# ❓ Zhihu User Content Scraper (`ethereal_wool/zhihu-user-content-scraper`) Actor

Extract Zhihu user content data — title, 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-user-content-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Jackie Chen](https://apify.com/ethereal_wool) (community)
- **Categories:** Social media, Education
- **Stats:** 1 total users, 0 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 1 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 User Content Scraper

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

Scrape **Zhihu (知乎)** users by their `url_token`. Get every published **article**
(with the full HTML body), or switch modes to pull a user's **profile**, their
**followers**, their **followees**, or the **columns** they follow. Each record is
returned as clean, structured data: title, content, excerpt, vote-up and comment
counts, author info, and the canonical URL.

> **Unofficial.** This Actor is not affiliated with, authorized, or endorsed by Zhihu
> (知乎 / 智者天下科技). 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

Give one or more Zhihu `url_token`s — the slug in a profile URL
`zhihu.com/people/<token>` (e.g. `kaifulee` for 李开复) — and pick a **content type**:

- **Articles** (default) — every article the user has published, including the full
  HTML `content`, title, excerpt, vote-up / comment counts and timestamps. Paginated
  automatically. Sort by newest or most up-voted.
- **Profile** — the user's profile object (name, headline, avatar, follower / answer
  counts, etc.). One record per user.
- **Followers** / **Followees** — the people who follow, or are followed by, the user.
- **Columns** — the columns the user follows.

### Input

| Field | Type | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| `userUrlTokens` | string\[] | `["kaifulee"]` | Zhihu user `url_token`s. Each is scraped independently. |
| `contentType` | enum | `articles` | `articles` / `profile` / `followers` / `followees` / `columns`. |
| `sortType` | enum | `created` | Article sort: `created` (newest) or `voteups` (most up-voted). Articles only. |
| `maxItems` | integer | `10` | Max total records across all users. Ignored for `profile`. |

#### Example input

```json
{
  "userUrlTokens": ["kaifulee"],
  "contentType": "articles",
  "sortType": "voteups",
  "maxItems": 50
}
```

### Output

One dataset item per record. Articles look like:

```json
{
  "id": "606602766",
  "type": "article",
  "title": "ChatGPT引发失业恐慌？这20种工作要避开！",
  "excerpt": "OpenAI新近推出的ChatGPT已经爆火出圈 ...",
  "content": "<p>...full HTML body...</p>",
  "url": "http://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/606602766",
  "articleType": "normal",
  "voteupCount": 354,
  "commentCount": 124,
  "created": 1676559521,
  "updated": 1676559615,
  "author": { "id": "...", "name": "李开复", "urlToken": "kaifulee", "headline": "..." },
  "authorName": "李开复",
  "userUrlToken": "kaifulee",
  "source": "articles:kaifulee"
}
```

Other content types share the same flat shape (`id`, `type`, `title`, `url`,
`authorName`, …) with mode-specific fields (e.g. `followerCount` for profiles,
`itemsCount` for columns).

### Notes

- Data is sourced live; the upstream occasionally emits transient blocks and an
  intermittent `400`, so the Actor retries with exponential backoff.
- Records are de-duplicated by `id` within a run.

# Actor input Schema

## `userUrlTokens` (type: `array`):

Zhihu user url\_tokens — the slug in a profile URL zhihu.com/people/<token> (e.g. 'kaifulee' for 李开复). Each token is scraped independently.

## `contentType` (type: `string`):

What to scrape for each user. 'articles' (default) returns every published article with its full HTML body; 'profile' returns the user's profile object; 'followers' / 'followees' return the people who follow / are followed by the user; 'columns' returns the columns the user follows.

## `sortType` (type: `string`):

How to sort articles (only used when Content type = articles). 'created' = newest first; 'voteups' = most up-voted first.

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

Maximum total number of records to scrape across all users. Ignored for 'profile' (one record per user).

## `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
{
  "userUrlTokens": [
    "kaifulee"
  ],
  "contentType": "articles",
  "sortType": "created",
  "maxItems": 10,
  "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 = {
    "userUrlTokens": [
        "kaifulee"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("ethereal_wool/zhihu-user-content-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 = { "userUrlTokens": ["kaifulee"] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("ethereal_wool/zhihu-user-content-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 '{
  "userUrlTokens": [
    "kaifulee"
  ]
}' |
apify call ethereal_wool/zhihu-user-content-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

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

```

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/H79gD8cyjPGLmkcUN/builds/fHfF3k9jEA9rhRk0H/openapi.json