# edX Course Scraper (`muhammadafzal/edx-course-scraper`) Actor

Scrape public edX course catalog and course pages. Find courses by topic or URL and receive normalized titles, providers, descriptions, subjects, levels, duration, effort, language, images, and stable course URLs for research and AI agents.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/muhammadafzal/edx-course-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Muhammad Afzal](https://apify.com/muhammadafzal) (community)
- **Categories:** Lead generation, Automation
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $5.00 / 1,000 edx course records

This Actor is paid per event and usage. You are charged both the fixed price for specific events and for Apify platform usage.

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

## edX Course Scraper

Scrapes public edX course catalog pages and individual course pages. It returns one normalized dataset record per course with the title, URL, description, provider, institution, subject, level, duration, effort, language, course type, image, and source URL.

### Inputs

- `topic`: edX topic slug such as `python`, `data-science`, or `artificial-intelligence`.
- `searchQuery`: keyword used to derive a public edX topic path when no `startUrls` are supplied.
- `startUrls`: public `edx.org/learn/...` topic or course URLs. Course URLs are scraped directly; topic URLs are used to discover courses.
- `maxResults`: 1-200, default 25.
- `includeDetails`: fetch detail pages for enriched fields, default true.
- `maxConcurrency`: detail request concurrency, default 3.

Example:

```json
{ "topic": "python", "maxResults": 10, "includeDetails": true }
```

The actor uses public HTML only. It does not log in, bypass challenges, scrape course content behind authentication, or defeat CAPTCHAs. A blocked route is reported in `OUTPUT` with zero fabricated records. Run diagnostics are saved under the `OUTPUT` key-value record. The default dataset item is the billable value unit.

# Actor input Schema

## `topic` (type: `string`):

Use an edX topic slug to browse its public course page, for example python or data-science. Leave blank when using searchQuery or startUrls.

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

Use a course topic or keyword to discover an edX topic page, for example machine learning. Leave blank to use topic.

## `startUrls` (type: `array`):

Use public edX URLs such as https://www.edx.org/learn/python or a specific course page. Unsupported domains are skipped.

## `maxResults` (type: `integer`):

Maximum unique course records to return, from 1 to 200.

## `includeDetails` (type: `boolean`):

Fetch each public course page for description, provider, level, duration, effort, language, and certificate information.

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

Maximum simultaneous detail requests, from 1 to 8. Lower values are gentler to edX.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "topic": "python",
  "searchQuery": "",
  "startUrls": [],
  "maxResults": 25,
  "includeDetails": true,
  "maxConcurrency": 3
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `status` (type: `string`):

No description

## `records` (type: `string`):

No description

## `warnings` (type: `string`):

No description

## `sourceUrls` (type: `string`):

No description

## `finishedAt` (type: `string`):

No description

# 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 = {};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("muhammadafzal/edx-course-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 = {}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("muhammadafzal/edx-course-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 '{}' |
apify call muhammadafzal/edx-course-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,muhammadafzal/edx-course-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/nzJmd3qrxN6slGFCK/builds/IJQbLXzu3TFrO019u/openapi.json