Apify Actor Development FAQs

Name: Apify Actor Development
Author: apify

Question 1

When should I use CheerioCrawler versus PlaywrightCrawler?

Accepted Answer

Use CheerioCrawler for static HTML sites because it is roughly 10x faster. Use PlaywrightCrawler only for JavaScript-heavy websites that require a real browser to render content.

Question 2

What are Apify Actors?

Accepted Answer

Actors are serverless cloud programs designed for web scraping and automation, packaged as Docker images and run on the Apify platform to perform tasks ranging from seconds to hours.

Question 3

How do I provide input for local testing?

Accepted Answer

Input data is provided by creating a JSON file at 'storage/key_value_stores/default/INPUT.json'. The actor reads this file when running locally, simulating how it receives input on the Apify platform.

Question 4

Why should I use 'apify run' instead of 'npm start'?

Accepted Answer

Using 'apify run' ensures that the local environment and storage (datasets, key-value stores) are correctly configured to mirror the Apify platform, whereas standard package manager commands will not set up these dependencies.

Question 5

Which programming languages are supported by this skill?

Accepted Answer

This skill supports developing Apify Actors in JavaScript, TypeScript, and Python, providing specific templates and CLI commands for each language.

Apify Actor Development

Key Features

Use Cases

Apify Actor Development

Key Features

Use Cases