# Stack Overflow Question Scraper - Search by Keyword & Tag (`conversational_kermis/pulse-stackoverflow`) Actor

Search Stack Overflow by keyword and get structured questions back: score, view count, answer count, tags, and whether it is answered. A question with high views and no accepted answer is a problem many people have and nobody has solved.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/conversational\_kermis/pulse-stackoverflow.md
- **Developed by:** [the anh nguyen](https://apify.com/conversational_kermis) (community)
- **Categories:** Developer tools, Business, Education
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

Pay per usage

This Actor is paid per platform usage. The Actor is free to use, and you only pay for the Apify platform usage, which gets cheaper the higher subscription plan you have.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-usage

## 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

## Stack Overflow Question Scraper

Search Stack Overflow by keyword and get structured questions back — score,
view count, answer count, tags, whether it is answered, and the body.

Useful when you want the *questions* rather than the answers: what people are
struggling with in a topic, how much attention it gets, and whether anybody has
solved it yet.

### Input

| Field | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| `searchTerms` | a sample list | One or more free-text queries; each is searched separately |
| `tags` | `[]` | Optional tag filter, e.g. `["python", "django"]` |
| `maxResults` | `100` | Maximum questions per search term |

```json
{ "searchTerms": ["invoice software", "booking system"], "maxResults": 50 }
```

### Output

One row per question:

| Field | Type | Example |
|---|---|---|
| `questionId` | integer | `11227809` |
| `title` | string | `Why I cannot send email with siwapp invoicing software?` |
| `url` | string | link to the question |
| `text` | string | question body as HTML |
| `author` | string | display name of the asker |
| `tags` | array | `["java", "c++", "performance"]` |
| `score` | integer | net votes |
| `viewCount` | integer | total views |
| `answerCount` | integer | number of answers |
| `isAnswered` | boolean | whether an answer is accepted |
| `date` | string | ISO 8601, when the question was asked |
| `searchTerm` | string | which of your terms produced this row |
| `scrapedAt` | string | ISO 8601 timestamp of capture |

`searchTerm` is carried on every row so results from several queries stay
attributable after you merge them.

### What it is good for

- **Finding unmet need** — a high `viewCount` with `isAnswered: false` is a
  question many people have and nobody has resolved.
- **Product and content research** — the wording people use for a problem is the
  wording to use back at them.
- **Tag-scoped monitoring** — combine `tags` with a term to watch one ecosystem
  rather than the whole site.

### Notes and limits

- Backed by the public Stack Exchange API, which is rate limited. Large runs are
  paced accordingly, and very large ones may return fewer rows than requested.
- Search is full-text relevance across the question, not a title-only match, so
  a term appearing only in the body still matches. Sort by `score` or
  `viewCount` if you want the well-known ones first.
- `text` is HTML as Stack Overflow stores it, not plain text; strip the tags if
  you need prose.
- Author display names are published on Stack Overflow. No e-mail addresses or
  private profile data are collected.

# Actor input Schema

## `searchTerms` (type: `array`):

Terms to search in StackOverflow question titles.

## `tags` (type: `array`):

Optional StackOverflow tags to filter by (e.g. scheduling, invoicing).

## `maxResults` (type: `integer`):

Maximum number of questions to fetch per search term.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "searchTerms": [
    "pet grooming software",
    "wedding planner software",
    "restaurant inventory",
    "freelance invoicing",
    "small business scheduling",
    "appointment booking",
    "small business CRM"
  ],
  "tags": [],
  "maxResults": 100
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `dataset` (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 = {};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("conversational_kermis/pulse-stackoverflow").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 = {}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("conversational_kermis/pulse-stackoverflow").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 '{}' |
apify call conversational_kermis/pulse-stackoverflow --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,conversational_kermis/pulse-stackoverflow"
        }
    }
}

```

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/9BjEDquWEADa9pF2H/builds/PI7tq9y8Y1c3CYecY/openapi.json