# Bulk HTTP Request Runner: retries, pagination & JSONPath (`steadyline/http-request-runner`) Actor

Run thousands of HTTP/API requests from a list or a template: auth (bearer, basic, API key), per-host rate limits, retries with Retry-After, pagination (Link header, cursor, page/offset), JSONPath/JMESPath extraction and HTML-to-Markdown. Secrets are never echoed. By Steadyline Data.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/steadyline/http-request-runner.md
- **Developed by:** [Steadyline Data](https://apify.com/steadyline) (community)
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $0.80 / 1,000 requests

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/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## 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

## Bulk HTTP Request Runner: retries, pagination & JSONPath extraction

Run anything from a few to 100,000 HTTP/API requests from a plain list or from **one template plus a list of variables**. You get clean, structured results: status, the useful response headers, timing, the parsed JSON, values extracted with JSONPath or JMESPath, and HTML converted to Markdown. Retries, per-host rate limits and pagination are handled for you. Your credentials never appear in the output.

Use it for API backfills, enrichment jobs, health checks, polling endpoints, feeding LLM pipelines with Markdown, or any "call this URL for every row in my spreadsheet" task, without writing or hosting code.

### Features

- **Two ways to define requests:** a `requests` list (`method`, `url`, `headers`, `query`, `body`), or a `template` with `{{placeholders}}` plus `variables`. A placeholder that is the whole value keeps its type, so numbers stay numbers in JSON bodies.
- **Authentication:** Bearer, Basic, or an API-key header. These are entered in secret input fields, which the platform stores encrypted.
- **Secrets are never echoed:**
  - Values from the authentication fields are removed from URLs, headers, bodies, extracted values and Markdown.
  - Authorization and cookie headers, and headers or query parameters with names like `token`, `key`, `secret` or `signature`, show as `[redacted]`.
- **Politeness built in:** overall concurrency (hard cap 20) and requests per second per host (hard cap 10/s).
- **Retries:** on network errors, 408, 425, 429 and 5xx, up to 5 times. `Retry-After` is honored (capped at 120 s). Otherwise backoff is exponential with jitter.
- **Pagination:**
  - `linkHeader` (GitHub style `rel="next"`)
  - `jsonCursor` (a cursor value or next URL at a JSONPath)
  - `page` and `offset` parameters
  - `maxPages` up to 1000, with `itemsPath` to stop on an empty page
- **Parsing:** automatic JSON detection, `extract` rules (JSONPath or JMESPath), and an HTML→Markdown option that keeps main or article content and drops nav, scripts and footers. Raw body storage can be turned off, and `maxBodyBytes` caps the body size (hard cap 10 MB).

### Output (one row per request or page)

`id`, `pageIndex`, `request` (method, redacted URL, redacted headers, hasBody), `status`, `ok`, `finalUrl`, `durationMs`, `attempts`, `headers` (content-type, link, retry-after, rate-limit headers, etag, and others), `contentType`, `bodyBytes`, `bodyTruncated`, `extracted`, `json` or `body`, `markdown`, `error`.

