# Craigslist Scraper – Listings, Prices & Seller Contacts (`bovi/craigslist-scraper`) Actor Scrape Craigslist listings from any city and category. Returns title, price, images, location, post\_id, URL, and optionally description, posted date, and structured attributes. No proxy required. Parses server-side JSON-LD — stable against layout changes. - **URL**: https://apify.com/bovi/craigslist-scraper.md - **Developed by:** [Vitalii Bondarev](https://apify.com/bovi) (community) - **Categories:** E-commerce, Lead generation - **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks - **User rating**: No ratings yet ## Pricing $1.39 / 1,000 listing records 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/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#pay-per-event ## What's an Apify Actor? Actors are a software tools running on the Apify platform, for all kinds of web data extraction and automation use cases. 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. In JavaScript/TypeScript projects, use official [JavaScript/TypeScript client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js.md): ```bash npm install apify-client ``` In Python projects, use official [Python client library](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python.md): ```bash pip install apify-client ``` In shell scripts, use [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): ````bash # MacOS / Linux curl -fsSL https://apify.com/install-cli.sh | bash # Windows irm https://apify.com/install-cli.ps1 | iex ```bash In AI frameworks, you might use the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/mcp.md). If your project is in a different language, use 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 ## Craigslist Scraper — Listings, Prices & Locations Scrape **Craigslist** listings from any US city, category, and search query. Get title, price, images, location, post ID, and listing URL — plus optional description, posted datetime, and structured attributes (car specs, condition, odometer, etc.) from detail pages. This **Craigslist scraper** targets the JSON-LD `ItemList` block embedded by Craigslist itself — structural schema.org data, not CSS class names — making it immune to layout redesigns. **No proxy required.** Pay per result at **$1.39 per 1,000 listings**. **Not affiliated with or endorsed by Craigslist.** --- ### What you get | Field | Source | Notes | |---|---|---| | `post_id` | DOM link | 10-digit Craigslist post ID | | `title` | JSON-LD | Listing title | | `price` | JSON-LD | Numeric float; `null` for free/contact items | | `price_currency` | JSON-LD | `"USD"` | | `city` | JSON-LD | City name (e.g. `"San Francisco"`) | | `state` | JSON-LD | State abbreviation (e.g. `"CA"`) | | `neighborhood` | Detail page | Sub-city neighborhood; `null` if not set | | `latitude` / `longitude` | JSON-LD + detail | Precise coords from detail page when `fetchDetails=true` | | `url` | DOM link | Full listing URL | | `category` | URL | Category abbreviation (e.g. `"bik"`, `"cto"`) | | `area_abbrev` | URL | Metro sub-area (e.g. `"sby"`, `"sfc"`) | | `posted_datetime` | Detail page | ISO-8601 UTC; requires `fetchDetails=true` | | `image_urls` | JSON-LD | Array of full-size CDN image URLs | | `description` | Detail page | Plain-text body; requires `fetchDetails=true` | | `attributes` | Detail page | Dict of label→value (condition, make, cylinders, etc.) | | `parse_confidence` | Computed | 0.0–1.0 data quality score | | `warnings` | Computed | List of parse-issue codes | | `scraped_at` | Computed | ISO-8601 UTC timestamp | --- ### Common city slugs | City | Slug | |---|---| | San Francisco Bay Area | `sfbay` | | New York | `newyork` | | Los Angeles | `losangeles` | | Chicago | `chicago` | | Seattle | `seattle` | | Austin | `austin` | | Boston | `boston` | | Denver | `denver` | Full list: https://www.craigslist.org/about/sites ### Common category codes | Category | Code | |---|---| | For sale — all | `sss` | | Bicycles | `bik` | | Cars & trucks by owner | `cto` | | Electronics | `ele` | | Furniture | `fua` | | Apartments | `apa` | | Jobs | `jjj` | | Clothing | `clt` | Full list: https://www.craigslist.org/about/help/abbreviations --- ### Example input ```json { "city": "sfbay", "query": "honda civic", "category": "cto", "maxResults": 50, "fetchDetails": true } ```` ### Example output record ```json { "post_id": "7938685561", "title": "2018 Honda Civic EX", "price": 18500.0, "price_currency": "USD", "city": "San Jose", "state": "CA", "neighborhood": "South Bay", "latitude": 37.3403, "longitude": -121.9701, "url": "https://sfbay.craigslist.org/sby/cto/d/san-jose-2018-honda-civic-ex/7938685561.html", "category": "cto", "area_abbrev": "sby", "posted_datetime": "2026-06-04T10:51:23+00:00", "image_urls": ["https://images.craigslist.org/00h0h_ABC_600x450.jpg"], "description": "Clean title, low miles, well maintained...", "attributes": { "condition": "excellent", "cylinders": "4 cylinders", "drive": "fwd", "fuel": "gas", "odometer": "45,000", "title status": "clean", "transmission": "automatic" }, "parse_confidence": 1.0, "warnings": [], "scraped_at": "2026-06-04T12:00:00+00:00" } ``` *** ### How it works 1. **One HTTP request** fetches the Craigslist search page for your city/category/query. 