Actor-to-MCP Bridge

Expose any Apify actor as a native AI tool in Claude, GPT, or any MCP-compatible agent.

MCP (Model Context Protocol) is an open standard that lets AI assistants call external tools. This actor wraps any of Apify's 5,000+ scrapers and automation actors as an MCP server — so your AI agent can run them with natural language, no code required.

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How it works

1. You provide an actor ID (e.g. apify/google-maps-scraper)
2. This actor fetches its input schema and starts an MCP SSE server
3. You get a live URL like https://xxxxx.runs.apify.net/sse
4. Paste that URL into Claude Desktop, Cursor, or any MCP client
5. Your AI can now call the scraper as a native tool

Example: wrapping apify/google-maps-scraper — actor resolves the ID, starts the MCP server, and outputs the SSE connection URL in seconds.

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Quickstart

Step 1 — Start the bridge

Input:

• Actor ID: apify/google-maps-scraper (or any actor on Apify Store)
• Apify API Token: your token from console.apify.com/account/integrations

Click Start. The actor will output a URL like:

https://oqaubvujabq1.runs.apify.net/sse

Step 2 — Connect Claude Desktop

Edit your Claude Desktop config file:

Mac: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "google-maps-scraper": {
      "url": "https://oqaubvujabq1.runs.apify.net/sse"
    }
  }
}

Restart Claude Desktop. The tool run_google-maps-scraper now appears in Claude's tool list.

Step 3 — Use it with natural language

"Find all coffee shops in Zagreb, Croatia and return their names, ratings, and phone numbers"

Claude calls the tool automatically, runs the scraper, and returns structured results.

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Input fields

Field	Required	Default	Description
actorId	yes	—	Actor to wrap, e.g. apify/google-maps-scraper
apifyToken	yes	—	Your Apify API token (kept secret)
port	no	3333	SSE server port
maxResults	no	50	Max dataset items returned per tool call
timeoutSecs	no	300	Max seconds to wait for actor run

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Supported MCP clients

Client	Supported
Claude Desktop	yes
Cursor	yes
Continue.dev	yes
Cline (VS Code)	yes
Any MCP SSE client	yes

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Popular actors to wrap

Actor	What it does
apify/google-maps-scraper	Extract business listings, reviews, contacts
apify/instagram-scraper	Scrape profiles, posts, hashtags
apify/linkedin-jobs-scraper	Job listings from LinkedIn
apify/website-content-crawler	Full-text crawl any website for RAG
apify/amazon-product-scraper	Product data, prices, reviews

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Pricing

• $0.05 when the bridge starts (one-time per session)
• $0.01 per tool invocation (each time your AI agent calls the scraper)

The bridge actor itself costs ~$0.001/hour to keep alive. The scrapers you wrap are billed separately to your Apify account at their normal rates.

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Limitations

• The actor run must complete within timeoutSecs (default 5 min)
• Returns max maxResults items per call (default 50)
• Actor input schema is fetched at startup — if the wrapped actor updates its schema, restart the bridge
• Requires the wrapped actor to be publicly available on Apify Store

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Notes

• The SSE URL is valid for the duration of the actor run
• Keep the bridge actor running as long as you need the MCP tool available
• For production use, set a long timeout (3600s) or use Apify's scheduled runs