# 🔗📅 LinkedIn Post Creation Date (`scrapeflow/linkedin-post-creation-date`) Actor

- **URL**: https://apify.com/scrapeflow/linkedin-post-creation-date.md
- **Developed by:** [ScrapeFlow](https://apify.com/scrapeflow) (community)
- **Categories:** Automation, Lead generation, Social media
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, NaN bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $3.99 / 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/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are a software tools running on the Apify platform, for all kinds of web data extraction and automation use cases.
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.

In JavaScript/TypeScript projects, use official [JavaScript/TypeScript client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js.md):

```bash
npm install apify-client
```

In Python projects, use official [Python client library](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python.md):

```bash
pip install apify-client
```

In shell scripts, use [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md):

````bash
# MacOS / Linux
curl -fsSL https://apify.com/install-cli.sh | bash
# Windows
irm https://apify.com/install-cli.ps1 | iex
```bash

In AI frameworks, you might use the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/mcp.md).

If your project is in a different language, use 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

## 🔗 LinkedIn Post Creation Date Extractor

Instantly reveal the **exact creation date and time** of any public LinkedIn post — no login, no scraping headaches, no anti-bot rabbit holes. Just paste a URL, run, and get a precise UTC timestamp down to the millisecond.

### ⭐ Why Choose Us?

- ⚡ **Lightning fast** — decoding is offline math; results in milliseconds per URL.
- 🔁 **Bulk friendly** — paste hundreds of URLs at once.
- 🛡️ **Smart proxy fallback** — starts direct, escalates to **datacenter**, then **residential** only when LinkedIn pushes back.
- 🪶 **Lightweight** — no headless browser, no Playwright overhead.
- 🧠 **Robust** — handles `/posts/...`, feed updates, and raw `urn:li:activity:...` formats.
- 💾 **Live saving** — every result is pushed to the dataset as soon as it's ready.

### ✨ Key Features

- 🔗 Accepts LinkedIn post URLs and activity URNs
- 📅 Returns precise UTC `creation_date`, ISO date, and millisecond timestamp
- 🌐 Optional URL reachability check
- 🛡️ Direct → datacenter → residential proxy escalation (sticky after fallback)
- 🔁 Configurable retries with exponential backoff
- 📊 Rich dataset view with column labels and emoji headers
- 🪵 Engaging real-time logs that show progress per URL

### 📥 Input

```json
{
  "urls": [
    { "url": "https://www.linkedin.com/posts/fredericjousset_chaque-jour-avec-la-m%C3%AAme-r%C3%A9gularit%C3%A9-implacable-activity-7218859278495813634-nG42" }
  ],
  "validateUrl": true,
  "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": false }
}
````

| Field | Type | Description |
|------|------|-------------|
| `urls` | array | LinkedIn post URLs or activity URNs (bulk supported) |
| `validateUrl` | boolean | Whether to also confirm the URL is reachable |
| `proxyConfiguration` | object | Apify proxy settings; defaults to **no proxy** |

### 📤 Output

```json
{
  "url": "https://www.linkedin.com/posts/fredericjousset_chaque-jour-avec-la-m%C3%AAme-r%C3%A9gularit%C3%A9-implacable-activity-7218859278495813634-nG42",
  "activity_id": "7218859278495813634",
  "creation_date": "2024-07-16 06:09:31.913000",
  "creation_date_iso": "2024-07-16T06:09:31.913000+00:00",
  "creation_timestamp_ms": 1721110171913,
  "url_reachable": true,
  "http_status": 200,
  "proxy_used": "direct",
  "success": true,
  "error": null
}
```

| Field | Description |
|------|-------------|
| `url` | Original input URL |
| `activity_id` | LinkedIn 19-digit activity ID |
| `creation_date` | Human-readable UTC date `YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS.ffffff` |
| `creation_date_iso` | ISO 8601 datetime |
| `creation_timestamp_ms` | Unix timestamp in milliseconds |
| `url_reachable` | `true`/`false`/`null` (when validation disabled) |
| `http_status` | HTTP status of the validation request |
| `proxy_used` | `direct`, `datacenter`, or `residential` |
| `success` | Did the timestamp decode succeed |
| `error` | Error string if any |

