# Facebook Groups Search (public groups by keyword) (`datahamster/facebook-groups-search`) Actor

Find public Facebook groups by keyword and get member count, privacy, description and group id for each — without logging in. Discovery via search-engine index, enrichment from the public group page. Monitor mode alerts on member-count changes.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/datahamster/facebook-groups-search.md
- **Developed by:** [Viktor Dubnytskiy](https://apify.com/datahamster) (community)
- **Categories:** Social media, Lead generation
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $3.00 / 1,000 result items

This Actor is paid per event and usage. You are charged both the fixed price for specific events and for Apify platform usage.

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

## Facebook Groups Search (public groups by keyword)

Find Facebook groups for a topic or city and get the facts you need to pick the right ones: member count, public/private, description and numeric group id — without a Facebook login. One flat row per group. For community managers, marketers building outreach lists, researchers and lead-gen teams.

### How it works

1. **Discovery**: your keywords are searched in a public search-engine index restricted to `facebook.com/groups`, so you get groups Facebook itself has published to the open web. Post links collapse into their group.
2. **Enrichment** (`fetchDetails`): each group's public page is opened as a logged-out visitor to read `memberCount`, `privacy`, `description`, `groupId`. Private groups show a login wall and are returned with `privacy: private` and no details.

### What you get

`id`/`slug`, `url`, `groupId`, `name`, `memberCount`, `memberCountText`, `privacy` (public/private/unknown), `visibility` (Facebook raw), `description`, `detailsFetched`, `query`, `rank`, `source`, `scrapedAt`.

### Input

- `queries`: keywords; `resultsPerQuery` search hits are scanned per query.
- `groupUrls`: known groups to enrich directly.
- `maxItems`; `mode: monitor` on a saved Task returns only new groups or groups whose member count / privacy changed.

### Pricing

| Event | Price |
|---|---|
| result | $0.003 per group ($3 per 1,000) |
| monitor-check | $0.006 per monitor run |
| change | $0.003 per new/changed group |

Charged only for groups actually pushed. Residential proxy traffic is billed by Apify on top (group pages hit a login wall from datacenter IPs).

### Limits

- Facebook's own group search needs a login and is not used; discovery depends on the search-engine index, which favours groups with public activity. Very small or freshly created groups may be missing.
- Private groups: name only, no member count.
- No posts, members or admin lists — only group-level facts.

### Changelog

- 0.1: initial release — keyword discovery, group enrichment, monitor mode.

# Actor input Schema

## `queries` (type: `array`):

Keywords, e.g. "yoga kyiv", "expats lisbon", "shopify dropshipping"

## `groupUrls` (type: `array`):

facebook.com/groups/<slug or id> pages to enrich directly

## `resultsPerQuery` (type: `integer`):

Search hits to scan per query (groups found may be fewer after de-duplication)

## `fetchDetails` (type: `boolean`):

Fetch member count, privacy, description and group id from each group page (one request per group)

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

Stop after this many groups (you are charged only for pushed items)

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

scrape = full results; monitor = only new/changed groups since the previous run of this task

## `monitorKey` (type: `string`):

Optional state key when not running as a saved task

## `webhookUrl` (type: `string`):

POST a change summary here in monitor mode

## `telegramBotToken` (type: `string`):

Optional: bot token for monitor-mode change summaries

## `telegramChatId` (type: `string`):

Optional: chat id that receives monitor-mode summaries

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "queries": [
    "yoga kyiv"
  ],
  "resultsPerQuery": 30,
  "fetchDetails": true,
  "maxItems": 100,
  "mode": "scrape"
}
```

# Actor output Schema

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

All pushed rows (dataset, JSON)

## `resultsTable` (type: `string`):

Dataset in the Console viewer

## `runSummary` (type: `string`):

RUN\_SUMMARY record (pushed, skipped, emptyReason)

# 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 = {
    "queries": [
        "yoga kyiv"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("datahamster/facebook-groups-search").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 = { "queries": ["yoga kyiv"] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("datahamster/facebook-groups-search").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 '{
  "queries": [
    "yoga kyiv"
  ]
}' |
apify call datahamster/facebook-groups-search --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,datahamster/facebook-groups-search"
        }
    }
}

```

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/51umUnSbrTfEUBMV3/builds/9ZS4KNElFx54jhDCQ/openapi.json