# Broken Link Checker: Find Dead Links, Fewer False Alarms (`venture_ace/broken-link-checker`) Actor

- **URL**: https://apify.com/venture_ace/broken-link-checker.md
- **Developed by:** [Venture Ace](https://apify.com/venture_ace) (community)
- **Categories:** SEO tools, Developer tools
- **Security:** Limited permissions
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 0.0% 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/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-usage

## 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

## Broken Link Checker: Find Dead Links, Fewer False Alarms

Check the links on a page or a small site and get one row per unique link: `ok`, `redirect`, `broken`, `blocked`, `timeout`, `refused` or `skipped`, with the HTTP status, the reason, where a redirect ends and the page the link was found on.

Find dead links with fewer false alarms: a link that answers HEAD with an error is confirmed with GET before it is called broken, and a bot-protected link is reported as `blocked` (status unknown), not broken.

### Input

- `startUrls`: up to 10 page or link URLs (localhost and private addresses are refused).
- `mode`: `pageLinks` (default; links on the pages you list), `crawlSite` (also reads same-host pages up to `maxPages`), `urlList` (checks the URLs you list).
- `maxLinks` (default 200, max 2000), `maxPages` (10, max 100), `checkExternal`, `includeImages`, `timeoutSeconds`.

### How it decides

HEAD first, then GET to confirm anything that is not a clean 2xx. Redirects are followed by hand (up to 5; loops are broken). 404, 410 and other 4xx confirmed by GET, 5xx twice, DNS failure, refused connection and TLS errors are `broken`. A 401, 403, 429, 999, a bot challenge or a robots.txt disallow is `blocked`: the site refuses automated checks, so its status is unknown. This actor does not try to get past a block. No answer after two tries is `timeout`. robots.txt is read for every host; two requests at a time per host.

### Output

Dataset rows (view `links`) and a `SUMMARY` record in the key-value store with counts per verdict and notes (pages not read, caps reached). A bad link or an unreadable start page becomes a row, never a failed run.

Pay per event: US$0.0015 per link with a confirmed verdict (`ok`, `redirect`, `broken`). `blocked`, `timeout`, `refused` and `skipped` rows are returned but not charged.

# Actor input Schema

## `startUrls` (type: `array`):

Up to 10 URLs, one per line. In pageLinks and crawlSite mode these are pages whose links are checked; in urlList mode each one is itself checked. Localhost and private addresses are refused.

## `mode` (type: `string`):

pageLinks: the links on each page you list. crawlSite: also read same-site pages, up to maxPages. urlList: just check the URLs you list.

## `maxPages` (type: `integer`):

Pages read in crawlSite mode, including the start pages.

## `maxLinks` (type: `integer`):

Safety cap on unique links checked in this run (and so on what it can charge). Extra links are reported in the run summary, not checked.

## `checkExternal` (type: `boolean`):

Off: only links on the same site as the page are checked.

## `includeImages` (type: `boolean`):

Adds img src links to the check.

## `timeoutSeconds` (type: `integer`):

A link with no answer after two tries is reported as timeout, not broken.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "startUrls": [
    "https://www.iana.org/help/example-domains"
  ],
  "mode": "pageLinks",
  "maxPages": 10,
  "maxLinks": 200,
  "checkExternal": true,
  "includeImages": false,
  "timeoutSeconds": 15
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `links` (type: `string`):

One row per unique link: verdict (ok, redirect, broken, blocked, timeout, refused, skipped), HTTP status, reason, where it ends, and the page it was found on.

## `summary` (type: `string`):

Counts per verdict, links charged, and notes (pages not read, caps reached).

# 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 = {
    "startUrls": [
        "https://www.iana.org/help/example-domains"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("venture_ace/broken-link-checker").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 = { "startUrls": ["https://www.iana.org/help/example-domains"] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("venture_ace/broken-link-checker").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 '{
  "startUrls": [
    "https://www.iana.org/help/example-domains"
  ]
}' |
apify call venture_ace/broken-link-checker --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,venture_ace/broken-link-checker"
        }
    }
}
```

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/Ox1DtYaGIIWa3T5nT/builds/QZfj8Hvazwxd30n6w/openapi.json