📹 Facebook Reels Scraper Actor

Effortlessly extract structured metadata from Facebook Reels directly on the Apify platform.

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📖 Summary

This Actor takes one or more Facebook Reels URLs and produces structured JSON with details such as title, uploader, view counts, dates, and more. Only Reels are processed — other video types are skipped.

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💡 Use cases

• Social media analytics dashboards
• Content performance tracking
• Archiving structured metadata for further research
• Automating reporting on trending Reels

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⚡ Quick Start (Apify Console)

1. Go to your Actor in Apify Console.

2. Click Run.

3. In the Input tab, paste JSON like:

   {
     "startUrls": [
       {"url": "https://www.facebook.com/reel/1234567890123456"}
     ],
     "maxItems": 10
   }
   

4. Click Run — results will appear in the default Dataset.

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⚡ Quick Start (CLI & API)

CLI (apify-cli)

$apify run -p input.json

Where input.json contains:

{
  "startUrls": [
    {"url": "https://www.facebook.com/reel/1234567890123456"}
  ]
}

API (apify-client in Python)

from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient('<APIFY_TOKEN>')
run = client.actor('<ACTOR_ID>').call(run_input={
    "startUrls": [{"url": "https://www.facebook.com/reel/1234567890123456"}],
    "maxItems": 5
})

# Fetch dataset items
for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(item)

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📝 Inputs

• startUrls (array of objects or strings) — List of Facebook Reel URLs. Required.
• cookiesFile (string, optional) — Path to uploaded cookies file. Useful if login is required.
• proxyConfiguration (object, optional) — Proxy settings as provided in Apify Console.
• maxItems (integer, optional) — Maximum number of items to scrape.

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⚙️ Configuration

🔑 Name	📝 Type	❓ Required	⚙️ Default	📌 Example	📝 Notes
startUrls	array	✅ Yes	null	[ {"url": "https://facebook.com/reel/..."} ]	URLs of Reels to scrape
cookiesFile	string	❌ No	null	cookies.txt	Upload via Apify key-value store
proxyConfiguration	object	❌ No	{}	{ "useApifyProxy": true }	Configure via Console proxy tab
maxItems	integer	❌ No	0 (no limit)	50	Limit results processed
ALL_RESULTS	dataset	Auto	n/a	Dataset tab	Full consolidated results stored in key ALL_RESULTS

➡️ Example: In Apify Console → Input, paste:

{
  "startUrls": [ {"url": "https://www.facebook.com/reel/1234567890123456"} ]
}

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📤 Outputs

• Each Reel produces a JSON object with fields like:

{
  "platform": "facebook",
  "content_type": "reel",
  "webpage_url": "https://www.facebook.com/reel/1234567890123456",
  "id": "1234567890123456",
  "title": "Sample Reel",
  "uploader": "Page Name",
  "view_count": "2.3K",
  "like_count": 150,
  "comment_count": 20,
  "timestamp_iso": "2025-09-10T12:34:56Z",
  "thumbnail": "https://...jpg"
}

• Consolidated results are stored under key ALL_RESULTS in the Key-Value Store.

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🔑 Environment variables

• APIFY_TOKEN — Required to call the Actor via API or CLI.
• HTTP_PROXY / HTTPS_PROXY — Only if using custom external proxies.

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▶️ How to Run

In Apify Console

1. Open Actor → Run.
2. Configure input JSON in Input tab.
3. Click Run.

CLI

$apify call <ACTOR_ID> -p input.json

API

See the Python example above under Quick Start (API).

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⏰ Scheduling & Webhooks

• In Console → Schedule, set periodic runs (e.g., every hour).
• Add webhooks in Console → Webhooks to notify when a run succeeds/fails.

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🐞 Logs & Troubleshooting

• View logs in the Run detail page.

• Common issues:

  • No startUrls provided. → Ensure startUrls field is set.
  • Empty dataset → The URL was not a Reel, or access required login/cookies.

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🔒 Permissions & Storage

• Results go to the default Dataset and ALL_RESULTS key in the Key-Value Store.
• If using cookies, store them securely in Apify key-value storage.

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🆕 Changelog / Versioning

• Increment Actor version when input/output schema changes.

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📌 Notes / TODOs

• TODO: Confirm if cookiesFile must be uploaded to default key-value store or passed differently.
• TODO: Clarify maximum recommended startUrls per run (performance consideration).

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🌍 Proxy configuration

• In Apify Console → Run → Proxy, enable Apify Proxy.

• To use custom proxies: in Actor settings → Environment variables, add:

  • HTTP_PROXY = http://<USER>:<PASS>@<HOST>:<PORT>
  • HTTPS_PROXY = http://<USER>:<PASS>@<HOST>:<PORT>

• Never hardcode credentials — store them as secrets.

• TODO: Advanced proxy rotation patterns may be added.

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📚 References

• Apify Input and Output
• Apify Proxy documentation
• Apify Scheduling and Webhooks

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🧐 What I inferred from main.py

• Actor strictly processes Facebook Reels, skips other videos.
• Inputs: startUrls, cookiesFile, proxyConfiguration, maxItems.
• Outputs pushed to Dataset and consolidated in Key-Value store under ALL_RESULTS.
• Network requests are made → included Proxy configuration section.
• Assumptions marked TODO for cookies handling and max startUrls batch size.