# Craigslist Scraper - Listings, Classifieds & Leads (`scrapesage/craigslist-scraper`) Actor

Scrape Craigslist postings from any US city & category - housing, real estate, for-sale, services, gigs & jobs: title, price, beds/baths/sqft, attributes, body, geo, photos, dates, plus phone/email leads from the post body. New-post monitoring. No login, key or browser.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/scrapesage/craigslist-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Scrape Sage](https://apify.com/scrapesage) (community)
- **Categories:** Lead generation, Real estate, Automation
- **Stats:** 6 total users, 2 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

$3.00 / 1,000 posting scrapeds

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

## Craigslist Scraper — Listings, Classifieds & Phone/Email Leads

Extract **postings from any [Craigslist](https://www.craigslist.org) city and category** — housing & rentals, real estate for sale, cars, for‑sale items, **services, gigs and jobs**. Get the title, price, beds/baths/sqft, full attribute set, body text, location & geo, photos and dates — plus the **phone numbers and emails advertisers leave in the post body** (the lead). Run it in **monitoring mode** to get only brand‑new posts each time.

No login, no API key, no browser — fast, reliable extraction powered by Craigslist's own public JSON API, with every post a structured record and a **lead score**.

### Why this Craigslist scraper?

Most Craigslist tools scrape one category and return a title and a price. This actor reads Craigslist's official search + posting API across **every category**, resolves each post to its canonical URL, and ships the **richest record in the category** — including the contact details that make a posting a usable lead.

| Data | Generic crawlers | This actor |
|---|---|---|
| Title, price, category, canonical URL | partial | ✅ ~100% |
| Location, neighborhood & **geo (lat/lng)** | partial | ✅ |
| Beds / baths / sqft + full attributes (housing type, laundry, parking, furnished, condition…) | ❌ | ✅ |
| Full **body text** | partial | ✅ |
| **Phone & email leads** from the post body | ❌ | ✅ (esp. services & gigs) |
| Photos, posted/updated dates, repost-of | ❌ | ✅ |
| Works across housing, real estate, for‑sale, services, gigs, jobs | one category | ✅ all |
| Monitoring — only **new posts** | ❌ | ✅ |
| Lead score (0–100) | ❌ | ✅ |

### Use cases

- **Service & contractor leads** — services and gigs advertisers (movers, plumbers, mechanics, cleaners, web/creative pros…) almost always post a **phone number** in the body. Filter by category + city and export a ready‑to‑call list.
- **FSBO & real‑estate prospecting** — pull *for‑sale‑by‑owner* and rental listings with price, beds/baths/sqft, address and geo — leads for agents, investors, iBuyers and proptech.
- **Marketplace & price research** — track for‑sale inventory and pricing (cars, furniture, electronics, equipment) across cities.
- **Recruiting & gig sourcing** — scan jobs and gigs for roles, employers and rates.
- **New‑post monitoring** — schedule it to alert you the moment a new matching post appears (new FSBO listing, new gig, new service provider).

### How to use

1. [Sign up for Apify](https://console.apify.com/sign-up) — the free plan is enough to try this actor.
2. Open the **Craigslist Scraper**, add one or more sites (`austin`, `sfbay`, `newyork`…), pick categories, and add optional keywords/filters.
3. Click **Start** and watch postings stream into the dataset table.
4. **Export** as JSON, CSV, Excel, XML, or RSS — or pull results via the [Apify API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2).

### Input

```json
{
    "sites": ["austin", "sfbay"],
    "categories": ["services-all", "real-estate-for-sale"],
    "keywords": ["plumbing"],
    "maxResults": 200,
    "maxPrice": 3000,
    "includePostDetails": true,
    "monitorMode": false
}
```

