# Skillshare Scraper (`crawlerbros/skillshare-scraper`) Actor

Scrape Skillshare classes (skillshare.com). Search classes with level, length, rating, and language filters; browse category rows; fetch class details and reviews by SKU; list all categories.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/crawlerbros/skillshare-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Crawler Bros](https://apify.com/crawlerbros) (community)
- **Categories:** Automation, Developer tools, Integrations
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 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 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

## Skillshare Scraper

Scrape **Skillshare** — the online learning platform at [skillshare.com](https://www.skillshare.com). Search classes by keyword with level, length, rating, language, and recency filters; browse category rows (featured / popular / trending / free); fetch full class details and student reviews by SKU; and enumerate the full category tree. HTTP-only via Skillshare's public GraphQL and JSON endpoints with browser-grade TLS impersonation. No auth, no proxy.

### What this actor does

- **Four modes:** `search`, `byCategory`, `bySku`, `listCategories`
- **Filters:** level, class length, rating bucket, original language, publish window, skill tag, staff picks, top teachers
- **Sorting:** relevance, most students, recently published
- **Class details:** description, teacher profile, rating, review counts, related classes, top projects
- **Reviews:** student reviews shown on each class page (optional)
- **Empty fields are omitted**

### Output per class (mode=search / byCategory)

- `sku` — Skillshare class SKU (e.g. `637385311`)
- `classId` — GraphQL class ID
- `title`, `description`, `url`
- `studentCount`, `durationInSeconds`
- `level`, `sourceLanguage`, `publishTime`, `lastUpdatedTime`
- `rating`, `reviewCount`
- `teacherName`, `teacherId`, `teacherHeadline`, `teacherPictureUrl`, `isTopTeacher`
- `defaultCoverUrl`
- `badges[]`, `aspects[]`
- `sourceUrl`
- `recordType`, `scrapedAt`

#### Extra fields in class detail records (mode=bySku)

- `tags[]` — category / skill slugs
- `projectCount`, `levelingRating`
- `teacherUid`, `teacherFirstName`
- `relatedClasses[]`
- `topProjects[]`
- `reviewLikeTags`, `ratingCounts`, `sampleReview`

#### Review records (mode=bySku + `includeReviews`)

- `id`, `testimonial`, `rating`, `levelingRating`
- `recommended`, `createdAt`
- `reviewerName`, `reviewerUrl`, `reviewerAvatar`
- `positiveTags[]`, `sku`

When a class resolves through the GraphQL fallback (see Limitations), review records carry `id`, `levelingRating`, `reviewerName`, `reviewerUsername`, `reviewerUrl`, and `sku` — Skillshare's GraphQL review sample omits the numeric `rating`, `testimonial`, and avatar fields. The REST path emits the full field set above when reachable.

### Input

| Field | Type | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| `mode` | string | `search` | `search` / `byCategory` / `bySku` / `listCategories` |
| `searchQuery` | string | `drawing` | Class keyword (mode=search) |
| `category` | string | – | Category slug (mode=byCategory) |
| `categoryRow` | string | `featured` | `featured` / `popular` / `trending` / `free` |
| `skus` | array | – | Class SKUs or URLs (mode=bySku) |
| `includeReviews` | bool | `false` | Emit reviews (mode=bySku) |
| `maxReviewsPerClass` | int | `10` | Reviews cap per class (1–200) |
| `level` | string | – | `allLevels` / `beginner` / `intermediate` / `advanced` |
| `classLength` | string | – | `short` / `shorter` / `medium` / `long` |
| `classRating` | string | – | `fourStar` / `threeStar` / `twoStar` / `belowTwoStar` |
| `language` | string | – | `en` / `de` / `pt` / `es` / `fr` |
| `publishTime` | string | – | `pastYear` / `past3Months` / `pastMonth` / `past2Weeks` / `pastWeek` |
| `tag` | string | – | Skill tag, e.g. `Procreate` |
| `isStaffPick` | bool | `false` | Staff picks only |
| `isTopTeacher` | bool | `false` | Top teachers only |
| `onlyHighQualityClasses` | bool | `true` | High-quality pool only |
| `sortBy` | string | `relevance` | `relevance` / `studentCount` / `publishTime` |
| `minRating` | number | – | Client-side min rating (0–4) |
| `containsKeyword` | string | – | Client-side title/description substring filter |
| `maxItems` | int | `50` | Hard cap (1–1000) |

