# VS Code Marketplace Monitor — Releases & Ratings (`xqfech/vscode-marketplace-monitor`) Actor

Watches VS Code Marketplace search results, categories and specific extensions between runs. Detects new extensions, version releases, rating and install-base movements as structured field-level change events.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/xqfech/vscode-marketplace-monitor.md
- **Developed by:** [Emmanuel Obiefule](https://apify.com/xqfech) (community)
- **Categories:** Developer tools
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $20.00 / 1,000 change events

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/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#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

## VS Code Marketplace Monitor — Track Extension Releases, Ratings & Competitors

Date-filtered listings tell you what was recently updated. This Actor tells you **what actually changed for the extensions you care about**: version releases, rating movement, install-base growth, new competitors entering your search results — as structured change events with field-level before/after diffs.

Built on the official Marketplace Gallery API (the same endpoint VS Code itself uses). No browser, no scraping fragility, runs in seconds.

### What it does

- **Watch a niche** — search terms (`prettier`, `sql formatter`, `ai assistant`) or categories (`Linters`, `Themes`, `AI`). Every run diffs the result set against the previous run: `new_extension`, `removed_extension`, `extension_changed`.
- **Watch specific extensions** — track competitors by ID (`esbenp.prettier-vscode`): version releases, rating changes, install milestones, update dates.
- **Noise-controlled by design** — raw install counters change every minute; this Actor bands them to meaningful magnitudes and rounds ratings so you only get events worth reading.

### Who uses this

- **Extension authors** — know the day a competitor ships, gains rating, or a new player enters your keyword.
- **DevRel & tooling teams** — track the ecosystem around your product's integrations.
- **Engineering managers** — version-change events for the extensions your team standardizes on.

### Output example

```json
{
  "type": "extension_changed",
  "source": "watch",
  "id": "esbenp.prettier-vscode",
  "name": "Prettier - Code formatter",
  "url": "https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=esbenp.prettier-vscode",
  "changes": [
    { "field": "version", "before": "11.0.0", "after": "11.1.0" },
    { "field": "installs", "before": 70000000, "after": 71000000 }
  ],
  "detectedAt": "2026-08-04T10:00:00.000Z"
}
```

### Input

| Field | Description |
| --- | --- |
| `searchTerms` | Search queries watched as result sets |
| `categories` | Marketplace categories watched as result sets |
| `extensionIds` | Specific extensions tracked with field diffs |
| `maxResultsPerList` | Result set size per list (10–500) |
| `monitorId` | State namespace shared between runs |

### A note on search-term watching

Marketplace search is relevance-ranked, so the tail of a result set naturally fluctuates between runs. For stable niche tracking prefer categories, use a generous `maxResultsPerList`, or focus on `extensionIds` watching. Category and ID watching produce clean, low-noise event streams.

### Reliability

Official JSON API only — no markup to break. Strict schema validation on every item; the run fails loudly instead of storing garbage. First run stores a baseline; real change events start from run two.

### Scheduling

Pair with an Apify Schedule (daily works well) and pipe events to Slack, email, webhooks, or Google Sheets via Apify integrations. Quiet days cost almost nothing.

# Actor input Schema

## `searchTerms` (type: `array`):

Each term is watched as a result set. Note: relevance-ranked tails naturally churn — prefer categories or a generous max results for stable sets.

## `categories` (type: `array`):

Official category names, e.g. Linters, Themes, Testing, AI.

## `extensionIds` (type: `array`):

publisher.extension format, e.g. esbenp.prettier-vscode. Tracks version, rating, installs and update dates with field-level diffs.

## `maxResultsPerList` (type: `integer`):

Maximum number of items collected per watched list.

## `monitorId` (type: `string`):

State namespace. Runs with the same Monitor ID share the previous-run snapshot.

## `emitBaseline` (type: `boolean`):

On the very first run the full initial snapshot is pushed as baseline items so you still get data.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "searchTerms": [
    "prettier"
  ],
  "extensionIds": [
    "esbenp.prettier-vscode"
  ],
  "maxResultsPerList": 100,
  "monitorId": "default",
  "emitBaseline": true
}
```

# 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 = {
    "searchTerms": [
        "prettier"
    ],
    "extensionIds": [
        "esbenp.prettier-vscode"
    ]
};

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

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {
    "searchTerms": ["prettier"],
    "extensionIds": ["esbenp.prettier-vscode"],
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("xqfech/vscode-marketplace-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 '{
  "searchTerms": [
    "prettier"
  ],
  "extensionIds": [
    "esbenp.prettier-vscode"
  ]
}' |
apify call xqfech/vscode-marketplace-monitor --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "mcp-remote",
                "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=xqfech/vscode-marketplace-monitor",
                "--header",
                "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR_API_TOKEN>"
            ]
        }
    }
}

```

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/6djvZaZbmmEUfeAxB/builds/fVj45qLUWUTwRei6P/openapi.json