# 5ch Product Scraper (`fullcirclescrapper/5ch-scraper`) Actor

Extract products, prices, availability and sellers from 5ch.net

- **URL**: https://apify.com/fullcirclescrapper/5ch-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Fernando Akio Pucci](https://apify.com/fullcirclescrapper) (community)
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $1.00 / 1,000 post 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/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

## 5ch (5channel) Scraper

### What does 5ch Scraper do?

Extracts posts from **5ch.net** (formerly 2channel) — Japan's largest and
most influential anonymous forum. Point it at any board and get structured
posts with correct **Shift\_JIS → UTF-8** handling: thread title, post number,
poster name and ID, timestamp (JST, ISO-8601) and clean plain text.

- **Board sweeps** — scrapes threads from `subject.txt`, most-replied first
- **Thread mode** — pass specific thread IDs to track discussions
- **Japanese text done right** — no mojibake, redirect-wrapper links cleaned

### Why scrape 5ch?

- **Japanese market research** — 5ch is where unfiltered Japanese consumer
  opinion lives (electronics, games, finance, entertainment).
- **Trend & sentiment analysis** — the origin of much of Japanese internet
  culture; topics surface here first.
- **Academic research** — one of the most studied online communities in Japan.

### How do I use it?

1. Click **Try for free** — the prefilled board works as-is.
2. Paste a board URL from [menu.5ch.net](https://menu.5ch.net) (e.g.
   `https://greta.5ch.net/poverty/`), set **Max posts**.
3. Run and download JSON/CSV — or connect the Apify API / MCP server.

### How much will it cost?

**$1.00 per 1,000 posts** ($0.001 each) plus a $0.005 start fee. A
1,000-post pull from a hot thread costs $1.

### ⬇️ Input

```json
{
  "boardUrl": "https://greta.5ch.net/poverty/",
  "maxItems": 500
}
```

### ⬆️ Output (real example)

```json
{
  "source": "5ch.net",
  "board": "poverty",
  "thread_id": "1789686179",
  "thread_title": "【画像】BBCさん、とんでもない写真を世界に配信してしまうwwww",
  "post_no": 1,
  "is_op": true,
  "url": "https://greta.5ch.net/test/read.cgi/poverty/1789686179/1",
  "name": "それでも動く名無し",
  "poster_id": "12u3wGqA0",
  "posted_at": "2026-09-17T18:45:02+09:00",
  "text": "なんだい？これは…\nhttps://i.imgur.com/vYTbXEa.jpeg",
  "scraped_at": "2026-09-18T02:00:00+00:00"
}
```

### Limitations & fair use

- Threads that fell off the board (dat落ち) return an error item (not charged).
- Poster IDs are 5ch's own per-day pseudonymous IDs — no personal data is
  collected beyond what posters publish publicly.
- The Actor paces itself between threads to stay polite with 5ch's servers.
- **Content warning**: 5ch is anonymous and lightly moderated; content comes
  as-is.

### FAQ

#### Which boards work?

Any board on `*.5ch.net` (and bbspink mirrors using the same engine). Find
them at menu.5ch.net. If a board URL is invalid you get an immediate clear
error — nothing charged beyond the start fee.

#### Is the Japanese text safe to feed into my pipeline?

Yes — everything is decoded from Shift\_JIS and delivered as clean UTF-8
plain text with line breaks preserved.

#### Something broke

Open an issue in the **Issues tab** — canary-tested daily, fixes ship fast.

### Your feedback

If this Actor saves you time, a review helps other users find it.

# Actor input Schema

## `boardUrl` (type: `string`):

Full 5ch board URL, e.g. https://greta.5ch.net/poverty/ — find boards at menu.5ch.net.

## `threads` (type: `array`):

Specific thread IDs (the number in the thread URL). Leave empty to sweep the board, most-replied threads first.

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

Stop after this many posts (controls your cost).

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

Datacenter proxy (default) works for 5ch.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "boardUrl": "https://greta.5ch.net/poverty/",
  "maxItems": 500,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true
  }
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `products` (type: `string`):

No description

# 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 = {
    "boardUrl": "https://greta.5ch.net/poverty/"
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("fullcirclescrapper/5ch-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 = { "boardUrl": "https://greta.5ch.net/poverty/" }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("fullcirclescrapper/5ch-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 '{
  "boardUrl": "https://greta.5ch.net/poverty/"
}' |
apify call fullcirclescrapper/5ch-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,fullcirclescrapper/5ch-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/ds9lwd5pgAXiQgI4w/builds/F08APh6PASsaaOD6s/openapi.json