# DEV Community (dev.to) Articles Scraper (`gogumaa/devto-articles-scraper`) Actor

DEV Community (dev.to / Forem) articles by tag or top-of-week, keyword search, author profiles with their articles, and article comments. Public JSON API, no login, no browser.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/gogumaa/devto-articles-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [gogumaa](https://apify.com/gogumaa) (community)
- **Categories:** Developer tools, News, Other
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

$2.00 / 1,000 item 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

## DEV Community (dev.to) Articles Scraper

**DEV Community (dev.to) scraper for articles, authors and comments, no login or API key.** Pull the newest or top dev.to articles for any tag, search by keyword, export an author's profile with all their posts, or collect the comments under an article. It uses the public Forem JSON API, so runs are fast and you pay per result.

### What you can do with it

- **Content & trend monitoring** — schedule `articles` mode with `top: 7` for your stack's tags and feed the weekly winners into Slack, a newsletter, or an LLM summarizer.
- **Developer relations / competitor tracking** — `search` mode for your product or a rival's name; reactions and comment counts show what resonates.
- **Author research** — `user` mode gives profile (GitHub, Twitter, website, location) plus every article with engagement counts; good for finding contributors to sponsor or hire.
- **Sentiment & feedback mining** — `comments` mode returns every comment (nested replies flattened) as plain text for any article ids.
- **Dataset building** — `includeBody` adds full Markdown for each article.
- **Automation** — Schedule it on Apify and pipe results to Google Sheets, Slack, n8n or Make via the Apify integration.
- **Newsletter curation** — `articles` mode with `top: 7` across a handful of tags gives a ranked weekly reading list with reading time and cover image.

### Output example

Modes `articles`, `search`, `user` (`type: "article"`):

```json
{
  "type": "article",
  "id": 4943245,
  "title": "Yes, {} + [] = 0. No, JavaScript Isn’t Broken",
  "description": "JavaScript is a legendary programming language. Created in the mid-1990s in just 10 days …",
  "url": "https://dev.to/sylwia-lask/yes-0-no-javascript-isnt-broken-14ob",
  "published_at": "2026-10-29T20:08:53Z",
  "edited_at": "2026-10-30T13:34:02Z",
  "tags": ["javascript", "webdev", "node", "programming"],
  "author": "sylwia-lask",
  "author_name": "Sylwia Laskowska",
  "organization": null,
  "reading_time_minutes": 5,
  "public_reactions_count": 121,
  "positive_reactions_count": 121,
  "comments_count": 84,
  "cover_image": "https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/…png",
  "canonical_url": "https://dev.to/sylwia-lask/yes-0-no-javascript-isnt-broken-14ob"
}
```

With `includeBody: true` each article also has `body_markdown`.

Mode `user`, first row per user (`type: "user"`):

```json
{ "type": "user", "id": 1, "username": "ben", "name": "Ben Halpern", "summary": "A Canadian software developer who thinks he’s funny.", "location": "NY", "joined_at": "Dec 27, 2015", "github_username": "benhalpern", "twitter_username": "bendhalpern", "website_url": "http://benhalpern.com", "url": "https://dev.to/ben" }
```

Mode `comments` (`type: "comment"`):

```json
{ "type": "comment", "id": "358ab", "body": "Great write-up, the coercion table is gold.", "author": "someone", "author_name": "Some One", "created_at": "2026-10-30T09:12:44Z", "article_id": 4943245, "url": "https://dev.to/someone/comment/358ab" }
```

### Input

| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| `mode` | `articles` (default), `search`, `user`, `comments` |
| `tags` | Mode `articles`. Tag names without `#`; one pass per tag. Empty = front feed. |
| `top` | Mode `articles`. Top articles of the last N days (7, 30, 365 …). `0` = newest first. |
| `query` | Mode `search`. Keyword(s). |
| `usernames` | Mode `user`. DEV usernames (`ben`, `@ben`). Unknown user → warning in the log, no row. |
| `articleIds` | Mode `comments`. Numeric article ids. |
| `includeBody` | Add `body_markdown` to article rows (one extra request each). Default off. |
| `maxItems` | Stop after N rows total. Default 100. |

### Pricing

Pay per item: one event per dataset row (article, comment, or user). Nothing is charged for rows that are never produced.

### Notes

- Public Forem API v1; pages of 100 are fetched until `maxItems` is reached.
- Search results are ranked by relevance; `top` applies to `articles` mode only.
- Comment replies are flattened depth-first into one list; deleted comments are omitted by the API.

### FAQ

#### Do I need an API key or account?

No. The Actor calls the public Forem API v1 anonymously. DEV rate-limits anonymous clients, so very large runs take longer; the default of 100 rows finishes in seconds.

#### How much does it cost?

$0.002 per result and nothing else: with pay-per-event pricing you are not billed for Apify compute. 100 results cost $0.20, and the Apify free plan's $5 monthly credit covers about 2,500 results. Rows that are never produced are never charged.

#### How do I get the data into Google Sheets / my app?

Every run writes to an Apify dataset you can download as CSV, JSON or Excel, or read from the dataset API endpoint. For ongoing feeds, use Apify integrations (Google Sheets, Slack, Zapier, Make, n8n) or call the Actor from your own code with the Apify API.

#### Is it legal / allowed?

It only reads public data via the platform's public API and respects rate limits. You are responsible for complying with DEV Community's terms and applicable law.

#### Does it return full article text and nested replies?

Article rows include the description by default; set `includeBody: true` to add `body_markdown` (one extra request per article). In `comments` mode, nested replies are flattened depth-first into one list, and comments deleted on DEV are not returned by the API.

### Related Actors

- [Hacker News Scraper](https://apify.com/gogumaa/hacker-news-scraper)
- [Substack Posts Scraper](https://apify.com/gogumaa/substack-posts-scraper)
- [Mastodon Scraper](https://apify.com/gogumaa/mastodon-scraper)

# Actor input Schema

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

articles = latest (or top) articles per tag / front feed. search = keyword search. user = author profile + their articles. comments = all comments of given articles.

## `tags` (type: `array`):

Mode=articles. Tag names without #. Leave empty for the front feed.

## `top` (type: `integer`):

Mode=articles. Rank by reactions over the last N days (e.g. 7, 30, 365). 0 = newest first.

## `query` (type: `string`):

Mode=search.

## `usernames` (type: `array`):

Mode=user. DEV usernames. The first row per user is the profile, then their articles.

## `articleIds` (type: `array`):

Mode=comments. Numeric article ids (the id field of article rows).

## `includeBody` (type: `boolean`):

Fetch full body_markdown for each article (one extra request per article, slower).

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

Stop after this many rows (total across all tags / users / articles).

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "mode": "articles",
  "tags": [
    "javascript"
  ],
  "top": 0,
  "query": "",
  "usernames": [
    "ben"
  ],
  "articleIds": [],
  "includeBody": false,
  "maxItems": 100
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `items` (type: `string`):

One record per article / comment / user: title, url, tags, author, reactions and comment counts; comment text; or profile details.

# 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 = {
    "tags": [
        "javascript"
    ],
    "usernames": [
        "ben"
    ],
    "articleIds": []
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("gogumaa/devto-articles-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 = {
    "tags": ["javascript"],
    "usernames": ["ben"],
    "articleIds": [],
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("gogumaa/devto-articles-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 '{
  "tags": [
    "javascript"
  ],
  "usernames": [
    "ben"
  ],
  "articleIds": []
}' |
apify call gogumaa/devto-articles-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,gogumaa/devto-articles-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/9tLe3yqEbAyRSJqzW/builds/xWF8JM825Vttyg4eX/openapi.json