# Craigslist Scraper (`zscrape/craigslist-scraper`) Actor

Scrapes Craigslist for new posts matching your search criteria and sends an email alert. Ideal for finding new leads, items for sale, housing, job postings, gigs, and more! Be the first to respond to new posts.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/zscrape/craigslist-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [ZScrape Solutions](https://apify.com/zscrape) (community)
- **Categories:** Automation, E-commerce, Jobs
- **Stats:** 272 total users, 0 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 5 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

## Craigslist Scrapper

- [How to Use](#How-to-Use)
- [Input Parameters](#Input-Parameters)
- [Usage Costs](#Usage-Costs)
- [Proxies](#Proxies)
- [Contact](#Contact)

### How to Use

Simply provide the search URL you want to watch and the scraper will check for any new posts since the last run. New posts will be sent to the email specified and contain the Image, Price, City, Date posted, and a Link to the post.

[Schedule](https://docs.apify.com/schedules#setting-up-a-new-schedule) the actor to run as often as you need, every hour or even every minute!

### Input Parameters

The input of this scraper should be JSON with the following fields:

| Field | Type | Description |
| ----- | ---- | ----------- |
| search_url | String | (required) Search URL to scrape for new posts. Posts will be compared with the previous run and only new items will be emailed.
| email_addr | String | (required) Email to send the new posts
| email_subj | String | (required) Email Subject
| proxy | object | (optional) Select an Apify proxy

#### Example

```json
{
  "search_url": "https://sfbay.craigslist.org/d/apartments-housing-for-rent/search/apa",
  "email_addr": "xxx@xxx.com",
  "email_subj": "New Apartments Search"
}
```

##### Example with proxy

```json
{
  "search_url": "https://sfbay.craigslist.org/d/apartments-housing-for-rent/search/apa",
  "email_addr": "xxx@xxx.com",
  "email_subj": "New Apartments Search",
  "proxy": {
    "useApifyProxy": true,
    "apifyProxyGroups": [
      "RESIDENTIAL"
    ]
  }  
}
```

### Usage Costs

Usage costs will depend on how often you run the scraper. Running every minute for example will use about 23 compute units and about 6 units for send mail. Running every hour results in compute units as low as 3/month. Data storage costs to store results is also minimal (about $0.50/month).

#### Example

Running one search every hour works out to about **$2/month** The **Free** plan ($5 platform usage credits) is enough to run this.

Running one search every minute works out to about **$5/month** The **Personal** plan ($49) is more than enough and would allow you to scrape about 10 searches every minute.

### Proxies

It is recommended to use [Apify residential proxies](https://apify.com/proxy?pricing=residential-ip#pricing) with this actor. Shared proxies can get their IP's blacklisted. Contact `support@apify.com` via email or in-app chat to get the proxies enabled or ask for a free trial.

### Contact

For any bugs or feature requests, you can create an issue [here](https://github.com/zscrape/apify-craigslist-scraper).

# Actor input Schema

## `search_url` (type: `string`):

Enter search URL you want to watch for new posts

## `email_addr` (type: `string`):

Enter email address to send alert notifications

## `email_subj` (type: `string`):

Enter email address to send alert notifications

## `proxy` (type: `object`):

(Optional) Select an Apify proxy

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "search_url": "https://atlanta.craigslist.org/search/ggg#search=1~thumb~0~0",
  "email_addr": "example@example.com",
  "email_subj": "New Apartment Post!"
}
```

# 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 = {
    "email_addr": "example@example.com",
    "email_subj": "New Apartment Post!"
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("zscrape/craigslist-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 = {
    "email_addr": "example@example.com",
    "email_subj": "New Apartment Post!",
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("zscrape/craigslist-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 '{
  "email_addr": "example@example.com",
  "email_subj": "New Apartment Post!"
}' |
apify call zscrape/craigslist-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,zscrape/craigslist-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/r8x53fkwxq4EcrQB3/builds/FjBt56Ap37LqIMZz2/openapi.json