# Job Freshness Validator - kill ghost jobs in your dataset (`muazah/job-freshness-validator`) Actor

Validate a list of job postings: detect dead links (404/410), expired pages, dead redirects, blocked pages and duplicates. Input: array of jobs with a URL field. Output: per-row verdict + stale-percentage summary.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/muazah/job-freshness-validator.md
- **Developed by:** [muazah](https://apify.com/muazah) (community)
- **Categories:** Jobs
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

$0.75 / 1,000 posting checkeds

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

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

## Job Freshness Validator - kill ghost jobs in your dataset

**$0.75 per 1,000 postings checked, no monthly fee.**

You already have the jobs. Which ones are still real?

Job data goes stale fast: roles get filled, boards 404 quietly, and reposts pile up
with tracking-parameter URLs that look like new listings. Paste your jobs as JSON or
CSV rows, and every posting comes back labeled live, dead, expired, redirected, or
duplicate - with the reason, per row. You also get a deduplicated result set and a
freshness summary (stale % by status).

Built for job boards, aggregators, and recruiting-ops teams sitting on scraped or
purchased inventory. It validates the data you own; it is not a scraper.

### Input

```json
{
  "jobs": [
    {"url": "https://example.com/jobs/123", "title": "Data Engineer", "company": "Acme"}
  ],
  "urlField": "url",
  "concurrency": 10
}
```

Every job object needs a posting URL (field name configurable with `urlField`).
All other fields pass through to the output untouched.

### Output

One dataset item per input row:

| field | meaning |
|---|---|
| `validity` | `live`, `dead_404`, `expired_content`, `redirect_dead`, `duplicate`, `blocked`, `invalid_row`, or `unknown` |
| `reason` | why (HTTP code, marker phrase found, redirect target) |
| `canonical_url` | dedup key: tracking params (utm, gh\_src, lever-source) stripped |
| `duplicate_of` | canonical URL of the earlier row, when a duplicate |

Plus an `OUTPUT` key-value record: counts by status, stale count and stale
percentage, unique URL and duplicate counts.

### Validity statuses

- **live** - HTTP 200, no expiry markers
- **dead\_404** - server says 404/410
- **expired\_content** - page renders but says the role is filled/closed (Greenhouse, Lever and generic markers)
- **redirect\_dead** - posting URL now redirects up to a list/careers root
- **duplicate** - same canonical URL as an earlier row (not re-fetched)
- **blocked** - 403/429 (bot protection or rate limit); reported, never bypassed
- **invalid\_row** - missing/invalid URL
- **unknown** - timeout or 5xx; safe default, try again later

### Compliance posture

It fetches only the URLs you provide, once per unique URL, with a declared user
agent. No logins, no personal data, no proxy rotation, no anti-bot bypass. Blocked
pages are reported as `blocked`, never circumvented. Each source's terms still need
your review before production use.

### Honest limits

- `unknown` is a safe default, not a failure to decide: timeouts and 5xx are transient by nature.
- Content-expiry detection relies on marker phrases; coverage spans Greenhouse/Lever/generic markers today and grows per ATS.
- Sites behind aggressive bot protection will return `blocked` - reported honestly, not routed around.

# Actor input Schema

## `jobs` (type: `array`):

Job postings to validate. Each item needs a URL field (default: url).

## `urlField` (type: `string`):

Which field on each job object holds the posting URL.

## `concurrency` (type: `integer`):

How many URLs to check in parallel.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "jobs": [
    {
      "url": "https://example.com/jobs/123",
      "title": "Data Engineer",
      "company": "Acme"
    }
  ],
  "urlField": "url",
  "concurrency": 10
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `verdicts` (type: `string`):

One row per input posting: url, title, company, verdict (live, duplicate, dead\_404, expired\_content, redirect\_dead, unknown, blocked, invalid\_row), reason, canonical URL, duplicate-of.

## `summary` (type: `string`):

Aggregate counts: input rows, unique URLs, duplicates, stale count and stale percentage, per-status breakdown.

# 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 = {
    "jobs": [
        {
            "url": "https://example.com/jobs/123",
            "title": "Data Engineer",
            "company": "Acme"
        }
    ],
    "urlField": "url"
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("muazah/job-freshness-validator").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 = {
    "jobs": [{
            "url": "https://example.com/jobs/123",
            "title": "Data Engineer",
            "company": "Acme",
        }],
    "urlField": "url",
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("muazah/job-freshness-validator").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 '{
  "jobs": [
    {
      "url": "https://example.com/jobs/123",
      "title": "Data Engineer",
      "company": "Acme"
    }
  ],
  "urlField": "url"
}' |
apify call muazah/job-freshness-validator --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,muazah/job-freshness-validator"
        }
    }
}
```

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/BPW4aldA0aAOaErC6/builds/omHoIiTfd59kXtIhK/openapi.json