# Daily Mirror Scraper (`zucchini_gopher_m2v/dailymirror-scraper`) Actor Extract full article text or the newest headlines from Daily Mirror (dailymirror.lk), Sri Lanka's leading English-language daily -- no account or API key needed. - **URL**: https://apify.com/zucchini\_gopher\_m2v/dailymirror-scraper.md - **Developed by:** [Faisal Ahdan naufal](https://apify.com/zucchini_gopher_m2v) (community) - **Categories:** News - **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks - **User rating**: No ratings yet ## Pricing from $1.50 / 1,000 results This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events. Since this Actor supports Apify Store discounts, the price gets lower the higher subscription plan you have. Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#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 ## Daily Mirror Scraper Extract full article text or the newest headlines from Daily Mirror (dailymirror.lk), Sri Lanka's leading English-language daily — no account or subscription needed. ### Why use this actor - No account or login required — fully free, ad-supported site with no paywall - Full article text included, not a summary — headline, description, byline, publish/modified dates, lead image, and the complete article body - Also fetches the newest headlines straight from the site's Breaking News section without visiting each article individually - Stable JSON output suitable for pipelines, spreadsheets, or databases - Automatic retries on temporary network hiccups - Correctly detects Daily Mirror's soft-404 pages (the site always answers HTTP 200, even for a removed or non-existent article) instead of returning a blank or broken record ### How it works 1. Give the actor one or more article URLs, or switch to `"latest"` mode to get the newest stories automatically. 2. In article mode, the actor opens each URL and pulls out the full text and every publicly available detail about the story. 3. In latest mode, the actor reads Daily Mirror's own Breaking News listing and returns the newest stories. 4. Results stream into your dataset, ready to download as JSON, CSV, or Excel. You don't need to manage retries, rate limits, or figure out the site's internal data format — the actor handles all of that. ### Input **Article mode** (default): ```json { "mode": "article", "urls": [ "https://www.dailymirror.lk/breaking-news/Cabinet-approves-Rs-104-9-bn-central-expressway-road-project/108-348843" ], "maxConcurrency": 4, "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": true, "apifyProxyGroups": ["RESIDENTIAL"] } } ``` **Latest headlines mode:** ```json { "mode": "latest", "limit": 10, "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": true, "apifyProxyGroups": ["RESIDENTIAL"] } } ``` | Field | Type | Description | |---|---|---| | `mode` | string | `"article"` (default) — extract one or more article URLs. `"latest"` — fetch the newest headlines. | | `url` | string | A single article URL. Used in article mode. | | `urls` | array | Multiple article URLs to extract in one run. Used in article mode. | | `limit` | integer | Max headlines returned in latest mode. Default 10, max 50. | | `maxConcurrency` | integer | How many articles to fetch in parallel in article mode. Default 4. | | `proxyConfiguration` | object | Apify Proxy settings. Residential is on by default. | ### Output **Article mode** — one record per URL. Real output from a local test run: ```json { "_input": "https://www.dailymirror.lk/breaking-news/Cabinet-approves-Rs-104-9-bn-central-expressway-road-project/108-348843", "_source": "S1-jsonld", "_scrapedAt": "2026-08-26T00:57:48Z", "articleId": "348843", "categoryId": "108", "category": "breaking-news", "headline": "Cabinet approves Rs. 104.9 bn central expressway road project", "description": "The Cabinet has approved a proposal to develop connecting roads linking Sections I, III and IV of the Central Expressway with the existing road network in the Western, Central and North-Western provinces.", "articleBody": "Colombo, Aug. 25 (Daily Mirror) - The Cabinet has approved a proposal to develop connecting roads linking Sections I, III and IV of the Central Expressway with the existing road network in the Western, Central and North-Western provinces.\n\nThe project is aimed at improving connectivity, accessibility and traffic flow between the Central Expressway and the existing road network.