#### Example: beginner watercolor classes, 4 stars+

```json
{
  "mode": "search",
  "searchQuery": "watercolor",
  "level": "beginner",
  "classRating": "fourStar",
  "publishTime": "pastYear"
}
```

#### Example: trending classes in a category

```json
{
  "mode": "byCategory",
  "category": "art-illustration",
  "categoryRow": "trending"
}
```

#### Example: full detail + reviews for a class

```json
{
  "mode": "bySku",
  "skus": ["637385311"],
  "includeReviews": true,
  "maxReviewsPerClass": 20
}
```

#### Example: staff-pick classes by a top teacher

```json
{
  "mode": "search",
  "searchQuery": "illustration",
  "isStaffPick": true,
  "isTopTeacher": true,
  "sortBy": "studentCount"
}
```

### Use cases

- **Course discovery** — build class catalogs by keyword, level, and skill tag
- **Creator research** — analyze top teachers, student counts, and ratings
- **Market intelligence** — track new classes per category over time
- **Review mining** — aggregate student feedback for popular classes
- **Recommendation systems** — feed class metadata and ratings into recommenders

### FAQ

**Do I need a Skillshare account?** No. All modes use Skillshare's public search and class endpoints that work for guests.

**Is there a rate limit?** Skillshare protects its pages with Cloudflare; the actor uses browser-grade TLS impersonation and polite delays, and retries 429/403 with exponential backoff. If Cloudflare ever challenges every request, run with the Apify proxy (`useApifyProxy`) enabled as a fallback.

**Why does the class page URL return 403 to a script?** Skillshare's Cloudflare setup challenges plain HTTP clients on the class-page HTML path, though the page opens normally in any browser and all data in this actor is served by API endpoints that work with browser-grade requests. Class cover images on `static.skillshare.com` are freely accessible.

**What are SKUs?** The numeric class IDs in URLs, e.g. `637385311` in `https://www.skillshare.com/en/classes/.../637385311`. Both bare SKUs and full URLs are accepted.

**What do the level values mean?** `allLevels`, `beginner`, `intermediate`, `advanced` — these map directly to Skillshare's search filters.

**Why are some class records missing `rating`?** Rating appears on classes that have reviews; new or unrated classes omit it. Empty fields are always omitted.

**What are category rows?** Skillshare's browse pages show curated rows per category: `featured`, `popular`, `trending`, and `free`.

**How fresh is the data?** Live — every run queries Skillshare's search API at that moment.

**Is this affiliated with Skillshare?** No, this is a third-party actor using the public website.

### Limitations

- **`bySku` detail endpoint is network-dependent.** Skillshare's class-detail REST endpoint (`/classes/{sku}`, `/listings/{sku}`) is Cloudflare-protected: plain datacenter IPs get a challenge page, while residential networks (and the actor's automatic RESIDENTIAL-proxy escalation) can read it. The actor tries all URL forms, retries with backoff, auto-escalates to the Apify proxy, and — if the REST path is blocked — **falls back to the GraphQL `classBySKU` operation**, which is not Cloudflare-challenged and works from cloud datacenter IPs. The GraphQL fallback returns the same class detail fields (title, level, description, student count, duration, cover, teacher, rating, review count) and the embedded review sample (id, rating, reviewer, testimonial when present). Only when both REST and GraphQL fail does the actor fail soft with a status message. The `search`, `byCategory`, and `listCategories` modes use the GraphQL API which is **not** affected and work everywhere.
- Skillshare's own language filter only exposes `en`, `de`, `pt`, `es`, `fr` (the values their facets return); other languages are not filterable.
- Category rows return the curated front-page subset (a few dozen classes), not the full category catalog — for full coverage use `search` with a keyword.
- Reviews are limited to the sample embedded on each class page (typically up to 5); Skillshare's review-load-more endpoint is no longer serving review bodies, so full review archives are not available.

# Actor input Schema

## `mode` (type: `string`):

What to fetch.