2. **JSON-LD parsing** (structural, not CSS): Craigslist embeds all results as a `schema.org ItemList` in the page ``. Up to ~350 results per query. 3. **DOM link extraction**: listing URLs (with post\_id, category, area\_abbrev) are extracted from `` tags in the body and matched to JSON-LD items by title slug. 4. **Detail page** (optional): each listing's page is fetched for `posted_datetime`, description, and structured attributes. *** ### Pricing Pay-per-result: **$0.00139 per listing** ($1.39 / 1,000 listings). With `fetchDetails=false` (default): ~1 request/run → very fast, very cheap.\ With `fetchDetails=true`: 1 + N requests (one per listing) → richer data, proportionally more compute. *** ### Use cases for Craigslist data - **Price research** — benchmark used car, electronics, or furniture prices across cities - **Real estate leads** — monitor for-rent and for-sale listings in target neighborhoods - **Resale arbitrage** — find underpriced items listed by private sellers - **Job market intelligence** — pull job listings from the `jjj` category across metros - **Academic research** — analyze classifieds data for economics or sociology studies - **Competitor monitoring** — track similar items listed by other sellers in your category ### Frequently asked questions **Do I need a proxy?** No. Craigslist search pages are server-side rendered and respond 200 from datacenter IPs. No proxy configuration is needed. **How many results per search?** Craigslist includes all matching results in one JSON-LD block — typically up to ~350 items per query. For more coverage, run multiple narrowed queries. **How do I get descriptions and car specs?** Set `fetchDetails: true`. This fetches each listing's detail page to extract `description`, `posted_datetime`, `neighborhood`, precise `latitude`/`longitude`, and structured `attributes` (condition, make, cylinders, etc.). This multiplies request count by N listings. **What is fetchDetails=false good for?** Fast, cheap bulk listing collection — title, price, images, location, and URL from a single search-page request. Good for price monitoring and deduplication. **What does parse\_confidence mean?** 0.0–1.0 data quality score. 1.0 = all critical fields extracted. Below 0.7 = Craigslist may have changed its JSON-LD structure; check `warnings` for affected fields. **Can I scrape multiple cities?** Yes — run the actor multiple times with different `city` slugs, or use Apify's batch run API to fan out across cities in parallel. *** ### Limitations - Results per search: up to ~350 (Craigslist's JSON-LD includes all results in one page). - `posted_datetime`, `description`, `attributes` require `fetchDetails=true`. - `neighborhood` is only available on listings where the poster set it. - Craigslist does not expose full `posted_datetime` on search pages. ### Integrations Built for market researchers and resellers tracking US local listings, pricing trends, and inventory by city and category — the JSON/dataset output drops into the tools you already run, no glue code: - **n8n / Make / Zapier** — trigger a run or pipe every new dataset item into 500+ apps (Google Sheets, Airtable, Slack, HubSpot, your database) with no code: [n8n](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/n8n), [Make](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/make), [Zapier](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/zapier). - **Webhooks** — fire your own endpoint the moment a run finishes, to push results straight into your pipeline ([docs](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/webhooks)). - **MCP server** — expose this actor as a tool to Claude, Cursor, or any [MCP client](https://mcp.apify.com) so an AI agent can pull this data mid-conversation ([guide](https://blog.apify.com/how-to-use-mcp/)). - **API & SDKs** — fetch the dataset as JSON, CSV, or Excel through the Apify REST API or the Python / JS SDKs. See all [Apify integrations](https://apify.com/integrations). # Actor input Schema ## `city` (type: `string`): Craigslist city subdomain (the part before .craigslist.org). Examples: 'sfbay', 'newyork', 'chicago', 'losangeles', 'seattle', 'austin', 'boston'. Find yours at https://www.craigslist.org/about/sites ## `query` (type: `string`): Keyword(s) to search for. Examples: 'bicycle', 'iphone 14', 'honda civic', '2 bedroom apartment'. Leave empty to browse the category. ## `category` (type: `string`): Craigslist category code. Common codes: 'sss' (all for sale), 'cto' (cars by owner), 'apa' (apartments), 'jjj' (jobs), 'bik' (bicycles), 'ele' (electronics), 'fua' (furniture), 'clt' (clothing). Full list: https://www.craigslist.org/about/help/abbreviations ## `maxResults` (type: `integer`): Maximum number of listings to return. Craigslist JSON-LD returns up to ~350 results per search page — this cap is applied after fetching. Set 0 for no limit (returns all available, up to ~350). ## `fetchDetails` (type: `boolean`): When true, fetches each listing's detail page to add: posted\_datetime, description text, structured attributes (condition, make/model, cylinders, etc.), and self-disclosed contacts (phones, emails, external links the seller wrote into the title or body). Increases run time proportionally (1 extra request per listing). Default: false — search page data only. ## `proxyConfiguration` (type: `object`): Proxy used for all requests. Apify Residential is recommended and used by default — no setup needed. ## Actor input object example ```json { "city": "sfbay", "query": "bicycle", "category": "sss", "maxResults": 100, "fetchDetails": false, "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": true, "apifyProxyGroups": [ "RESIDENTIAL" ] } } ``` # Actor output Schema ## `results` (type: `string`): Dataset containing Craigslist Scraper records (title, price, city, state, neighborhood, category, url, post\_id, posted\_datetime, self-disclosed contacts (phones, emails, links), has\_contact, parse\_confidence, scraped\_at). # 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 '' with your token const client = new ApifyClient({ token: '', }); // Prepare Actor input const input = { "city": "sfbay", "query": "bicycle", "category": "sss", "maxResults": 100, "fetchDetails": false, "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": true, "apifyProxyGroups": [ "RESIDENTIAL" ] } }; // Run the Actor and wait for it to finish const run = await client.actor("bovi/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 '' with your token. client = ApifyClient("") # Prepare the Actor input run_input = { "city": "sfbay", "query": "bicycle", "category": "sss", "maxResults": 100, "fetchDetails": False, "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": True, "apifyProxyGroups": ["RESIDENTIAL"], }, } # Run the Actor and wait for it to finish run = client.actor("bovi/craigslist-scraper").call(run_input=run_input) # Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any) print("💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/" + run["defaultDatasetId"]) for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items(): print(item) # 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start ``` ## CLI example ```bash echo '{ "city": "sfbay", "query": "bicycle", "category": "sss", "maxResults": 100, "fetchDetails": false, "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": true, "apifyProxyGroups": [ "RESIDENTIAL" ] } }' | apify call bovi/craigslist-scraper --silent --output-dataset ``` ## MCP server setup ```json { "mcpServers": { "apify": { "command": "npx", "args": [ "mcp-remote", "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=bovi/craigslist-scraper", "--header", "Authorization: Bearer " ] } } } ``` ## OpenAPI specification ```json { "openapi": "3.0.1", "info": { "title": "Craigslist Scraper – Listings, Prices & Seller Contacts", "description": "Scrape Craigslist listings from any city and category. Returns title, price, images, location, post_id, URL, and optionally description, posted date, and structured attributes. No proxy required. Parses server-side JSON-LD — stable against layout changes.", "version": "0.1", "x-build-id": "d7IBWzWaWSvJ75Et7" }, "servers": [ { "url": "https://api.apify.com/v2" } ], "paths": { "/acts/bovi~craigslist-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-get-dataset-items-bovi-craigslist-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for its completion, and returns Actor's dataset items in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK" } } } }, "/acts/bovi~craigslist-scraper/runs": { "post": { "operationId": "runs-sync-bovi-craigslist-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor and returns