff. |

### Local development

```bash
pip install -r requirements.txt
python test_local.py "python programming" --max 20 --out sample_output.json
```

`sample_output.json` in this folder is real output from a live run, kept so the schema can be reviewed without running anything.

# Actor input Schema

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

A title, author name, or topic, matched the way Goodreads' own search box would.

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

Maximum books to return. The Actor pages automatically (~20 results/page) until this limit or the reachable depth.

## `incremental` (type: `boolean`):

Remember book ids between runs and return only books not seen before. You are charged only for the new rows.

## `proxyConfiguration` (type: `object`):

Apify Proxy settings. No hard IP-reputation gate was observed, but occasional 503s suggest light rate limiting - automatic proxy selection with the Actor's built-in retry/backoff is enough.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "query": "python programming",
  "maxItems": 50,
  "incremental": false,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true
  }
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `books` (type: `string`):

One row per book: title, authors, ISBN, page count, format and rating.

# 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 = {
    "query": "python programming",
    "maxItems": 50
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("axery/goodreads-search-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 = {
    "query": "python programming",
    "maxItems": 50,
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("axery/goodreads-search-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 '{
  "query": "python programming",
  "maxItems": 50
}' |
apify call axery/goodreads-search-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,axery/goodreads-search-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/ZUturMMciEsMpSlzw/builds/gtRPW8O9fcC4V9cti/openapi.json