## `searchQuery` (type: `string`):

Free-text class query, e.g. `drawing`, `watercolor`, `python`.

## `category` (type: `string`):

Category slug, e.g. `art-illustration`, `design`, `photography`, `music-audio`. Use mode=listCategories to enumerate.

## `categoryRow` (type: `string`):

Which curated row to fetch for the category.

## `skus` (type: `array`):

Skillshare class SKUs or full class URLs, e.g. `637385311` or `https://www.skillshare.com/en/classes/basic-skills-getting-started-with-drawing/637385311`.

## `includeReviews` (type: `boolean`):

Also emit paginated student reviews for each class.

## `maxReviewsPerClass` (type: `integer`):

Hard cap on reviews emitted per class (mode=bySku + includeReviews).

## `level` (type: `string`):

Restrict to a class level.

## `classLength` (type: `string`):

Restrict by class duration.

## `classRating` (type: `string`):

Minimum aggregate star rating bucket.

## `language` (type: `string`):

Restrict to classes originally taught in this language.

## `publishTime` (type: `string`):

Restrict to classes published within this window.

## `tag` (type: `string`):

Restrict to classes with this skill tag, e.g. `Procreate`, `Watercolor Paint`, `Character Design & Illustration`.

## `isStaffPick` (type: `boolean`):

Only emit Skillshare staff-pick classes.

## `isTopTeacher` (type: `boolean`):

Only emit classes from top-rated teachers.

## `onlyHighQualityClasses` (type: `boolean`):

Filter to Skillshare's high-quality class pool (default on).

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

Search result ordering.

## `minRating` (type: `number`):

Client-side filter: drop classes rated below this (0-4).

## `containsKeyword` (type: `string`):

Client-side filter: only emit classes whose title or description contains this text.

## `maxItems` (type: `integer`):

Hard cap on emitted records.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "mode": "search",
  "searchQuery": "drawing",
  "category": "art-illustration",
  "categoryRow": "featured",
  "skus": [],
  "includeReviews": false,
  "maxReviewsPerClass": 10,
  "level": "",
  "classLength": "",
  "classRating": "",
  "language": "",
  "publishTime": "",
  "isStaffPick": false,
  "isTopTeacher": false,
  "onlyHighQualityClasses": true,
  "sortBy": "relevance",
  "maxItems": 50
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `classes` (type: `string`):

Dataset containing all scraped Skillshare class records.

# 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 = {
    "mode": "search",
    "searchQuery": "drawing",
    "category": "art-illustration",
    "categoryRow": "featured",
    "skus": [],
    "includeReviews": false,
    "maxReviewsPerClass": 10,
    "level": "",
    "classLength": "",
    "classRating": "",
    "language": "",
    "publishTime": "",
    "isStaffPick": false,
    "isTopTeacher": false,
    "onlyHighQualityClasses": true,
    "sortBy": "relevance",
    "maxItems": 50
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("crawlerbros/skillshare-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 = {
    "mode": "search",
    "searchQuery": "drawing",
    "category": "art-illustration",
    "categoryRow": "featured",
    "skus": [],
    "includeReviews": False,
    "maxReviewsPerClass": 10,
    "level": "",
    "classLength": "",
    "classRating": "",
    "language": "",
    "publishTime": "",
    "isStaffPick": False,
    "isTopTeacher": False,
    "onlyHighQualityClasses": True,
    "sortBy": "relevance",
    "maxItems": 50,
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("crawlerbros/skillshare-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 '{
  "mode": "search",
  "searchQuery": "drawing",
  "category": "art-illustration",
  "categoryRow": "featured",
  "skus": [],
  "includeReviews": false,
  "maxReviewsPerClass": 10,
  "level": "",
  "classLength": "",
  "classRating": "",
  "language": "",
  "publishTime": "",
  "isStaffPick": false,
  "isTopTeacher": false,
  "onlyHighQualityClasses": true,
  "sortBy": "relevance",
  "maxItems": 50
}' |
apify call crawlerbros/skillshare-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,crawlerbros/skillshare-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/eQ19KtPpgr01Wm2aC/builds/MsLc4sCP4m2fUiiTW/openapi.json