# Tiktok Url Expander (`trinityhades/tiktok-url-expander`) Actor

Follows redirects for one or many shortened TikTok (or any) URLs and returns the final resolved URL plus redirect chain.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/trinityhades/tiktok-url-expander.md
- **Developed by:** [Trinity](https://apify.com/trinityhades) (community)
- **Categories:** Social media, Automation, Agents
- **Stats:** 252 total users, 11 monthly users, 99.9% runs succeeded, 2 bookmarks
- **User rating**: 5.00 out of 5 stars

## Pricing

$10.00 / 1,000 urls

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

### TikTok (and generic) URL Expander

Expand shortened or redirecting URLs (especially TikTok short links like `https://vm.tiktok.com/...`) and obtain the final resolved URL together with the full redirect chain.

Each processed URL becomes one dataset item containing:

```json
{
    "originalUrl": "https://vm.tiktok.com/example/",
    "finalUrl": "https://www.tiktok.com/@user/video/1234567890",
    "redirectChain": ["https://www.tiktok.com/?_r=1", "https://www.tiktok.com/@user/video/1234567890"],
    "totalRedirects": 2,
    "durationMillis": 742
}
```

An `OUTPUT` record in the key-value store includes a summary with the dataset ID and count.

### Included features

- **Apify SDK** for Actor runtime helpers
- **Input schema** supporting single URL (`url`) or multiple URLs (`urlsText` as newline-separated)
- **Dataset output** for structured results
- Manual redirect handling (HEAD first, GET fallback) to log every hop
- Configurable `maxRedirects`, `timeoutMillis`, optional custom `userAgent`

### How it works

1. Reads `url` or `urlsText` from input.
2. For each URL performs a HEAD request with redirects disabled.
3. On 3xx + Location: resolve to absolute URL, append to chain, repeat.
4. If HEAD not allowed / errors (405 / 501 etc.), retries with GET.
5. Stops when non-redirect status or `maxRedirects` hit.
6. Stores result object and logs progress.

### Input schema

Either `url` OR `urlsText` must be provided.

| Field           | Type    | Required    | Default    | Description                            |
| --------------- | ------- | ----------- | ---------- | -------------------------------------- |
| `url`           | string  | conditional | -          | Single URL to expand                   |
| `urlsText`      | string  | conditional | -          | Multiple URLs to expand (one per line) |
| `maxRedirects`  | integer | no          | 10         | Safety cap on redirect depth           |
| `timeoutMillis` | integer | no          | 15000      | Per-request timeout in ms              |
| `userAgent`     | string  | no          | desktop UA | Override User-Agent                    |

#### Example (single URL)

```json
{ "url": "https://vm.tiktok.com/example1/" }
```

#### Example (multiple URLs)

```json
{
    "urlsText": "https://vm.tiktok.com/example1/\nhttps://vm.tiktok.com/example2/",
    "maxRedirects": 10,
    "timeoutMillis": 15000
}
```

### Output

Dataset (default) items: one per input URL.

Retrieve via API:

```
https://api.apify.com/v2/datasets/<DATASET_ID>/items?format=json
```

Key-value store: `OUTPUT` summary object.

### Local development

Install dependencies:

```bash
npm install
```

Run in dev (TypeScript on-the-fly):

```bash
npm run start:dev
```

Build & run production JS:

```bash
npm run build && npm run start:prod
```

### Deploy to Apify

Login (if needed) then push:

```bash
apify login
apify push
```

### Documentation reference

- [Apify SDK (JS)](https://docs.apify.com/sdk/js)
- [Apify Platform docs](https://docs.apify.com/platform)
- [Discord community](https://discord.com/invite/jyEM2PRvMU)

# Actor input Schema

## `url` (type: `string`):

A single shortened or redirecting URL to expand.

## `urlsText` (type: `string`):

Multiple URLs to expand, separated by newlines. Use this instead of 'url' when processing many URLs.

## `maxRedirects` (type: `integer`):

Safety cap to stop infinite redirect loops (default 10).

## `timeoutMillis` (type: `integer`):

Per-request timeout in milliseconds (default 15000).

## `userAgent` (type: `string`):

Optional User-Agent string to use for requests.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "url": "https://vm.tiktok.com/example/",
  "urlsText": "https://vm.tiktok.com/example1/\nhttps://vm.tiktok.com/example2/",
  "maxRedirects": 10,
  "timeoutMillis": 15000
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `resultsDatasetId` (type: `string`):

Identifier of the dataset created by the actor.

## `count` (type: `string`):

Number of items written to the dataset (serialized as string for UI schema).

# 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 = {
    "url": "https://vm.tiktok.com/example/",
    "urlsText": `https://vm.tiktok.com/example1/
https://vm.tiktok.com/example2/`
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("trinityhades/tiktok-url-expander").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 = {
    "url": "https://vm.tiktok.com/example/",
    "urlsText": """https://vm.tiktok.com/example1/
https://vm.tiktok.com/example2/""",
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("trinityhades/tiktok-url-expander").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 '{
  "url": "https://vm.tiktok.com/example/",
  "urlsText": "https://vm.tiktok.com/example1/\\nhttps://vm.tiktok.com/example2/"
}' |
apify call trinityhades/tiktok-url-expander --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

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

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/cRpVzUjw5vs3wFVWa/builds/SLYuz8wywDBNalUVD/openapi.json