# Recipe URL Scraper — Keyword Search (`cynix_dev/recipe-url-scraper`) Actor

Enter keywords (bread, pasta, mediterranean, lunch…) and get back matching recipe URLs with titles from the web and top recipe sites. Feed the URLs into recipe-extractor for full structured recipe.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/cynix\_dev/recipe-url-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Cynix Dev](https://apify.com/cynix_dev) (community)
- **Categories:** Developer tools, Automation, MCP servers
- **Stats:** 1 total users, 0 monthly users, 0.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $0.25 / 1,000 results

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.
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

## Recipe URL Scraper — Keyword Search

Enter any keyword(s) — **bread, mediterranean, pasta, lunch, dessert, vegan** —
and get back matching **recipe URLs with titles** from the web and the top
recipe sites. One record per match: `{ keyword, title, url, source }`.

Built to pair with the [Recipe Extractor](https://apify.com/cynix_dev/recipe-extractor):
run this actor to discover recipe URLs, then feed those URLs into
recipe-extractor to get the full structured recipe (ingredients, method,
times, nutrition).

### Input

| Field | Type | Default | Description |
|-------|------|---------|-------------|
| `keywords` | array (required) | `["pasta"]` | One or more search terms, e.g. `["bread", "mediterranean", "lunch"]` |
| `resultsPerKeyword` | integer | `10` | Max recipe URLs per keyword (1–50) |
| `sources` | array | all enabled | Which sources to search (see below) |
| `proxyConfiguration` | object | — | Apify proxy settings; enable RESIDENTIAL if sites block datacenter IPs |

### Sources

| Source id | Site | Notes |
|-----------|------|-------|
| `budgetbytes` | budgetbytes.com | Direct site search |
| `damndelicious` | damndelicious.net | Direct site search |
| `recipetineats` | recipetineats.com | Direct site search |
| `onceuponachef` | onceuponachef.com | Direct site search |
| `cookieandkate` | cookieandkate.com | Direct site search |
| `gimmesomeoven` | gimmesomeoven.com | Direct site search |
| `minimalistbaker` | minimalistbaker.com | Direct site search |
| `loveandlemons` | loveandlemons.com | Direct site search |
| `acouplecooks` | acouplecooks.com | Direct site search |
| `bbcgoodfood` | bbcgoodfood.com | Site search |

> **No proxy needed.** Every source above responds from plain datacenter IPs.
> Sites that block datacenter IPs — **allrecipes** and **smittenkitchen** — are
> intentionally omitted so you don't pay residential-proxy overhead. (If you
> need them later, enable Apify Proxy RESIDENTIAL in `proxyConfiguration`.)

Any source that blocks, errors, or returns no matches is **skipped
gracefully** — the run still succeeds with whatever the other sources found.

### Quick start

1. Open the Actor page and click **Try**.
2. Or call it directly:

```bash
curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/cynix_dev~recipe-url-scraper/runs" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"keywords":["mediterranean","lunch"],"resultsPerKeyword":8}'
```

3. Each record carries `keyword`, `title`, `url`, `source`, `position`.

### Output record

| Field | Description |
|-------|-------------|
| `keyword` | Which search term matched |
| `title` | Recipe title when the source exposes one |
| `url` | Recipe page URL — ready to feed into recipe-extractor |
| `source` | Where the link came from (e.g. `budgetbytes`, `allrecipes`, `web`) |
| `position` | Rank within the keyword's deduped results |

### Chaining with recipe-extractor

```bash
## 1) find URLs
curl -s -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/cynix_dev~recipe-url-scraper/runs" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{"keywords":["pasta"],"resultsPerKeyword":5}' \
  | jq -r '.data.defaultDatasetId' | xargs -I{} curl -s "https://api.apify.com/v2/datasets/{}/items?clean=true" \
  | jq -r '.[].url' | jq -s '{urls: .}' > urls.json

## 2) extract the recipes
curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/cynix_dev~recipe-extractor/runs" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d @urls.json
```

### Pricing

Runs are billed by platform usage only — no per-result charge. A single
keyword across all sources typically costs well under one cent.

### FAQ

**Can I search multiple keywords at once?** Yes — pass an array; each keyword
is searched independently and results are tagged with the keyword.

**What counts as a "recipe URL"?** Direct-site results are internal article
links (non-recipe paths like /about, /category, /shop are excluded). `web`
results must have a recipe-like path (`/recipe(s)/`) or come from a
recipe/food domain.

**Why do some sources return nothing?** Sites frequently block datacenter
IPs. Enable Apify Proxy with the RESIDENTIAL group to improve coverage.

### Links

- Actor page: https://apify.com/cynix\_dev/recipe-url-scraper
- Pair with: [Recipe Extractor](https://apify.com/cynix_dev/recipe-extractor)

# Actor input Schema

## `keywords` (type: `array`):

One or more search terms, e.g. \["bread", "pasta", "mediterranean", "lunch"]. Each keyword is searched across the enabled sources.

## `resultsPerKeyword` (type: `integer`):

Maximum recipe URLs to return per keyword (1–50).

## `sources` (type: `array`):

Which sources to search. Supported: budgetbytes, damndelicious, recipetineats, onceuponachef, cookieandkate, gimmesomeoven, minimalistbaker, loveandlemons, acouplecooks, bbcgoodfood. All respond from datacenter IPs without a proxy. (allrecipes and smittenkitchen block datacenter IPs and are omitted to avoid proxy overhead.)

## `proxyConfiguration` (type: `object`):

Apify proxy settings. Some recipe sites block datacenter IPs — enable Apify Proxy (RESIDENTIAL recommended) if too many sources fail.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "keywords": [
    "pasta",
    "mediterranean"
  ],
  "resultsPerKeyword": 10,
  "sources": [
    "budgetbytes",
    "damndelicious",
    "recipetineats",
    "onceuponachef",
    "cookieandkate",
    "gimmesomeoven",
    "minimalistbaker",
    "loveandlemons",
    "acouplecooks",
    "bbcgoodfood"
  ]
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `dataset` (type: `string`):

One record per matching recipe URL: keyword, title, url, source.

# 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 = {
    "keywords": [
        "pasta",
        "mediterranean"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("cynix_dev/recipe-url-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 = { "keywords": [
        "pasta",
        "mediterranean",
    ] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("cynix_dev/recipe-url-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 '{
  "keywords": [
    "pasta",
    "mediterranean"
  ]
}' |
apify call cynix_dev/recipe-url-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,cynix_dev/recipe-url-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/SGE3xQtfDk6Y9RTao/builds/zaEDtWBfyEd3pZeUk/openapi.json