VS Code Marketplace Scraper — Extension Stats, Search & Reviews (No API Key)

Scrape the Visual Studio Code Marketplace into clean, structured JSON — extension details with install counts, rating stats, and trending scores, keyword/category search, and user reviews. No account, no login, no API key. Built for devtool builders, market researchers, and anyone tracking the VS Code extension ecosystem.

✅ Last verified working: 2026-06-11. Monitored by an automated daily canary. When the Marketplace changes its API, we patch fast and log it in the changelog below — so your pipeline doesn't silently break.

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Why this VS Code Marketplace scraper

The Marketplace hosts 80,000+ extensions and is the de-facto market map of the developer-tools world — but there's no public stats dashboard and no official data API for bulk analysis. This actor reads the Marketplace's own gallery JSON service and returns what the website shows (and more):

• Install counts + trending velocity on every record — installs, trendingDaily/Weekly/Monthly — the numbers that tell you which extensions (and categories) are growing right now.
• Three modes, one actor — details (exact lookups), search (keyword and/or category, sortable by installs/rating/updated), reviews (user reviews with rating + text).
• Verified-publisher signal — publisherVerified + publisherDomain on every row.
• Per-item isolation + retries — a bad ID or transient error is skipped and logged; it never crashes the run.
• Stable, versioned output (_schemaVersion) + a daily canary — that "last verified working" date is real.

What data you get

Details / search rows (one per extension):

Field	Type	Description
extensionId	string	publisher.extension (e.g. ms-python.python).
name	string	Display name.
publisher / publisherDisplayName	string	Publisher ID and display name.
publisherVerified	boolean	Domain-verified publisher badge.
publisherDomain	string | null	Verified domain, when set.
shortDescription	string | null	Listing summary.
installs	number	Install count (the Marketplace's own counter).
averageRating	number | null	Average rating (0–5, 2 decimals).
ratingCount	number | null	Number of ratings.
trendingDaily / trendingWeekly / trendingMonthly	number | null	The Marketplace's trending velocity scores — compare across extensions to spot momentum.
version	string	Latest version.
lastUpdated / releaseDate / publishedDate	string | null	ISO timestamps.
categories	string[]	Marketplace categories.
tags	string[]	Author tags (internal __ tags filtered out).
repositoryUrl	string | null	Source-repo link when the author publishes one.
marketplaceUrl	string	Public listing URL.

Review rows: extensionId, reviewId, user, rating (1–5), text, extensionVersion, updatedAt.

Search rows also carry _searchTerm / _category so multi-term runs stay traceable.

Use cases

• Devtool competitive intelligence. Track your competitors' installs, rating trajectory, update cadence, and review sentiment — or scan a whole category sorted by installs to map a niche before you build in it.
• Extension market research. Which categories are crowded? What do top extensions have in common? Pull a category (e.g. Themes: 18,000+ entries, or Data Science) sorted by installs and analyze.
• Lead generation. Verified publishers with big installs are companies investing in developer experience — publisherDomain gives you the company behind the extension.
• Monitoring your own listing. Schedule a daily run on your extension IDs and alert on rating drops, review spikes, or competitor releases.

Input

Field	Type	Required	Notes
mode	string	✅	details (default) / search / reviews.
extensionIds	string[]	for details/reviews	publisher.extension IDs (e.g. ms-python.python) or marketplace URLs.
searchTerms	string[]	for search	Free-text queries; one result set per term.
category	string	—	Search-mode category filter (e.g. Themes, Programming Languages, Linters). Combine with terms or use alone to browse a category.
sortBy	string	—	relevance (default), installs, rating, or updated.
maxSearchResults	integer	—	Cap per term/category (1–500). Default 25.
maxReviewsPerExtension	integer	—	Cap per extension (1–100), newest first. Default 50. The Marketplace's public reviews endpoint serves at most the 100 most recent.

