# Punch News Scraper (`dadhalfdev/punch-news-scraper`) Actor

Scrape Punch Nigeria news archives. Use a topic filter or paste a Punch URL — the URL wins when set.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/dadhalfdev/punch-news-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Marco Rodrigues](https://apify.com/dadhalfdev) (community)
- **Categories:**
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $6.00 / 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/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#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

## 🇳🇬 Punch News Scraper

Want [Punch](https://punchng.com/topics/news/) Nigeria articles — **full text, not just headlines** — in a spreadsheet? This scraper makes it easy.

Use **structured filters** (topic) — better for AI agents — **or** paste an **`input_url`**. When `input_url` is set it overrides the filters.

Each row opens the public article (WordPress JSON, HTML fallback) so you get the body, author, and publish time. `max_results` is capped at **200** so a run stays under a few minutes.

### 💡 Perfect for...

- **Editors:** Export News, Politics, Sports, and Business archives with the article text.
- **Dashboards:** Track new Punch stories without paging by hand.
- **Market research:** Slice by topic slug (`news`, `politics`, `sports`, …).
- **Data analysts:** Export structured Punch rows with public article URLs and body text.
- **🤖 AI Agents:** Power Claude, Cursor, Codex, the Hermes Agent, and OpenClaw workflows with live Punch results.
- **📚 RAG Systems:** Feed titles and full article text into retrieval pipelines.
- **🔗 AI Workflows:** Plug into LangChain, AutoGPT, CrewAI, and similar stacks.

### ✨ Why you'll love this scraper

- 🔗 **Input URL or Filters:** Paste `/topics/news/` (`input_url`) or pick a topic. `input_url` always wins when set.
- 🎯 **Website-Matched Filters:** Same `/topics/{slug}/` sections as punchng.com.
- 📰 **Full article text:** `content` is the body, not the archive card.

### 📦 What's inside the data?

Every row includes all of these fields:

- **Core:** `id`, `url`, `title`, `topic`
- **Byline:** `author`, `published_at`, `excerpt`, `image_url`
- **Body:** `content` (HTML-stripped article text)

### 🚀 Quick start

**Option A:** paste `https://punchng.com/topics/politics/`.
**Option B:** pick topic `news` and set `max_results`.

***

#### Tech details for developers 🧑‍💻

**Input Example:**

```json
{ "topic": "news", "max_results": 20 }
```

**Output Example:**

```json
{
  "id": "kwankwaso-mourns-emir-of-gumel",
  "url": "https://punchng.com/kwankwaso-mourns-emir-of-gumel/",
  "title": "Kwankwaso mourns Emir of Gumel",
  "topic": "news",
  "author": "Hussaini Ibrahim",
  "published_at": "2026-09-03T17:50:08",
  "excerpt": "Rabiu Kwankwaso condoles with the family and people of Jigawa State on the passing of the Emir of Gumel...",
  "content": "A former Kano State Governor and Vice-Presidential Candidate of the New Nigeria People’s Party, Rabiu Kwankwaso, has condoled...",
  "image_url": "https://cdn.punchng.com/wp-content/uploads/..."
}
```

**Output fields:**

| Field | Description |
|-------|-------------|
| `id` | Article slug. |
| `url` | Public Punch article URL. |
| `title` | Headline. |
| `topic` | Topic filter used for the run. |
| `author` | Byline when Punch publishes one. |
| `published_at` | Publish timestamp (GMT when the API sends it). |
| `excerpt` | Short standfirst. |
| `content` | Full article body, HTML stripped. |
| `image_url` | Featured / Open Graph image. |

### 📋 Input reference

| Parameter | Type | Required | Default | Description |
|-----------|------|----------|---------|-------------|
| `input_url` | string | No | — | `/topics/{slug}/` URL; overrides topic. |
| `topic` | string enum | No | `news` | Same `/topics/{slug}/` sections as the site. |
| `max_results` | integer | No | `20` | Full articles to return (`1`–`200`). |

#### Notes

- Rows without a body are skipped; the actor keeps reading cards until it has `max_results` articles with `content`.
- The cap is **200** because each row fetches the article page.

# Actor input Schema

## `input_url` (type: `string`):

Paste a Punch topics URL (e.g. https://punchng.com/topics/news/ or /topics/news/page/2/). Overrides topic when set.

## `topic` (type: `string`):

Same /topics/{slug}/ sections as punchng.com. Ignored when input\_url is set.

## `max_results` (type: `integer`):

How many full articles to return (1–200). Each row opens the article so the cap stays low enough to finish in a few minutes.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "topic": "news",
  "max_results": 20
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `overview` (type: `string`):

Table view of scraped articles using the dataset overview view.

## `results` (type: `string`):

All scraped articles from the default dataset without view transformation.

# 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("dadhalfdev/punch-news-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 = {}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("dadhalfdev/punch-news-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 '{}' |
apify call dadhalfdev/punch-news-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,dadhalfdev/punch-news-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/9Q9is47yFr7gJ74an/builds/9IFboCeuaXAeidFTF/openapi.json