# DuckDuckGo Search & Instant Answers Extractor (`litezero/duckduckgo-search-scraper`) Actor

Query DuckDuckGo for instant knowledge answers, topic definitions, infobox entities, related search topics, and external reference links without rate blocks or captchas.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/litezero/duckduckgo-search-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [LiteZero](https://apify.com/litezero) (community)
- **Categories:** SEO tools, Developer tools, Marketing
- **Stats:** 3 total users, 2 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $0.70 / 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.
Since this Actor supports Apify Store discounts, the price gets lower the higher subscription plan you have.

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

## 🦆 DuckDuckGo Search & Instant Answers Extractor

Query DuckDuckGo for instant knowledge answers, definitions, structured entity graphs, and related search topics **without rate limits, captchas, or browser overhead**. Ideal for AI agent research, automated fact-checking, and search intelligence.

***

### 🥊 Why This Actor Beats the Competition

| Feature | This Actor (Pay-Per-Result) | Google Search Scrapers | Browser Automation (Selenium) |
|---|---|---|---|
| **Speed** | ⚡ **Direct REST responses (<500ms)** | 3–8 seconds per query | 10–15 seconds per search |
| **Captcha Friction** | 🛡️ **Zero Captchas or IP blocks** | Frequent Cloudflare / Google 429 blocks | High blocking frequency |
| **Knowledge Graph** | ✅ **Direct entity definition & related topics** | Unstructured SERP DOM parsing | Fragile CSS selectors |
| **Pricing** | 💰 **$1.00 / 1,000 queries** (PPR) | $3.00–$5.00 / 1k queries | High compute RAM bills |

***

### 🛠️ Step-by-Step: How to Use

#### Method 1: Apify Web Console

1. Enter your search queries in **Search Queries** (e.g. `Apify web scraping`, `Python programming`).
2. Set **Max Related Topics per Query** (e.g. `10`).
3. Click **Start** to run and download clean JSON records.

#### Method 2: Python SDK

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient("YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN")
run = client.actor("litezero/duckduckgo-search-scraper").call(run_input={
    "queries": ["Apify web scraping", "Python programming"],
    "maxResultsPerQuery": 5
})

for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(f"[{item['heading']}] {item['abstract'][:100]}...")
```

***

### 📥 Input Parameters

| Parameter | Type | Default | Description |
|---|:---:|:---:|---|
| `queries` | Array | `["Apify web scraping", "Python programming"]` | Search terms to query on DuckDuckGo. |
| `maxResultsPerQuery` | Integer | `10` | Maximum related topics and search results per query. |

***

### 📤 Output Sample JSON

```json
{
  "query": "Python programming",
  "heading": "Python (programming language)",
  "abstract": "Python is a high-level, general-purpose programming language. Its design philosophy emphasizes code readability...",
  "abstractSource": "Wikipedia",
  "abstractUrl": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Python_(programming_language)",
  "entityType": "A",
  "image": "https://duckduckgo.com/i/12345.png",
  "relatedTopicsCount": 10,
  "relatedTopics": [
    {
      "text": "CPython - The reference implementation of the Python programming language.",
      "url": "https://duckduckgo.com/CPython"
    }
  ],
  "scrapedAt": "2026-10-03T09:20:00.000Z"
}
```

***

### 💡 Top Commercial Use Cases

1. **AI Agent Tool Use:** Equip autonomous LLM agents (LangChain, AutoGen, CrewAI) with real-time zero-captcha web knowledge lookups.
2. **Automated Fact Checking:** Verify entity definitions, Wikipedia sources, and official URLs programmatically.
3. **Keyword Expansion & SEO Topic Research:** Extract DuckDuckGo's related search topics for content cluster mapping.\n

# Actor input Schema

## `queries` (type: `array`):

Search terms to query on DuckDuckGo (e.g. 'Apify web scraping', 'Python programming').

## `maxResultsPerQuery` (type: `integer`):

Maximum related topics and search results to extract per query.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "queries": [
    "Apify web scraping",
    "Python programming"
  ],
  "maxResultsPerQuery": 10
}
```

# 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 = {
    "queries": [
        "Apify web scraping",
        "Python programming"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("litezero/duckduckgo-search-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 = { "queries": [
        "Apify web scraping",
        "Python programming",
    ] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("litezero/duckduckgo-search-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 '{
  "queries": [
    "Apify web scraping",
    "Python programming"
  ]
}' |
apify call litezero/duckduckgo-search-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,litezero/duckduckgo-search-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/0o62bbvd9GHIaVsXT/builds/VCzfaDXbHEiFGnCgE/openapi.json