# Stack Overflow Lead & Question Monitor (`techionik9993/stack-overflow-lead-question-monitor`) Actor This Actor is built for developer lead generation, support monitoring, product research, competitive intelligence, and technology trend tracking. It uses the public Stack Exchange API, so runs are fast, low-cost, and do not need a proxy by default. - **URL**: https://apify.com/techionik9993/stack-overflow-lead-question-monitor.md - **Developed by:** [Techionik](https://apify.com/techionik9993) (community) - **Categories:** Lead generation, SEO tools, Automation - **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks - **User rating**: No ratings yet ## Pricing from $1.20 / 1,000 stack overflow question rows This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events. Since this Actor supports Apify Store discounts, the price gets lower the higher subscription plan you have. 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 ## Stack Overflow Lead & Question Monitor Find Stack Overflow questions that reveal developer pain points, integration problems, product gaps, migration issues, and technical demand signals. This Actor is built for developer lead generation, support monitoring, product research, competitive intelligence, and technology trend tracking. It uses the public Stack Exchange API, so runs are fast, low-cost, and do not need a proxy by default. ### What It Returns - Stack Overflow question title and URL - Source query or source tag - Question tags - Owner name/profile URL when available - Score, answer count, view count, and answered status - Created and last-activity timestamps - Relevance score and matched source terms - Intent score and matched problem/lead keywords - Monitoring mode for newly discovered questions ### Common Uses - Find developers struggling with an API, integration, or framework - Track unanswered questions around a product or competitor - Monitor migration and alternative requests - Discover support content opportunities - Watch market demand around a technical category - Build developer prospecting lists from fresh questions ### Input Tips Use focused queries and tags. Good query examples: - `stripe webhook error` - `shopify app api` - `openai api error` - `firebase alternative` - `postgres performance` - `hubspot api integration` Good tag examples: - `stripe` - `shopify` - `openai-api` - `postgresql` - `salesforce` Set `questionStatus` to `Unanswered only` when you want stronger support/consulting lead signals. ### Result Limits `maxResults` is a maximum cap, not a guarantee. The Actor only writes rows that pass your relevance, score, date, and intent filters. Use `maxResultsPerSource` when you provide several queries/tags and want balanced output. For example, with `maxResults` set to 500 and 5 sources, set `maxResultsPerSource` to 100. The minimum `maxResults` is 50 so runs are commercially practical and users are charged for meaningful output. ### Monitoring Enable `monitorChanges` to compare the current run against the previous snapshot in the Actor key-value store. When `onlyChanges` is enabled, the dataset contains only newly detected questions. When it is disabled, the dataset contains the current full result set while the change snapshot is still stored for automation. ### Proxy Use No proxy is needed by default. This Actor uses a public API and does not run a browser, which keeps speed high and usage cost low. ### Output Each dataset row represents one Stack Overflow question. The primary output event is one dataset row. ### Notes This Actor is not affiliated with Stack Overflow or Stack Exchange. It reads public Stack Exchange API results and stores structured rows in your Apify dataset. # Actor input Schema ## `searchQueries` (type: `array`): Search phrases to find developer questions, integration problems, alternatives, and technical pain points. ## `tags` (type: `array`): Optional Stack Overflow tags to scan, without brackets. Use focused tags such as stripe, shopify, openai-api, react, postgres, or salesforce. ## `site` (type: `string`): Stack Exchange site API key. Use stackoverflow for Stack Overflow. ## `sort` (type: `string`): Newest is best for monitoring. Activity finds recently updated questions. ## `questionStatus` (type: `string`): Open or unanswered questions often contain stronger support, product, or consulting opportunities. ## `maxResults` (type: `integer`): Maximum rows to write for the whole run. The minimum is 50 for better marketplace economics. ## `maxResultsPerSource` (type: `integer`): Optional cap per query/tag so one broad source does not fill the entire run. Use 0 for no source cap. ## `pagesPerSource` (type: `integer`): How many API pages to scan per query or tag. Each page requests up to 100 questions. ## `daysBack` (type: `integer`): Only include questions from the last N days. Use 0 to disable date filtering. ## `minimumScore` (type: `integer`): Filter questions by Stack Overflow score. Use 0 to keep all fresh questions. ## `intentKeywords` (type: `array`): Keywords used to score support, lead, and product pain intent. ## `minimumRelevanceScore` (type: `integer`): Minimum number of meaningful query/tag words that must appear in the question title or tags. ## `minimumIntentScore` (type: `integer`): Minimum number of intent keywords required. Use 0 for broad research, 1+ for stronger lead signals. ## `monitorChanges` (type: `boolean`): Compare against the previous saved snapshot and detect newly found questions. ## `onlyChanges` (type: `boolean`): When monitoring is enabled, write only newly detected questions to the dataset. ## Actor input object example ```json { "searchQueries": [ "hubspot api", "firebase alternative", "postgres performance" ], "tags": [ "stripe", "shopify", "openai-api" ], "site": "stackoverflow", "sort": "creation", "questionStatus": "all", "maxResults": 100, "maxResultsPerSource": 0, "pagesPerSource": 3, "daysBack": 365, "minimumScore": 0, "intentKeywords": [ "error", "problem", "alternative", "migrate" ], "minimumRelevanceScore": 1, "minimumIntentScore": 0, "monitorChanges": false, "onlyChanges": false } ```` # Actor output Schema ## `results` (type: `string`): Normal runs contain Stack Overflow question rows. When output-only-changes is enabled, rows contain newly detected questions. # 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 = { "searchQueries": [ "stripe webhook error", "shopify app api", "openai api error" ] }; // Run the Actor and wait for it to finish const run = await client.actor("techionik9993/stack-overflow-lead-question-monitor").