# Substack Scraper — Posts, Engagement & Full Text (`celebrated-quadraphonic/substack-scraper`) Actor

Scrape any Substack newsletter via the public archive API: full posts, engagement metrics (comments, likes, restacks), tags, podcast info. RSS fallback. No browser, no proxies.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/celebrated-quadraphonic/substack-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [XiaoZhi DataTools](https://apify.com/celebrated-quadraphonic) (community)
- **Categories:** News, Developer tools, Automation
- **Security:** Limited permissions
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

Pay per event

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

## Substack Scraper — Posts, Engagement & Full Text

Scrape any Substack newsletter through the **public archive API** — no browser, no proxies, no API key.

### What you get per post

- **Title, subtitle, description, canonical URL, slug**
- **Author(s), publish date, language**
- **Engagement**: comment count, like (reaction) count, restacks
- **Content**: word count, truncated preview, **full post HTML** (via RSS enrichment)
- **Metadata**: tags, section, post type (newsletter / podcast), audience
- **Podcast posts**: audio URL + duration
- **Cover image**

### Inputs

| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Publications | One Substack URL per line — `*.substack.com` or custom domains (e.g. `https://lenny.substack.com`) |
| Max posts per publication | 1–500, default 20 |
| Sort by | Newest first, or Top by engagement |
| Include full post HTML | On/off — turn off for lighter, faster runs |

Multiple publications are scraped in one run with **automatic dedup** (same post appearing under two domains is returned once).

### Data sources

1. **Substack archive API** (`/api/v1/archive`) — rich metadata + engagement numbers.
2. **RSS** (`/feed`) — full post HTML body (the API paywalls bodies) and fallback for publications that moved off Substack.

### Pricing

- **$0.001 per post**
- First **20 posts of every run are free**
- $0.00005 per Actor start

Guide and error rows are never charged.

# Actor input Schema

## `includeBodyHtml` (type: `boolean`):

Include the full post HTML body (from RSS). Turn off for lighter, faster runs.

## `maxPostsPerPublication` (type: `integer`):

Maximum posts to collect per publication.

## `publications` (type: `string`):

One publication URL per line, e.g.
https://lenny.substack.com
https://www.example.com

## `sortBy` (type: `string`):

Newest posts first, or top posts by engagement.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "includeBodyHtml": true,
  "maxPostsPerPublication": 20,
  "publications": "https://lenny.substack.com",
  "sortBy": "new"
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `itemType` (type: `string`):

No description

## `title` (type: `string`):

No description

## `url` (type: `string`):

No description

## `author` (type: `string`):

No description

## `postDate` (type: `string`):

No description

## `commentCount` (type: `string`):

No description

## `reactionCount` (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 = {
    "includeBodyHtml": true,
    "maxPostsPerPublication": 20,
    "publications": "https://lenny.substack.com",
    "sortBy": "new"
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("celebrated-quadraphonic/substack-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 = {
    "includeBodyHtml": True,
    "maxPostsPerPublication": 20,
    "publications": "https://lenny.substack.com",
    "sortBy": "new",
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("celebrated-quadraphonic/substack-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 '{
  "includeBodyHtml": true,
  "maxPostsPerPublication": 20,
  "publications": "https://lenny.substack.com",
  "sortBy": "new"
}' |
apify call celebrated-quadraphonic/substack-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,celebrated-quadraphonic/substack-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/EKivGh2SUtEs0SnUu/builds/JfRgcwhl3oqPnqoy7/openapi.json