- **sites** — Craigslist sites: the subdomain (`austin`, `sfbay`, `newyork`, `losangeles`) or a metro name (`Austin`, `New York`, `San Francisco`). Required unless you use **startUrls**.
- **categories** — pick from the list (apartments, rooms, real estate for sale, for‑sale, cars, furniture, electronics, services, skilled trades, jobs, gigs, community…) or type any raw 3‑letter Craigslist code (`apa`, `rea`, `cto`, `bbb`).
- **keywords** *(optional)* — each is run against every site × category.
- **startUrls** — paste Craigslist search URLs (`.../search/apa?query=loft&max_price=2000`) or individual post URLs.
- **minPrice / maxPrice / minBedrooms / maxBedrooms / hasImage / postedTodayOnly / titleOnly / searchNearby** — filters.
- **includePostDetails** *(default true)* — fetch each post's full body, attributes, address, dates and the **phone/email lead**. Turn off for a faster, list‑only run.
- **monitorMode** *(default false)* — return only posts not seen in previous runs.
- **proxyConfiguration** — proxy settings (Apify proxy with automatic fresh‑session rotation by default).

### Output

By default you get **one clean table of postings**. A posting record (`type: "posting"`):

```json
{
    "type": "posting",
    "postId": "7941186152",
    "postingUuid": "wjx3nuc2LZFaNNzudJgFqD",
    "url": "https://sfbay.craigslist.org/sby/sks/d/san-jose-plumber/7941186152.html",
    "title": "San Jose Plumber - Plumbing & Sewer",
    "category": "skilled trade services",
    "categoryCode": "sks",
    "section": "services",
    "site": "sfbay",
    "price": null,
    "neighborhood": "San Jose",
    "streetAddress": null,
    "latitude": 37.33, "longitude": -121.88,
    "bedrooms": null, "bathrooms": null, "sqft": null,
    "attributes": [], "attributeMap": {},
    "bodyText": "Friendly professional plumber, 24/7 …",
    "hasContactInfo": true,
    "contactPhone": "408-539-6608",
    "contactPhones": ["408-539-6608"],
    "contactEmails": [],
    "images": ["https://images.craigslist.org/..._600x450.jpg"],
    "imageCount": 3,
    "postedAt": "2026-06-15T21:08:59.000Z",
    "leadScore": 70,
    "scrapedAt": "2026-06-15T21:30:00.000Z"
}
```

A housing/real‑estate record adds `price`, `bedrooms`, `bathrooms`, `sqft`, `housingType`, `laundry`, `parking`, `furnished`, `streetAddress` and a full `attributeMap`.

#### What to expect (field coverage)

| Field | Coverage |
|---|---|
| postId, uuid, canonical URL, title, category, geo, body, posted date | ~100% |
| price, beds/baths/sqft & attributes | housing / real estate / for‑sale |
| **phone in body** | high for **services & gigs** (advertisers want calls); lower for housing/jobs (those use Craigslist's anonymized reply) |
| photos | when the post has any |

Craigslist's search API returns up to ~360 results per query — the actor logs the full `total` and recommends narrowing with keywords, price or a sub‑category for deeper coverage (no silent truncation).

### Automate & schedule

- **[Apify API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2)** — start runs, fetch datasets, manage schedules over REST.
- **[apify-client for JavaScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/)** and **[Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/)** — official SDKs.
- **[Schedules](https://docs.apify.com/platform/schedules)** — run it daily/hourly with **monitorMode** to catch new posts as they appear.
- **[Webhooks](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/webhooks)** — trigger CRM import, Slack alert or an email sequence the moment a run finishes.

```js
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

const client = new ApifyClient({ token: 'MY_APIFY_TOKEN' });

const run = await client.actor('scrapesage/craigslist-scraper').call({
    sites: ['austin'],
    categories: ['services-all'],
    keywords: ['moving'],
    maxResults: 100,
});

const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
console.log(`Got ${items.length} postings`);
```

### Integrate with any app

Connect the dataset to 5,000+ apps — no code required:

- **[Make](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/make)** — multi‑step automation scenarios.
- **[Zapier](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/zapier)** — push new leads straight into your CRM.
- **[Slack](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/slack)** — get notified when a monitored feed adds posts.
- **[Google Drive / Sheets](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/drive)** — auto‑export every run to a spreadsheet.
- **[Airbyte](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/airbyte)** — pipe results into your data warehouse.
- **[GitHub](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/github)** — trigger runs from commits or releases.