information about the initiated run in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK", "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/runsResponseSchema" } } } } } } }, "/acts/bovi~craigslist-scraper/run-sync": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-bovi-craigslist-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for completion, and returns the OUTPUT from Key-value store in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK" } } } } }, "components": { "schemas": { "inputSchema": { "type": "object", "required": [ "city", "category" ], "properties": { "city": { "title": "City / Subdomain", "type": "string", "description": "Craigslist city subdomain (the part before .craigslist.org). Examples: 'sfbay', 'newyork', 'chicago', 'losangeles', 'seattle', 'austin', 'boston'. Find yours at https://www.craigslist.org/about/sites", "default": "sfbay" }, "query": { "title": "Search Query", "type": "string", "description": "Keyword(s) to search for. Examples: 'bicycle', 'iphone 14', 'honda civic', '2 bedroom apartment'. Leave empty to browse the category." }, "category": { "title": "Category Abbreviation", "type": "string", "description": "Craigslist category code. Common codes: 'sss' (all for sale), 'cto' (cars by owner), 'apa' (apartments), 'jjj' (jobs), 'bik' (bicycles), 'ele' (electronics), 'fua' (furniture), 'clt' (clothing). Full list: https://www.craigslist.org/about/help/abbreviations", "default": "sss" }, "maxResults": { "title": "Max Results", "minimum": 0, "maximum": 500, "type": "integer", "description": "Maximum number of listings to return. Craigslist JSON-LD returns up to ~350 results per search page — this cap is applied after fetching. Set 0 for no limit (returns all available, up to ~350).", "default": 100 }, "fetchDetails": { "title": "Fetch Detail Pages", "type": "boolean", "description": "When true, fetches each listing's detail page to add: posted_datetime, description text, structured attributes (condition, make/model, cylinders, etc.), and self-disclosed contacts (phones, emails, external links the seller wrote into the title or body). Increases run time proportionally (1 extra request per listing). Default: false — search page data only.", "default": false }, "proxyConfiguration": { "title": "Proxy configuration", "type": "object", "description": "Proxy used for all requests. Apify Residential is recommended and used by default — no setup needed.", "default": { "useApifyProxy": true, "apifyProxyGroups": [ "RESIDENTIAL" ] } } } }, "runsResponseSchema": { "type": "object", "properties": { "data": { "type": "object", "properties": { "id": { "type": "string" }, "actId": { "type": "string" }, "userId": { "type": "string" }, "startedAt": { "type": "string", "format": "date-time", "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z" }, "finishedAt": { "type": "string", "format": "date-time", "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z" }, "status": { "type": "string", "example": "READY" }, "meta": { "type": "object", "properties": { "origin": { "type": "string", "example": "API" }, "userAgent": { "type": "string" } } }, "stats": { "type": "object", "properties": { "inputBodyLen": { "type": "integer", "example": 2000 }, "rebootCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "restartCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "resurrectCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "computeUnits": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } }, "options": { "type": "object", "properties": { "build": { "type": "string", "example": "latest" }, "timeoutSecs": { "type": "integer", "example": 300 }, "memoryMbytes": { "type": "integer", "example": 1024 }, "diskMbytes": { "type": "integer", "example": 2048 } } }, "buildId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultKeyValueStoreId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultDatasetId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultRequestQueueId": { "type": "string" }, "buildNumber": { "type": "string", "example": "1.0.0" }, "containerUrl": { "type": "string" }, "usage": { "type": "object", "properties": { "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 1 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_SERPS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } }, "usageTotalUsd": { "type": "number", "example": 0.00005 }, "usageUsd": { "type": "object", "properties": { "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": { "type": "number", "example": 0.00005 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_SERPS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } } } } } } } } } ```