# 4Chan Thread & Board Scraper (`thescrapelab/4chan-thread-board-scraper`) Actor Scrape threads from one or more 4chan boards using the official 4chan JSON API. Collect structured thread data, original posts, optional replies, attachments, extracted links, participant summaries, and thread-level metadata for research, monitoring, archiving, and downstream analysis. - **URL**: https://apify.com/thescrapelab/4chan-thread-board-scraper.md - **Developed by:** [Inus Grobler](https://apify.com/thescrapelab) (community) - **Categories:** Other, News, Social media - **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 1 bookmarks - **User rating**: No ratings yet ## Pricing from $1.25 / 1,000 results 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 ## 4chan JSON API Scraper Scrape threads from one or more 4chan boards through the official 4chan JSON API. This actor is useful when you want structured thread data for research, monitoring, archiving, enrichment, or downstream analysis. You choose which boards to scrape, how many threads to collect from each board, and whether to include replies or just the original post. ### What The Actor Does - Fetches the current catalog for each selected board - Collects up to your chosen number of threads per board - Stores thread metadata, original post data, attachment details, and optional replies - Enriches output with catalog context, participation summaries, and extracted links ### Input #### `boards` List of boards to scrape, without slashes. Example: ```json ["g", "biz", "tv"] ```` Default: `["g"]` #### `maxThreadsPerBoard` Maximum number of threads to collect from each selected board. Example: ```json 20 ``` Default: `10` #### `scrapeReplies` - `true`: store the original post and all available replies in each thread - `false`: store only the original post, while still keeping thread-level counts and summary metadata Default: `true` #### `proxyConfiguration` Optional proxy settings for the requests. By default, the actor uses direct requests because the public 4chan JSON API is usually faster without a proxy. Enable Apify Proxy or provide custom proxy URLs only when your environment needs it. ### Output Each dataset item represents one scraped post row with repeated thread-level metadata. Top-level fields include: - `board` - `threadId` - `threadUrl` - `apiUrl` - `scrapedAt` - `subject` - `semanticUrl` - `replyCount` - `imageCount` - `isSticky` - `isClosed` - `isArchived` - `archivedOn` - `catalog` - `stats` - `participants` - `links` - `post` #### `catalog` Board catalog context for the thread, including: - catalog page number - last modified timestamp - omitted reply count - omitted image count - recent reply post IDs when available #### `stats` Thread-level summary fields, including: - total posts and replies in the thread - how many posts and replies are stored in the dataset item - attachment totals - quote counts - external link counts - board reference counts - simple content flags such as code and greentext counts #### `participants` Participant summaries, including: - unique poster IDs when present - countries represented in the thread when present #### `links` Extracted link-related fields, including: - external links - external domains - quoted post IDs - board references such as `>>>/g/123456789` #### `post` Each post record can include: - author and subject - timestamp and formatted posting date - comment HTML and cleaned comment text - quote targets - board references - external links - attachment metadata - content flags such as `containsCode` and `containsGreentext` ### Best Practices - Use `scrapeReplies: true` when you need full thread content. - Use `scrapeReplies: false` when you want faster, lighter discovery runs across many boards. - Start with a smaller `maxThreadsPerBoard` if you are exploring new board mixes. The default value of `10` is chosen to keep quick validation and test runs lightweight. - Split very wide crawls across multiple runs if you are scraping many boards at once. ### Large Scraping Guidance This actor has been tested on larger multi-board runs and works well for long-running scrapes. For the best production experience: - Use separate runs for very broad board coverage instead of putting every board into one run. - Keep reply scraping enabled only when you need full thread bodies. - Use leaner discovery runs first, then follow up with deeper runs on boards or threads that matter most. In practice, splitting large board lists across scheduled runs is the safest approach for high-volume scraping. ### Notes - Invalid or unavailable boards are skipped. - Threads that disappear before they are fetched are skipped. - Very large threads may be split into multiple dataset items to stay within dataset size limits. - The actor only returns data available through the public 4chan JSON API at the time of scraping. # Actor input Schema ## `boards` (type: `array`): List of 4chan boards to scrape, without slashes. ## `maxThreadsPerBoard` (type: `integer`): Maximum number of threads to fetch from each selected board. The default is intentionally conservative so the prefilled run stays fast. ## `scrapeReplies` (type: `boolean`): If enabled, the actor stores each reply as its own dataset row. If disabled, only the original post is stored for each thread. ## `proxyConfiguration` (type: `object`): Optional Apify Proxy or custom proxy configuration for the JSON API requests. Direct requests are used by default because the public 4chan JSON API is usually faster without a proxy. ## Actor input object example ```json { "boards": [ "g" ], "maxThreadsPerBoard": 10, "scrapeReplies": true, "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": false } } ``` # Actor output Schema ## `results` (type: `string`): Scraped 4chan threads stored in the default dataset. The Overview view is selected by default. ## `runInput` (type: `string`): The input used to start the actor run. ## `crawlerStats` (type: `string`): Runtime crawler statistics recorded during the run. # 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 = { "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": false } }; // Run the Actor and wait for it to finish const run = await client.actor("thescrapelab/4chan-thread-board-scraper").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 = { "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": False } } # Run the Actor and wait for it to finish run = client.actor("thescrapelab/4chan-thread-board-scraper").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 '{ "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": false } }' | apify call thescrapelab/4chan-thread-board-scraper --silent --output-dataset ``` ## MCP server setup ```json { "mcpServers": { "apify": { "command": "npx", "args": [ "mcp-remote", "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=thescrapelab/4chan-thread-board-scraper", "--header", "Authorization: Bearer " ] } } } ``` ## OpenAPI specification ```json { "openapi": "3.0.1", "info": { "title": "4Chan Thread & Board Scraper", "description": "Scrape threads from one or more 4chan boards using the official 4chan JSON API. Collect structured thread data, original posts, optional replies, attachments, extracted links, participant summaries, and thread-level metadata for research, monitoring, archiving, and downstream analysis.", "version": "0.0", "x-build-id": "fsDAuidYpaT5jOKTR" }, "servers": [ { "url": "https://api.apify.com/v2" } ], "paths": { "/acts/thescrapelab~4chan-thread-board-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-get-dataset-items-thescrapelab-4chan-thread-board-scraper", "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": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK" } } } }, "/acts/thescrapelab~4chan-thread-board-scraper/runs": { "post": { "operationId": "runs-sync-thescrapelab-4chan-thread-board-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor and returns information about the initiated run in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$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": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/runsResponseSchema" } } } } } } }, "/acts/thescrapelab~4chan-thread-board-scraper/run-sync": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-thescrapelab-4chan-thread-board-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for completion, and returns the OUTPUT from Key-value store in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$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": { "boards": { "title": "Boards", "type": "array", "description": "List of 4chan boards to scrape, without slashes.", "items": { "type": "string" }, "default": [ "g" ] }, "maxThreadsPerBoard": { "title": "Max Threads Per Board", "minimum": 1, "type": "integer", "description": "Maximum number of threads to fetch from each selected board. The default is intentionally conservative so the prefilled run stays fast.", "default": 10 }, "scrapeReplies": { "title": "Include Replies As Separate Rows", "type": "boolean", "description": "If enabled, the actor stores each reply as its own dataset row. If disabled, only the original post is stored for each thread.", "default": true }, "proxyConfiguration": { "title": "Proxy Configuration", "type": "object", "description": "Optional Apify Proxy or custom proxy configuration for the JSON API requests. Direct requests are used by default because the public 4chan JSON API is usually faster without a proxy." } } }, "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 } } } } } } } } } } ```