### 🚀 How to Use (Apify Console)

1. Log in at [console.apify.com](https://console.apify.com) → **Actors**.
2. Open **LinkedIn Post Creation Date Extractor**.
3. Paste your LinkedIn URLs in the **URLs** field.
4. (Optional) Toggle **Validate URL** off for offline-only decoding.
5. Click **Start**.
6. Watch the real-time logs.
7. Open the **Output** tab when the run completes.
8. Export results to **JSON / CSV / XLSX**.

### 🤖 Use via API

```bash
curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/<ACTOR_ID>/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=$APIFY_TOKEN" \
     -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
     -d '{
       "urls": [
         {"url": "https://www.linkedin.com/posts/fredericjousset_activity-7218859278495813634-nG42"}
       ],
       "validateUrl": false
     }'
```

### 🛡️ Proxy Strategy

The actor begins with **no proxy** to keep latency low. If LinkedIn returns a blocking status (`403`, `407`, `429`, `451`, `503`) or a network error occurs, it escalates:

1. 🟢 **Direct** — first attempt
2. 🟡 **Datacenter** (Apify proxy) — fast fallback
3. 🔴 **Residential** — last resort, retries up to 3 times with exponential backoff

Once the actor falls back, it stays on the higher tier (**sticky**) for the rest of the run — no flapping.

### 💡 Best Use Cases

- 📰 Newsroom verification — confirm post timing for citations
- 📊 Marketing analytics — line up campaign posts with engagement
- 🔍 OSINT and research — establish when a public post first appeared
- 🗂️ Archival — keep a historical index of posts with exact timestamps

### 💸 Pricing

This actor uses the **pay-per-event** model. You pay only for what you decode.

| Event | When charged |
|------|--------------|
| `apify-actor-start` | Once when a run begins (synthetic, configured in Console) |
| `result-item` | Each successfully resolved post (a `creation_date` was decoded) |

Failed lookups (e.g. malformed URLs) are not billed.

### ❓ Frequently Asked Questions

**Q: Do I need to log in to LinkedIn?**
A: No. The creation date is encoded inside the activity ID, which is public.

**Q: Does it work with private posts?**
A: As long as the URL contains a numeric activity ID, yes — the timestamp is decoded mathematically, no fetch needed.

**Q: Will I get rate-limited?**
A: With validation **off**, no requests are sent at all. With validation **on**, the actor escalates through proxy tiers automatically.

**Q: What if a URL has no activity ID?**
A: It's pushed to the dataset with `success: false` and `error: "no activity id found"` so you can audit it.

### 📬 Support and Feedback

Open an issue or contact the maintainer via the Apify Store listing. Feedback welcome 💬.

### ⚖️ Legal

- Only public, anonymously-accessible URLs are processed.
- The end user is responsible for compliance with LinkedIn's Terms of Service, GDPR, CCPA, and other applicable laws.
- The actor never logs in, never bypasses auth walls, never accesses private content.

# Actor input Schema

## `urls` (type: `array`):

📋 Paste your LinkedIn post URLs here — one per line. Bulk input is fully supported! 🚀

✅ Supported formats:
• 🔵 Standard post links — `https://www.linkedin.com/posts/USERNAME_KEYWORDS-activity-XXXXXXXXX-YYYY`
• 🟢 Feed update links — `https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:XXXXXXXXX/`
• 🟡 Raw URNs — `urn:li:activity:XXXXXXXXX`

💡 Tip: You can drop hundreds of URLs at once — the actor will process them all and save each result live as soon as it's ready!

## `validateUrl` (type: `boolean`):

🔍 When ON, the actor performs a lightweight HTTP request to confirm the LinkedIn URL is reachable, and reports the HTTP status & which proxy tier was used.

⚡ When OFF, the actor runs in ultra-fast offline mode — pure timestamp decoding, zero network calls. Perfect for huge batches!

