# Goodreads Book Metadata Scraper (`muhammadafzal/goodreads-scraper`) Actor

Search public Goodreads books or scrape book URLs to return titles, authors, ratings, review counts, pages, shelves, and optional descriptions.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/muhammadafzal/goodreads-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Muhammad Afzal](https://apify.com/muhammadafzal) (community)
- **Categories:** Automation, Developer tools, MCP servers
- **Stats:** 1 total users, 0 monthly users, 0.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $1.00 / 1,000 goodreads book returneds

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/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#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

## Goodreads Scraper

Extract structured metadata from public Goodreads book pages. Search by title, author, ISBN, or keyword, or provide direct Goodreads book URLs.

### What it returns

Each dataset item contains the book title, canonical Goodreads URL, authors, ISBN when exposed, average rating, ratings and review counts, page count, publication date, popular shelves, and the originating search term. Set `includeDescription` to also fetch public book pages and collect descriptions and richer publication metadata.

### Input

- `searchTerms` — one title, author, or keyword per line. Defaults to `The Hobbit`. Use `bookUrls` for ISBN-specific lookups.
- `bookUrls` — optional direct public URLs such as `https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5907.The_Hobbit`.
- `maxResultsPerSearch` — 1–50 books per search, default 10.
- `includeDescription` — fetch detail pages for descriptions and richer metadata, default `false`.
- `requestDelayMs` — 500–10,000 ms between requests, default 1,200 ms.

Example:

```json
{
  "searchTerms": ["The Hobbit", "Ursula Le Guin"],
  "bookUrls": ["https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5907.The_Hobbit"],
  "maxResultsPerSearch": 10,
  "includeDescription": true,
  "requestDelayMs": 1200
}
```

### Respectful-use and limitations

This Actor accesses publicly available Goodreads pages only. It does not log in, bypass CAPTCHAs, access private shelves, or use Goodreads API credentials. Goodreads can change its HTML, rate-limit automated requests, or return no results; those cases are recorded in the `SUMMARY` key-value record rather than represented as fabricated book data. Use conservative limits and respect Goodreads terms and applicable law.

### For AI agents

Use this Actor for public book discovery, catalog enrichment, reading-list research, and rating/shelf analysis. Do not use it for private user data or as a substitute for authoritative bibliographic verification. Each result has a stable `bookUrl` for source review.

### Pricing

Pay Per Event: `$0.001` per unique Goodreads book record returned. Apify platform usage is charged separately according to the run's memory and proxy usage. Empty or blocked runs do not charge result events.

# Actor input Schema

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

One book title, author name, or keyword per line. Search results are capped by maxResultsPerSearch. Defaults to a sample query. Use bookUrls for ISBN-specific lookups.

## `bookUrls` (type: `array`):

Optional direct public Goodreads book URLs, for example https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5907.The\_Hobbit. Direct URLs are scraped in addition to search results.

## `maxResultsPerSearch` (type: `integer`):

Maximum unique books returned for each search term. This does not limit direct book URLs.

## `includeDescription` (type: `boolean`):

Fetch each book page and include its public description and publication details. Disabled by default to reduce requests.

## `requestDelayMs` (type: `integer`):

Minimum delay between requests to Goodreads. Use a respectful value between 500 and 10000 milliseconds.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "searchTerms": [
    "The Hobbit"
  ],
  "maxResultsPerSearch": 10,
  "includeDescription": false,
  "requestDelayMs": 1200
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `dataset` (type: `string`):

Dataset containing one normalized record per Goodreads book.

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

Key-value record containing result counts, inputs, and non-fatal warnings.

# 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/goodreads-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/goodreads-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/goodreads-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,muhammadafzal/goodreads-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/0zaRrmNOoICRFapjW/builds/hvStdEkKVsJ7eI7vX/openapi.json