# Sitemap Extractor (All URLs + Status Check) (`scraper-forge/sitemap-extractor`) Actor

Extract every URL from any website's sitemaps: auto-discovery via robots.txt, nested sitemap indexes, gzip, images and hreflang. Optional status-code check to find broken and redirected pages.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/scraper-forge/sitemap-extractor.md
- **Developed by:** [Scraper Forge](https://apify.com/scraper-forge) (community)
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

Pay per usage

This Actor is paid per platform usage. The Actor is free to use, and you only pay for the Apify platform usage, which gets cheaper the higher subscription plan you have.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-usage

## 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

## Sitemap Extractor: All URLs + Status Check

Give it a website, get **every URL from its sitemaps**, with last-modified dates, priorities, images and hreflang alternates. Optionally check every URL's **HTTP status** to find broken (404) and redirected pages that your sitemap still lists.

### Why this one

- 🔍 **Auto-discovery**: reads `robots.txt`, then tries common locations (`/sitemap.xml`, `/sitemap_index.xml`, `/wp-sitemap.xml`, …)
- 🪆 **Nested sitemap indexes** followed automatically (tested with 30+ nested sitemaps)
- 🗜️ **Gzip** (`.xml.gz`) and **plain-text** sitemaps supported
- 🖼️ **Images and hreflang** alternates extracted per URL
- 🩺 **Status check** (optional): status code + redirect target for every URL
- 🎯 **Filters**: include/exclude by regex, "modified since" date
- 🔁 **De-duplicated** URLs; a site without a sitemap never fails the whole run
- ⚡ No browser, so runs are fast and efficient

### Use cases

- **SEO audits**: find 404s, redirects and stale pages listed in the sitemap
- **Content inventory**: list every blog post or product page of a site
- **Competitor monitoring**: schedule daily with *modified since* to see new or updated pages
- **Crawl planning**: feed the URL list into another scraper

### Input example

```json
{
  "startUrls": [{ "url": "https://apify.com" }, { "url": "https://example.com/sitemap_index.xml" }],
  "includePattern": "/blog/",
  "modifiedSince": "2026-09-01",
  "checkStatus": true
}
```

### Output example

```json
{
  "site": "https://apify.com",
  "url": "https://apify.com/about",
  "lastmod": "2026-09-30",
  "changefreq": "weekly",
  "priority": 0.8,
  "imagesCount": 1,
  "images": ["https://apify.com/img/team.jpg"],
  "alternates": [{ "hreflang": "fr", "href": "https://apify.com/fr/about" }],
  "sitemap": "https://apify.com/sitemap/pages.xml",
  "statusCode": 200,
  "redirectTo": null
}
```

`statusCode` and `redirectTo` only appear when **Check HTTP status** is on.

### Tips

- Sitemaps are discovered per **domain**: entering `https://site.com/blog/` reads the whole site's sitemaps. Use **Only URLs matching** (`/blog/`) to narrow down.
- Very large sites: raise **Max URLs per site** (default 50,000).

### FAQ

**The site has no sitemap.** You'll get a row explaining that no sitemap was found; other sites in the run continue normally.

**Is it legal?** Sitemaps are published by sites specifically so they can be read by crawlers.

# Actor input Schema

## `startUrls` (type: `array`):

A homepage (sitemaps are found automatically via robots.txt and common locations) or a direct sitemap URL (.xml, .xml.gz or .txt).

## `maxUrlsPerSite` (type: `integer`):

Stop after this many URLs for each site.

## `includePattern` (type: `string`):

Optional. Example: /blog/ to keep only blog posts.

## `excludePattern` (type: `string`):

Optional. Example: /tag/|/author/

## `modifiedSince` (type: `string`):

Optional. Keep URLs whose lastmod is on/after this date (URLs without lastmod are kept). Great for finding new or updated pages.

## `checkStatus` (type: `boolean`):

Request every URL and report its status code and redirect target: finds broken (404) and redirected pages listed in your sitemap. Slower.

## `statusConcurrency` (type: `integer`):

Only used when checking status.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "startUrls": [
    {
      "url": "https://apify.com"
    }
  ],
  "maxUrlsPerSite": 50000,
  "checkStatus": false,
  "statusConcurrency": 10
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `urls` (type: `string`):

Every URL found in the sitemaps.

## `runSummary` (type: `string`):

Sitemaps read and URLs per site.

# 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 = {
    "startUrls": [
        {
            "url": "https://apify.com"
        }
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("scraper-forge/sitemap-extractor").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 = { "startUrls": [{ "url": "https://apify.com" }] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("scraper-forge/sitemap-extractor").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 '{
  "startUrls": [
    {
      "url": "https://apify.com"
    }
  ]
}' |
apify call scraper-forge/sitemap-extractor --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,scraper-forge/sitemap-extractor"
        }
    }
}
```

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/7cU8hpkpgpa68GQey/builds/zWytsN4xhEsJUMiDc/openapi.json