# Flarum Forum Scraper - Discussions, Replies & Tags (`logiover/flarum-forum-scraper`) Actor

Scrape any Flarum community in bulk. Extract discussion title, URL, author, tags, comment count, participant count, creation and last-post dates, plus sticky, locked and best-answer flags to CSV/JSON. No API key, no login.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/logiover/flarum-forum-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Logiover](https://apify.com/logiover) (community)
- **Categories:** Social media, Developer tools, Business
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $3.50 / 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.
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

## Flarum Forum Scraper - Discussions, Replies & Tags

![Apify Actor](https://img.shields.io/badge/Apify-Actor-00A67E?logo=apify\&logoColor=white) ![No API key](https://img.shields.io/badge/No%20API%20key-required-2ea44f) ![Pay per result](https://img.shields.io/badge/Pricing-Pay%20per%20result-1C7ED6) ![Export](https://img.shields.io/badge/Export-JSON%20%7C%20CSV%20%7C%20Excel-F59E0B)

**Scrape any Flarum community in bulk. Extract discussion title, URL, author, tags, comment count, participant count, creation and last-post dates, plus sticky, locked and best-answer flags to CSV/JSON. No API key, no login.**

***

### What does the Flarum Scraper do?

This Actor turns Flarum data into a structured dataset. You point it at a whole forum or a search, most commented first, it walks the result pages one after another, and it writes one clean row per discussion into your dataset — ready to export as JSON, CSV or Excel, or to pull straight from the Apify API.

Flarum ships a JSON:API that its own front end reads, so every community running it answers `/api/discussions` without authentication. Authors and tags arrive as bare ids with the real records in a sibling `included` array, and the Actor joins the two so each row names the person and the topics rather than leaving numbers behind. Pagination is followed automatically until it runs out of results, hits your page limit or hits your **Max items** cap, whichever comes first. Every row is de-duplicated across the whole run, so you are never billed twice for the same discussion.

There is **no API key, no login and no browser** involved. That keeps runs fast and cheap, and it means you can schedule the Actor without worrying about credentials expiring.

### Who is it for?

- **Product and support teams** mining their own community for recurring issues.
- **Competitive-intelligence analysts** watching a rival's user forum.
- **Community managers** measuring engagement over time.
- **Researchers** studying how niche communities discuss a subject.
- **Content teams** finding real questions worth answering publicly.

### Use cases

- Export a forum's discussions and rank them by comment count.
- Find unanswered threads by filtering on best-answer and reply counts.
- Track which tags attract the most activity.
- Build a dataset of real user questions for support planning.
- Compare activity across several communities in one run.

### Why use this Flarum Scraper?

- 🔑 **Keyless** — no account, no API token, no cookies to paste.
- 📦 **23 fields per discussion** — everything the source exposes, already typed.
- 📄 **Real pagination** — it walks page after page instead of returning the first screen.
- 🎯 **Precise caps** — **Max items** stops the run exactly where you want it, so the bill is predictable.
- 📊 **Export anywhere** — JSON, CSV, Excel or HTML, plus the Apify API and integrations.
- 💸 **Pay per result** — you pay for rows you actually receive, with no platform fees to calculate.

### What data can you extract?

Every run produces one row per discussion, with these fields:

| Field | Type | Description |
|-------|------|-------------|
| `forumDomain` | string | Domain of the Flarum forum this row came from |
| `discussionId` | string | Flarum discussion ID |
| `title` | string | Discussion title |
| `slug` | string | URL slug of the discussion |
| `discussionUrl` | string | Direct link to the discussion |
| `authorUsername` | string | Username of the member who started it |
| `authorDisplayName` | string | Display name of the author when published |
| `tags` | string | Tag names, separated by a pipe |
| `commentCount` | number | Number of posts in the discussion |
| `participantCount` | number | Distinct members taking part |
| `lastPostNumber` | number | Position of the most recent post |
| `createdAt` | string | ISO timestamp the discussion was created |
| `lastPostedAt` | string | ISO timestamp of the most recent post |
| `lastPostedBy` | string | Username of the most recent poster |
| `hasBestAnswer` | boolean | Whether a reply is marked as the answer |
| `bestAnswerSetAt` | string | ISO timestamp the best answer was chosen |
| `isSticky` | boolean | Whether the discussion is pinned |
| `isLocked` | boolean | Whether it is closed to replies |
| `isApproved` | boolean | Whether it passed moderation |
| `hasPoll` | boolean | Whether the discussion carries a poll |
| `query` | string | Search term this row came from, or the whole forum |
| `page` | number | Listing page the discussion appeared on |
| `scrapedAt` | string | ISO timestamp of extraction |