### Use with AI assistants (MCP)

The output is clean, LLM‑ready JSON. Call this actor from Claude, ChatGPT, or any agent framework through the **[Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/mcp)** — ask your assistant to "find moving companies in Austin with a phone number" and let it run the scraper for you.

### Agent-ready: autonomous payments (x402 & Skyfire)

This actor is **agent-ready** — AI agents can discover it, run it, and **pay for it autonomously**, with no Apify account and no human in the loop. It uses [pay-per-event](https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/publishing/monetize/pay-per-event) pricing and [limited permissions](https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/development/permissions), so it qualifies for Apify's agentic-payment standards:

- **[x402](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/x402)** — an open, HTTP-native payment protocol. Agents pay per run in USDC on the Base network directly through the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/mcp) — no account, no API key.
- **[Skyfire](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/skyfire)** — agent-to-service payments for fully autonomous AI-agent workflows.

Building an AI agent, MCP tool, or autonomous data pipeline? This scraper is ready to plug in and pay as it goes.

### More scrapers from scrapesage

Build a complete **local‑lead & real‑estate stack**:

- **[Rent.com Scraper](https://apify.com/scrapesage/rent-com-scraper)** — apartment & rental listings, prices and property leads.
- **[Airbnb Scraper & Market Monitor](https://apify.com/scrapesage/airbnb-scraper)** — short‑term rental listings, prices and availability.
- **[Bark Listing Scraper](https://apify.com/scrapesage/bark-listing-scraper)** — local service‑provider leads.
- **[Houzz Scraper](https://apify.com/scrapesage/houzz-scraper)** — home & remodeling pros, contacts and reviews.
- **[Insurance Agent Scraper](https://apify.com/scrapesage/insurance-agent-scraper)** — State Farm & Farmers agent leads.
- **[US Business Formation Scraper](https://apify.com/scrapesage/us-business-formation-scraper)** — newly registered LLCs & companies as fresh B2B leads.
- **[Google Ads Transparency Scraper](https://apify.com/scrapesage/google-ads-transparency-scraper)** — who's advertising what on Google.

### Tips

- **Services & gigs = the best leads.** Those advertisers post their phone in the body, so categories like *services‑all*, *skilled‑trades*, *labor‑moving* and *labor‑gigs* return the highest phone coverage.
- **Narrow for depth.** Craigslist caps a query at ~360 results — split a big category by keyword, price band or sub‑category to go deeper.
- **Keep details on** to capture the body, attributes and contact info; turn off for a fast list‑only pass.
- **Monitor** with `monitorMode` + a [Schedule](https://docs.apify.com/platform/schedules) to get only new posts each run (perfect for time‑sensitive feeds).

### FAQ

**How do I pick a city?** Use the Craigslist subdomain (`austin`, `sfbay`, `newyork`) or a metro name (`Austin`, `New York`). Each is scraped for every selected category.

**Does it need the Craigslist API or a key?** No. It reads Craigslist's public search and posting endpoints directly — no key, no login, no browser.

**Will I always get a phone number?** For **services and gigs**, usually yes (advertisers want to be called). For housing and jobs, posters often use Craigslist's anonymized reply, so a phone appears only when they typed it into the body — the actor still returns the full structured listing and flags `hasContactInfo`.

**How many results per search?** Craigslist returns up to ~360 per query. The actor reports the full result `total` and recommends narrowing with keywords, price or a sub‑category for more.

**How do I monitor for new posts?** Turn on `monitorMode` and create a [Schedule](https://docs.apify.com/platform/schedules). Each run returns only posts not seen before. It works alongside Apify Schedules — the schedule starts the run, monitor mode dedupes against earlier runs.

**Is scraping Craigslist legal?** This actor collects publicly available data only. You're responsible for using the data in compliance with applicable laws (e.g. GDPR/CCPA for personal data) and Craigslist's terms.

### Need help?

Open an issue on the actor's **Issues** tab, or visit the [Apify help center](https://help.apify.com/). Feature requests are welcome — this actor is actively maintained.

