# CRAN Scraper – R Package Metadata, Versions & Dependencies (`ninhothedev/cran-r-packages-scraper`) Actor

$1/1K 🔥 Fast CRAN R packages scraper! Version, license, author, maintainer & monthly downloads. No key. JSON, CSV, Excel or API in seconds. List packages & pull thousands for data-science & dev intel ⚡

- **URL**: https://apify.com/ninhothedev/cran-r-packages-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [ninhothedev](https://apify.com/ninhothedev) (community)
- **Categories:** Developer tools, Automation
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $1.00 / 1,000 results

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/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

## CRAN R Packages Scraper

Turn any list of **CRAN** (Comprehensive R Archive Network) package names into clean,
structured JSON — **version, title, license, author, maintainer, homepage, publish
date and last-month download counts** — in a single run. No API key, no login, no
browser. Datacenter-proxy friendly and fast.

Perfect for **data-science teams, R developers, dependency/SBOM tooling and ecosystem
analysts** who need reliable package intelligence without hand-parsing `DESCRIPTION`
files or the CRAN website.

***

### What it does

Give it a list of package names (e.g. `ggplot2`, `dplyr`, `data.table`) and it returns
one JSON record per package by merging two official, key-less CRAN data sources:

- **crandb** (`crandb.r-pkg.org`) — canonical package metadata
- **cranlogs** (`cranlogs.r-pkg.org`) — RStudio/Posit CRAN mirror download stats

#### Example output

```json
{
  "name": "ggplot2",
  "title": "Create Elegant Data Visualisations Using the Grammar of Graphics",
  "version": "4.0.3",
  "description": "A system for 'declaratively' creating graphics, based on \"The Grammar of Graphics\"...",
  "author": "Hadley Wickham [aut], Winston Chang [aut], ...",
  "maintainer": "Thomas Lin Pedersen <thomas.pedersen@posit.co>",
  "license": "MIT + file LICENSE",
  "homepage": "https://ggplot2.tidyverse.org, https://github.com/tidyverse/ggplot2",
  "downloads_last_month": 2761114,
  "published_date": "2026-04-22 09:10:03 UTC",
  "url": "https://cran.r-project.org/package=ggplot2",
  "scraped_at": "2026-07-18T12:00:00+00:00"
}
```

Every field is nullable — missing values come back as `null`, never a crash.

***

### Input

| Field | Type | Description |
|-------|------|-------------|
| `mode` | select | Scrape mode. Currently `packages` (resolve names to metadata + downloads). |
| `packageNames` | array | List of CRAN package names to scrape (case-sensitive). |
| `maxItems` | integer | Max packages per run, 1–1000 (default 100). |

```json
{
  "mode": "packages",
  "packageNames": ["ggplot2", "dplyr", "data.table"],
  "maxItems": 100
}
```

Unknown package names (HTTP 404) are skipped automatically.

***

### Output fields

`name`, `title`, `version`, `description` (capped at 2000 chars), `author`,
`maintainer`, `license`, `homepage`, `downloads_last_month`, `published_date`,
`url`, `scraped_at`.

***

### Pricing

Pay-as-you-go: roughly **$1 per 1,000 packages** scraped, plus Apify platform usage.
Each package is two lightweight JSON requests, so runs are cheap and fast.

***

### Use cases

- **Data science** — snapshot the versions, licenses and popularity of your R toolchain.
- **Developer intelligence** — monitor download trends and maintainer changes across
  competitor or dependency packages.
- **R ecosystem research** — analyze license distribution, publish cadence and adoption
  across hundreds of packages at once.
- **SBOM / compliance** — pull license and version data for every R package in your
  software bill of materials.

***

### How it compares

| | This actor | Manual scraping | GitHub `DESCRIPTION` |
|---|---|---|---|
| Structured JSON | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Download counts | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ |
| No API key | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Datacenter-friendly | ✅ | ⚠️ | ⚠️ |
| Batch of 1000 | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ |

***

### Related actors

- [PyPI Scraper](https://apify.com/ninhothedev/pypi-scraper)
- [Anaconda Package Scraper](https://apify.com/ninhothedev/anaconda-package-scraper)
- [npm Package Scraper](https://apify.com/ninhothedev/npm-package-scraper)
- [deps.dev Scraper](https://apify.com/ninhothedev/deps-dev-scraper)

***

**Keywords:** CRAN scraper, R packages, R package metadata, CRAN downloads, cranlogs,
crandb, R ecosystem, package version, R license, dependency intelligence, SBOM, data
science tooling, tidyverse, package analytics.

# Actor input Schema

## `mode` (type: `string`):

What to scrape. Currently only 'packages' is supported: resolve a list of package names to their CRAN metadata and monthly downloads.

## `packageNames` (type: `array`):

List of CRAN package names to scrape (case-sensitive, e.g. 'ggplot2'). Each name is resolved via crandb (metadata) and cranlogs (downloads).

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

Maximum number of packages to scrape in one run (1–1000). Extra names beyond this limit are ignored.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "mode": "packages",
  "packageNames": [
    "ggplot2",
    "dplyr",
    "data.table"
  ],
  "maxItems": 100
}
```

# 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 = {
    "packageNames": [
        "ggplot2",
        "dplyr",
        "data.table"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("ninhothedev/cran-r-packages-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 = { "packageNames": [
        "ggplot2",
        "dplyr",
        "data.table",
    ] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("ninhothedev/cran-r-packages-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 '{
  "packageNames": [
    "ggplot2",
    "dplyr",
    "data.table"
  ]
}' |
apify call ninhothedev/cran-r-packages-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,ninhothedev/cran-r-packages-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/ll3yNdN9m1iOzSgNR/builds/eAODGfs1stDko0R8q/openapi.json