# Stack Overflow Scraper - Questions & Users (`fascinating_lentil/stack-overflow-scraper`) Actor Scrape Stack Overflow questions and users via the official Stack Exchange API. Get titles, scores, answers, views, tags, bodies, and user profiles. Works across all Stack Exchange sites. - **URL**: https://apify.com/fascinating\_lentil/stack-overflow-scraper.md - **Developed by:** [Md Jakaria Mirza](https://apify.com/fascinating_lentil) (community) - **Categories:** Developer tools, Other - **Stats:** 2 total users, 0 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks - **User rating**: No ratings yet ## Pricing from $2.00 / 1,000 question scrapeds 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 ## Stack Overflow Scraper - Questions & Users Scrape **Stack Overflow questions and users** via the official Stack Exchange API - no login required. Get titles, scores, answer/view counts, tags, question bodies, and user profiles (reputation, badges, location). Search by keyword, filter by tag, fetch by ID, and works across all Stack Exchange sites. Export to **JSON, CSV, Excel, or HTML**, or pull via the Apify API. Perfect for **developer research, sentiment/trend analysis, tech support tooling, and recruiting**. ### Features - ✅ **Official Stack Exchange API** - accurate, structured data - ✅ **Questions and users** in one actor - ✅ **Search, tag filter, or ID lookup** - ✅ **Any Stack Exchange site** - Stack Overflow, Super User, Server Fault, Ask Ubuntu, etc. - ✅ **Optional question bodies** and **user profiles** (nested in a separate dataset) - ✅ **Optional API key** - 10,000 requests/day vs 300 without ### Input | Parameter | Type | Description | Default | |-----------|------|-------------|---------| | `searchQueries` | `string[]` | Keyword searches | `["async await"]` | | `tags` | `string[]` | Tag filters (e.g. `"javascript"`) | `[]` | | `questionIds` | `string[]` | Specific question IDs | `[]` | | `userIds` | `string[]` | Specific user IDs (separate `users` dataset) | `[]` | | `sort` | `string` | `votes`, `activity`, `creation`, `hot` | `votes` | | `includeBody` | `boolean` | Include full question body | `false` | | `maxResults` | `integer` | Max questions | `100` | | `site` | `string` | Stack Exchange site | `stackoverflow` | | `apiKey` | `string` (secret) | Optional Stack Apps key | — | | `proxyConfiguration` | `object` | Proxy settings | Apify Proxy | #### Example input ```json { "searchQueries": ["memory leak"], "tags": ["python"], "sort": "votes", "includeBody": true, "maxResults": 200 } ```` ### Sample output ```json { "questionId": 37576685, "title": "Using async/await with a forEach loop", "score": 3351, "answerCount": 35, "viewCount": 2476784, "isAnswered": true, "acceptedAnswerId": 37576787, "tags": ["javascript", "node.js", "promise", "async-await"], "ownerName": "Saad", "ownerReputation": 54989, "createdAt": "2016-06-01T18:55:58.000Z", "lastActivityAt": "2025-01-28T01:27:13.000Z", "link": "https://stackoverflow.com/questions/37576685/...", "site": "stackoverflow", "scrapedAt": "2026-06-11T10:00:00.000Z" } ``` ### Pricing This Actor uses **pay-per-result** pricing: | Event | Price | |-------|-------| | Per question scraped | **$0.002** ($2 / 1,000 questions) | | Per user scraped | **$0.002** ($2 / 1,000 users) | You are only charged for items actually returned. Apify platform usage is billed separately by Apify. ### How to Scrape Stack Overflow (Step by Step) 1. Click **Try for free** / **Run**. 2. Enter what you want: add `searchQueries` keywords, `tags`, `questionIds`, or `userIds`. 3. Choose a `sort` order and set `maxResults` (start small to test), and optionally set `site` for another Stack Exchange community. 4. Run the Actor (toggle `includeBody` if you need full question text). 5. Export the results as JSON, CSV, Excel, or HTML, or pull them via the Apify API. ### Use cases - **Developer research** - track popular questions, tags, and trends - **Sentiment & topic analysis** - feed titles/bodies into NLP pipelines - **Support tooling** - surface top Q\&A for a technology - **Recruiting** - find high-reputation users in a domain ### Tips - Questions and users are kept in separate datasets so each stays clean. - Add a free **Stack Apps API key** to lift the daily quota from 300 to 10,000 requests. - Set `site` to scrape other Stack Exchange communities (e.g. `superuser`, `askubuntu`). ### License Apache-2.0 # Actor input Schema ## `searchQueries` (type: `array`): Keywords/phrases to search questions (e.g. "async await", "memory leak"). ## `tags` (type: `array`): Filter by tags (e.g. "javascript", "python"). Used with search, or alone to list tagged questions. ## `questionIds` (type: `array`): Specific Stack Overflow question IDs to fetch. ## `userIds` (type: `array`): Specific Stack Overflow user IDs to fetch (saved to a separate 'users' dataset). ## `sort` (type: `string`): Order questions by votes, activity, creation date, or hot. ## `includeBody` (type: `boolean`): If enabled, the full question body text is included. ## `maxResults` (type: `integer`): Maximum number of questions to scrape (across searches/tags). ## `site` (type: `string`): Which Stack Exchange site (e.g. "stackoverflow", "superuser", "serverfault", "askubuntu"). ## `apiKey` (type: `string`): A Stack Apps API key raises the daily quota from 300 to 10,000 requests. Register at stackapps.com/apps/oauth/register. ## `proxyConfiguration` (type: `object`): Proxy settings. Rotating proxies help multiply the per-IP daily quota. ## Actor input object example ```json { "searchQueries": [ "async await" ], "tags": [], "questionIds": [], "userIds": [], "sort": "votes", "includeBody": false, "maxResults": 100, "site": "stackoverflow", "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": true } } ``` # 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 '' with your token const client = new ApifyClient({ token: '', }); // Prepare Actor input const input = { "searchQueries": [ "async await" ] }; // Run the Actor and wait for it to finish const run = await client.actor("fascinating_lentil/stack-overflow-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 '' with your token. client = ApifyClient("") # Prepare the Actor input run_input = { "searchQueries": ["async await"] } # Run the Actor and wait for it to finish run = client.actor("fascinating_lentil/stack-overflow-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 '{ "searchQueries": [ "async await" ] }' | apify call fascinating_lentil/stack-overflow-scraper --silent --output-dataset ``` ## MCP server setup ```json { "mcpServers": { "apify": { "command": "npx", "args": [ "mcp-remote", "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fascinating_lentil/stack-overflow-scraper", "--header", "Authorization: Bearer " ] } } } ``` ## OpenAPI specification ```json { "openapi": "3.0.1", "info": { "title": "Stack Overflow Scraper - Questions & Users", "description": "Scrape Stack Overflow questions and users via the official Stack Exchange API. Get titles, scores, answers, views, tags, bodies, and user profiles. Works across all Stack Exchange sites.", "version": "1.0", "x-build-id": "bMzeKvCoXX7VKUmSM" }, "servers": [ { "url": "https://api.apify.com/v2" } ], "paths": { "/acts/fascinating_lentil~stack-overflow-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-get-dataset-items-fascinating_lentil-stack-overflow-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": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK" } } } }, "/acts/fascinating_lentil~stack-overflow-scraper/runs": { "post": { "operationId": "runs-sync-fascinating_lentil-stack-overflow-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor and returns information about the initiated run in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$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": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/runsResponseSchema" } } } } } } }, "/acts/fascinating_lentil~stack-overflow-scraper/run-sync": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-fascinating_lentil-stack-overflow-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for completion, and returns the OUTPUT from Key-value store in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$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": { "searchQueries": { "title": "Search Queries", "type": "array", "description": "Keywords/phrases to search questions (e.g. \"async await\", \"memory leak\").", "default": [ "async await" ], "items": { "type": "string" } }, "tags": { "title": "Tags", "type": "array", "description": "Filter by tags (e.g. \"javascript\", \"python\"). Used with search, or alone to list tagged questions.", "default": [], "items": { "type": "string" } }, "questionIds": { "title": "Question IDs", "type": "array", "description": "Specific Stack Overflow question IDs to fetch.", "default": [], "items": { "type": "string" } }, "userIds": { "title": "User IDs", "type": "array", "description": "Specific Stack Overflow user IDs to fetch (saved to a separate 'users' dataset).", "default": [], "items": { "type": "string" } }, "sort": { "title": "Sort By", "enum": [ "votes", "activity", "creation", "hot" ], "type": "string", "description": "Order questions by votes, activity, creation date, or hot.", "default": "votes" }, "includeBody": { "title": "Include Question Body", "type": "boolean", "description": "If enabled, the full question body text is included.", "default": false }, "maxResults": { "title": "Max Questions", "minimum": 1, "maximum": 10000, "type": "integer", "description": "Maximum number of questions to scrape (across searches/tags).", "default": 100 }, "site": { "title": "Stack Exchange Site", "type": "string", "description": "Which Stack Exchange site (e.g. \"stackoverflow\", \"superuser\", \"serverfault\", \"askubuntu\").", "default": "stackoverflow" }, "apiKey": { "title": "Stack Apps API Key (optional)", "type": "string", "description": "A Stack Apps API key raises the daily quota from 300 to 10,000 requests. Register at stackapps.com/apps/oauth/register." }, "proxyConfiguration": { "title": "Proxy Configuration", "type": "object", "description": "Proxy settings. Rotating proxies help multiply the per-IP daily quota.", "default": { "useApifyProxy": true } } } }, "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 } } } } } } } } } } ```