# ❓ Zhihu User Content Scraper (`ethereal_wool/zhihu-user-content-scraper`) Actor

Extract Zhihu user content data — title, and more. Scrape by keyword, URL or ID. Export to JSON, CSV & Excel, use the API, schedule runs and integrate. No code required.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/ethereal\_wool/zhihu-user-content-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Jackie Chen](https://apify.com/ethereal_wool) (community)
- **Categories:** Social media
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, NaN bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

$3.00 / 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.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are a software tools running on the Apify platform, for all kinds of web data extraction and automation use cases.
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.

In JavaScript/TypeScript projects, use official [JavaScript/TypeScript client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js.md):

```bash
npm install apify-client
```

In Python projects, use official [Python client library](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python.md):

```bash
pip install apify-client
```

In shell scripts, use [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md):

````bash
# MacOS / Linux
curl -fsSL https://apify.com/install-cli.sh | bash
# Windows
irm https://apify.com/install-cli.ps1 | iex
```bash

In AI frameworks, you might use the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/mcp.md).

If your project is in a different language, use 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

## Zhihu User Content Scraper

![zhihu-user-content-scraper](https://api.apify.com/v2/key-value-stores/48FFrfZnw5XqzUC1C/records/zhihu-user-content-scraper__hero)

Scrape **Zhihu (知乎)** users by their `url_token`. Get every published **article**
(with the full HTML body), or switch modes to pull a user's **profile**, their
**followers**, their **followees**, or the **columns** they follow. Each record is
returned as clean, structured data: title, content, excerpt, vote-up and comment
counts, author info, and the canonical URL.

> **Unofficial.** This Actor is not affiliated with, authorized, or endorsed by Zhihu
> (知乎 / 智者天下科技). It is an independent tool that retrieves publicly available data
> via a third-party API. Use it in compliance with Zhihu's terms and all applicable
> laws; you are responsible for how you use the retrieved data.

### What it does

Give one or more Zhihu `url_token`s — the slug in a profile URL
`zhihu.com/people/<token>` (e.g. `kaifulee` for 李开复) — and pick a **content type**:

- **Articles** (default) — every article the user has published, including the full
  HTML `content`, title, excerpt, vote-up / comment counts and timestamps. Paginated
  automatically. Sort by newest or most up-voted.
- **Profile** — the user's profile object (name, headline, avatar, follower / answer
  counts, etc.). One record per user.
- **Followers** / **Followees** — the people who follow, or are followed by, the user.
- **Columns** — the columns the user follows.

### Input

| Field | Type | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| `userUrlTokens` | string[] | `["kaifulee"]` | Zhihu user `url_token`s. Each is scraped independently. |
| `contentType` | enum | `articles` | `articles` / `profile` / `followers` / `followees` / `columns`. |
| `sortType` | enum | `created` | Article sort: `created` (newest) or `voteups` (most up-voted). Articles only. |
| `maxItems` | integer | `10` | Max total records across all users. Ignored for `profile`. |

#### Example input

```json
{
  "userUrlTokens": ["kaifulee"],
  "contentType": "articles",
  "sortType": "voteups",
  "maxItems": 50
}
````

### Output

One dataset item per record. Articles look like:

```json
{
  "id": "606602766",
  "type": "article",
  "title": "ChatGPT引发失业恐慌？这20种工作要避开！",
  "excerpt": "OpenAI新近推出的ChatGPT已经爆火出圈 ...",
  "content": "<p>...full HTML body...</p>",
  "url": "http://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/606602766",
  "articleType": "normal",
  "voteupCount": 354,
  "commentCount": 124,
  "created": 1676559521,
  "updated": 1676559615,
  "author": { "id": "...", "name": "李开复", "urlToken": "kaifulee", "headline": "..." },
  "authorName": "李开复",
  "userUrlToken": "kaifulee",
  "source": "articles:kaifulee"
}
```

Other content types share the same flat shape (`id`, `type`, `title`, `url`,
`authorName`, …) with mode-specific fields (e.g. `followerCount` for profiles,
`itemsCount` for columns).

