Bluesky Scraper - Posts, Profiles & AT Protocol Data Extractor

Extract Bluesky posts, profiles, followers & threads via the public AT Protocol API. 7 scrape modes. No login required. No proxies. MCP-ready.

Try it free - click Try for free above. Most research tasks cost under $0.05.

---

What does Bluesky Scraper do?

This Actor connects directly to the public Bluesky AppView API (api.bsky.app) and supports seven scrape modes in one Actor:

Mode	What it collects
searchPosts	Posts matching a keyword, phrase, or hashtag
authorFeed	Posts from one or more Bluesky accounts
postThread	A full post thread including nested replies
profile	Profile stats for one or more accounts
followers	Follower lists
follows	Following lists
customFeed	Posts from any public Bluesky feed generator

All modes support cursor-based pagination and export clean results to Apify datasets.

---

Why use Bluesky Scraper?

Advantage	Why it matters
7 modes in one Actor	Search, profile, feed, thread, followers, following, and custom feeds without switching tools
Direct AT Protocol API	Faster, cheaper, and more reliable than browser scraping
Structured hashtags and mentions	Extracted from AT Protocol facets instead of fragile text parsing
No login required	Uses public data only
Stable post IDs	Every post includes a permanent AT URI
MCP-ready	Easy to use from Claude, Codex, Cursor, VS Code, Windsurf, Zed, and other AI tools through Apify MCP

---

Common use cases

• Brand monitoring across Bluesky
• Research and journalism workflows
• Influencer discovery and account analysis
• Academic datasets for NLP and social analysis
• Competitor intelligence
• Social listening and trend tracking

---

Real-World Workflow Examples

Brand Monitoring Pipeline

1. Run searchPosts daily with your brand name as query
2. Filter results where likeCount > 5 for high-signal posts
3. Export to CSV and load into your monitoring dashboard
4. Use searchSort: "latest" to catch mentions in real time

Competitor Audience Analysis

1. Run followers mode on a competitor's Bluesky handle
2. Cross-reference follower handles with profile mode for stats
3. Identify high-follower accounts for outreach targeting

Academic Dataset Collection

1. Use searchPosts with date range (searchSince, searchUntil) and searchLang
2. Collect posts around a specific event or topic
3. Export to JSON for NLP processing — all text, hashtags, and mentions are pre-extracted

---

How to use Bluesky Scraper

1. Click Try for free
2. Choose a mode
3. Enter a query, handle, post URL, or feed URI depending on the mode
4. Set maxItems
5. Start the run
6. Download results as JSON, CSV, HTML, or Excel

---

Input

Field	Required	Description
mode	Yes	One of: searchPosts, authorFeed, postThread, profile, followers, follows, customFeed
searchQuery	For searchPosts	Keyword, phrase, or hashtag such as #AI
handles	For authorFeed, profile, followers, follows	One or more Bluesky handles
postUrl	For postThread	Full Bluesky post URL or AT URI
feedUri	For customFeed	AT URI of a public feed generator
maxItems	No	Maximum items to collect. 0 means unlimited
searchSort	No	latest or top
searchSince	No	Start date such as 2024-01-01
searchUntil	No	End date such as 2024-12-31
searchLang	No	ISO 639-1 language code such as en or de
includeReplies	No	Include replies in authorFeed
includeReposts	No	Include reposts in authorFeed

Example search input:

{
  "mode": "searchPosts",
  "searchQuery": "#AI",
  "searchSort": "latest",
  "searchLang": "en",
  "maxItems": 500
}

Example custom feed input:

{
  "mode": "customFeed",
  "feedUri": "at://did:plc:z72i7hdynmchkltzmefcsowb/app.bsky.feed.generator/whats-hot",
  "maxItems": 100
}

---

Output

Each item is pushed to the default Apify dataset.

Example post output:

{
  "postId": "at://did:plc:abc123/app.bsky.feed.post/3kwikpostabcde",
  "url": "https://bsky.app/profile/alice.bsky.social/post/3kwikpostabcde",
  "text": "Really enjoying the discourse around #AI safety this week.",
  "authorHandle": "alice.bsky.social",
  "authorDisplayName": "Alice",
  "authorFollowerCount": 3200,
  "likeCount": 47,
  "repostCount": 12,
  "replyCount": 8,
  "quoteCount": 3,
  "engagementRate": 0.0192,
  "createdAt": "2024-11-15T14:22:30.000Z",
  "lang": ["en"],
  "hasMedia": false,
  "tags": ["AI"],
  "scrapedMode": "authorFeed"
}

Key output fields:

• postId, url, text
• authorHandle, authorDisplayName, authorDid
• likeCount, repostCount, replyCount, quoteCount
• engagementRate
• createdAt, lang
• tags, mentionedDids
• hasMedia, mediaUrls

---

Use with AI agents via Apify MCP

This Actor can be used from AI tools such as Claude, Codex, Cursor, VS Code, Windsurf, Zed, and other MCP-compatible clients through Apify's Actors MCP server.

