# Lemmy Scraper - Posts, Communities & Comments (`logiover/lemmy-community-scraper`) Actor

Scrape Lemmy posts and communities in bulk from any instance. Extract title, body, score, upvotes, comments, author, community, URL and timestamps to CSV/JSON. No API key, no login.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/logiover/lemmy-community-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Logiover](https://apify.com/logiover) (community)
- **Categories:** Social media, News
- **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?

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

## Lemmy Scraper - Posts, Communities & Comments

![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 Lemmy posts and communities in bulk from any instance. Extract title, body, score, upvotes, comments, author, community, URL and timestamps to CSV/JSON. No API key, no login.**

***

### What does the Lemmy Scraper do?

This Actor turns any Lemmy search into a structured dataset. You give it by instance feed or by community, it walks the result pages one after another, and it writes one clean row per post into your dataset — ready to export as JSON, CSV or Excel, or to pull straight from the Apify API.

Every Lemmy instance exposes the same documented, keyless REST API, so the Actor talks to it directly and works against any server in the fediverse — lemmy.world, lemmy.ml or a niche instance — by changing one input. 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 post.

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?

- **Social listening teams** tracking discussion that never appears on Reddit.
- **Researchers** studying fediverse communities and moderation at scale.
- **Journalists** monitoring niche communities for emerging stories.
- **Product teams** watching what users say about a category or competitor.
- **AI teams** collecting structured discussion data for training or grounding.

### Use cases

- Export the top posts of a community and rank them by score.
- Monitor several communities in one run for mentions of a product or topic.
- Track how engagement in a community changes week over week.
- Compare activity across instances to find where a topic really lives.
- Build a discussion dataset with authors, scores and timestamps.

### Why use this Lemmy Scraper?

- 🔑 **Keyless** — no account, no API token, no cookies to paste.
- 📦 **19 fields per post** — everything the result page 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 post, with these fields:

| Field | Type | Description |
|-------|------|-------------|
| `postId` | string | Lemmy post ID on its home instance |
| `title` | string | Post title |
| `body` | string | Post body text when the post has one |
| `postUrl` | string | Canonical fediverse URL of the post |
| `linkUrl` | string | External link the post points at, if any |
| `score` | number | Net score of the post |
| `upvotes` | number | Number of upvotes |
| `downvotes` | number | Number of downvotes |
| `commentsCount` | number | Number of comments |
| `authorName` | string | Author username |
| `authorUrl` | string | Author profile URL |
| `communityName` | string | Community name |
| `communityTitle` | string | Human-readable community title |
| `communityUrl` | string | Community URL |
| `nsfw` | boolean | Whether the post is flagged not safe for work |
| `publishedAt` | string | ISO timestamp the post was published |
| `instance` | string | Instance the run read from |
| `page` | number | Result page the post appeared on |
| `scrapedAt` | string | ISO timestamp of extraction |

#### Output example

```json
{
  "authorName": "schizoidman",
  "authorUrl": "https://lemmy.zip/u/schizoidman",
  "body": "> An investigation by Gamers Nexus found LG smart TVs sweep local networks to map phones and nearby devices. Tests also showed the sets can capture\u2026",
  "commentsCount": 356,
  "communityName": "technology",
  "communityTitle": "Technology",
  "communityUrl": "https://lemmy.world/c/technology",
  "downvotes": 6,
  "instance": "lemmy.world",
  "linkUrl": "https://www.notebookcheck.net/LG-smart-TVs-caught-logging-audio-with-screen-off-and-snooping-on-local-devices.1391214.0.html",
  "nsfw": false,
  "page": 1,
  "postId": "51625918",
  "postUrl": "https://lemmy.zip/post/71045682",
  "publishedAt": "2026-09-07T07:53:20.130805Z",
  "score": 1507,
  "scrapedAt": "2026-09-12T10:21:04.911Z",
  "title": "LG smart TVs caught logging audio with screen off and snooping on local devices",
  "upvotes": 1513
}
```

### How to use

#### Option A — by instance feed

```json
{
  "instance": "lemmy.world",
  "maxItems": 500,
  "maxPagesPerSearch": 10,
  "sort": "TopWeek"
}
```

1. Open the Actor and fill in the instance feed field.
2. Set **Max pages per search** and **Max items** to bound the run.
3. Click **Start**, then export from the **Output** tab.

#### Option B — by community

```json
{
  "communities": [
    "technology",
    "privacy"
  ],
  "instance": "lemmy.ml",
  "maxItems": 500,
  "maxPagesPerSearch": 10,
  "sort": "New"
}
```

Paste one or more Lemmy URLs into **Start URLs** and the Actor paginates each of them independently.

### Input parameters

| Parameter | Type | Default | Description |
|-----------|------|---------|-------------|
| `instance` | string | `lemmy.world` | Host of the Lemmy instance to read, without https://. |
| `communities` | array | `[]` | Community names to restrict the run to, e. |
| `sort` | string | `TopDay` | Ordering applied to the feed. |
| `maxPagesPerSearch` | integer | `6` | How many result pages to walk for each search. |
| `maxItems` | integer | `300` | Stop after this many posts. |
| `maxConcurrency` | integer | `2` | Parallel requests. |
| `proxyConfiguration` | object | `{"useApifyProxy": true}` | Proxy used to fetch pages. |

### Tips for best results

- `lemmy.world` is the largest instance; point the Actor at a niche one to reach a specific community.
- Leave **Communities** empty to read the whole instance feed, or name them to narrow the run.
- `TopDay` and `TopWeek` give the highest-signal posts; `New` is better for monitoring.
- Lemmy returns 50 posts per page, so a 10-page run yields roughly 500 rows.
- `score` is upvotes minus downvotes — sort by it to find what actually landed.
- Schedule a daily run to build an engagement history rather than a snapshot.
- Posts without a `body` are link posts; use `linkUrl` for those.
- Keep **Max concurrency** low — most instances are volunteer-run and small.
- The fediverse federates, so a post can appear on several instances; deduplicate on `postUrl`.
- Pair with the Reddit and Mastodon scrapers for full coverage of open social discussion.

### 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~lemmy-community-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=<YOUR_TOKEN>" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"instance": "lemmy.world", "maxItems": 500, "maxPagesPerSearch": 10, "sort": "TopWeek"}'
```

**Node.js**

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

const client = new ApifyClient({ token: '<YOUR_TOKEN>' });
const run = await client.actor('logiover/lemmy-community-scraper').call({"instance": "lemmy.world", "maxItems": 500, "maxPagesPerSearch": 10, "sort": "TopWeek"});
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/lemmy-community-scraper').call(run_input={"instance": "lemmy.world", "maxItems": 500, "maxPagesPerSearch": 10, "sort": "TopWeek"})
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 Lemmy Scraper on demand — for example: *"Pull the first 500 posts from Lemmy and summarise the price distribution."* The agent receives the same structured rows you would get from the UI.

### FAQ

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

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

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

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

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

The search ran out of posts. That is normal for narrow queries — broaden the search or add more searches to one run.

#### Are results de-duplicated?

Yes. Each post 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?

Lemmy does not publish every attribute for every post. Empty means the source did not show 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?

Lemmy updates continuously. Re-run whenever you need current data; the Actor always reads the live pages, 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 site changes its layout?

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 pages on Lemmy — the same content any visitor 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

- [Reddit Search Scraper](https://apify.com/logiover/reddit-search-scraper) — Reddit posts and comments
- [Mastodon Scraper](https://apify.com/logiover/mastodon-scraper) — Fediverse microblogging
- [Bluesky Archive Scraper](https://apify.com/logiover/bluesky-historical-archive-scraper) — Bluesky posts at scale
- [Hacker News Archive](https://apify.com/logiover/hacker-news-historical-archive-scraper) — Tech discussion history

# Actor input Schema

## `instance` (type: `string`):

Host of the Lemmy instance to read, without https://. Any instance works.

## `communities` (type: `array`):

Community names to restrict the run to, e.g. technology, worldnews. Leave empty to read the whole instance feed.

## `sort` (type: `string`):

Ordering applied to the feed.

## `maxPagesPerSearch` (type: `integer`):

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

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

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

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

Parallel requests. Lower this if the site 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
{
  "instance": "lemmy.world",
  "communities": [],
  "sort": "TopDay",
  "maxPagesPerSearch": 6,
  "maxItems": 300,
  "maxConcurrency": 2,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true
  }
}
```

# Actor output Schema

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

All posts 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 = {
    "instance": "lemmy.world",
    "maxPagesPerSearch": 6,
    "maxItems": 300,
    "maxConcurrency": 2
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("logiover/lemmy-community-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 = {
    "instance": "lemmy.world",
    "maxPagesPerSearch": 6,
    "maxItems": 300,
    "maxConcurrency": 2,
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("logiover/lemmy-community-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 '{
  "instance": "lemmy.world",
  "maxPagesPerSearch": 6,
  "maxItems": 300,
  "maxConcurrency": 2
}' |
apify call logiover/lemmy-community-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,logiover/lemmy-community-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/Sbg9x8oEXdGSMXdj4/builds/EQSJx2e0mHh1257Su/openapi.json