### Notes

- Data is sourced live; the upstream occasionally emits transient blocks and an
  intermittent `400`, so the Actor retries with exponential backoff.
- Records are de-duplicated by `id` within a run.

# Actor input Schema

## `userUrlTokens` (type: `array`):

Zhihu user url\_tokens — the slug in a profile URL zhihu.com/people/<token> (e.g. 'kaifulee' for 李开复). Each token is scraped independently.

## `contentType` (type: `string`):

What to scrape for each user. 'articles' (default) returns every published article with its full HTML body; 'profile' returns the user's profile object; 'followers' / 'followees' return the people who follow / are followed by the user; 'columns' returns the columns the user follows.

## `sortType` (type: `string`):

How to sort articles (only used when Content type = articles). 'created' = newest first; 'voteups' = most up-voted first.

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

Maximum total number of records to scrape across all users. Ignored for 'profile' (one record per user).

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

Optional. Route the upstream API calls through an Apify Proxy to vary the source IP. Usually not needed.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "userUrlTokens": [
    "kaifulee"
  ],
  "contentType": "articles",
  "sortType": "created",
  "maxItems": 10,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": false
  }
}
```

# 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 = {
    "userUrlTokens": [
        "kaifulee"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("ethereal_wool/zhihu-user-content-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 = { "userUrlTokens": ["kaifulee"] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("ethereal_wool/zhihu-user-content-scraper").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print("💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/" + run["defaultDatasetId"])
for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "userUrlTokens": [
    "kaifulee"
  ]
}' |
apify call ethereal_wool/zhihu-user-content-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "mcp-remote",
                "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=ethereal_wool/zhihu-user-content-scraper",
                "--header",
                "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR_API_TOKEN>"
            ]
        }
    }
}

