# Dev.to Articles Scraper (`receptional_blender/devto-articles-scraper`) Actor

Pull articles from DEV Community (dev.to) by tag, username or the latest feed and get clean JSON — title, url, tags, reactions, comments, reading time, author and cover image. Powered by the free official Forem API — no key or login required.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/receptional\_blender/devto-articles-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Assia Fadli](https://apify.com/receptional_blender) (community)
- **Categories:** Developer tools
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $0.01 / 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

## Dev.to Articles Scraper

Collect articles from [DEV Community (dev.to)](https://dev.to/) straight from its **free, official [Forem API](https://developers.forem.com/api)**. There is nothing to configure — no API key, no login, and no proxy — the feed is public and rock-solid.

Point it at a tag, a username, or just the latest feed, pick how many articles you want, and get back one tidy JSON row per article.

### Features

- Scrape by **tag** (e.g. `javascript`), by **username/organization**, or straight from the **latest feed**.
- Combine a tag **and** a username to narrow the results further.
- Paginates automatically until it reaches your item limit or the end of the feed.
- Emits one flat, ready-to-use JSON record per article.
- Skips gracefully over malformed items — they are recorded with an `error` field so a single bad item never stops the run.

### Input

| Field | Type | Default | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `tag` | string | — | Optional. Only articles with this tag, e.g. `javascript`. |
| `username` | string | — | Optional. Only articles by this dev.to user/organization. |
| `maxItems` | integer | `50` | Maximum number of articles to fetch. |

#### Example input

```json
{
  "tag": "javascript",
  "maxItems": 10
}
```

Or scrape a specific author:

```json
{
  "username": "ben",
  "maxItems": 25
}
```

### Output

Each dataset record looks like this:

```json
{
  "id": 123456,
  "title": "Understanding async/await in JavaScript",
  "url": "https://dev.to/someone/understanding-async-await-in-javascript",
  "description": "A friendly deep dive into promises and async functions.",
  "tags": ["javascript", "webdev", "beginners"],
  "positiveReactions": 342,
  "commentsCount": 18,
  "readingTimeMinutes": 6,
  "publishedAt": "2023-05-01T09:30:00.000Z",
  "author": "Jane Doe",
  "authorUsername": "janedoe",
  "coverImage": "https://dev.to/cover.png",
  "readablePublishDate": "May 1"
}
```

| Field | Description |
| --- | --- |
| `id` | dev.to article ID. |
| `title` | Article title. |
| `url` | Canonical URL of the article on dev.to. |
| `description` | Short summary/excerpt. |
| `tags` | Array of tags (`tag_list`). |
| `positiveReactions` | Number of positive reactions (`positive_reactions_count`). |
| `commentsCount` | Number of comments (`comments_count`). |
| `readingTimeMinutes` | Estimated reading time in minutes. |
| `publishedAt` | Publish time as an ISO 8601 timestamp. |
| `author` | Author (or organization) display name. |
| `authorUsername` | Author's dev.to username. |
| `coverImage` | Cover image URL (null when there is none). |
| `readablePublishDate` | Human-friendly publish date (e.g. `May 1`). |

If an item can't be processed, the row is `{ "id": <id>, "error": "<message>" }` instead.

### Pricing

This actor uses the **pay-per-event** model: you are charged once per article returned (the `article-scraped` event). Malformed items produce an error row and are never charged.

### Data source

The actor talks to the official DEV Community (Forem) API:

- Base URL: `https://dev.to/api`
- Articles: `/articles?per_page=100&page=N` (plus `&tag=` and/or `&username=` when provided)

The API is free and requires no authentication.

### License

MIT © Assia Fadli

# Actor input Schema

## `tag` (type: `string`):

Only articles with this tag, e.g. javascript.

## `username` (type: `string`):

Only articles by this dev.to user/organization.

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

Maximum number of articles to fetch.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "maxItems": 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 = {
    "maxItems": 50
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("receptional_blender/devto-articles-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": 50 }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("receptional_blender/devto-articles-scraper").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print("💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/" + run["defaultDatasetId"])
for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).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": 50
}' |
apify call receptional_blender/devto-articles-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "mcp-remote",
                "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=receptional_blender/devto-articles-scraper",
                "--header",
                "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR_API_TOKEN>"
            ]
        }
    }
}

```

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/1ELNqbCeZszuiScQQ/builds/tiCAo149dWpcU6AIt/openapi.json