### Output sample

Real output from a test run (GitHub issues with Link-header pagination and JMESPath `[].title` / `[].number`, plus example.com converted to Markdown). The `json` field is shortened here:

```json
[
  {
    "id": "gh-issues",
    "pageIndex": 0,
    "request": {
      "method": "GET",
      "url": "https://api.github.com/repos/apify/crawlee/issues?per_page=3&state=all",
      "headers": {
        "accept": "application/vnd.github+json"
      },
      "hasBody": false
    },
    "status": 200,
    "ok": true,
    "finalUrl": "https://api.github.com/repos/apify/crawlee/issues?per_page=3&state=all",
    "durationMs": 368,
    "attempts": 1,
    "headers": {
      "content-type": "application/json; charset=utf-8",
      "content-length": "2695",
      "content-encoding": "gzip",
      "link": "<https://api.github.com/repositories/66670819/issues?per_page=3&state=all&after=Y3Vyc29yOnYyOpLPAAABoYhLpAjPAAAAAWvFpZs%3D&page=2>; rel=\"next\"",
      "etag": "W/\"63eb12b0f4552d4469152ba3669f405daf6267d6f23ee575fa6d9c7a5bb7a816\"",
      "cache-control": "public, max-age=60, s-maxage=60",
      "x-ratelimit-limit": "60",
      "x-ratelimit-remaining": "51",
      "x-ratelimit-reset": "1793339689"
    },
    "contentType": "application/json; charset=utf-8",
    "bodyBytes": 14343,
    "bodyTruncated": false,
    "extracted": {
      "titles": [
        "fix(http)!: verify TLS certificates by default",
        "test(basic-crawler): pin that minConcurrency tasks keep running under overload",
        "`npx crawlee create` templates are broken"
      ],
      "numbers": [
        4317,
        4316,
        4315
      ]
    },
    "json": "[… 3 issue objects, omitted here …]",
    "body": null,
    "markdown": null,
    "error": null
  },
  {
    "id": "html-md",
    "pageIndex": 0,
    "request": {
      "method": "GET",
      "url": "https://example.com/",
      "headers": {},
      "hasBody": false
    },
    "status": 200,
    "ok": true,
    "finalUrl": "https://example.com/",
    "durationMs": 66,
    "attempts": 1,
    "headers": {
      "content-type": "text/html; charset=utf-8",
      "content-encoding": "br",
      "last-modified": "Thu, 29 Oct 2026 13:15:03 GMT"
    },
    "contentType": "text/html; charset=utf-8",
    "bodyBytes": 577,
    "bodyTruncated": false,
    "extracted": null,
    "json": null,
    "body": null,
    "markdown": "This domain is for use in documentation examples without needing permission. This is not a service; avoid relying on it for testing and monitoring purposes.",
    "error": null
  }
]
```

### Pricing (pay per event)

| Event | Price |
|---|---|
| `request`: one successful response (2xx/3xx, or a code you list in `allowedStatusCodes`); each pagination page counts as one | $0.0008 |

**Failures are never charged.** Network errors, timeouts, 4xx/5xx after all retries, and invalid URLs are stored with an `error` but cost nothing. Retries of a request that finally succeeds count as one request.
**Cost example:** 10,000 API lookups via a template, with 2 pages each = 20,000 successful requests × $0.0008 = **$16**.

### Acceptable use

This tool sends the requests **you** define, so you are responsible for them. Only call APIs and websites you are allowed to use. Follow their terms of service, authentication rules and published rate limits. **Do not use it for denial of service, load or stress testing of systems you don't own, credential stuffing, or getting around access controls.** Concurrency and per-host rate have hard caps to prevent abuse. Don't send personal data you have no lawful basis to process. We may stop runs that break these rules.

Made by **Steadyline Data**.

# Actor input Schema

## `requests` (type: `array`):

List of {id?, method?, url, headers?, query?, body?}. Body objects are sent as JSON.

## `template` (type: `object`):

Optional template with {{placeholders}}, e.g. {"url": "https://api.example.com/users/{{id}}", "method": "GET"}. One request per item in Variables.

## `variables` (type: `array`):

List of objects, e.g. \[{"id": 1}, {"id": 2}]. Secrets are not available as variables; use the Authentication fields.

## `globalHeaders` (type: `object`):

Headers added to every request (request headers override).

## `authType` (type: `string`):

Added to every request. Secret values are redacted from all output.

## `bearerToken` (type: `string`):

For authType=bearer.

## `basicUsername` (type: `string`):

For authType=basic.

## `basicPassword` (type: `string`):

For authType=basic.

## `apiKeyHeaderName` (type: `string`):

For authType=apiKeyHeader.

## `apiKey` (type: `string`):

For authType=apiKeyHeader.

## `maxConcurrency` (type: `integer`):

Parallel requests overall. Hard cap 20.

## `ratePerHostPerSec` (type: `number`):

Hard cap 10/s per host.

## `maxRetries` (type: `integer`):

Retries on network errors, 408, 425, 429 and 5xx (not 501). Honors Retry-After (capped at 120 s), else exponential backoff with jitter.

## `retryBaseMs` (type: `integer`):

First retry delay; doubles each attempt.

## `timeoutSecs` (type: `integer`):

Per attempt.

## `maxRequests` (type: `integer`):

Safety cap on recorded requests including pagination pages.

