# Toutiao Trending Scraper — News Hot Board (`hipersoft/toutiao-scraper`) Actor

Scrape the Toutiao (今日头条) news hot board: rank, title, hot value, label, category and link. China's biggest news-aggregator trending list. Public API, no key.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/hipersoft/toutiao-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [hiper soft](https://apify.com/hipersoft) (community)
- **Categories:** News, Social media
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $0.001 / topic scraped

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 web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
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.

- **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use).
- **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`.
- **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`.
- **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`.
- **Any other language** — 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

## Toutiao Scraper — Trending News Hot Board (今日头条热榜)

Scrape the **Toutiao hot board** — the trending news list of **今日头条**, China's biggest news aggregator — into clean JSON, CSV or Excel. This Toutiao scraper extracts **rank, title, hot value, label (new/hot), category, thumbnail and link** for every trending news topic. Fast and reliable.

Perfect for **China news monitoring, PR and brand tracking, trend discovery and media research**.

![Toutiao Scraper input — max topics in the Apify Console](https://api.apify.com/v2/key-value-stores/SUfvnaFLd9z9eBCtV/records/toutiao-scraper-input.png?v=2)

### What does Toutiao Scraper do?

The Toutiao Scraper collects the live trending news hot board from Toutiao and returns it as structured data. It extracts every topic on the board with its rank, heat value, labels and category, so you can monitor what is trending in Chinese news and build a time series of topics.

### What data can you scrape from Toutiao?

| Category | Fields |
|----------|--------|
| 📊 Ranking | rank, hot value |
| 📰 Topic | title, label, is new, is hot, category |
| 🔍 Reference | query word, cluster id |
| 🖼️ Media & links | image, topic URL, source URL, collected date |

### What you get

![Toutiao Scraper output example — trending topics with rank, hot value and category as structured JSON](https://api.apify.com/v2/key-value-stores/SUfvnaFLd9z9eBCtV/records/toutiao-scraper-output.png?v=2)

Each trending topic is returned as one clean record. Example output:

```json
{
  "rank": 1,
  "title": "一组数据读懂我国能源转型新趋势",
  "hotValue": 12704620,
  "label": "new",
  "isNew": true,
  "isHot": false,
  "category": "society",
  "queryWord": "能源转型",
  "clusterId": "7668250705069",
  "image": "https://p3.toutiaoimg.com/...",
  "url": "https://www.toutiao.com/trending/7668",
  "sourceUrl": "https://www.toutiao.com/hot-event/hot-board/",
  "collectedAt": "2026-07-30T12:00:00.000Z"
}
```

#### Output schema

| Field | Type | Description |
|-------|------|-------------|
| `rank` | integer | Position of the topic on the hot board. |
| `title` | string | Trending news topic title. |
| `hotValue` | integer | Toutiao heat metric; higher means hotter. |
| `label` | string | Topic label, e.g. new or hot. |
| `isNew` | boolean | Whether the topic is flagged as new. |
| `isHot` | boolean | Whether the topic is flagged as hot. |
| `category` | string | Topic category, e.g. society. |
| `queryWord` | string | Search keyword associated with the topic. |
| `clusterId` | string | Internal cluster identifier for the topic. |
| `image` | string (URL) | Thumbnail image URL. |
| `url` | string (URL) | Direct link to the topic on Toutiao. |
| `sourceUrl` | string (URL) | Source page URL for the record. |
| `collectedAt` | string (ISO date) | Timestamp when the record was collected. |

### Use cases

- **China news monitoring** — track what is trending across Chinese news in real time.
- **PR and brand tracking** — catch topics mentioning a brand, product or public figure.
- **Trend discovery** — spot rising stories early using rank and hot value.
- **Media research** — analyze categories and heat across time.
- **Time-series building** — schedule the actor to capture the board on an interval.
- **Content planning** — align editorial calendars with what audiences care about now.

### How to scrape Toutiao data

1. Add the Toutiao Scraper to your Apify account.
2. Set the maximum number of trending topics to scrape.
3. Click **Run**.
4. Export the results as JSON, CSV, Excel or XML, or pull them via the Apify API.
5. Optionally schedule the actor (e.g. every 15–30 minutes) to build a time series.

### Input

```json
{
  "maxItems": 100
}
```

| Field | Type | Description |
|-------|------|-------------|
| `maxItems` | integer | Maximum number of trending news topics to scrape. |

### Tips

- The board is **realtime** — schedule the actor (e.g. every 15–30 min) to build a time series of China's trending news.
- `hotValue` is Toutiao's heat metric; higher means hotter.

### Need more Chinese content data?

- [Douban Scraper](https://apify.com/hipersoft/douban-scraper)
- [Weibo Scraper](https://apify.com/hipersoft/weibo-scraper)
- [V2EX Scraper](https://apify.com/hipersoft/v2ex-scraper)
- [Bilibili Scraper](https://apify.com/hipersoft/bilibili-scraper)

### FAQ

**How many topics can I scrape?**
As many as the board carries — set `maxItems` to cap the run.

**Do I need any setup or a login?**
No setup and no login. Just add the actor and run.

**How fresh is the data?**
The hot board is realtime, so each run reflects what is trending at that moment.

**What export formats are supported?**
JSON, CSV, Excel and XML, plus programmatic access through the Apify API.

**How does billing work?**
You pay only per item you get, so costs scale with the number of topics you scrape.

**Is the data only public data?**
Yes — the scraper returns only publicly available trending-topic information.

**Can I integrate this with other tools?**
The Toutiao Scraper can be connected with almost any cloud service or web app thanks to [integrations on the Apify platform](https://apify.com/integrations). It works with [Make](https://apify.com/integrations/make), [Zapier](https://apify.com/integrations/zapier), [Slack](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/slack), [Airbyte](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/airbyte), [GitHub](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/github), [Google Drive](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/drive) and [many more](https://apify.com/integrations), plus the [Apify API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2), JavaScript/Python clients and MCP. Or use [webhooks](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/webhooks) to trigger an action whenever a run finishes.

### Related Actors

- [Google News Scraper](https://apify.com/hipersoft/google-news-scraper)
- [Google Trends Scraper](https://apify.com/hipersoft/google-trends-scraper)
- [Xiaohongshu Scraper](https://apify.com/hipersoft/xiaohongshu-scraper)

### Notes

Original clean-room implementation. Returns only public data; you are responsible for compliance with Toutiao's terms. Not affiliated with Toutiao or ByteDance.

# Actor input Schema

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

Maximum trending news topics to scrape.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "maxItems": 100
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

The scraped results as dataset items.

# 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 = {};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("hipersoft/toutiao-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 = {}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("hipersoft/toutiao-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 '{}' |
apify call hipersoft/toutiao-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,hipersoft/toutiao-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/ef5DyG7jS4VweEGt4/builds/h6GRBZE24i5UDK0dh/openapi.json