# dev.to Articles Scraper - Tags, Reactions & Authors (`eliai/dev-to-articles-scraper`) Actor

Scrape dev.to by tag or author: title, author, organization, publish date, reactions, comments, a combined engagement total, reading time, tag list and the AI-disclosure label. Bulk tags, no API key. $0.003 per article.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/eliai/dev-to-articles-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Broke to Built](https://apify.com/eliai) (community)
- **Categories:** Developer tools, News, Automation
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $2.40 / 1,000 scraped articles

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?

An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes.
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.

Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md.

## 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.

Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.

For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below.

Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).

# README

## dev.to Articles Scraper — Tags, Reactions & Authors

Scrape **dev.to** by tag or author and get **one row per article**: title, author, organization,
publish date, reactions, comments, a combined engagement total, reading time, the full tag list
and dev.to's **AI-disclosure label**.

No API key, no account. **$0.003 per article** — a tag or author with no articles is recorded and
**not charged**.

### Input

```json
{ "tag": "javascript", "maxArticles": 100, "sort": "recent" }
```

Bulk tags, or one author:

```json
{ "tags": ["rust", "webdev", "ai"], "maxArticles": 50 }
```

```json
{ "username": "ben", "maxArticles": 200 }
```

| Field | Type | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| `tag` | string | A dev.to tag without the hash. |
| `tags` | string\[] | Up to 20 per run. |
| `username` | string | Restrict to one author. Works with or without a tag. |
| `maxArticles` | integer | 1–500 per tag. **You are charged per article returned.** |
| `sort` | enum | `recent`, `rising` (last week), `relevant` (last month). |

### Output

```json
{
  "ok": true,
  "tag": "javascript",
  "id": 4625271,
  "title": "Congrats to the Frontend Challenge winners!",
  "url": "https://dev.to/devteam/congrats-to-the-frontend-challenge-...",
  "author": "heyitsjem",
  "organization": "The DEV Team",
  "publishedAt": "2026-09-10T18:23:05Z",
  "reactions": 42,
  "comments": 19,
  "engagementTotal": 61,
  "readingTimeMinutes": 2,
  "tagList": ["devchallenge", "frontendchallenge", "css", "javascript"],
  "aiDisclosureLabel": null
}
```

### What it gets right

- ⭐ **"Most recent" actually means most recent.** dev.to's API does **not** return a chronological
  feed — measured: the default endpoint, `state=fresh` and `/articles/latest` all hand back the
  same *ranked* order, mixing recency with other signals. Asking for `recent` sorts the rows you
  fetched by publish date, so the label matches the data. (It sorts the set you paid for, not the
  whole platform.)
- **`engagementTotal` equals reactions + comments**, asserted — reactions alone favour older posts.
- **The tag filter is verified**: every row is checked to genuinely carry the tag it was fetched
  under, so you never pay for an article that does not belong in your export.
- **The AI-disclosure label is passed through.** dev.to now marks AI-assisted posts, and if you are
  mining this for training data or for human-written examples, that flag is the entire difference.
- **Author and organization are separate fields** — a post under a company account still tells you
  who wrote it.

### Pricing

**$0.003 per article returned.** A tag or author with nothing to show produces an
`articleCount: 0` record and **is not charged**.

### Limits

- 20 tags per run, up to 500 articles each, paged 100 at a time.
- Returns **article metadata, not body text**. Use `url` for the article itself.
- `rising` and `relevant` map to dev.to's own top-of-week and top-of-month ranking; those are
  returned in dev.to's order, not re-sorted.
- dev.to's tag feed reaches recent articles; it is not a full historical archive.

### FAQ

**Do I need an API key?** No — dev.to's public API needs none.

**Can I get the article body?** Not here; this returns metadata and the description.

**Why did my `recent` run differ from the dev.to website?** The site shows its ranked feed. This
sorts by actual publish date when you ask for recent.

### Changelog

- **0.1 (2026-09-10)** — first release. Tag and author feeds, real recency sorting, engagement
  totals, tag verification, AI-disclosure label.

# Actor input Schema

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

A dev.to tag without the hash, e.g. javascript, rust, webdev.

## `tags` (type: `array`):

Several tags in one run. Up to 20.

## `username` (type: `string`):

Restrict to one author's articles. Can be used with or without a tag.

## `maxArticles` (type: `integer`):

Pages 100 at a time. You are charged per article returned.

## `sort` (type: `string`):

Most recent, rising over the last week, or the most relevant of the last month.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "tag": "javascript",
  "tags": [],
  "maxArticles": 25,
  "sort": "recent"
}
```

# Actor output Schema

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

Every item this run produced, as JSON.

## `resultsCsv` (type: `string`):

The same items as a spreadsheet-ready CSV.

# 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 = {
    "tag": "javascript",
    "tags": []
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("eliai/dev-to-articles-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 = {
    "tag": "javascript",
    "tags": [],
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("eliai/dev-to-articles-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 '{
  "tag": "javascript",
  "tags": []
}' |
apify call eliai/dev-to-articles-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,eliai/dev-to-articles-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/2EVxKxIdJz8w3ahXb/builds/FQPKcLdkZjckIqgIj/openapi.json