## `pagination` (type: `object`):

{type: none|linkHeader|jsonCursor|page|offset, maxPages (≤1000), cursorPath ($.next), cursorParam (cursor), pageParam (page), startPage (1), offsetParam (offset), startOffset (0), pageSize, sizeParam, itemsPath (stop on empty page)}. A full URL in the cursor is followed directly.

## `extract` (type: `object`):

Map of outputName → expression, evaluated on JSON responses.

## `extractLanguage` (type: `string`):

JSONPath ($.items\[\*].id) or JMESPath (items\[].id).

## `parseAs` (type: `string`):

auto = JSON when content-type says so or the body looks like JSON.

## `outputMarkdown` (type: `boolean`):

Add a markdown field for HTML responses (main/article content; nav, scripts and footers removed).

## `storeBody` (type: `boolean`):

Store the parsed JSON (json) or raw text (body). Turn off to keep only status, headers and extracted values.

## `maxBodyBytes` (type: `integer`):

Bodies are truncated beyond this (hard cap 10 MB). Truncated JSON is not parsed.

## `allowedStatusCodes` (type: `array`):

Extra status codes counted as success (and charged), e.g. \[404] when 'not found' is a valid answer.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "requests": [
    {
      "id": "crawlee-issues",
      "url": "https://api.github.com/repos/apify/crawlee/issues",
      "query": {
        "per_page": "5",
        "state": "all"
      },
      "headers": {
        "Accept": "application/vnd.github+json"
      }
    },
    {
      "id": "example-page",
      "url": "https://example.com/"
    }
  ],
  "globalHeaders": {},
  "authType": "none",
  "apiKeyHeaderName": "x-api-key",
  "maxConcurrency": 5,
  "ratePerHostPerSec": 2,
  "maxRetries": 3,
  "retryBaseMs": 1000,
  "timeoutSecs": 30,
  "maxRequests": 1000,
  "pagination": {
    "type": "linkHeader",
    "maxPages": 2
  },
  "extract": {
    "titles": "$[*].title",
    "numbers": "$[*].number"
  },
  "extractLanguage": "jsonpath",
  "parseAs": "auto",
  "outputMarkdown": false,
  "storeBody": true,
  "maxBodyBytes": 1048576,
  "allowedStatusCodes": []
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

One row per request / page.

## `markdown` (type: `string`):

HTML responses converted to markdown.

# 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 = {
    "requests": [
        {
            "id": "crawlee-issues",
            "url": "https://api.github.com/repos/apify/crawlee/issues",
            "query": {
                "per_page": "5",
                "state": "all"
            },
            "headers": {
                "Accept": "application/vnd.github+json"
            }
        },
        {
            "id": "example-page",
            "url": "https://example.com/"
        }
    ],
    "pagination": {
        "type": "linkHeader",
        "maxPages": 2
    },
    "extract": {
        "titles": "$[*].title",
        "numbers": "$[*].number"
    }
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("steadyline/http-request-runner").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 = {
    "requests": [
        {
            "id": "crawlee-issues",
            "url": "https://api.github.com/repos/apify/crawlee/issues",
            "query": {
                "per_page": "5",
                "state": "all",
            },
            "headers": { "Accept": "application/vnd.github+json" },
        },
        {
            "id": "example-page",
            "url": "https://example.com/",
        },
    ],
    "pagination": {
        "type": "linkHeader",
        "maxPages": 2,
    },
    "extract": {
        "titles": "$[*].title",
        "numbers": "$[*].number",
    },
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("steadyline/http-request-runner").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 '{
  "requests": [
    {
      "id": "crawlee-issues",
      "url": "https://api.github.com/repos/apify/crawlee/issues",
      "query": {
        "per_page": "5",
        "state": "all"
      },
      "headers": {
        "Accept": "application/vnd.github+json"
      }
    },
    {
      "id": "example-page",
      "url": "https://example.com/"
    }
  ],
  "pagination": {
    "type": "linkHeader",
    "maxPages": 2
  },
  "extract": {
    "titles": "$[*].title",
    "numbers": "$[*].number"
  }
}' |
apify call steadyline/http-request-runner --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,steadyline/http-request-runner"
        }
    }
}
```

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/DGNS1AbNgfarxOjR8/builds/Fs9ybCUKE5VbFli1a/openapi.json