# Price & Stock Monitor (`vedder1980/price-stock-monitor`) Actor Monitor product pages for price and stock changes with lightweight snapshots and actionable alerts. - **URL**: https://apify.com/vedder1980/price-stock-monitor.md - **Developed by:** [Daniel Ferreira de Almeida](https://apify.com/vedder1980) (community) - **Categories:** E-commerce, Automation - **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 66.7% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks - **User rating**: No ratings yet ## Pricing Pay per usage This Actor is paid per platform usage. The Actor is free to use, and you only pay for the Apify platform usage, which gets cheaper the higher subscription plan you have. Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#pay-per-usage ## 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/docs.md): ```bash npm install apify-client ``` In Python projects, use official [Python client library](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.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/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 ## Price & Stock Monitor Track price and stock changes before they cost you sales. Price & Stock Monitor watches product pages and returns a clean snapshot of the current price and availability. ### Best for - ecommerce price monitoring - competitor stock tracking - supplier availability watchlists - affiliate deal monitoring - product launch alerts ### What you get - URL and final URL - HTTP status - title - extracted price - stock state - change status - changed fields - text preview - optional raw HTML and snapshot data ### How it works 1. Send product URLs. 2. The Actor fetches each page. 3. It extracts title, price, and stock signal. 4. It compares the current snapshot with the last one. 5. It stores the new snapshot for the next run. ### Why buyers choose it - narrow and deterministic - cheap to run frequently - simple output contract - easy to explain to buyers - good fit for recurring operational alerts ### Example input ```json { "urls": ["https://books.toscrape.com/catalogue/a-light-in-the-attic_1000/index.html"], "includeSnapshot": true, "maxTextChars": 3000, "timeoutSecs": 30 } ```` ### Notes This Actor is intentionally lighter than a generic crawler: - no browser dependency in the MVP - no heavy recursive crawling - focused on actionable monitoring, not broad scraping - optimized for frequent runs on a small number of URLs # Actor input Schema ## `urls` (type: `array`): Product pages to monitor. ## `priceSelector` (type: `string`): Optional CSS selector for the price element. ## `stockSelector` (type: `string`): Optional CSS selector for the stock / availability element. ## `webhookUrl` (type: `string`): Optional webhook endpoint to receive alert payloads. ## `runLabel` (type: `string`): Optional label for tracking your monitor runs. ## `includeRawHtml` (type: `boolean`): Store the raw HTML snapshot in the output. ## `includeSnapshot` (type: `boolean`): Include the current snapshot object in the output. ## `maxTextChars` (type: `integer`): Maximum number of characters stored in the text preview. ## `timeoutSecs` (type: `integer`): Maximum time allowed per page request. ## Actor input object example ```json { "urls": [ "https://example.com/product" ], "includeRawHtml": false, "includeSnapshot": false, "maxTextChars": 3000, "timeoutSecs": 30 } ``` # 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 = { "urls": [ "https://example.com/product" ], "includeRawHtml": false, "includeSnapshot": false, "maxTextChars": 3000, "timeoutSecs": 30 }; // Run the Actor and wait for it to finish const run = await client.actor("vedder1980/price-stock-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 = { "urls": ["https://example.com/product"], "includeRawHtml": False, "includeSnapshot": False, "maxTextChars": 3000, "timeoutSecs": 30, } # Run the Actor and wait for it to finish run = client.actor("vedder1980/price-stock-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 '{ "urls": [ "https://example.com/product" ], "includeRawHtml": false, "includeSnapshot": false, "maxTextChars": 3000, "timeoutSecs": 30 }' | apify call vedder1980/price-stock-monitor --silent --output-dataset ``` ## MCP server setup ```json { "mcpServers": { "apify": { "command": "npx", "args": [ "mcp-remote", "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=vedder1980/price-stock-monitor", "--header", "Authorization: Bearer " ] } } } ``` ## OpenAPI specification ```json { "openapi": "3.0.1", "info": { "title": "Price & Stock Monitor", "description": "Monitor product pages for price and stock changes with lightweight snapshots and actionable alerts.", "version": "1.0", "x-build-id": "v1d30XqHaCaIsLfbv" }, "servers": [ { "url": "https://api.apify.com/v2" } ], "paths": { "/acts/vedder1980~price-stock-monitor/run-sync-get-dataset-items": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-get-dataset-items-vedder1980-price-stock-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/vedder1980~price-stock-monitor/runs": { "post": { "operationId": "runs-sync-vedder1980-price-stock-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/vedder1980~price-stock-monitor/run-sync": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-vedder1980-price-stock-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", "required": [ "urls" ], "properties": { "urls": { "title": "Product URLs", "uniqueItems": true, "type": "array", "description": "Product pages to monitor.", "items": { "type": "string" } }, "priceSelector": { "title": "Price selector", "type": "string", "description": "Optional CSS selector for the price element." }, "stockSelector": { "title": "Stock selector", "type": "string", "description": "Optional CSS selector for the stock / availability element." }, "webhookUrl": { "title": "Webhook URL", "type": "string", "description": "Optional webhook endpoint to receive alert payloads." }, "runLabel": { "title": "Run label", "type": "string", "description": "Optional label for tracking your monitor runs." }, "includeRawHtml": { "title": "Include raw HTML", "type": "boolean", "description": "Store the raw HTML snapshot in the output.", "default": false }, "includeSnapshot": { "title": "Include snapshot", "type": "boolean", "description": "Include the current snapshot object in the output.", "default": false }, "maxTextChars": { "title": "Max text chars", "minimum": 200, "maximum": 50000, "type": "integer", "description": "Maximum number of characters stored in the text preview.", "default": 3000 }, "timeoutSecs": { "title": "Timeout seconds", "minimum": 5, "maximum": 120, "type": "integer", "description": "Maximum time allowed per page request.", "default": 30 } } }, "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 } } } } } } } } } } ```