# Substack Scraper - Posts, Authors & Search (`thirdwatch/substack-scraper`) Actor

Scrape Substack publications: titles, subtitles, authors, dates, reactions, comment counts, and full post content. Keyword search across any newsletter.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/thirdwatch/substack-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Thirdwatch](https://apify.com/thirdwatch) (community)
- **Categories:** News, Marketing
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 0.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $1.20 / 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/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
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.

- **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use).
- **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`.
- **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`.
- **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`.
- **Any other language** — 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 Scraper — Posts, Authors & Search

> **Thirdwatch portfolio:** 5K users across 97 public Actors, 2M+ records delivered, and >99% run success. [Explore all Thirdwatch Actors](https://apify.com/thirdwatch).

Scrape any public Substack publication through its own JSON API — no browser, no login. Pull post listings with titles, authors, dates, and engagement, optionally expand to full post content, or keyword-search a publication's archive.

Use it for newsletter research, content monitoring, competitive analysis, and building post datasets for AI workflows.

### Why this Actor

- **Official public API:** uses `api/v1/archive` and `api/v1/posts/{slug}` — fast, stable, and cheap (~$0.0003/run).
- **Full post content:** set `includeContent` to get rendered post bodies, not just metadata.
- **Keyword search:** `search` queries the publication's own search index.
- **Publication context on every row:** newsletter name, subdomain, and description.
- **Sorting and limits:** newest/oldest ordering plus `maxPosts` to bound runs.

### Quick start

```json
{
  "publicationUrls": ["https://newsletter.pragmaticengineer.com"],
  "maxPosts": 20,
  "includeContent": false
}
```

Search a publication:

```json
{
  "publicationUrls": ["https://newsletter.pragmaticengineer.com"],
  "search": "hiring",
  "maxPosts": 10
}
```

### Input

| Field | Required | Description |
|---|---:|---|
| `publicationUrls` | Yes | Substack publication URLs or subdomains. |
| `search` | No | Keyword to search within each publication's archive. |
| `maxPosts` | No | Max posts per publication. Default: 50. |
| `includeContent` | No | Fetch full post body per post (one extra request each). Default: `false`. |
| `sort` | No | `new` or `top` ordering where supported. |

### Output

| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| `title`, `subtitle`, `slug`, `url` | Post identity and link. |
| `author` | Post author name. |
| `postDate` | Publication timestamp. |
| `description` | Post excerpt/social description. |
| `reactions`, `commentCount` | Engagement counts. |
| `coverImage`, `podcastUrl` | Media assets when present. |
| `publication` | Newsletter name/subdomain. |
| `type` | `post` or `search_result`. |
| `body` | Full post content when `includeContent` is set. |

### Notes & limitations

- Private/paid posts return metadata only — paywalled bodies aren't fetched.
- Custom-domain publications are supported; the Actor resolves the underlying Substack API host automatically.

# Actor input Schema

## `publicationUrls` (type: `array`):

Substack publication URLs or hostnames, e.g. https://newsletter.pragmaticengineer.com or platformer.news. Custom domains work too.

## `search` (type: `string`):

Only return posts matching this search inside each publication. Leave empty for the latest posts.

## `maxPosts` (type: `integer`):

Maximum posts to return per publication.

## `includeContent` (type: `boolean`):

Fetch each post's full HTML body and plain text. Slower and roughly doubles request count.

## `sort` (type: `string`):

Substack archive sort order.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "publicationUrls": [
    "https://newsletter.pragmaticengineer.com"
  ],
  "maxPosts": 20,
  "includeContent": false,
  "sort": "new"
}
```

# Actor output Schema

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

No description

# 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 = {
    "publicationUrls": [
        "https://newsletter.pragmaticengineer.com"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("thirdwatch/substack-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 '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = { "publicationUrls": ["https://newsletter.pragmaticengineer.com"] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("thirdwatch/substack-scraper").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 '{
  "publicationUrls": [
    "https://newsletter.pragmaticengineer.com"
  ]
}' |
apify call thirdwatch/substack-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

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

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/WTAGe9ezC9zFaEG6z/builds/x04rFduRRuH7G3GcB/openapi.json