# PeerTube Scraper - Federated Video Search & Data (`logiover/peertube-video-scraper`) Actor

Scrape PeerTube videos across the fediverse in bulk. Extract title, description, duration, views, likes, channel, instance host, category, language and thumbnail to CSV/JSON. No API key, no login.

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

## PeerTube Scraper - Federated Video Search & Data

![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 PeerTube videos across the fediverse in bulk. Extract title, description, duration, views, likes, channel, instance host, category, language and thumbnail to CSV/JSON. No API key, no login.**

***

### What does the PeerTube Scraper do?

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

PeerTube instances share one documented, keyless REST API, and SepiaSearch federates search across thousands of them. The Actor queries that API directly, so a single run reaches the whole network instead of one server. 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 video.

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?

- **Media researchers** studying video distribution outside the big platforms.
- **Content teams** monitoring how a topic is covered across independent video hosts.
- **Archivists** cataloguing open video collections with their licences.
- **AI teams** collecting openly licensed video metadata.
- **Developers** building discovery tools on top of the fediverse.

### Use cases

- Search the whole PeerTube network for a topic and export every match.
- Catalogue an instance's entire library with durations and view counts.
- Track which channels publish most in a subject area.
- Filter by licence to find openly reusable video.
- Build a federated video dataset for analysis or discovery.

### Why use this PeerTube Scraper?

- 🔑 **Keyless** — no account, no API token, no cookies to paste.
- 📦 **23 fields per video** — 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 video, with these fields:

| Field | Type | Description |
|-------|------|-------------|
| `videoId` | string | Video UUID, unique across the network |
| `title` | string | Video title |
| `videoUrl` | string | Full watch URL on its home instance |
| `description` | string | Video description when published |
| `durationSec` | number | Duration in seconds |
| `views` | number | View count |
| `likes` | number | Like count |
| `dislikes` | number | Dislike count |
| `commentsCount` | number | Number of comments on the video |
| `isLive` | boolean | Whether the video is a live stream |
| `nsfw` | boolean | Whether the video is flagged not safe for work |
| `category` | string | Category label |
| `licence` | string | Licence label, e.g. Creative Commons |
| `language` | string | Language label |
| `channelName` | string | Publishing channel name |
| `channelUrl` | string | Channel URL |
| `accountName` | string | Owning account name |
| `instanceHost` | string | Instance the video is hosted on |
| `thumbnailUrl` | string | Thumbnail image URL |
| `publishedAt` | string | ISO timestamp the video was published |
| `query` | string | Search term or instance this row came from |
| `page` | number | Result page the video appeared on |
| `scrapedAt` | string | ISO timestamp of extraction |

#### Output example

```json
{
  "accountName": "Mausmaki",
  "category": "Education",
  "channelName": "#ALLABOUTFILMS",
  "channelUrl": "https://tube.xy-space.de/video-channels/all.about.films",
  "commentsCount": 0,
  "description": "Fork Films presents a Feature Documentary\r\n\r\nDECADENCE : Decline of the Western World\r\n\r\nwatch the full film here : https://vimeo.com/ondemand/deca\u2026",
  "dislikes": 0,
  "durationSec": 133,
  "instanceHost": "tube.xy-space.de",
  "isLive": false,
  "language": "English",
  "licence": "Unknown",
  "likes": 0,
  "nsfw": false,
  "page": 1,
  "publishedAt": "2023-03-05T14:47:25.814Z",
  "query": "documentary",
  "scrapedAt": "2026-09-12T10:21:17.707Z",
  "thumbnailUrl": "https://tube.xy-space.de/lazy-static/thumbnails/d343a828-c535-458c-99fa-e53b1d9e1052.jpg",
  "title": "Decadence : Decline of the Western World - Documentary Trailer",
  "videoId": "6db63517-c4ad-4fe9-88b4-92b045e2d77c",
  "videoUrl": "https://tube.xy-space.de/videos/watch/6db63517-c4ad-4fe9-88b4-92b045e2d77c",
  "views": 33
}
```

### How to use

#### Option A — by federated search

```json
{
  "instance": "sepiasearch.org",
  "maxItems": 600,
  "maxPagesPerSearch": 6,
  "searchTerms": [
    "documentary",
    "tutorial"
  ]
}
```

