# Substack Scraper (`noximilian/substack-scraper`) Actor

Scrape Substack newsletters — fetch post archives, individual posts, comments, recommendations, and publication metadata. Search Substack for publications and content. No auth required for public content.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/noximilian/substack-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Noximilian](https://apify.com/noximilian) (community)
- **Categories:** Developer tools
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 0.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $3.00 / 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.

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

## Substack Scraper

Scrape Substack newsletters via the reverse-engineered public API. No auth required for public content.

### Features

- **Archive**: Fetch a publication's full post archive with metadata (title, date, author, reactions, comment count, word count, tags)
- **Post details**: Fetch a single post by ID or slug (includes full body content)
- **Comments**: Fetch comments for a post (sorted by best or new)
- **Recommendations**: Fetch a publication's recommended newsletters
- **Search**: Search Substack for publications and posts
- **Publication info**: Fetch publication metadata (name, description, subscriber count)

### Input

| Field | Type | Default | Description |
|-------|------|---------|-------------|
| mode | string | archive | archive, post, comments, recommendations, search, publication |
| publication | string | — | Substack publication name (e.g. "platformer") |
| postId | int | — | Post ID (post, comments modes) |
| slug | string | — | Post slug (post mode, alternative to postId) |
| query | string | — | Search query (search mode) |
| sort | string | new | new or top (archive mode) |
| offset | int | 0 | Pagination offset (archive mode) |
| limit | int | 50 | Max results |

### API

- Substack reverse-engineered public API (`https://<pub>.substack.com/api/v1/`)
- No auth needed for public content
- Notes and profile endpoints require session cookies (not supported)

# Actor input Schema

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

archive: fetch post archive. post: fetch single post. comments: fetch post comments. recommendations: fetch pub recommendations. search: search Substack. publication: fetch pub metadata.

## `publication` (type: `string`):

Substack publication name (e.g. 'platformer' for platformer.substack.com). Required for all modes except search.

## `postId` (type: `integer`):

Post ID (post and comments modes).

## `slug` (type: `string`):

Post slug (post mode, alternative to postId).

## `query` (type: `string`):

Search query (search mode).

## `sort` (type: `string`):

Sort order for archive (new or top).

## `offset` (type: `integer`):

Pagination offset (archive mode).

## `limit` (type: `integer`):

Maximum number of items to return.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "mode": "archive",
  "sort": "new",
  "offset": 0,
  "limit": 50
}
```

# 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("noximilian/substack-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("noximilian/substack-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 noximilian/substack-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,noximilian/substack-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/QMyPhI05LDGJQNRTL/builds/WgGslcr4w0HUUpBaJ/openapi.json