💡 Recommended: leave ON for verified results, switch OFF when you only need creation dates and want maximum speed.

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

🔧 Pick a proxy setup or leave the defaults for our smart auto-escalation strategy 🎯

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "urls": [
    {
      "url": "https://www.linkedin.com/posts/fredericjousset_chaque-jour-avec-la-m%C3%AAme-r%C3%A9gularit%C3%A9-implacable-activity-7218859278495813634-nG42?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop"
    }
  ],
  "validateUrl": true,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": false
  }
}
```

# 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 = {
    "urls": [
        {
            "url": "https://www.linkedin.com/posts/fredericjousset_chaque-jour-avec-la-m%C3%AAme-r%C3%A9gularit%C3%A9-implacable-activity-7218859278495813634-nG42?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop"
        }
    ],
    "proxyConfiguration": {
        "useApifyProxy": false
    }
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("scrapeflow/linkedin-post-creation-date").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 = {
    "urls": [{ "url": "https://www.linkedin.com/posts/fredericjousset_chaque-jour-avec-la-m%C3%AAme-r%C3%A9gularit%C3%A9-implacable-activity-7218859278495813634-nG42?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop" }],
    "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": False },
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("scrapeflow/linkedin-post-creation-date").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 '{
  "urls": [
    {
      "url": "https://www.linkedin.com/posts/fredericjousset_chaque-jour-avec-la-m%C3%AAme-r%C3%A9gularit%C3%A9-implacable-activity-7218859278495813634-nG42?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop"
    }
  ],
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": false
  }
}' |
apify call scrapeflow/linkedin-post-creation-date --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "mcp-remote",
                "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=scrapeflow/linkedin-post-creation-date",
                "--header",
                "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR_API_TOKEN>"
            ]
        }
    }
}

