# Mastodon Scraper (`moving_beacon-owner1/mastodon-scraper`) Actor Scrapes public data from any Mastodon instance via its REST API, including accounts, posts, threads, hashtags, and public timelines. No authentication required. Returns structured data with author details, post content, engagement metrics, media URLs, timestamps, and source URLs. - **URL**: https://apify.com/moving\_beacon-owner1/mastodon-scraper.md - **Developed by:** [Jamshaid Arif](https://apify.com/moving_beacon-owner1) (community) - **Categories:** Social media, Developer tools, Other - **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks - **User rating**: No ratings yet ## Pricing from $10.00 / 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 a software tools running on the Apify platform, for all kinds of web data extraction and automation use cases. 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. In JavaScript/TypeScript projects, use official [JavaScript/TypeScript client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js.md): ```bash npm install apify-client ``` In Python projects, use official [Python client library](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python.md): ```bash pip install apify-client ``` In shell scripts, use [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): ````bash # MacOS / Linux curl -fsSL https://apify.com/install-cli.sh | bash # Windows irm https://apify.com/install-cli.ps1 | iex ```bash In AI frameworks, you might use the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/mcp.md). If your project is in a different language, use 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 ## Mastodon Scraper — Apify Actor Scrapes any Mastodon instance through its **public REST API** — federated, auth-free, reliable (no anti-bot). Built on functions verified in a notebook run. ### Modes (combine freely) | input | collects | notes | |---|---|---| | `accounts` | statuses (+ profile) | `user` or `user@home.instance` | | `hashtags` | tag timeline | on `instance` | | `statusUrls` | thread context | full status URL | | `includePublicTimeline` | public timeline | often restricted on big instances | ### Federation tip Prefer fully-qualified handles like `Gargron@mastodon.social` — the account is looked up on its own home server, which is more reliable than a remote lookup. ### Output Dataset rows tagged by `type` (`status` / `account`) with author, text, engagement counts, media URLs, timestamps, and `url`. # Actor input Schema ## `instance` (type: `string`): Default Mastodon instance URL used for hashtags, the public timeline, and local-only account lookups. ## `accounts` (type: `array`): Handles to scrape. Use 'user' (looked up on the instance) or 'user@home.instance' (looked up on its own server, more reliable). ## `includeProfiles` (type: `boolean`): Also push an account/profile row for each scraped account. ## `hashtags` (type: `array`): Hashtags (with or without #) to pull from the instance's tag timeline. ## `statusUrls` (type: `array`): Full status URLs (e.g. https://mastodon.social/@user/123). Each one's thread context is scraped. ## `includePublicTimeline` (type: `boolean`): Scrape the instance public timeline. Many large instances (e.g. mastodon.social) restrict this to logged-in users and will error. ## `local` (type: `boolean`): For hashtag/public timeline: restrict to posts from the instance's own users. ## `excludeReplies` (type: `boolean`): When scraping account statuses, skip replies. ## `maxPostsPerTarget` (type: `integer`): Max statuses to pull per account, hashtag, or timeline. ## `maxItems` (type: `integer`): Hard cap on total records pushed to the dataset across all modes. ## `proxyConfiguration` (type: `object`): Off by default — Mastodon's public API is open and rarely needs a proxy. ## Actor input object example ```json { "instance": "https://mastodon.social", "accounts": [ "Gargron" ], "includeProfiles": true, "includePublicTimeline": false, "local": false, "excludeReplies": true, "maxPostsPerTarget": 40, "maxItems": 5000, "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 '' with your token const client = new ApifyClient({ token: '', }); // Prepare Actor input const input = { "instance": "https://mastodon.social", "accounts": [ "Gargron" ], "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": false } }; // Run the Actor and wait for it to finish const run = await client.actor("moving_beacon-owner1/mastodon-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 = { "instance": "https://mastodon.social", "accounts": ["Gargron"], "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": False }, } # Run the Actor and wait for it to finish run = client.actor("moving_beacon-owner1/mastodon-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 '{ "instance": "https://mastodon.social", "accounts": [ "Gargron" ], "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": false } }' | apify call moving_beacon-owner1/mastodon-scraper --silent --output-dataset ``` ## MCP server setup ```json { "mcpServers": { "apify": { "command": "npx", "args": [ "mcp-remote", "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=moving_beacon-owner1/mastodon-scraper", "--header", "Authorization: Bearer " ] } } } ``` ## OpenAPI specification ```json { "openapi": "3.0.1", "info": { "title": "Mastodon Scraper", "description": "Scrapes public data from any Mastodon instance via its REST API, including accounts, posts, threads, hashtags, and public timelines. No authentication required. Returns