#### Output example

```json
{
  "forumDomain": "discuss.flarum.org",
  "discussionId": "39779",
  "title": "\ud83c\udf0d Language Detection \u2013 Auto Switching by IP & System",
  "slug": "39779-language-detection-auto-switching-by-ip-system",
  "discussionUrl": "https://discuss.flarum.org/d/39779-language-detection-auto-switching-by-ip-system",
  "authorUsername": "huseyinfiliz",
  "authorDisplayName": "huseyinfiliz",
  "tags": "Extensions | 1.x",
  "commentCount": 77,
  "participantCount": 9,
  "lastPostNumber": 79,
  "createdAt": "2026-08-31T10:23:22+00:00",
  "lastPostedAt": "2026-09-17T18:50:25+00:00",
  "lastPostedBy": "ClaudiusH",
  "hasBestAnswer": false,
  "bestAnswerSetAt": null,
  "isSticky": false,
  "isLocked": false,
  "isApproved": true,
  "hasPoll": false,
  "query": "whole forum",
  "page": 2,
  "scrapedAt": "2026-09-20T12:41:55.203Z"
}
```

### How to use

#### Option A — a whole forum

```json
{
  "maxItems": 1000,
  "maxPagesPerForum": 20,
  "sortBy": "newest",
  "forumUrls": [
    "https://discuss.flarum.org"
  ]
}
```

1. Open the Actor and fill in the first field.
2. Set the page limit and **Max items** to bound the run.
3. Click **Start**, then export from the **Output** tab.

#### Option B — a search, most commented first

```json
{
  "maxItems": 500,
  "maxPagesPerForum": 10,
  "searchQuery": "extension",
  "sortBy": "commented",
  "forumUrls": [
    "https://discuss.flarum.org"
  ]
}
```

Everything in the first field is processed independently, so you can batch several targets into one run and split them apart afterwards.

### Input parameters

| Parameter | Type | Default | Description |
|-----------|------|---------|-------------|
| `forumUrls` | array | `–` | Home pages of the Flarum forums to scrape, e. |
| `searchQuery` | string | `–` | Use the forum's own search instead of walking every discussion. |
| `sortBy` | string | `newest` | Which order to walk the discussion list in. |
| `maxPagesPerForum` | integer | `8` | How many result pages to walk for each forum. |
| `maxItems` | integer | `500` | Stop after this many discussions. |
| `maxConcurrency` | integer | `2` | Parallel requests. |
| `proxyConfiguration` | object | `{"useApifyProxy": true}` | Proxy used to fetch pages. |

### Tips for best results

- Paste the forum's home page, e.g. https://discuss.flarum.org — the Actor appends the API path.
- Leave the search term empty to walk the whole forum newest-first.
- **Sort** switches between newest, latest activity and most commented.
- Each page returns up to 50 discussions, so plan page counts accordingly.
- `commentCount` and `participantCount` together are the clearest engagement signal.
- `hasBestAnswer` false with a high `commentCount` finds unresolved discussions.
- Tags are only filled on forums that enabled the tags extension.
- Private discussions never appear — the Actor reads only what a logged-out visitor sees.
- Some Flarum installs publish a next-page link that points at the wrong host; the Actor paginates by offset instead, so that does not break a run.
- Keep concurrency low — most Flarum forums are small community servers.

### Integrations

Send results straight into the tools you already use: **Google Sheets**, **Slack**, **Zapier**, **Make**, **Airtable** or any **Webhook**. You can also **schedule** the Actor to run hourly, daily or weekly and have each run append to the same dataset, which is how you build a price or availability history rather than a one-off snapshot.

### API usage

Run the Actor and collect results from any language. Replace `<YOUR_TOKEN>` with your Apify API token.

**cURL**

```bash
curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/logiover~flarum-forum-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=<YOUR_TOKEN>" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"maxItems": 1000, "maxPagesPerForum": 20, "sortBy": "newest", "forumUrls": ["https://discuss.flarum.org"]}'
```

**Node.js**

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

const client = new ApifyClient({ token: '<YOUR_TOKEN>' });
const run = await client.actor('logiover/flarum-forum-scraper').call({"maxItems": 1000, "maxPagesPerForum": 20, "sortBy": "newest", "forumUrls": ["https://discuss.flarum.org"]});
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
console.log(items);
```

**Python**

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient('<YOUR_TOKEN>')
run = client.actor('logiover/flarum-forum-scraper').call(run_input={"maxItems": 1000, "maxPagesPerForum": 20, "sortBy": "newest", "forumUrls": ["https://discuss.flarum.org"]})
for item in client.dataset(run['defaultDatasetId']).iterate_items():
    print(item)
```

### Use with AI agents (MCP)

This Actor is available through the Apify MCP server, so an AI agent can call it as a tool. Point your agent at `https://mcp.apify.com` and it can run the Flarum Scraper on demand — for example: *"Pull the first 500 discussions from Flarum and summarise what you find."* The agent receives the same structured rows you would get from the UI.

### FAQ

#### Do I need a Flarum account or API key?

No. The Actor reads publicly available data only. There is nothing to authenticate and no credentials to rotate.

#### How many discussions can I get in one run?

As many as the source exposes. Raise the page limit and **Max items** together; the run stops at whichever limit it reaches first.

#### Why did I get fewer rows than I asked for?

The source ran out of discussions. That is normal for narrow searches — broaden the query or add more targets to one run.

#### Are results de-duplicated?

Yes. Each discussion is emitted once per run, even when it appears on several pages, so you are never billed twice for the same record.

#### Why are some fields empty?

Flarum does not publish every attribute for every discussion. Empty means the source did not supply it, not that extraction failed.

#### What export formats are supported?

JSON, CSV, Excel, HTML and RSS from the **Output** tab, plus the Apify API and any integration you connect.

#### How fast is it?

It is pure HTTP with no browser, so a page of results typically takes a second or two. Raise **Max concurrency** carefully — the source rate-limits aggressive crawling.

#### Can I schedule it?

Yes. Use the Apify scheduler to run it on any interval and append each run to the same dataset for time-series analysis.

#### Does it work behind a proxy?

It uses Apify Proxy automatically. You can switch groups or supply your own proxies in **Proxy configuration**.

#### How often does the data change?

Flarum updates continuously. Re-run whenever you need current data; the Actor always reads the live source, never a cache.

#### Is the output schema stable?

Yes. Field names and types are fixed, so downstream pipelines will not break between runs.

#### What if the source changes its format?

Open an issue on the **Issues** tab and it gets fixed. The Actor is actively maintained.

### Is it legal?

This Actor reads only publicly available data from Flarum — the same content any visitor or client sees without logging in. It does not bypass authentication, does not collect private data and does not attempt to defeat access controls. You are responsible for how you use the output: respect the source's terms of service, applicable copyright, and data-protection law such as GDPR where personal data is involved. Scraping public data is generally lawful in the EU and the US, but the responsibility for the downstream use of that data sits with you.

### Related scrapers

- [Discourse Forum Scraper](https://apify.com/logiover/discourse-forum-scraper) — The other major forum platform
- [Reddit Search Scraper](https://apify.com/logiover/reddit-search-scraper) — Broader community source
- [Stack Exchange Scraper](https://apify.com/logiover/stack-exchange-questions-scraper) — Technical Q\&A
- [Lemmy Scraper](https://apify.com/logiover/lemmy-community-scraper) — Federated communities

# Actor input Schema

## `forumUrls` (type: `array`):

Home pages of the Flarum forums to scrape, e.g. https://discuss.flarum.org. The Actor appends the API path itself.

## `searchQuery` (type: `string`):

Use the forum's own search instead of walking every discussion.

## `sortBy` (type: `string`):

Which order to walk the discussion list in.

## `maxPagesPerForum` (type: `integer`):

How many result pages to walk for each forum. Set 0 for no limit.

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

Stop after this many discussions. Set 0 for no limit.

## `maxConcurrency` (type: `integer`):

Parallel requests. Lower this if the source rate-limits you.

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

Proxy used to fetch pages. Defaults to Apify Proxy (automatic). You usually do not need to change this.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "forumUrls": [
    "https://discuss.flarum.org"
  ],
  "searchQuery": "",
  "sortBy": "newest",
  "maxPagesPerForum": 8,
  "maxItems": 500,
  "maxConcurrency": 2,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true
  }
}
```

# Actor output Schema

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

All discussions extracted in this run.

# 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 = {
    "forumUrls": [
        "https://discuss.flarum.org"
    ],
    "maxPagesPerForum": 8,
    "maxItems": 500,
    "maxConcurrency": 2
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("logiover/flarum-forum-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 = {
    "forumUrls": ["https://discuss.flarum.org"],
    "maxPagesPerForum": 8,
    "maxItems": 500,
    "maxConcurrency": 2,
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("logiover/flarum-forum-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 '{
  "forumUrls": [
    "https://discuss.flarum.org"
  ],
  "maxPagesPerForum": 8,
  "maxItems": 500,
  "maxConcurrency": 2
}' |
apify call logiover/flarum-forum-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,logiover/flarum-forum-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/GaKYAYwBpdSwa6L2o/builds/dD2QLfZZ2wlbEHWdn/openapi.json