```

## OpenAPI specification

```json
{
    "openapi": "3.0.1",
    "info": {
        "title": "🔗📅 LinkedIn Post Creation Date",
        "version": "0.1",
        "x-build-id": "WXYIArvKIZGOs0TZr"
    },
    "servers": [
        {
            "url": "https://api.apify.com/v2"
        }
    ],
    "paths": {
        "/acts/scrapeflow~linkedin-post-creation-date/run-sync-get-dataset-items": {
            "post": {
                "operationId": "run-sync-get-dataset-items-scrapeflow-linkedin-post-creation-date",
                "x-openai-isConsequential": false,
                "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for its completion, and returns Actor's dataset items in response.",
                "tags": [
                    "Run Actor"
                ],
                "requestBody": {
                    "required": true,
                    "content": {
                        "application/json": {
                            "schema": {
                                "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                "parameters": [
                    {
                        "name": "token",
                        "in": "query",
                        "required": true,
                        "schema": {
                            "type": "string"
                        },
                        "description": "Enter your Apify token here"
                    }
                ],
                "responses": {
                    "200": {
                        "description": "OK"
                    }
                }
            }
        },
        "/acts/scrapeflow~linkedin-post-creation-date/runs": {
            "post": {
                "operationId": "runs-sync-scrapeflow-linkedin-post-creation-date",
                "x-openai-isConsequential": false,
                "summary": "Executes an Actor and returns information about the initiated run in response.",
                "tags": [
                    "Run Actor"
                ],
                "requestBody": {
                    "required": true,
                    "content": {
                        "application/json": {
                            "schema": {
                                "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                "parameters": [
                    {
                        "name": "token",
                        "in": "query",
                        "required": true,
                        "schema": {
                            "type": "string"
                        },
                        "description": "Enter your Apify token here"
                    }
                ],
                "responses": {
                    "200": {
                        "description": "OK",
                        "content": {
                            "application/json": {
                                "schema": {
                                    "$ref": "#/components/schemas/runsResponseSchema"
                                }
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
        },
        "/acts/scrapeflow~linkedin-post-creation-date/run-sync": {
            "post": {
                "operationId": "run-sync-scrapeflow-linkedin-post-creation-date",
                "x-openai-isConsequential": false,
                "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for completion, and returns the OUTPUT from Key-value store in response.",
                "tags": [
                    "Run Actor"
                ],
                "requestBody": {
                    "required": true,
                    "content": {
                        "application/json": {
                            "schema": {
                                "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                "parameters": [
                    {
                        "name": "token",
                        "in": "query",
                        "required": true,
                        "schema": {
                            "type": "string"
                        },
                        "description": "Enter your Apify token here"
                    }
                ],
                "responses": {
                    "200": {
                        "description": "OK"
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    },
    "components": {
        "schemas": {
            "inputSchema": {
                "type": "object",
                "required": [
                    "urls"
                ],
                "properties": {
                    "urls": {
                        "title": "🔗 LinkedIn Post URLs",
                        "type": "array",
                        "description": "📋 Paste your LinkedIn post URLs here — one per line. Bulk input is fully supported! 🚀\n\n✅ Supported formats:\n   • 🔵 Standard post links — `https://www.linkedin.com/posts/USERNAME_KEYWORDS-activity-XXXXXXXXX-YYYY`\n   • 🟢 Feed update links — `https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:XXXXXXXXX/`\n   • 🟡 Raw URNs — `urn:li:activity:XXXXXXXXX`\n\n💡 Tip: You can drop hundreds of URLs at once — the actor will process them all and save each result live as soon as it's ready!",
                        "items": {
                            "type": "object",
                            "required": [
                                "url"
                            ],
                            "properties": {
                                "url": {
                                    "type": "string",
                                    "title": "URL of a web page",
                                    "format": "uri"
                                }
                            }
                        }
                    },
                    "validateUrl": {
                        "title": "🌐 Validate URL is reachable",
                        "type": "boolean",
                        "description": "🔍 When ON, the actor performs a lightweight HTTP request to confirm the LinkedIn URL is reachable, and reports the HTTP status & which proxy tier was used.\n\n⚡ When OFF, the actor runs in ultra-fast offline mode — pure timestamp decoding, zero network calls. Perfect for huge batches!\n\n💡 Recommended: leave ON for verified results, switch OFF when you only need creation dates and want maximum speed.",
                        "default": true
                    },
                    "proxyConfiguration": {
                        "title": "🛡️ Proxy Configuration",
                        "type": "object",
                        "description": "🔧 Pick a proxy setup or leave the defaults for our smart auto-escalation strategy 🎯",
                        "default": {
                            "useApifyProxy": false
                        }
                    }
                }
            },
            "runsResponseSchema": {
                "type": "object",
                "properties": {
                    "data": {
                        "type": "object",
                        "properties": {
                            "id": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "actId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "userId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "startedAt": {
                                "type": "string",
                                "format": "date-time",
                                "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z"
                            },
                            "finishedAt": {
                                "type": "string",
                                "format": "date-time",
                                "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z"
                            },
                            "status": {
                                "type": "string",
                                "example": "READY"
                            },
                            "meta": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "origin": {
                                        "type": "string",
                                        "example": "API"
                                    },
                                    "userAgent": {
                                        "type": "string"
                                    }
                                }
                            },
                            "stats": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "inputBodyLen": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 2000
                                    },
                                    "rebootCount": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "restartCount": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "resurrectCount": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "computeUnits": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    }
                                }
                            },
                            "options": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "build": {
                                        "type": "string",
                                        "example": "latest"
                                    },
                                    "timeoutSecs": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 300
                                    },
                                    "memoryMbytes": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 1024
                                    },
                                    "diskMbytes": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 2048
                                    }
                                }
                            },
                            "buildId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "defaultKeyValueStoreId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "defaultDatasetId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "defaultRequestQueueId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "buildNumber": {
                                "type": "string",
                                "example": "1.0.0"
                            },
                            "containerUrl": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "usage": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATASET_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATASET_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 1
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "PROXY_SERPS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    }
                                }
                            },
                            "usageTotalUsd": {
                                "type": "number",
                                "example": 0.00005
                            },
                            "usageUsd": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATASET_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATASET_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "number",
                                        "example": 0.00005
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "PROXY_SERPS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    }
                                }
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    }
}
```