# OpenStax Scraper (`crawlerbros/openstax-scraper`) Actor Scrape OpenStax - free open-source textbooks covering science, math, business, humanities, and more. Browse all books, filter by subject, get full metadata including ISBN, PDF links, authors, and resources. - **URL**: https://apify.com/crawlerbros/openstax-scraper.md - **Developed by:** [Crawler Bros](https://apify.com/crawlerbros) (community) - **Categories:** Automation, Developer tools - **Stats:** 1 total users, 0 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, NaN bookmarks - **User rating**: No ratings yet ## Pricing from $3.00 / 1,000 results This Actor is paid per event and usage. You are charged both the fixed price for specific events and for Apify platform usage. Since this Actor supports Apify Store discounts, the price gets lower the higher subscription plan you have. 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 ## OpenStax Scraper Scrape free, peer-reviewed textbooks from [OpenStax](https://openstax.org) — a nonprofit initiative by Rice University providing high-quality, openly licensed textbooks across science, math, business, humanities, and more. ### What This Scraper Does - Browse all 100+ OpenStax textbooks, optionally filtered by subject - Get detailed metadata for specific books by slug or URL - Search books by keyword across titles and descriptions - Extract ISBN numbers, PDF links, cover images, author information, and resource links ### Output Fields | Field | Description | |---|---| | `bookId` | Unique book slug (e.g., `university-physics-volume-1`) | | `title` | Full book title | | `subject` | Primary subject area | | `subjects` | All subject areas | | `categories` | Book categories | | `authors` | List of author names | | `printIsbn13` | Print edition ISBN-13 | | `digitalIsbn13` | Digital edition ISBN-13 | | `description` | Book description (HTML stripped) | | `bookState` | Publication state (`live`, `coming_soon`) | | `isAp` | Whether this is an AP (Advanced Placement) book | | `highResolutionPdfUrl` | High-res PDF download link | | `lowResolutionPdfUrl` | Low-res PDF download link | | `coverUrl` | Book cover image URL | | `webviewLink` | Interactive online reading link | | `ibookLink` | Apple iBook link (if available) | | `amazonLink` | Amazon purchase link (if available) | | `kindleLink` | Kindle edition link (if available) | | `publishDate` | Last updated date | | `licenseName` | License name (e.g., Creative Commons Attribution) | | `licenseUrl` | License URL | | `bookUrl` | OpenStax book page URL | | `sourceUrl` | Canonical URL | | `recordType` | Always `book` | | `scrapedAt` | Scrape timestamp (UTC ISO) | ### Input Options #### Mode: `browseBooks` (default) Browse all published OpenStax books, optionally filtered by subject. ```json { "mode": "browseBooks", "subject": "science", "maxItems": 50 } ```` #### Mode: `bookDetails` Fetch details for specific books by slug or URL. ```json { "mode": "bookDetails", "bookSlugs": [ "university-physics-volume-1", "https://openstax.org/details/books/college-algebra" ] } ``` #### Mode: `searchBooks` Search books by keyword. ```json { "mode": "searchBooks", "searchQuery": "calculus", "maxItems": 20 } ``` ### Subject Filters Available subjects: `Math`, `Science`, `Social Sciences`, `Humanities`, `Business`, `Computer Science`, `College Success`, `High School` ### Use Cases - **Education research**: Catalog all free textbooks by subject - **Library integrations**: Build digital library catalogs with open textbook metadata - **Academic tools**: Find textbooks for curriculum planning - **EdTech applications**: Integrate free textbook data into learning platforms ### FAQ **Q: Does this require authentication?** A: No. OpenStax provides a public API — no credentials needed. **Q: How many books are available?** A: OpenStax publishes 100+ textbooks across all subjects. **Q: Are the PDF links publicly accessible?** A: Yes. OpenStax PDFs are freely downloadable with no login required. **Q: How often is data updated?** A: Books are updated regularly. Run the scraper periodically to catch new editions. # Actor input Schema ## `mode` (type: `string`): What to fetch from OpenStax. ## `subject` (type: `string`): Filter books by subject. Used in browseBooks and searchBooks modes. ## `bookSlugs` (type: `array`): List of OpenStax book slugs (e.g. 