# Wikimedia Commons Users Scraper (`parseforge/wikimedia-commons-users-scraper`) Actor

Scrapes Wikimedia Commons user records by group filter or active status. Returns each user as a flat row with user ID, name, and group membership.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/parseforge/wikimedia-commons-users-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [ParseForge](https://apify.com/parseforge) (community)
- **Categories:** Social media, Business
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $3.62 / 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.
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?

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

[![ParseForge](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ParseForge/apify-assets/main/banner.jpg)](https://apify.com/parseforge?fpr=vmoqkp)

### Wikimedia Commons Users Scraper

**Scrape Wikimedia Commons user profiles by group, activity, or up to a million records per run.** Every user comes with their user ID, username, and group membership, returned directly from the public API. No login or API key. Export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML.

Wikimedia Commons does not offer a simple download of its contributor directory. This Actor reads the public allusers API endpoint, filters by user group or recent activity, and returns each matching user in one fixed schema. It handles pagination and rate limits so you get a clean dataset without writing a single API call.

| Who uses it | What they scrape Wikimedia Commons for |
|---|---|
| Community managers | Identify active administrators and moderators for outreach. |
| Researchers | Study contributor demographics and group distributions over time. |
| Tool developers | Build a local index of bot accounts to monitor automated edits. |
| GLAM professionals | Find registered users who upload institutional media collections. |

### What it does

This Actor collects Wikimedia Commons user records by group filter or active status, and returns each one as a flat row with user ID, name, and group membership.

- 👥 **Group filter:** restrict results to administrators, bots, bureaucrats, interface admins, or registered users.
- ⚡ **Active users only:** toggle to return only users who have been active recently.
- 📊 **Flat row output:** each user is a single record with user ID, name, and group, ready for analysis.

Results export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML, or straight from the API.

### What you can do with Wikimedia Commons data

**👥 Map the administrator community.**

A community manager runs the Actor with the Administrators group filter to get a current list of sysops for a governance review.

**🤖 Audit bot accounts.**

A tool developer scrapes all users in the Bot group to cross-reference active bots against a list of approved automation tasks.

**📈 Track contributor growth.**

A researcher runs the Actor weekly with the active users toggle to measure how the active contributor base changes over time.

**🏛️ Find institutional uploaders.**

A GLAM professional extracts all registered users and filters the dataset locally for names matching known museum accounts.

### Why choose this scraper

| | What you get |
|---|---|
| **No API coding** | The Actor calls the Wikimedia Commons API, handles pagination, and respects rate limits. |
| **Fixed schema** | Every user record has the same fields, so your downstream processing never breaks. |
| **Preview mode** | Free users can pull up to 10 records to test the output before scaling. |
| **Large scale** | Paid users can extract up to one million user records in a single run. |

### What a Wikimedia Commons record looks like

Every record returns as one flat JSON row. Here is a real one from a run:

```json
{
 "userid": 8965929,
 "name": "! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! 00000D",
 "scrapedAt": "2026-09-04T06:06:59.403Z"
}
```

Every value above comes from a real run. A field a record does not have comes back as `null`.

### Configure the run

Drive the Actor with a user group filter and an active users toggle, and set a maximum item count to control the size of your dataset. The Input tab lists every parameter.

A first run with the defaults:

```json
{
 "maxItems": 10
}
```

A larger pull:

```json
{
 "maxItems": 200
}
```

### Free users

Free-plan runs return up to 10 results as a preview. [Upgrade your Apify plan](https://console.apify.com/sign-up?fpr=vmoqkp) to collect up to 1,000,000 results per run.

### Run it

1. [Create a free Apify account](https://console.apify.com/sign-up?fpr=vmoqkp).
2. Open the [Wikimedia Commons Users Scraper](https://apify.com/parseforge/wikimedia-commons-users-scraper?fpr=vmoqkp).
3. Set your inputs and any filters, then click **Start**.
4. Export the results as CSV, Excel, JSON, or XML from the **Dataset** tab.

