# Daily FT Scraper (`fanndev/dailyft-scraper`) Actor

Extract full article text or the newest headlines from Daily FT (ft.lk), Sri Lanka's leading business newspaper -- no account or API key needed.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/fanndev/dailyft-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Faisal Ahdan naufal](https://apify.com/fanndev) (community)
- **Categories:** News
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $2.00 / 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?

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

## Daily FT Scraper

Extract full article text or the newest headlines from Daily FT (ft.lk), Sri Lanka's leading business newspaper — no account or subscription needed.

### Why use this actor

- No account or login required — fully free, open-access site with no paywall
- Full article text included, not just a summary — headline, deck, description, publish/modified dates, reconstructed into clean paragraphs from a legacy hand-formatted CMS
- Also fetches the newest headlines straight from the site's RSS feed without visiting each article individually
- Stable JSON output suitable for pipelines, spreadsheets, or databases
- Automatic retries on temporary network hiccups (including the site's own occasional server-side slowdowns)

### How it works

1. Give the actor one or more article URLs, or switch to `"latest"` mode to get the newest stories automatically.
2. In article mode, the actor opens each URL and pulls out the full text and every publicly available detail about the story.
3. In latest mode, the actor reads the site's RSS feed and returns the newest stories.
4. Results stream into your dataset, ready to download as JSON, CSV, or Excel.

You don't need to manage retries, rate limits, or figure out the site's internal data format — the actor handles all of that.

### Input

**Article mode** (default):

```json
{
  "mode": "article",
  "urls": [
    "https://www.ft.lk/news/VFS-Global-launches-Republic-of-Korea-visa-services-in-Sri-Lanka/56-796442"
  ],
  "maxConcurrency": 4,
  "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": true, "apifyProxyGroups": ["RESIDENTIAL"] }
}
```

**Latest headlines mode:**

```json
{
  "mode": "latest",
  "limit": 10,
  "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": true, "apifyProxyGroups": ["RESIDENTIAL"] }
}
```

| Field | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| `mode` | string | `"article"` (default) — extract one or more article URLs. `"latest"` — fetch the newest headlines. |
| `url` | string | A single article URL. Used in article mode. |
| `urls` | array | Multiple article URLs to extract in one run. Used in article mode. |
| `limit` | integer | Max headlines returned in latest mode. Default 10, max 50. |
| `maxConcurrency` | integer | How many article pages to fetch in parallel. Default 4, max 16. |
| `proxyConfiguration` | object | Apify Proxy configuration. Residential is on by default. |

### Output

**Article mode** — one record per URL:

```json
{
  "_input": "https://www.ft.lk/news/VFS-Global-launches-Republic-of-Korea-visa-services-in-Sri-Lanka/56-796442",
  "_source": "S1-html",
  "headline": "VFS Global launches Republic of Korea visa services in Sri Lanka",
  "deck": "Opens modern and easily accessible centre in Colombo",
  "description": "Starting 21 August 2026, Korea visa applicants can visit our centrally located visa application centre...",
  "articleBody": "Starting 21 August 2026, Korea visa applicants can visit our centrally located visa application centre...",
  "datePublished": "2026-08-24 06:04:41",
  "dateModified": "2026-08-24 06:03:00"
}
```

**Latest mode** — one record per headline:

```json
{
  "_input": "latest",
  "_source": "S2-rss",
  "title": "IMF test looms as Sri Lanka's economic stability meets public pain: Ravi K",
  "link": "https://www.ft.lk/top-story/IMF-test-looms-as-Sri-Lanka-s-economic-stability-meets-public-pain--Ravi-K/26-796380",
  "description": "THE New Democratic Front (NDF) MP and former Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake yesterday said...",
  "pubDate": "Saturday, 22 August 2026 01:23"
}
```

A failed URL (removed article, network issue) still produces a row instead of silently disappearing:

```json
{
  "_input": "https://www.ft.lk/news/nonexistent-fake-article-xyz/56-00000000",
  "_source": "none",
  "_error": "not_found",
  "_errorDetail": ""
}
```

### Notes

- This site doesn't publish a structured author field — no `author` field is included rather than guessing at one. Some articles embed a byline as plain text at the start of the body.
- The `deck` field (a one-line subheading) is present on hard-news articles and `null` on opinion/column pieces.
- No paywall was found on any sampled article — full text is included for every successfully fetched URL.

# Actor input Schema

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

"article" extracts one or more article URLs. "latest" fetches the newest headlines from the site's RSS feed.

## `url` (type: `string`):

A single ft.lk article URL to extract. Used when mode is "article".

## `urls` (type: `array`):

Multiple ft.lk article URLs to extract in one run. Used when mode is "article".

## `limit` (type: `integer`):

Maximum number of headlines to return in "latest" mode.

## `maxConcurrency` (type: `integer`):

How many article pages to fetch in parallel in "article" mode.

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

Apify Proxy configuration. Residential is on by default.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "mode": "article",
  "url": "https://www.ft.lk/news/VFS-Global-launches-Republic-of-Korea-visa-services-in-Sri-Lanka/56-796442",
  "limit": 10,
  "maxConcurrency": 4,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true,
    "apifyProxyGroups": [
      "RESIDENTIAL"
    ]
  }
}
```

# Actor output Schema

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

All scraped article / latest-headline records produced by this run.

# 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 = {
    "mode": "article",
    "url": "https://www.ft.lk/news/VFS-Global-launches-Republic-of-Korea-visa-services-in-Sri-Lanka/56-796442",
    "limit": 10,
    "maxConcurrency": 4,
    "proxyConfiguration": {
        "useApifyProxy": true,
        "apifyProxyGroups": [
            "RESIDENTIAL"
        ]
    }
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("fanndev/dailyft-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 = {
    "mode": "article",
    "url": "https://www.ft.lk/news/VFS-Global-launches-Republic-of-Korea-visa-services-in-Sri-Lanka/56-796442",
    "limit": 10,
    "maxConcurrency": 4,
    "proxyConfiguration": {
        "useApifyProxy": True,
        "apifyProxyGroups": ["RESIDENTIAL"],
    },
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("fanndev/dailyft-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 '{
  "mode": "article",
  "url": "https://www.ft.lk/news/VFS-Global-launches-Republic-of-Korea-visa-services-in-Sri-Lanka/56-796442",
  "limit": 10,
  "maxConcurrency": 4,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true,
    "apifyProxyGroups": [
      "RESIDENTIAL"
    ]
  }
}' |
apify call fanndev/dailyft-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,fanndev/dailyft-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/of1aE584w2PioT0PN/builds/AktdrxtArBceqO7U7/openapi.json