# Imdb Suggestion Search Scraper (`b2b_lead_generation/imdb-suggestion-search-scraper`) Actor

Collect title and person autocomplete suggestions from IMDb into clean JSON, CSV, or Excel datasets. Perfect for fast lookups, cast discovery, and research.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/b2b_lead_generation/imdb-suggestion-search-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [B2B Lead Generation](https://apify.com/b2b_lead_generation) (community)
- **Security:** Limited permissions
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $2.99 / 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?

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

## IMDb Suggestion Search Scraper

![IMDb Suggestion Search Scraper cover](https://images.bigibyte.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=1260,height=540,fit=cover,format=webp/apify-actors-covers/imdb-suggestion-search-scraper-cover.png)

Collect titles and people autocomplete suggestions from IMDb into a structured dataset. Enter one or more search terms, set your item limit, and export clean records in JSON, CSV, or Excel formats.

### What it does

This actor queries IMDb's suggestion service and normalizes each autocomplete hit for your Apify dataset. Each record captures the label, IMDb identifier, category, ranking position, secondary text, and available year or image details along with the request timestamp.

### Modes

- **Suggest**: Requests autocomplete hits for each search query up to your specified item cap.

### Input example

```json
{
  "mode": "suggest",
  "queries": ["inception"],
  "maxItems": 50,
  "requestDelaySecs": 1
}

```

### Output example

```json
{
  "i": {
    "height": 1037,
    "imageUrl": "https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMjAxMzY3NjcxNF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwNTI5OTM0Mw@@._V1_.jpg",
    "width": 700
  },
  "imdbId": "tt1375666",
  "l": "Inception",
  "q": "feature",
  "qid": "movie",
  "rank": 219,
  "s": "Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt",
  "tl": "2010",
  "y": 2010,
  "scraped_at": "2026-10-26T00:00:00+00:00"
}

```

The overview table displays fields including `i`, `imdbId`, `l`, `q`, `qid`, `rank` and `s`.Internal item identifiers are stored as `imdbId` to ensure the dataset schema remains consistent.

### Use cases

- **Title lookup**: Resolve movie and show names to IMDb identifiers prior to running deep data extraction.
- **Cast discovery**: Capture secondary cast and crew lines returned alongside each suggestion.
- **Autocomplete research**: Compare how IMDb ranks similar search terms and variations.
- **Scheduled refresh**: Rerun queries automatically on Apify schedules to maintain an up-to-date dataset.

### FAQ

**Who is this actor for?**
Analysts, marketers, and developers who need programmatic access to IMDb title and person suggestions in a structured spreadsheet or dataset.

**What formats can I export?**
You can export collected data in JSON, CSV, Excel, and other standard Apify dataset formats.

**Can I run this on a schedule?**
Yes, you can configure Apify schedules to refresh your dataset automatically at regular intervals.

### Trademark Notice

IMDb and related names, logos, and trademarks belong to their respective owners. Their use in this documentation is solely to identify the data source and does not imply affiliation, sponsorship, endorsement, or partnership.

### Disclaimer

This actor is an independent tool and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, sponsored by, or otherwise officially associated with IMDb or its owners. All data is collected from publicly available sources. Users are responsible for complying with the source's terms of use, rate limits, and attribution or licensing requirements.

***

### Is web scraping legal?

This actor extracts publicly accessible data without bypassing login screens, paywalls, or technical security layers. While collecting public web data is widely permitted, compliance depends on how data is gathered and used:

- **Personal data**: When collecting identifiers like emails, phone numbers, or social handles, ensure compliance with applicable data protection laws such as GDPR or CCPA.
- **Copyrighted content**: Public text, images, and visual assets are often protected by intellectual property rights. Avoid directly duplicating or redistributing full creative works.
- **Platform terms & rate limits**: Practice responsible data extraction by avoiding aggressive traffic spikes, adhering to rate limits, and respecting published platform policies.
- **Disclaimer**: This summary serves informational purposes only and does not constitute formal legal counsel. Seek professional legal advice for specific compliance queries.

For a detailed guide, see Apify's legal overview: [Is web scraping legal?](https://blog.apify.com/is-web-scraping-legal/)

# Actor input Schema

## `mode` (type: `string`):

What to scrape.

## `queries` (type: `array`):

Search texts for title/name autocomplete.

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

Stop after this many successful rows. Hard max is 1000.

## `requestDelaySecs` (type: `number`):

Seconds to wait between requests.

## `userAgent` (type: `string`):

User-Agent header sent with each request.

## `timeoutSecs` (type: `integer`):

Overall run budget in seconds.

## `requestTimeoutSecs` (type: `integer`):

Per-request timeout in seconds.

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

Optional proxy. Leave off unless you need it.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "mode": "suggest",
  "queries": [
    "inception"
  ],
  "maxItems": 100,
  "requestDelaySecs": 1,
  "userAgent": "ActorResearch/1.0",
  "timeoutSecs": 300,
  "requestTimeoutSecs": 30,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": false
  }
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `overview` (type: `string`):

Dataset rows in the overview table.

## `dataset` (type: `string`):

Full dataset for this run.

## `items` (type: `string`):

Dataset items as JSON.

# 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 = {
    "queries": [
        "inception"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("b2b_lead_generation/imdb-suggestion-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 = { "queries": ["inception"] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("b2b_lead_generation/imdb-suggestion-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 '{
  "queries": [
    "inception"
  ]
}' |
apify call b2b_lead_generation/imdb-suggestion-search-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,b2b_lead_generation/imdb-suggestion-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/LX8QJvzzuUs0KoZog/builds/jjEqmfahth8xbbOQb/openapi.json