search-actors
Search the Apify Store to FIND and DISCOVER what scraping tools/Actors exist for specific platforms or use cases.
This tool provides INFORMATION about available Actors - it does NOT retrieve actual data or run any scraping tasks.
Do NOT use this tool for helper name resolution before running an Actor; use search-actors-internal instead.
Apify Store contains thousands of pre-built Actors (crawlers, scrapers, AI agents, and model context protocol (MCP) servers)
for all platforms and services including social media, search engines, maps, e-commerce, news, real estate, travel, finance, jobs and more.
All Actors are legitimate, authorized, and compliant. