# Outbound links on the Hacker News front page

**Use case:** 

Extracts every external link on the Hacker News front page: link URL, anchor text (the headline, for stories), link type and the linked site's domain. Use it to capture the day's top stories and the sites they come from, or as a template for pulling outbound links from any page.

## Input

```json
{
  "start_urls": [
    "https://news.ycombinator.com/"
  ],
  "max_pages": 1,
  "max_depth": 0,
  "link_scope": "external",
  "stay_on_site": true
}
```

## Output

```json
{
  "url": {
    "label": "Link",
    "format": "link"
  },
  "text": {
    "label": "Anchor text",
    "format": "text"
  },
  "type": {
    "label": "Type",
    "format": "text"
  },
  "is_internal": {
    "label": "Same site",
    "format": "boolean"
  },
  "domain": {
    "label": "Domain",
    "format": "text"
  },
  "found_on": {
    "label": "Found on",
    "format": "link"
  },
  "depth": {
    "label": "Depth",
    "format": "number"
  }
}
```

## How it works

### 1. Sign up on Apify or log in

The Website Link Extractor Actor is ready to run with the inputs already set for "Outbound links on the Hacker News front page". [Sign up or log in](https://console.apify.com/create-task-from-example/myefILyH5ZQslz05R) and you'll land in Apify Console with a copy of this exact task.

### 2. Start the "Outbound links on the Hacker News front page" task

The Website Link Extractor Actor will start running based on the input automatically. You can also change all the input fields, like websites or pages, maximum pages to read, and more, to match your specific use case.

### 3. Receive the "Outbound links on the Hacker News front page" output

Monitor the progress in real time. You will be notified as soon as your dataset is complete and ready for review. Each result includes data such as link, anchor text, type, and more.

### 4. Integrate into your workflow

The final output is delivered in JSON, CSV, or Excel format, ready to be plugged into your workflow. You can also [run the "Outbound links on the Hacker News front page" task via API](https://apify.com/mina_safwat/website-link-extractor.md).

## About this Actor

This example demonstrates how to use [Website Link Extractor](https://apify.com/mina_safwat/website-link-extractor.md) with a specific input configuration. Visit the [Actor detail page](https://apify.com/mina_safwat/website-link-extractor.md) to learn more, explore other use cases, and run it yourself.


## How to integrate an Actor?

This Task's input is already configured above. Use it as-is rather than inventing a new one.

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 full API examples (JavaScript, Python, CLI, MCP, OpenAPI), see this Task's Actor page: https://apify.com/mina_safwat/website-link-extractor.md

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`).