Important: this Actor is not a standalone remote MCP server. Instead, you connect Apify's Actors MCP server once, then ask your assistant to use this Actor.

MCP setup

Add this MCP server configuration to your client:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "apify": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@apify/actors-mcp-server"],
      "env": {
        "APIFY_TOKEN": "your_apify_api_token_here"
      }
    }
  }
}

Copy-paste prompt for Claude, Codex, Cursor, and similar tools

If your AI assistant can edit MCP settings for you, paste this:

Please set up Apify's Actors MCP server in my MCP configuration.

Use this package:
- command: npx
- args: -y @apify/actors-mcp-server

Set my APIFY_TOKEN in the MCP environment.

After setup, use the Apify actor "bluesky-scraper" and help me run it from chat.

Example prompts after setup

• Search for the 20 most recent Bluesky posts about #climatepolicy in English and summarize the main arguments.
• Fetch the full reply thread for this Bluesky post and identify the main discussion points.
• Find the top 50 followers of atproto.com and list their display names and follower counts.
• Run the bluesky-scraper actor in profile mode for these handles and compare their audience sizes.

Client notes

• Claude, Codex, Cursor, VS Code, Windsurf, and Zed can usually use the stdio MCP config above directly.
• n8n, LangChain, OpenAI Agents SDK, Gemini, and custom apps can use Apify actors too, but the exact MCP wiring depends on the client runtime you use around Apify's MCP server.

---

How much does it cost to scrape Bluesky?

Run size	Estimated cost
100 posts	~$0.01-$0.05
1,000 posts	~$0.10-$0.30
10,000 posts	~$1.00-$2.00

New Apify accounts receive $5 in free monthly credits.

Bluesky's public API means no proxy costs are required — making this one of the cheapest social scrapers on Apify.

---

Tips

• Use searchSince and searchUntil to reduce noise in historical searches.
• Use searchLang for multilingual topics.
• authorFeed is best when you need engagement metrics and account-level analysis.
• postThread is best for journalism and conversation analysis.
• maxItems: 0 enables unlimited collection, but use it carefully for large accounts.

---

Bluesky vs Twitter/X for research

If you need social data and want a reliable, open source of truth, Bluesky has real advantages:

• Public API with no authentication wall
• Consistent data structure via AT Protocol
• Permanent post IDs that do not disappear
• Chronological feed available without algorithmic filtering
• Growing user base especially in tech, academia, and journalism

For bulk historical data or brand monitoring, Bluesky is increasingly a viable complement or alternative to X/Twitter data pipelines.

---

FAQ

Is scraping Bluesky legal? This Actor accesses public Bluesky data through the public AT Protocol API. You are responsible for complying with Bluesky terms and applicable regulations.

Can I scrape private accounts? No. This Actor only accesses public data.

Why are some fields null in searchPosts mode? The public search endpoint returns lighter author objects than other endpoints.

What rate limits apply? The Actor handles public API rate limits and honors retry headers where applicable.

How is this different from Twitter/X scrapers? Bluesky uses the open AT Protocol API which is publicly accessible and stable. There are no login walls, no CAPTCHAs, and no rate-limit workarounds needed. Data structure is clean and consistent by design.

Can I monitor hashtags in real time? Use searchPosts mode with searchSort: "latest" and schedule the Actor to run every 15–30 minutes on Apify. Each run picks up the newest posts matching your query.

What is the difference between an AT URI and a bsky.app URL? A bsky.app URL like https://bsky.app/profile/alice.bsky.social/post/3kwik is the human-readable link. An AT URI like at://did:plc:abc123/app.bsky.feed.post/3kwik is the permanent protocol-level identifier. Both are included in the output.

What happens if a handle changes? Bluesky handles can change but the underlying DID (authorDid) is permanent. Use the DID for long-term tracking instead of the handle.

Do you support custom pipelines or features? Yes. Contact us through the Apify platform if you need custom work.