Stack Overflow Scraper API - Search Questions, Extract Answers & Trends

Extract programming questions, answers, and engagement data from Stack Overflow without API keys. Search by keywords, tags, or trends. This scraper uses the official Stack Exchange API as primary source with AnonymousOverflow fallback for maximum reliability.

Features

• ✅ Zero Authentication - No API keys or login required
• ✅ Official API First - Uses Stack Exchange API v2.3
• ✅ HTML Fallback - AnonymousOverflow mirrors when API is slow
• ✅ Real-time Data - Live questions, answers, and engagement metrics
• ✅ Multiple Sort Types - Activity, Newest, Most Voted, Hot, Week, Month
• ✅ Keyword Search - Search questions by keywords in title/content
• ✅ Tag Filtering - Filter by specific programming tags
• ✅ Answer Extraction - Optional top answers for each question
• ✅ Fast & Reliable - Requests-based, no browser automation

Use Cases

• Programming Trend Monitoring - Track emerging technologies and frameworks
• Content Analysis - Analyze developer Q&A patterns and common issues
• Market Research - Monitor programming language popularity and trends
• Competitive Intelligence - Search specific technologies, track technical discussions
• Keyword Research - Find popular topics for tutorials and content creation
• Technical Hiring - Identify skill gaps and in-demand technologies
• Data Journalism - Extract data for research and reporting

Input Parameters

• queryType: Type of questions to scrape (activity, creation, votes, hot, week, month)
• keyword: Search questions by keyword in title/content (e.g., "async await", "docker kubernetes")
• tags: Filter by tags (semicolon-separated, e.g., "python;javascript;react")
• maxResults: Number of questions to extract (1-200)
• minScore: Filter questions with minimum score (0+)
• includeAnswers: Whether to fetch top answers for each question
• maxAnswers: Maximum answers per question (0-10)

Output Fields

Each question includes:

• title: Question title
• url: Question URL
• author: Asking user
• score: Upvote score
• answers: Number of answers
• views: View count
• tags: Array of tags
• created: Timestamp
• answers_list: Top answers (if enabled)

API Endpoints Used

Primary: https://api.stackexchange.com/2.3/

• /questions - All questions with sorting options
• /questions/{id}/answers - Answers for specific questions

Fallback Mirrors

• https://code.whatever.social - AnonymousOverflow instance
• https://stackoverflow.com - Official site

Performance

• Speed: ~2-3 seconds for 25 questions
• Reliability: 99.9% uptime with API + fallback
• Cost: $0.003 per result (compute costs only)

Pricing Model

Pay-per-result pricing with no API key requirements:

• Base Cost: $0.003 per question extracted
• Answers: No extra cost when enabled
• Maximum: 200 questions per run

Technical Details

• Architecture: Python requests + BeautifulSoup
• Rate Limiting: Built-in delays to respect SE guidelines
• Error Handling: Automatic fallback API → HTML
• Data Validation: Structured JSON output with type checking

Deployment

Built for Apify platform with:

• Docker containerization
• Automatic scaling
• Built-in monitoring
• Export to JSON/CSV

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No API keys required - Built with the No-API Scraper Protocol for maximum reliability!