Run it programmatically through the [Apify API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2) (`run-sync-get-dataset-items`) or the [ApifyClient](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js) for JavaScript and Python.

### Use with AI agents (MCP)

Give an AI agent live access to Wikimedia Commons through the Model Context Protocol. Add the Actor to Claude, Cursor, or any MCP client:

```bash
claude mcp add --transport http apify "https://mcp.apify.com?tools=parseforge/wikimedia-commons-users-scraper"
```

Then prompt it in plain language to run the scraper and read back the results.

### Troubleshooting

**Why am I getting no results?**

Check your user group filter. If you selected a group with very few members, like Interface administrators, the list may be empty. Try setting the filter to All users and run again.

**Why does the run stop before reaching my max items?**

The Wikimedia Commons API returns all users that match your filter. If the total number of matching users is less than your max items setting, the Actor will finish early.

**I got a timeout error. What should I do?**

The Wikimedia Commons API may be slow during high traffic. Increase the Actor's timeout setting in your run configuration and retry.

**The active users toggle returns fewer users than expected.**

The API defines recent activity internally. If you need a broader set, disable the toggle and filter the results locally by the last edit date if you collect that data separately.

### FAQ

| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Do I need a Wikimedia API key to use this Actor? | No. The Actor calls the public allusers API endpoint, which requires no authentication or API key. |
| What user groups can I filter by? | You can filter by Administrators, Bots, Registered users, Bureaucrats, and Interface administrators. Leave the filter empty to get all users. |
| How many users can I scrape in one run? | Free users can scrape up to 10 records for a preview. Paid users can set a maximum of up to one million records per run. |
| Does this Actor return user upload counts or edit histories? | No. The Actor returns the user ID, username, and group membership as provided by the allusers API. It does not include contribution statistics. |
| What does the active users toggle do? | When enabled, the Actor requests only users who have been active recently, as determined by the Wikimedia Commons API. |
| Can I scrape users from a specific category or project? | No. The Actor uses the allusers list, which covers the entire Commons user base. It does not filter by category, project, or upload topic. |
| How is the data exported? | You can export your dataset in CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML formats directly from the Apify platform. |
| Does the Actor handle API rate limits? | Yes. The Actor is built to respect the Wikimedia Commons API rate limits and paginates automatically using the continue token. |
| Can I get user email addresses or real names? | No. The public API only returns the user ID and username. Private information like email addresses is never exposed. |

### Related actors

Browse the full [ParseForge collection](https://apify.com/parseforge?fpr=vmoqkp) for more scrapers.

🆘 **Need help?** Email parseforge@protonmail.com with your run ID, your input, and what you expected.

### Pricing

This Actor uses **pay-per-result** pricing: **$0.004 per result** collected. You are billed only for the results you receive, so a run that returns nothing costs nothing.

⚠️ **Disclaimer.** This Actor is unofficial and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. It collects only publicly available data. You are responsible for using the collected data in compliance with the source's terms of service and applicable data-protection laws, including GDPR, CCPA, and PIPL. Do not use it to collect personal data unlawfully.

# Actor input Schema

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

Free users: Limited to 10 items (preview). Paid users: Optional, max 1,000,000

## `userGroup` (type: `string`):

Filter users by group membership (e.g., sysop, bot, user). Leave empty for all users.

## `activeUsersOnly` (type: `boolean`):

If true, only return users who have been active recently.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "maxItems": 10,
  "activeUsersOnly": false
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

Complete dataset of all scraped records.

# 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 = {
    "maxItems": 10,
    "userGroup": ""
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("parseforge/wikimedia-commons-users-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 = {
    "maxItems": 10,
    "userGroup": "",
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("parseforge/wikimedia-commons-users-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 '{
  "maxItems": 10,
  "userGroup": ""
}' |
apify call parseforge/wikimedia-commons-users-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,parseforge/wikimedia-commons-users-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/0uGoE4jTQ7h9fe42J/builds/q6AMUYnheW4QUN4ga/openapi.json