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 = { "searchQueries": [ "stripe webhook error", "shopify app api", "openai api error", ] } # Run the Actor and wait for it to finish run = client.actor("techionik9993/stack-overflow-lead-question-monitor").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 '{ "searchQueries": [ "stripe webhook error", "shopify app api", "openai api error" ] }' | apify call techionik9993/stack-overflow-lead-question-monitor --silent --output-dataset ``` ## MCP server setup ```json { "mcpServers": { "apify": { "command": "npx", "args": [ "mcp-remote", "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=techionik9993/stack-overflow-lead-question-monitor", "--header", "Authorization: Bearer " ] } } } ``` ## OpenAPI specification ```json { "openapi": "3.0.1", "info": { "title": "Stack Overflow Lead & Question Monitor", "description": "This Actor is built for developer lead generation, support monitoring, product research, competitive intelligence, and technology trend tracking. It uses the public Stack Exchange API, so runs are fast, low-cost, and do not need a proxy by default.", "version": "0.0", "x-build-id": "7IAktISn5EDPBrIWO" }, "servers": [ { "url": "https://api.apify.com/v2" } ], "paths": { "/acts/techionik9993~stack-overflow-lead-question-monitor/run-sync-get-dataset-items": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-get-dataset-items-techionik9993-stack-overflow-lead-question-monitor", "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": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK" } } } }, "/acts/techionik9993~stack-overflow-lead-question-monitor/runs": { "post": { "operationId": "runs-sync-techionik9993-stack-overflow-lead-question-monitor", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor and returns information about the initiated run in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$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": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/runsResponseSchema" } } } } } } }, "/acts/techionik9993~stack-overflow-lead-question-monitor/run-sync": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-techionik9993-stack-overflow-lead-question-monitor", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for completion, and returns the OUTPUT from Key-value store in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$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", "properties": { "searchQueries": { "title": "Search queries", "type": "array", "description": "Search phrases to find developer questions, integration problems, alternatives, and technical pain points.", "default": [ "stripe webhook error", "shopify app api", "openai api error" ], "items": { "type": "string" } }, "tags": { "title": "Tags", "type": "array", "description": "Optional Stack Overflow tags to scan, without brackets. Use focused tags such as stripe, shopify, openai-api, react, postgres, or salesforce.", "default": [], "items": { "type": "string" } }, "site": { "title": "Stack Exchange site", "enum": [ "stackoverflow", "superuser", "serverfault" ], "type": "string", "description": "Stack Exchange site API key. Use stackoverflow for Stack Overflow.", "default": "stackoverflow" }, "sort": { "title": "Sort", "enum": [ "creation", "activity", "relevance", "votes" ], "type": "string", "description": "Newest is best for monitoring. Activity finds recently updated questions.", "default": "creation" }, "questionStatus": { "title": "Question status", "enum": [ "all", "unanswered", "open" ], "type": "string", "description": "Open or unanswered questions often contain stronger support, product, or consulting opportunities.", "default": "all" }, "maxResults": { "title": "Max results", "minimum": 50, "maximum": 2000, "type": "integer", "description": "Maximum rows to write for the whole run. The minimum is 50 for better marketplace economics.", "default": 100 }, "maxResultsPerSource": { "title": "Max results per source", "minimum": 0, "maximum": 1000, "type": "integer", "description": "Optional cap per query/tag so one broad source does not fill the entire run. Use 0 for no source cap.", "default": 0 }, "pagesPerSource": { "title": "Pages per source", "minimum": 1, "maximum": 20, "type": "integer", "description": "How many API pages to scan per query or tag. Each page requests up to 100 questions.", "default": 3 }, "daysBack": { "title": "Days back", "minimum": 0, "maximum": 3650, "type": "integer", "description": "Only include questions from the last N days. Use 0 to disable date filtering.", "default": 365 }, "minimumScore": { "title": "Minimum Stack Overflow score", "minimum": -100, "maximum": 1000, "type": "integer", "description": "Filter questions by Stack Overflow score. Use 0 to keep all fresh questions.", "default": 0 }, "intentKeywords": { "title": "Intent keywords", "type": "array", "description": "Keywords used to score support, lead, and product pain intent.", "default": [ "error", "issue", "problem", "fail", "broken", "alternative", "recommend", "integrate", "migrate", "slow", "help" ], "items": { "type": "string" } }, "minimumRelevanceScore": { "title": "Minimum relevance score", "minimum": 0, "maximum": 10, "type": "integer", "description": "Minimum number of meaningful query/tag words that must appear in the question title or tags.", "default": 1 }, "minimumIntentScore": { "title": "Minimum intent score", "minimum": 0, "maximum": 10, "type": "integer", "description": "Minimum number of intent keywords required. Use 0 for broad research, 1+ for stronger lead signals.", "default": 0 }, "monitorChanges": { "title": "Monitor changes since last run", "type": "boolean", "description": "Compare against the previous saved snapshot and detect newly found questions.", "default": false }, "onlyChanges": { "title": "Output only new questions", "type": "boolean", "description": "When monitoring is enabled, write only newly detected questions to the dataset.", "default": 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 } } } } } } } } } } ```