# Substack Post Content Fetcher (`seemuapps/substack-post-content`) Actor
Fetch the full HTML content of any public Substack post by URL. Body text, title, subtitle, tags, engagement stats, and author details.
- **URL**: https://apify.com/seemuapps/substack-post-content.md
- **Developed by:** [Andrew](https://apify.com/seemuapps) (community)
- **Categories:** News, Lead generation, Social media
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, NaN bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet
## Pricing
from $3.50 / 1,000 post fetcheds
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 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
## Substack Post Content Fetcher
Fetch the full HTML body of any public Substack post by URL — complete article content, title, subtitle, tags, engagement stats, and author details.
### What you get
- **Post identifiers**: postId, postUrl
- **Headline fields**: title, subtitle, description
- **Full body content**: `bodyHtml` — complete HTML of the post body, ready for parsing, indexing, or rendering
- **Publishing data**: publishedAt, updatedAt, type, language, paywall status, word count
- **Engagement metrics**: likes count, comments count, restacks count
- **Tags**: array of tag names assigned to the post
- **Visuals**: cover image URL
- **Author details**: author name and handle
- **Run metadata**: scrapedAt timestamp on every record
For free and public posts, `bodyHtml` is the full article. For paywalled posts, `bodyHtml` returns the public preview only.
### Use cases
- **Newsletter content analysis** — read and analyze full articles at scale
- **Text mining and NLP research** — extract entities, topics, and sentiment from real-world long-form writing
- **Training dataset construction** — build clean corpora of newsletter content for LLM fine-tuning or evaluation
- **Content archiving** — preserve full post bodies in your own storage
- **SEO and competitive research** — see exactly what your competitors are publishing, word for word
- **Programmatic reading and summarization** — feed full posts into a summarizer, translator, or RAG pipeline
### How to use
1. Paste one or more Substack post URLs into **Post URLs** (each URL must include `/p/{slug}`; works with `*.substack.com` subdomains and custom domains)
2. Run the actor — results appear in the **Dataset** tab
3. Export to JSON, CSV, or Google Sheets, or feed `bodyHtml` into your downstream pipeline
Pair this actor with the **Substack Post Scraper** to first build a list of post URLs from a publication's archive, then fetch the full content for each one.
### Output format
Each dataset record:
```json
{
"postId": 182510930,
"postUrl": "https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/three-model-organisms-for-taste",
"title": "Three Model Organisms For Taste",
"subtitle": "...",
"description": "...",
"bodyHtml": "Full post HTML content...
",
"publishedAt": "2026-05-08T08:50:41.734Z",
"updatedAt": null,
"type": "newsletter",
"isPaywalled": false,
"likesCount": 175,
"commentsCount": 324,
"restacksCount": 5,
"wordCount": 1786,
"coverImageUrl": "https://substackcdn.com/...",
"language": null,
"tags": ["science", "biology"],
"authorName": "Scott Alexander",
"authorHandle": "astralcodexten",
"scrapedAt": "2026-05-09T07:08:37.000Z"
}
````
# Actor input Schema
## `postUrls` (type: `array`):
Full URLs of Substack posts to fetch. Must include /p/{slug} (e.g. https://astralcodexten.substack.com/p/my-post). Works with both substack.com subdomains and custom domains.
## Actor input object example
```json
{
"postUrls": [
"https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/three-model-organisms-for-taste"
]
}
```
# Actor output Schema
## `results` (type: `string`):
Each record contains: postId, postUrl, title, subtitle, description, bodyHtml, publishedAt, updatedAt, type, isPaywalled, likesCount, commentsCount, restacksCount, wordCount, coverImageUrl, language, tags, authorName, authorHandle, scrapedAt.
# 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 '' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
token: '',
});
// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
"postUrls": [
"https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/three-model-organisms-for-taste"
]
};
// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("seemuapps/substack-post-content").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 '' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("")
# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = { "postUrls": ["https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/three-model-organisms-for-taste"] }
# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("seemuapps/substack-post-content").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 '{
"postUrls": [
"https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/three-model-organisms-for-taste"
]
}' |
apify call seemuapps/substack-post-content --silent --output-dataset
```
## MCP server setup
```json
{
"mcpServers": {
"apify": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"mcp-remote",
"https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=seemuapps/substack-post-content",
"--header",
"Authorization: Bearer "
]
}
}
}
```
## OpenAPI specification
```json
{
"openapi": "3.0.1",
"info": {
"title": "Substack Post Content Fetcher",
"description": "Fetch the full HTML content of any public Substack post by URL. Body text, title, subtitle, tags, engagement stats, and author details.",
"version": "1.0",
"x-build-id": "5GHhMaGXvaAtdRKci"
},
"servers": [
{
"url": "https://api.apify.com/v2"
}
],
"paths": {
"/acts/seemuapps~substack-post-content/run-sync-get-dataset-items": {
"post": {
"operationId": "run-sync-get-dataset-items-seemuapps-substack-post-content",
"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": {
"$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema"
}
}
}
},
"parameters": [
{
"name": "token",
"in": "query",
"required": true,
"schema": {
"type": "string"
},
"description": "Enter your Apify token here"
}
],
"responses": {
"200": {
"description": "OK"
}
}
}
},
"/acts/seemuapps~substack-post-content/runs": {
"post": {
"operationId": "runs-sync-seemuapps-substack-post-content",
"x-openai-isConsequential": false,
"summary": "Executes an Actor and returns information about the initiated run in response.",
"tags": [
"Run Actor"
],
"requestBody": {
"required": true,
"content": {
"application/json": {
"schema": {
"$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": {
"$ref": "#/components/schemas/runsResponseSchema"
}
}
}
}
}
}
},
"/acts/seemuapps~substack-post-content/run-sync": {
"post": {
"operationId": "run-sync-seemuapps-substack-post-content",
"x-openai-isConsequential": false,
"summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for completion, and returns the OUTPUT from Key-value store in response.",
"tags": [
"Run Actor"
],
"requestBody": {
"required": true,
"content": {
"application/json": {
"schema": {
"$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": [
"postUrls"
],
"properties": {
"postUrls": {
"title": "Post URLs",
"type": "array",
"description": "Full URLs of Substack posts to fetch. Must include /p/{slug} (e.g. https://astralcodexten.substack.com/p/my-post). Works with both substack.com subdomains and custom domains.",
"items": {
"type": "string"
}
}
}
},
"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
}
}
}
}
}
}
}
}
}
}
```