# Actor input Schema

## `sites` (type: `array`):

Craigslist sites to scrape — the subdomain (e.g. `austin`, `sfbay`, `newyork`, `losangeles`) or a metro name (e.g. `Austin`, `New York`, `San Francisco`). Each site is scraped for every selected category. Required unless you use Start URLs.

## `categories` (type: `array`):

Craigslist categories to scrape in each site. You can also type any raw 3-letter Craigslist code (e.g. `apa`, `rea`, `cto`, `bbb`).

## `keywords` (type: `array`):

Optional search terms. Each keyword is run against every site × category. Leave empty to browse the whole category.

## `startUrls` (type: `array`):

Optional. Paste Craigslist search URLs (`https://austin.craigslist.org/search/apa?query=loft&max_price=2000`) or individual post URLs (`.../apa/d/<slug>/<id>.html`). Processed in addition to the sites above.

## `minPrice` (type: `integer`):

Keep only postings priced at least this much. Leave empty for no filter.

## `maxPrice` (type: `integer`):

Keep only postings priced at most this much. Leave empty for no filter.

## `minBedrooms` (type: `integer`):

Housing only — minimum number of bedrooms. Leave empty for no filter.

## `maxBedrooms` (type: `integer`):

Housing only — maximum number of bedrooms. Leave empty for no filter.

## `hasImage` (type: `boolean`):

Keep only postings that include at least one photo.

## `postedTodayOnly` (type: `boolean`):

Keep only postings made today.

## `titleOnly` (type: `boolean`):

Search keywords against the post title only (not the body).

## `searchNearby` (type: `boolean`):

Also include results from Craigslist areas near the selected site.

## `maxResultsPerSearch` (type: `integer`):

Cap per site × category × keyword. Craigslist's API returns at most ~400 results per query — narrow with keywords, price or a sub-category for deeper coverage.

## `maxResults` (type: `integer`):

Global cap on the total number of postings emitted in this run.

## `includePostDetails` (type: `boolean`):

Open each post page for the full body text, all attributes (beds/baths/sqft/housing type/laundry/parking/pets/condition/make/model…), posted/updated dates, map address and — the lead wedge — the phone numbers and emails left in the post body. Turn off for a faster, list-only run (title, price, geo, photos, beds/sqft).

## `deduplicatePostings` (type: `boolean`):

Emit each post only once per run (keyed by Craigslist post id), even across categories and keywords.

## `monitorMode` (type: `boolean`):

Remember postings already returned and emit ONLY posts not seen in previous runs. Perfect for time-sensitive feeds (new FSBO listings, new gigs, new service posts). Pairs with Apify Schedules.

## `monitorStoreName` (type: `string`):

Named key-value store that holds the 'already seen' post ids for monitoring mode. Use a different name per tracked feed to keep histories separate.

## `maxConcurrency` (type: `integer`):

Maximum parallel requests. Keep it moderate — Craigslist rate-limits aggressively per IP.

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

Proxy settings. Craigslist serves clean pages to US datacenter IPs but rate-limits per IP, so the default Apify proxy (with automatic fresh-session rotation) is recommended; switch to residential for very large or high-frequency runs.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "sites": [
    "austin"
  ],
  "categories": [
    "apartments"
  ],
  "hasImage": false,
  "postedTodayOnly": false,
  "titleOnly": false,
  "searchNearby": false,
  "maxResultsPerSearch": 120,
  "maxResults": 300,
  "includePostDetails": true,
  "deduplicatePostings": true,
  "monitorMode": false,
  "monitorStoreName": "craigslist-monitor",
  "maxConcurrency": 4,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true,
    "apifyProxyCountry": "US"
  }
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

All scraped postings in the default dataset. Use the Postings / Leads dataset views to filter the columns.

# 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 = {
    "sites": [
        "austin"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("scrapesage/craigslist-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 = { "sites": ["austin"] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("scrapesage/craigslist-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 '{
  "sites": [
    "austin"
  ]
}' |
apify call scrapesage/craigslist-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

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

```

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/JOyEwgG95UL9lyXpX/builds/OOsHVIGhr7inRafGo/openapi.json