1. Open the Actor and fill in the federated search 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 single instance

```json
{
  "instance": "framatube.org",
  "maxItems": 500,
  "maxPagesPerSearch": 10,
  "searchTerms": []
}
```

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

### Input parameters

| Parameter | Type | Default | Description |
|-----------|------|---------|-------------|
| `instance` | string | `sepiasearch.org` | sepiasearch. |
| `searchTerms` | array | `–` | What to search for. |
| `maxPagesPerSearch` | integer | `5` | How many result pages to walk for each search. |
| `maxItems` | integer | `300` | Stop after this many videos. |
| `maxConcurrency` | integer | `2` | Parallel requests. |
| `proxyConfiguration` | object | `{"useApifyProxy": true}` | Proxy used to fetch pages. |

### Tips for best results

- Leave **Instance** on SepiaSearch to search the whole network; set a host to crawl one instance's library.
- A search term is required for federated search but optional when reading a single instance.
- PeerTube returns up to 100 results per request, so large exports need few requests.
- `licence` is unusually useful here — much PeerTube content is Creative Commons and reusable.
- `instanceHost` tells you which server holds the file, which matters for download planning.
- Sort by `views` after export to separate reach from volume.
- Schedule a run on the same query to watch a topic spread across the network.
- `isLive` marks streams, which usually have no meaningful duration.
- Keep **Max concurrency** low — most instances are small and volunteer-run.
- Pair with the Odysee and Dailymotion scrapers for coverage of independent video platforms.

### 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~peertube-video-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=<YOUR_TOKEN>" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"instance": "sepiasearch.org", "maxItems": 600, "maxPagesPerSearch": 6, "searchTerms": ["documentary", "tutorial"]}'
```

**Node.js**

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

const client = new ApifyClient({ token: '<YOUR_TOKEN>' });
const run = await client.actor('logiover/peertube-video-scraper').call({"instance": "sepiasearch.org", "maxItems": 600, "maxPagesPerSearch": 6, "searchTerms": ["documentary", "tutorial"]});
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/peertube-video-scraper').call(run_input={"instance": "sepiasearch.org", "maxItems": 600, "maxPagesPerSearch": 6, "searchTerms": ["documentary", "tutorial"]})
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 PeerTube Scraper on demand — for example: *"Pull the first 500 videos from PeerTube and summarise the price distribution."* The agent receives the same structured rows you would get from the UI.

### FAQ

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

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

#### How many videos 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 videos. That is normal for narrow queries — broaden the search or add more searches to one run.

#### Are results de-duplicated?

Yes. Each video 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?

PeerTube does not publish every attribute for every video. 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?

PeerTube 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 PeerTube — 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

- [Odysee Scraper](https://apify.com/logiover/odysee-scraper) — Independent video platform
- [Dailymotion Scraper](https://apify.com/logiover/dailymotion-video-scraper) — Video metadata at scale
- [YouTube Search Scraper](https://apify.com/logiover/youtube-search-scraper) — YouTube results and metadata
- [Bilibili Scraper](https://apify.com/logiover/bilibili-video-scraper) — Chinese video platform

# Actor input Schema

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

sepiasearch.org searches the whole network. Set a single PeerTube host to crawl just that instance's library.

## `searchTerms` (type: `array`):

What to search for. Required for federated search; optional when reading one instance.

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

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

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

Stop after this many videos. 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": "sepiasearch.org",
  "searchTerms": [
    "documentary"
  ],
  "maxPagesPerSearch": 5,
  "maxItems": 300,
  "maxConcurrency": 2,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true
  }
}
```

# Actor output Schema

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

All videos 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": "sepiasearch.org",
    "searchTerms": [
        "documentary"
    ],
    "maxPagesPerSearch": 5,
    "maxItems": 300,
    "maxConcurrency": 2
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("logiover/peertube-video-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": "sepiasearch.org",
    "searchTerms": ["documentary"],
    "maxPagesPerSearch": 5,
    "maxItems": 300,
    "maxConcurrency": 2,
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("logiover/peertube-video-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": "sepiasearch.org",
  "searchTerms": [
    "documentary"
  ],
  "maxPagesPerSearch": 5,
  "maxItems": 300,
  "maxConcurrency": 2
}' |
apify call logiover/peertube-video-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,logiover/peertube-video-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/req3Bfv0kWAHeFaWU/builds/sMHd5cxMCJuW0Ig2t/openapi.json