# RenoTalk Forum & Topic Scraper (`lexac94/renotalk-scraper`) Actor

Scrapes RenoTalk forums and topics with mode switching, keyword filtering, date filtering, and bulk input detection.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/lexac94/renotalk-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Lexa N](https://apify.com/lexac94) (community)
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $6.00 / 1,000 results

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?

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

### Python Playwright template

### Included features

- **[Apify SDK](https://docs.apify.com/sdk/python/)** for Python - a toolkit for building Apify [Actors](https://apify.com/actors) and scrapers in Python
- **[Input schema](https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/development/input-schema)** - define and easily validate a schema for your Actor's input
- **[Request queue](https://docs.apify.com/sdk/python/docs/concepts/storages#working-with-request-queues)** - queues into which you can put the URLs you want to scrape
- **[Dataset](https://docs.apify.com/sdk/python/docs/concepts/storages#working-with-datasets)** - store structured data where each object stored has the same attributes
- **[Playwright](https://pypi.org/project/playwright/)** - a browser automation library

### Resources

- [Playwright for web scraping in 2023](https://blog.apify.com/how-to-scrape-the-web-with-playwright-ece1ced75f73/)
- [Scraping single-page applications with Playwright](https://blog.apify.com/scraping-single-page-applications-with-playwright/)
- [How to scale Puppeteer and Playwright](https://blog.apify.com/how-to-scale-puppeteer-and-playwright/)
- [Integration with Zapier](https://apify.com/integrations), Make, GitHub, Google Drive and other apps
- [Video guide on getting data using Apify API](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ViYYDHSBAKM)
- A short guide on how to build web scrapers using code templates:

[web scraper template](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-i-Korzf8w)

### Getting started

For complete information [see this article](https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/development#build-actor-locally). To run the Actor use the following command:

```bash
apify run
```

### Deploy to Apify

#### Connect Git repository to Apify

If you've created a Git repository for the project, you can easily connect to Apify:

1. Go to [Actor creation page](https://console.apify.com/actors/new)
2. Click on **Link Git Repository** button

#### Push project on your local machine to Apify

You can also deploy the project on your local machine to Apify without the need for the Git repository.

1. Log in to Apify. You will need to provide your [Apify API Token](https://console.apify.com/account/integrations) to complete this action.

   ```bash
   apify login
   ```

2. Deploy your Actor. This command will deploy and build the Actor on the Apify Platform. You can find your newly created Actor under [Actors -> My Actors](https://console.apify.com/actors?tab=my).

   ```bash
   apify push
   ```

### Documentation reference

To learn more about Apify and Actors, take a look at the following resources:

- [Apify SDK for JavaScript documentation](https://docs.apify.com/sdk/js)
- [Apify SDK for Python documentation](https://docs.apify.com/sdk/python)
- [Apify Platform documentation](https://docs.apify.com/platform)
- [Join our developer community on Discord](https://discord.com/invite/jyEM2PRvMU)

# Actor input Schema

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

Forum topics returns one row per topic from a forum's listing pages and never opens a topic. Full topic returns the topic's opening post plus one row per reply.

## `forumIds` (type: `array`):

RenoTalk forum IDs — the number in /forum/forum/{id}-slug/, e.g. 9 (Renovation Contractors, Interior Designers & Suppliers Reviews). Must be a forum that lists topics, not a category that only lists sub-forums.

## `keywords` (type: `array`):

Optional. Keeps only topics whose title contains at least one keyword (case-insensitive).

## `threadIds` (type: `array`):

RenoTalk topic IDs — the number in /forum/topic/{id}-slug/, e.g. 78831.

## `threadUrls` (type: `array`):

Full RenoTalk topic URLs, e.g. https://www.renotalk.com/forum/topic/78831-share-with-us-your-worst-reno-nightmares/. The topic ID is extracted automatically.

## `maxPagesPerThread` (type: `integer`):

Full topic mode only. Caps how many pages of replies to walk per topic, counting back from the NEWEST page. 0 means unlimited. Replies are always returned newest first.

## `bulkInput` (type: `string`):

One item per line (press Enter for a new line, no quotes or commas). Treated as forum IDs, topic IDs, or topic URLs depending on the current mode.

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

Forum topics mode: max topics per forum. Full topic mode: max topics to scrape — replies within a topic are not limited by this, use Max pages per topic instead.

## `dateFrom` (type: `string`):

Formats: 3d, 12h, 2w, or MM/DD/YY. Leave empty for no filtering. Forum topics mode: filters topics by the newer of creation and last-reply time, and stops paging early — pinned topics are exempt from both. Full topic mode: filters replies by post time; because topics are walked newest-first this stops as soon as a page falls past the cutoff. The opening post is always returned.

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

Without a proxy your run shares the platform's egress IPs with every other run, so RenoTalk may rate-limit you. Turn it off only for local testing.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "mode": "forum",
  "forumIds": [
    "9"
  ],
  "keywords": [],
  "threadIds": [],
  "threadUrls": [],
  "maxPagesPerThread": 0,
  "bulkInput": "",
  "maxItems": 50,
  "dateFrom": "",
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true
  }
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (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 = {
    "forumIds": [
        "9"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("lexac94/renotalk-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 = { "forumIds": ["9"] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("lexac94/renotalk-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 '{
  "forumIds": [
    "9"
  ]
}' |
apify call lexac94/renotalk-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,lexac94/renotalk-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/yRTRoj0I2BbA8RdT7/builds/Uz03WenFUZwHZWkDe/openapi.json