{
  "mode": "details",
  "extensionIds": ["ms-python.python", "esbenp.prettier-vscode", "github.copilot"]
}

Output sample

A real record from the default run:

{
  "_type": "extension",
  "_schemaVersion": "1.0",
  "_source": "vscode-marketplace",
  "extensionId": "ms-python.python",
  "name": "Python",
  "publisher": "ms-python",
  "publisherDisplayName": "Microsoft",
  "publisherDomain": "https://microsoft.com",
  "publisherVerified": true,
  "shortDescription": "Python language support with extension access points for IntelliSense (Pylance), Debugging (Python Debugger), linting, formatting, refactoring, unit tests, and more.",
  "installs": 222361795,
  "averageRating": 4.2,
  "ratingCount": 630,
  "trendingDaily": 0.0021508348092437704,
  "trendingWeekly": 0.4154368098847741,
  "trendingMonthly": 2.0595825958151837,
  "version": "2026.5.2026061001",
  "lastUpdated": "2026-06-10T11:13:22.933Z",
  "releaseDate": "2016-01-19T15:03:11.337Z",
  "publishedDate": "2016-01-19T15:03:11.337Z",
  "categories": ["Programming Languages", "Debuggers", "Data Science", "Machine Learning"],
  "tags": ["debuggers", "django", "python", "..."],
  "repositoryUrl": "https://github.com/Microsoft/vscode-python",
  "marketplaceUrl": "https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=ms-python.python",
  "_scrapedAt": "2026-06-11T12:19:11.413Z"
}

Use with AI agents (MCP)

This scraper is callable as a tool by AI agents via the Apify MCP server — so assistants like Claude, Cursor, and VS Code can run it and use the structured results mid-conversation, with no glue code.

Simplest path: in a recent Claude Desktop, add the hosted server https://mcp.apify.com under Settings → Connectors and authorize with OAuth. For any config-file client:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "apify": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@apify/actors-mcp-server"],
      "env": { "APIFY_TOKEN": "YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN" }
    }
  }
}

Then ask in plain language, e.g. "Compare the install counts and ratings of the top 10 VS Code Python extensions." — the agent calls freshactors/vscode-marketplace-scraper with the right input and reads back the JSON. Full setup: Apify MCP docs.

Pricing

Pay-per-event — no subscription, no per-run start fee. You pay only for the rows you receive:

Event	Price (USD)	When it fires
Extension details fetched	$0.0025	Once per extension details record returned.
Search result fetched	$0.001	Once per search result row returned.
Review fetched	$0.0001	Once per review returned.

Worked examples:

• Full details on 50 extensions: 50 × $0.0025 = $0.125
• A category scan of 100 search results: 100 × $0.001 = $0.10
• 200 reviews across 2 extensions: 200 × $0.0001 = $0.02

(Apify platform usage is billed separately per their standard rates.)

FAQ

Is scraping the VS Code Marketplace legal? This actor reads public, non-personal listing data from the Marketplace's own public gallery service — the same data the website shows any visitor. Review records contain only the public display name a reviewer chose to publish. Use responsibly and in line with applicable terms and laws.

Do I need an API key or login? No. The gallery service is public; no Microsoft account, token, or key is involved.

How do I find an extension's ID? It's publisher.extension — visible in the marketplace URL: marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=ms-python.python. You can also just paste the full URL.

What do the trending scores mean? They're the Marketplace's own trending velocity metrics (the same signal that powers its "Trending" sort). The absolute numbers are unitless — use them to compare extensions or track one extension over time.

How many reviews can I get per extension? Up to the 100 most recent — that's the public endpoint's hard window (verified at launch), so we cap honestly rather than promise more. ratingCount in details mode still reflects all ratings ever.

Can I get every extension in a category? Search mode paginates 100 per page up to maxSearchResults (max 500 per run/term). For very large categories, segment by search term or sort to target the slice you need.

Which sort orders are supported? relevance, installs, rating, and updated — each one verified working at launch. Sorts the gallery doesn't support aren't offered.

How often is the data updated? It's live — every run queries the Marketplace's current data. The actor itself is monitored by a daily canary so parsing stays correct as the API evolves.

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Reliability

A scheduled daily canary queries the gallery, validates the normalized schema (installs numeric, ratings in range, reviews parsing), and alerts the moment a parse changes. When Microsoft shifts the gallery API, we patch fast and record it in the changelog below. Every record carries _schemaVersion and _scrapedAt.

Changelog

• 2026-06-11 — v1.0 launch. Details/search/reviews over the official gallery JSON service; install + trending statistics on every row; category browse; verified-publisher fields; honest 100-review window; per-item isolation; daily canary monitoring.

Legal note: Reads public, non-personal listing data from the Marketplace's public gallery service (the same data the website serves any visitor). No login, no private data. Use responsibly and in line with applicable terms and laws.

Found a problem? Open an issue on the actor — issues are answered fast.