# Stack Overflow Scraper — Questions, Answers & Tags (`hichemdev/stackoverflow-scraper`) Actor

Scrape Stack Overflow questions and answers by keyword or tag via the official Stack Exchange API: score, views, tags, author and body. Works on any Stack Exchange site.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/hichemdev/stackoverflow-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Hichem Ben Moussa](https://apify.com/hichemdev) (community)
- **Categories:** Developer tools, Business
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $2.00 / 1,000 results

This Actor is paid per event and usage. You are charged both the fixed price for specific events and for Apify platform usage.

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

## Stack Overflow Scraper

**Scrape Stack Overflow questions and answers** by keyword or tag via the official Stack Exchange API - score, views, tags, author and body. Works on any Stack Exchange site (superuser, serverfault, askubuntu...).

### Input

- **searchQueries**: keywords
- **tags**: filter by tag
- **site**: stackoverflow (default), superuser, ...
- **includeAnswers**: also fetch top answers

### Use cases

Developer research, content ideas, tracking questions about your product/library, dataset building.

*Built by [hichemdev](https://apify.com/hichemdev).*

# Actor input Schema

## `searchQueries` (type: `array`):

Keywords to search for, e.g. "pandas merge performance". Combine with tags to narrow results.

## `tags` (type: `array`):

Filter by tags, e.g. "python", "javascript". If no search query is given, questions are pulled by tag.

## `site` (type: `string`):

Which site to search, e.g. stackoverflow, superuser, serverfault, askubuntu.

## `sort` (type: `string`):

Order results by votes, most recent, activity, or relevance.

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

Maximum number of questions to scrape per query.

## `includeAnswers` (type: `boolean`):

Also fetch the top answers for each question (extra API calls).

## `maxAnswers` (type: `integer`):

How many top answers to fetch when answers are included.

## `apiKey` (type: `string`):

Optional Stack Apps key to raise the request quota. Not required for small runs.

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

Optional. Helps spread the Stack Exchange per-IP quota across addresses.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "searchQueries": [
    "playwright timeout"
  ],
  "tags": [],
  "site": "stackoverflow",
  "sort": "votes",
  "maxItems": 10,
  "includeAnswers": false,
  "maxAnswers": 5,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true
  }
}
```

# 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 = {
    "searchQueries": [
        "playwright timeout"
    ],
    "tags": [],
    "site": "stackoverflow",
    "sort": "votes",
    "maxItems": 10
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("hichemdev/stackoverflow-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 = {
    "searchQueries": ["playwright timeout"],
    "tags": [],
    "site": "stackoverflow",
    "sort": "votes",
    "maxItems": 10,
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("hichemdev/stackoverflow-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 '{
  "searchQueries": [
    "playwright timeout"
  ],
  "tags": [],
  "site": "stackoverflow",
  "sort": "votes",
  "maxItems": 10
}' |
apify call hichemdev/stackoverflow-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

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

```

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/YuXkGqkdSFl6snwvC/builds/xqjiYtVeYOxQQ3VgA/openapi.json