\n\n... 4 more paragraphs", "author": "CHATURANGA PRADEEP SAMARAWICKRAMA", "datePublished": "2026-08-25T13:46:00+05:30", "dateModified": "2026-08-25T13:46:00+05:30", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "assets/uploads/image_a177e06553.jpeg", "width": "200", "height": "200" } } ``` A record where the site has no author byline (many pieces credit the generic desk instead of a named reporter) and no lead image: ```json { "headline": "38 Years. ’One unforgettable team’", "author": "DM Editorial", "category": "sports", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "none", "width": "200", "height": "200" } } ``` A URL that doesn't correspond to a real article — Daily Mirror always answers HTTP 200, even for a removed or fabricated article ID, so this is detected from the page content, not the status code: ```json { "_input": "https://www.dailymirror.lk/breaking-news/this-article-does-not-exist-zzz/108-99999999", "_source": "none", "_scrapedAt": "2026-08-26T00:57:48Z", "_error": "not_found", "_errorDetail": "" } ``` **Latest headlines mode** — one record per headline. Real output from a local test run: ```json { "_input": "latest", "_source": "S2-html-listing", "_scrapedAt": "2026-08-26T00:56:15Z", "articleId": "348860", "categoryId": "108", "category": "breaking-news", "title": "Parliament Committee seeks Police Proposals to Ease Prison Overcrowding", "link": "https://www.dailymirror.lk/breaking-news/Parliament-Committee-seeks-Police-Proposals-to-Ease-Prison-Overcrowding/108-348860" } ``` | Field | Type | Description | |---|---|---| | `_input` | string | The URL you requested, or `"latest"`, for traceability. | | `_source` | string | Which strategy produced this record (`S1-jsonld` for articles, `S2-html-listing` for latest headlines). | | `_scrapedAt` | string | UTC timestamp of when the record was captured. | | `articleId` | string | Internal numeric Daily Mirror article ID, from the URL's trailing digits. | | `categoryId` | string | Internal numeric Daily Mirror category/section ID from the URL. | | `category` | string | URL path segment identifying the section (e.g. `breaking-news`, `sports`, `school_rugby`). | | `headline` / `title` | string | Article headline. | | `description` | string | Short summary (article mode only). | | `articleBody` | string | Full plain-text article content (article mode only). | | `author` | string | Byline name — a specific reporter's name, or the generic `"DM Editorial"` on many pieces. | | `datePublished` / `dateModified` | string | ISO-8601 timestamps (article mode only). | | `image` | object | Lead image (article mode only). `url` is the literal string `"none"` when the article has no lead image. | | `link` | string | Article URL (latest mode). | A record with `_error` instead of article fields means that URL could not be processed (for example, `"_error": "not_found"` for a removed or non-existent article — Daily Mirror never returns a real HTTP 404). # Actor input Schema ## `mode` (type: `string`): "article" extracts one or more article URLs. "latest" fetches the newest headlines from the Breaking News category listing. ## `url` (type: `string`): A single dailymirror.lk article URL to extract. Used when mode is "article". ## `urls` (type: `array`): Multiple dailymirror.lk article URLs to extract in one run. Used when mode is "article". ## `limit` (type: `integer`): Maximum number of headlines to return in "latest" mode. ## `maxConcurrency` (type: `integer`): How many article pages to fetch in parallel in "article" mode. ## `proxyConfiguration` (type: `object`): Apify Proxy configuration. Residential is on by default. ## Actor input object example ```json { "mode": "article", "url": "https://www.dailymirror.lk/breaking-news/Cabinet-approves-Rs-104-9-bn-central-expressway-road-project/108-348843", "limit": 10, "maxConcurrency": 4, "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": true, "apifyProxyGroups": [ "RESIDENTIAL" ] } } ``` # Actor output Schema ## `results` (type: `string`): All scraped article / latest-headline records produced by this run. # 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 = { "mode": "article", "url": "https://www.dailymirror.lk/breaking-news/Cabinet-approves-Rs-104-9-bn-central-expressway-road-project/108-348843", "limit": 10, "maxConcurrency": 4, "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": true, "apifyProxyGroups": [ "RESIDENTIAL" ] } }; // Run the Actor and wait for it to finish const run = await client.actor("zucchini_gopher_m2v/dailymirror-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 '' with your token. client = ApifyClient("") # Prepare the Actor input run_input = { "mode": "article", "url": "https://www.dailymirror.lk/breaking-news/Cabinet-approves-Rs-104-9-bn-central-expressway-road-project/108-348843", "limit": 10, "maxConcurrency": 4, "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": True, "apifyProxyGroups": ["RESIDENTIAL"], }, } # Run the Actor and wait for it to finish run = client.actor("zucchini_gopher_m2v/dailymirror-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 '{ "mode": "article", "url": "https://www.dailymirror.lk/breaking-news/Cabinet-approves-Rs-104-9-bn-central-expressway-road-project/108-348843", "limit": 10, "maxConcurrency": 4, "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": true, "apifyProxyGroups": [ "RESIDENTIAL" ] } }' | apify call zucchini_gopher_m2v/dailymirror-scraper --silent --output-dataset ``` ## MCP server setup ```json { "mcpServers": { "apify": { "type": "http", "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,zucchini_gopher_m2v/dailymirror-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 ` 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/luV5612y0vyVWDQMM/builds/XYJhhaoyZrqoNlBlN/openapi.json