Steam Discussions Scraper

Extract Steam Community discussion topics from any game app hub. Collect thread titles, authors, reply counts, awards, recent activity, and the full opening post so you can monitor feedback, track recurring issues, and build discussion datasets for research.

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Features

• Discussion topic extraction — Collect thread titles, topic URLs, author names, reply counts, awards, and recent activity timestamps.
• Opening post capture — Visit each topic and save the full opening message for deeper sentiment and feedback analysis.
• Paged collection — Crawl multiple discussion pages until your requested topic count is reached.
• Steam app flexibility — Run from a Steam app ID, Steam Community discussions URL, or Steam Store app URL.
• Clean datasets — Empty and always-null fields are removed before items are saved.

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Use Cases

Community Feedback Monitoring

Track what players are actively discussing after a launch, patch, or balance update. Identify recurring complaints, requests, and bug reports without manually opening every thread.

Product Research

Study how a game's community reacts to new features, early access content, or developer communication. Use topic summaries and opening posts to understand player priorities.

Support Triage

Collect bug reports, save-file issues, and gameplay questions into one dataset. This helps teams spot patterns and prioritize common friction points.

Competitive Analysis

Compare how communities respond across different Steam titles. Build datasets that reveal which topics drive the most replies, awards, and repeat discussion.

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Input Parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
appId	String	No	2868840	Steam app ID used to build the discussions URL when startUrl is not provided.
startUrl	String	No	"https://steamcommunity.com/app/2868840/discussions/"	Steam Community discussions URL or Steam Store app URL. Store URLs auto-resolve app ID.
results_wanted	Integer	No	20	Maximum number of discussion topics to save.
max_pages	Integer	No	3	Maximum number of discussion pages to request.
proxyConfiguration	Object	No	{"useApifyProxy": false}	Optional proxy configuration for larger or repeated runs.

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Output Data

Each dataset item can contain:

Field	Type	Description
app_id	String	Steam app ID for the discussion hub.
app_name	String	Steam app name shown on the discussion page.
forum_id	Integer	Steam forum ID used for the crawl.
forum_name	String	Human-readable forum name when available.
forum_gid	String	Steam internal forum identifier resolved from forum bootstrap data.
page_number	Integer	Listing page number where the topic was discovered.
position	Integer	Topic position on that listing page.
forum_total_topics	Integer	Total active topic count reported by Steam for the forum.
topic_id	String	Steam topic identifier from the discussion URL.
title	String	Discussion topic title.
url	String	Full Steam Community topic URL.
author_name	String	Topic author name.
author_url	String	Topic author profile URL when detail collection is enabled.
reply_count	Integer	Number of replies shown in the listing.
award_count	Integer	Number of awards shown for the topic.
preview	String	Topic preview text shown in the listing tooltip.
created_by	String	Author name repeated from topic hover metadata.
created_at_text	String	Human-readable topic creation time from the listing tooltip.
last_poster_name	String	Author of the most recent post shown in the listing tooltip.
last_posted_at	String	ISO timestamp for the latest activity when Steam exposes it.
last_posted_at_text	String	Human-readable last activity timestamp.
last_posted_text	String	Relative last activity text from the tooltip.
is_pinned	Boolean	Whether the topic is pinned.
is_locked	Boolean	Whether the topic is locked.
is_answered	Boolean	Whether the topic is marked as answered.
opening_posted_at_text	String	Human-readable opening post timestamp.
opening_post_body	String	Plain text opening post content.
opening_post_body_html	String	Original opening post markup.
opening_post_last_edited_text	String	Last edited text shown on the topic page.
is_developer_post	Boolean	Indicates whether the opening post is marked as a developer post.

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Usage Examples

Basic App Discussions Run

{
	"appId": "2868840",
	"results_wanted": 20
}

Specific Discussions URL

{
	"startUrl": "https://steamcommunity.com/app/2868840/discussions/",
	"results_wanted": 30,
	"max_pages": 3
}

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Sample Output

{
	"app_id": "2868840",
	"app_name": "Slay the Spire 2",
	"forum_id": 0,
	"forum_name": "General Discussions",
	"page_number": 1,
	"position": 1,
	"topic_id": "4355620416676744549",
	"title": "Slay the Spire 2 FAQ",
	"url": "https://steamcommunity.com/app/2868840/discussions/0/4355620416676744549/",
	"author_name": "demileaf",
	"author_url": "https://steamcommunity.com/id/demileaf",
	"reply_count": 0,
	"last_posted_at": "2026-03-12T11:43:00.000Z",
	"last_posted_at_text": "1 May, 2024 @ 1:43pm",
	"is_pinned": true,
	"is_locked": true,
	"opening_posted_at_text": "1 May, 2024 @ 1:43pm",
	"opening_post_body": "Hi everyone, welcome to Slay the Spire 2's Steam Forums! We're glad to see so much excitement surrounding the sequel...",
	"opening_post_last_edited_text": "Last edited by demileaf; 2 Mar @ 12:39pm",
	"is_developer_post": true
}

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Tips for Best Results

Start With General Discussions

• Use the main app discussions page first.
• Use the default app discussions URL format unless you need a specific forum URL.

Use Smaller QA Runs First

• Start with results_wanted set to 20.
• Increase the page limit only after you confirm the dataset structure you want.

Detail Fields Are Always Included

• The actor always collects opening post details for each topic.
• This keeps output consistent across runs.

Use Proxies for Larger Repeated Runs

• Small runs usually work without a proxy.
• For heavier production schedules, configure Apify Proxy for added resilience.

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Integrations

• Google Sheets — Export discussion datasets for quick review and sharing.
• Airtable — Build searchable topic libraries for support and research teams.
• Make — Trigger automations when new Steam discussion data is available.
• Zapier — Forward results into downstream tools and alerts.
• Webhooks — Send collected topics directly to your own services.

Export Formats

• JSON — Best for APIs and downstream processing.
• CSV — Best for spreadsheets and simple reporting.
• Excel — Best for manual review and stakeholder sharing.
• XML — Useful for custom system integrations.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Does this scrape Steam store reviews?

No. This actor targets Steam Community discussion topics from the discussions section of an app hub.

Can I scrape more than one page?

Yes. Increase max_pages and results_wanted to continue through additional discussion pages.

Can I skip the full opening post?

No. The actor always includes opening post details to keep output consistent.

Why are some fields missing from some items?

Steam does not expose every field for every topic. Empty values are omitted instead of being saved as nulls.

Will pinned or locked topics be included?

Yes. The actor includes pinned, locked, and answered topics when they appear in the listing.

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Support

For issues or feature requests, use the Apify Console issue channels associated with this actor.

Resources

• Apify Documentation
• Apify API Reference
• Scheduling Runs

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Legal Notice

This actor is intended for legitimate data collection and analysis. You are responsible for using the data in accordance with Steam policies, applicable laws, and your own compliance requirements.