```

## OpenAPI specification

```json
{
    "openapi": "3.0.1",
    "info": {
        "title": "❓ Zhihu User Content Scraper",
        "description": "Extract Zhihu user content data — title, and more. Scrape by keyword, URL or ID. Export to JSON, CSV & Excel, use the API, schedule runs and integrate. No code required.",
        "version": "0.1",
        "x-build-id": "5DEo2JA5B4qQGHgjc"
    },
    "servers": [
        {
            "url": "https://api.apify.com/v2"
        }
    ],
    "paths": {
        "/acts/ethereal_wool~zhihu-user-content-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items": {
            "post": {
                "operationId": "run-sync-get-dataset-items-ethereal_wool-zhihu-user-content-scraper",
                "x-openai-isConsequential": false,
                "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for its completion, and returns Actor's dataset items in response.",
                "tags": [
                    "Run Actor"
                ],
                "requestBody": {
                    "required": true,
                    "content": {
                        "application/json": {
                            "schema": {
                                "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                "parameters": [
                    {
                        "name": "token",
                        "in": "query",
                        "required": true,
                        "schema": {
                            "type": "string"
                        },
                        "description": "Enter your Apify token here"
                    }
                ],
                "responses": {
                    "200": {
                        "description": "OK"
                    }
                }
            }
        },
        "/acts/ethereal_wool~zhihu-user-content-scraper/runs": {
            "post": {
                "operationId": "runs-sync-ethereal_wool-zhihu-user-content-scraper",
                "x-openai-isConsequential": false,
                "summary": "Executes an Actor and returns information about the initiated run in response.",
                "tags": [
                    "Run Actor"
                ],
                "requestBody": {
                    "required": true,
                    "content": {
                        "application/json": {
                            "schema": {
                                "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                "parameters": [
                    {
                        "name": "token",
                        "in": "query",
                        "required": true,
                        "schema": {
                            "type": "string"
                        },
                        "description": "Enter your Apify token here"
                    }
                ],
                "responses": {
                    "200": {
                        "description": "OK",
                        "content": {
                            "application/json": {
                                "schema": {
                                    "$ref": "#/components/schemas/runsResponseSchema"
                                }
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
        },
        "/acts/ethereal_wool~zhihu-user-content-scraper/run-sync": {
            "post": {
                "operationId": "run-sync-ethereal_wool-zhihu-user-content-scraper",
                "x-openai-isConsequential": false,
                "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for completion, and returns the OUTPUT from Key-value store in response.",
                "tags": [
                    "Run Actor"
                ],
                "requestBody": {
                    "required": true,
                    "content": {
                        "application/json": {
                            "schema": {
                                "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                "parameters": [
                    {
                        "name": "token",
                        "in": "query",
                        "required": true,
                        "schema": {
                            "type": "string"
                        },
                        "description": "Enter your Apify token here"
                    }
                ],
                "responses": {
                    "200": {
                        "description": "OK"
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    },
    "components": {
        "schemas": {
            "inputSchema": {
                "type": "object",
                "properties": {
                    "userUrlTokens": {
                        "title": "Zhihu user url_tokens",
                        "type": "array",
                        "description": "Zhihu user url_tokens — the slug in a profile URL zhihu.com/people/<token> (e.g. 'kaifulee' for 李开复). Each token is scraped independently.",
                        "default": [
                            "kaifulee"
                        ],
                        "items": {
                            "type": "string"
                        }
                    },
                    "contentType": {
                        "title": "Content type",
                        "enum": [
                            "articles",
                            "profile",
                            "followers",
                            "followees",
                            "columns"
                        ],
                        "type": "string",
                        "description": "What to scrape for each user. 'articles' (default) returns every published article with its full HTML body; 'profile' returns the user's profile object; 'followers' / 'followees' return the people who follow / are followed by the user; 'columns' returns the columns the user follows.",
                        "default": "articles"
                    },
                    "sortType": {
                        "title": "Article sort order",
                        "enum": [
                            "created",
                            "voteups"
                        ],
                        "type": "string",
                        "description": "How to sort articles (only used when Content type = articles). 'created' = newest first; 'voteups' = most up-voted first.",
                        "default": "created"
                    },
                    "maxItems": {
                        "title": "Max items",
                        "minimum": 1,
                        "maximum": 100000,
                        "type": "integer",
                        "description": "Maximum total number of records to scrape across all users. Ignored for 'profile' (one record per user).",
                        "default": 10
                    },
                    "proxyConfiguration": {
                        "title": "Proxy configuration",
                        "type": "object",
                        "description": "Optional. Route the upstream API calls through an Apify Proxy to vary the source IP. Usually not needed.",
                        "default": {
                            "useApifyProxy": false
                        }
                    }
                }
            },
            "runsResponseSchema": {
                "type": "object",
                "properties": {
                    "data": {
                        "type": "object",
                        "properties": {
                            "id": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "actId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "userId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "startedAt": {
                                "type": "string",
                                "format": "date-time",
                                "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z"
                            },
                            "finishedAt": {
                                "type": "string",
                                "format": "date-time",
                                "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z"
                            },
                            "status": {
                                "type": "string",
                                "example": "READY"
                            },
                            "meta": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "origin": {
                                        "type": "string",
                                        "example": "API"
                                    },
                                    "userAgent": {
                                        "type": "string"
                                    }
                                }
                            },
                            "stats": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "inputBodyLen": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 2000
                                    },
                                    "rebootCount": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "restartCount": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "resurrectCount": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "computeUnits": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    }
                                }
                            },
                            "options": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "build": {
                                        "type": "string",
                                        "example": "latest"
                                    },
                                    "timeoutSecs": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 300
                                    },
                                    "memoryMbytes": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 1024
                                    },
                                    "diskMbytes": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 2048
                                    }
                                }
                            },
                            "buildId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "defaultKeyValueStoreId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "defaultDatasetId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "defaultRequestQueueId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "buildNumber": {
                                "type": "string",
                                "example": "1.0.0"
                            },
                            "containerUrl": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "usage": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATASET_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATASET_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 1
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "PROXY_SERPS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    }
                                }
                            },
                            "usageTotalUsd": {
                                "type": "number",
                                "example": 0.00005
                            },
                            "usageUsd": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATASET_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATASET_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "number",
                                        "example": 0.00005
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "PROXY_SERPS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    }
                                }
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    }
}
```