# Zhihu Scraper (Q\&A, Answers, Articles) (`neuro-scraper/zhihu-scraper`) Actor

Zhihu Scraper (Q\&A, Answers, Articles) SD - Zhihu Scraper (Q\&A, Answers, Articles) is a Chinese Q\&A data tool that extracts Zhihu column articles with full text, the hot-list questions, related articles and author profiles with follower counts. No login.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/neuro-scraper/zhihu-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Neuro Scraper](https://apify.com/neuro-scraper) (community)
- **Categories:** Social media, Automation, Developer tools
- **Stats:** 5 total users, 4 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $2.49 / 1,000 results

This Actor is paid per event and usage. You are charged both the fixed price for specific events and for Apify platform usage.
Since this Actor supports Apify Store discounts, the price gets lower the higher subscription plan you have.

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

./README.md

# Actor input Schema

## `operation` (type: `string`):

What to collect. Column articles: every article of a Zhihu column (zhuanlan), newest first. Hot list: the current 知乎热榜 questions. Profiles: author profiles with follower / answer / article counts. Related articles: articles Zhihu recommends next to an article. Search: keyword search through Zhihu's official open API - needs your own developer.zhihu.com access secret. Links in Start URLs are routed by their type whatever is selected (column link -> column articles, /people/ link -> profile, /p/ link -> related articles).

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

Zhihu links or ids, one per line: column (https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/xuehy or the slug xuehy), profile (https://www.zhihu.com/people/zhang-jia-wei or zhang-jia-wei), article (https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/2088191236226261891 or the number). Bare slugs / numbers are read as the selected operation's kind.

## `keyword` (type: `array`):

Keywords for the search operation, e.g. 人工智能 or Python. Zhihu's official API returns up to 10 results per keyword (no further pages exist on that API).

## `zhihuAccessSecret` (type: `string`):

Only for the search operation: the access secret from your own account at https://developer.zhihu.com/profile. Zhihu's website search needs a login, so keyword search goes through Zhihu's official API with your key. Never stored or logged.

## `maxItems` (type: `integer`):

Maximum rows per column / article / keyword (the hot list counts as one target). Column and related-article lists follow Zhihu's own next-page cursor until this limit or the end of the list.

## `includeAuthorProfile` (type: `boolean`):

For article rows, read each author's profile once (one extra request per unique author) to add author follower, answer, article and received-upvote counts, verification label and IP location.

## `publishTimeRange` (type: `string`):

Only articles created in this period (applied by the Actor to the creation date; column lists are newest first, so paging stops at the first older article). Not applied to the hot list or profiles.

## `contentType` (type: `string`):

Keep only search results of this type (applied by the Actor to the ContentType the official API returns).

## `proxyConfiguration` (type: `object`):

Residential proxy is the default: Zhihu flags data-center and over-used IPs (code 40352). On a flag the Actor switches to a new proxy session.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "operation": "columnArticles",
  "startUrls": [
    "https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/xuehy"
  ],
  "keyword": [],
  "maxItems": 20,
  "includeAuthorProfile": true,
  "publishTimeRange": "all",
  "contentType": "all",
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true,
    "apifyProxyGroups": [
      "RESIDENTIAL"
    ],
    "apifyProxyCountry": "US"
  }
}
```

# 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 = {
    "operation": "columnArticles",
    "startUrls": [
        "https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/xuehy"
    ],
    "keyword": [],
    "proxyConfiguration": {
        "useApifyProxy": true,
        "apifyProxyGroups": [
            "RESIDENTIAL"
        ],
        "apifyProxyCountry": "US"
    }
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("neuro-scraper/zhihu-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 = {
    "operation": "columnArticles",
    "startUrls": ["https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/xuehy"],
    "keyword": [],
    "proxyConfiguration": {
        "useApifyProxy": True,
        "apifyProxyGroups": ["RESIDENTIAL"],
        "apifyProxyCountry": "US",
    },
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("neuro-scraper/zhihu-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 '{
  "operation": "columnArticles",
  "startUrls": [
    "https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/xuehy"
  ],
  "keyword": [],
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true,
    "apifyProxyGroups": [
      "RESIDENTIAL"
    ],
    "apifyProxyCountry": "US"
  }
}' |
apify call neuro-scraper/zhihu-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,neuro-scraper/zhihu-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/S4JlQ9QcH0fO5rzeC/builds/U3EKUsdJnRPW6H8cx/openapi.json