# ❓ Zhihu Search Scraper (`ethereal_wool/zhihu-search-scraper`) Actor

Extract Zhihu search data — title, author, engagement, and more. Scrape by keyword, URL or ID. Export to JSON, CSV & Excel, use the API, schedule runs and integrate. No code required.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/ethereal\_wool/zhihu-search-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Jackie Chen](https://apify.com/ethereal_wool) (community)
- **Categories:** Social media, News
- **Stats:** 4 total users, 2 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

$3.00 / 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.

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

## Zhihu Search Scraper

![zhihu-search-scraper](https://api.apify.com/v2/key-value-stores/48FFrfZnw5XqzUC1C/records/zhihu-search-scraper__hero)

Search **Zhihu (知乎)**, China's largest Q\&A and knowledge-sharing platform, by
**keyword**. Returns clean, structured records for each result: title, excerpt,
full HTML content, upvote / comment / favorite counts, the question it belongs to,
and author info. Choose what to search: **answers & articles & questions**,
**videos**, **columns**, or **users**.

> **Unofficial.** This Actor is not affiliated with, authorized, or endorsed by
> Zhihu (智者天下 / Zhihu Inc.). It is an independent tool that retrieves publicly
> available data via a third-party API. Use it in compliance with Zhihu's terms and
> all applicable laws; you are responsible for how you use the retrieved data.

### What it does

- **Keyword search** — give one or more keywords; the Actor paginates Zhihu search
  results for each until it hits `maxItems` or the end of results.
- **Search types** — pick one:
  - `general` (default): answers, articles and questions.
  - `video`: Zhihu videos (zvideo).
  - `column`: Zhihu columns (专栏).
  - `user`: Zhihu users (people).
- Promo / ad / "related query" / gaokao cards are filtered out automatically; only
  real content records are returned. Search-highlight `<em>` markup is stripped.

### Input

| Field | Type | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| `searchKeywords` | string\[] | `["人工智能"]` | Keywords to search. Each is paginated independently. Chinese keywords return the most results. |
| `searchType` | enum | `general` | `general` / `video` / `column` / `user`. |
| `maxItems` | integer | `50` | Max total records across all keywords. |
| `includeContent` | boolean | `true` | Include the full HTML body of answers/articles. Disable to keep items small. |

#### Example input

```json
{
  "searchKeywords": ["人工智能", "心理学"],
  "searchType": "general",
  "maxItems": 100,
  "includeContent": true
}
```

### Output

One dataset item per record:

```json
{
  "id": "2044932700230914484",
  "kind": "answer",
  "title": "如何评价知乎上以赵泠为首的人工智能唱衰党？",
  "excerpt": "大家一定要对这个专业去魅 ...",
  "url": "https://www.zhihu.com/answer/2044932700230914484",
  "authorName": "赵泠",
  "authorUrlToken": "MarryMea",
  "authorHeadline": "衣沾不足惜，但使愿无违。",
  "voteupCount": 2159,
  "commentCount": 126,
  "favoritesCount": 0,
  "questionTitle": "如何评价知乎上以赵泠为首的人工智能唱衰党？",
  "questionId": "2042974223212213176",
  "createdTime": 1780329948,
  "updatedTime": 1780330499,
  "content": "<p>...full answer HTML...</p>",
  "source": "general:人工智能"
}
```

For `user` results the item carries `authorName`, `authorUrlToken`, `authorHeadline`,
`followerCount`, `answerCount` and `articlesCount`; for `column` results it carries
`title`, `articlesCount` and `followerCount`.

### Notes

- Data is sourced live. The Zhihu upstream is occasionally flaky and can emit a
  transient error even for a good keyword; the Actor retries with exponential
  backoff, so a run that briefly errors usually still returns results.
- Record IDs are de-duplicated within a run.

# Actor input Schema

## `searchKeywords` (type: `array`):

Keywords to search Zhihu for. Each keyword is searched and paginated independently. Chinese keywords return the most results.

## `searchType` (type: `string`):

What kind of Zhihu results to return. 'general' returns answers, articles and questions; 'video' returns Zhihu videos (zvideo); 'column' returns columns; 'user' returns people.

## `maxItems` (type: `integer`):

Maximum total number of records to scrape across all keywords.

## `includeContent` (type: `boolean`):

Include the full HTML body (object.content) of answers and articles. Disable to keep dataset items small.

## `proxyConfiguration` (type: `object`):

Optional. Route the upstream API calls through an Apify Proxy to vary the source IP. Usually not needed.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "searchKeywords": [
    "人工智能"
  ],
  "searchType": "general",
  "maxItems": 50,
  "includeContent": true,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": false
  }
}
```

# 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 = {
    "searchKeywords": [
        "人工智能"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("ethereal_wool/zhihu-search-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 = { "searchKeywords": ["人工智能"] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("ethereal_wool/zhihu-search-scraper").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 '{
  "searchKeywords": [
    "人工智能"
  ]
}' |
apify call ethereal_wool/zhihu-search-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "mcp-remote",
                "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=ethereal_wool/zhihu-search-scraper",
                "--header",
                "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR_API_TOKEN>"
            ]
        }
    }
}

```

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/ezboUb8bhZwsMvWsr/builds/cNtDXBsTHt4tC8Fn5/openapi.json