'university-physics-volume-1') or full URLs. ## `searchQuery` (type: `string`): Keyword to search across book titles and descriptions. ## `includeAp` (type: `boolean`): Include Advanced Placement (AP) course books in results. ## `maxItems` (type: `integer`): Maximum number of books to return. ## Actor input object example ```json { "mode": "browseBooks", "subject": "Science", "bookSlugs": [], "includeAp": true, "maxItems": 20 } ``` # Actor output Schema ## `books` (type: `string`): Dataset containing all scraped OpenStax books. # 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 = { "mode": "browseBooks", "subject": "Science", "bookSlugs": [], "includeAp": true, "maxItems": 20 }; // Run the Actor and wait for it to finish const run = await client.actor("crawlerbros/openstax-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 = { "mode": "browseBooks", "subject": "Science", "bookSlugs": [], "includeAp": True, "maxItems": 20, } # Run the Actor and wait for it to finish run = client.actor("crawlerbros/openstax-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 '{ "mode": "browseBooks", "subject": "Science", "bookSlugs": [], "includeAp": true, "maxItems": 20 }' | apify call crawlerbros/openstax-scraper --silent --output-dataset ``` ## MCP server setup ```json { "mcpServers": { "apify": { "command": "npx", "args": [ "mcp-remote", "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=crawlerbros/openstax-scraper", "--header", "Authorization: Bearer " ] } } } ``` ## OpenAPI specification ```json { "openapi": "3.0.1", "info": { "title": "OpenStax Scraper", "description": "Scrape OpenStax - free open-source textbooks covering science, math, business, humanities, and more. Browse all books, filter by subject, get full metadata including ISBN, PDF links, authors, and resources.", "version": "1.0", "x-build-id": "cxZsopQxzDpVh3zR1" }, "servers": [ { "url": "https://api.apify.com/v2" } ], "paths": { "/acts/crawlerbros~openstax-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-get-dataset-items-crawlerbros-openstax-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": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK" } } } }, "/acts/crawlerbros~openstax-scraper/runs": { "post": { "operationId": "runs-sync-crawlerbros-openstax-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor and returns information about the initiated run in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$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": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/runsResponseSchema" } } } } } } }, "/acts/crawlerbros~openstax-scraper/run-sync": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-crawlerbros-openstax-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for completion, and returns the OUTPUT from Key-value store in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$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": [ "mode" ], "properties": { "mode": { "title": "Mode", "enum": [ "browseBooks", "bookDetails", "searchBooks" ], "type": "string", "description": "What to fetch from OpenStax.", "default": "browseBooks" }, "subject": { "title": "Subject filter", "enum": [ "", "Math", "Science", "Social Sciences", "Humanities", "Business", "Computer Science", "College Success", "High School" ], "type": "string", "description": "Filter books by subject. Used in browseBooks and searchBooks modes.", "default": "" }, "bookSlugs": { "title": "Book slugs or URLs (mode=bookDetails)", "type": "array", "description": "List of OpenStax book slugs (e.g. 'university-physics-volume-1') or full URLs.", "default": [], "items": { "type": "string" } }, "searchQuery": { "title": "Search query (mode=searchBooks)", "type": "string", "description": "Keyword to search across book titles and descriptions." }, "includeAp": { "title": "Include AP books", "type": "boolean", "description": "Include Advanced Placement (AP) course books in results.", "default": true }, "maxItems": { "title": "Max items", "minimum": 1, "maximum": 500, "type": "integer", "description": "Maximum number of books to return.", "default": 50 } } }, "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 } } } } } } } } } } ```