structured data with author details, post content, engagement metrics, media URLs, timestamps, and source URLs.", "version": "0.0", "x-build-id": "CJLBCvvdFXmHikOWR" }, "servers": [ { "url": "https://api.apify.com/v2" } ], "paths": { "/acts/moving_beacon-owner1~mastodon-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-get-dataset-items-moving_beacon-owner1-mastodon-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for its completion, and returns Actor's dataset items in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK" } } } }, "/acts/moving_beacon-owner1~mastodon-scraper/runs": { "post": { "operationId": "runs-sync-moving_beacon-owner1-mastodon-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor and returns information about the initiated run in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK", "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/runsResponseSchema" } } } } } } }, "/acts/moving_beacon-owner1~mastodon-scraper/run-sync": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-moving_beacon-owner1-mastodon-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for completion, and returns the OUTPUT from Key-value store in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK" } } } } }, "components": { "schemas": { "inputSchema": { "type": "object", "properties": { "instance": { "title": "Instance", "type": "string", "description": "Default Mastodon instance URL used for hashtags, the public timeline, and local-only account lookups." }, "accounts": { "title": "Accounts", "type": "array", "description": "Handles to scrape. Use 'user' (looked up on the instance) or 'user@home.instance' (looked up on its own server, more reliable).", "items": { "type": "string" } }, "includeProfiles": { "title": "Include profile records", "type": "boolean", "description": "Also push an account/profile row for each scraped account.", "default": true }, "hashtags": { "title": "Hashtags", "type": "array", "description": "Hashtags (with or without #) to pull from the instance's tag timeline.", "items": { "type": "string" } }, "statusUrls": { "title": "Status URLs (threads)", "type": "array", "description": "Full status URLs (e.g. https://mastodon.social/@user/123). Each one's thread context is scraped.", "items": { "type": "string" } }, "includePublicTimeline": { "title": "Include public timeline", "type": "boolean", "description": "Scrape the instance public timeline. Many large instances (e.g. mastodon.social) restrict this to logged-in users and will error.", "default": false }, "local": { "title": "Local only", "type": "boolean", "description": "For hashtag/public timeline: restrict to posts from the instance's own users.", "default": false }, "excludeReplies": { "title": "Exclude replies", "type": "boolean", "description": "When scraping account statuses, skip replies.", "default": true }, "maxPostsPerTarget": { "title": "Max posts per target", "minimum": 1, "type": "integer", "description": "Max statuses to pull per account, hashtag, or timeline.", "default": 40 }, "maxItems": { "title": "Max total records", "minimum": 1, "type": "integer", "description": "Hard cap on total records pushed to the dataset across all modes.", "default": 5000 }, "proxyConfiguration": { "title": "Proxy (optional)", "type": "object", "description": "Off by default — Mastodon's public API is open and rarely needs a proxy." } } }, "runsResponseSchema": { "type": "object", "properties": { "data": { "type": "object", "properties": { "id": { "type": "string" }, "actId": { "type": "string" }, "userId": { "type": "string" }, "startedAt": { "type": "string", "format": "date-time", "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z" }, "finishedAt": { "type": "string", "format": "date-time", "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z" }, "status": { "type": "string", "example": "READY" }, "meta": { "type": "object", "properties": { "origin": { "type": "string", "example": "API" }, "userAgent": { "type": "string" } } }, "stats": { "type": "object", "properties": { "inputBodyLen": { "type": "integer", "example": 2000 }, "rebootCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "restartCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "resurrectCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "computeUnits": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } }, "options": { "type": "object", "properties": { "build": { "type": "string", "example": "latest" }, "timeoutSecs": { "type": "integer", "example": 300 }, "memoryMbytes": { "type": "integer", "example": 1024 }, "diskMbytes": { "type": "integer", "example": 2048 } } }, "buildId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultKeyValueStoreId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultDatasetId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultRequestQueueId": { "type": "string" }, "buildNumber": { "type": "string", "example": "1.0.0" }, "containerUrl": { "type": "string" }, "usage": { "type": "object", "properties": { "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 1 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_SERPS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } }, "usageTotalUsd": { "type": "number", "example": 0.00005 }, "usageUsd": { "type": "object", "properties": { "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": { "type": "number", "example": 0.00005 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_SERPS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } } } } } } } } } ```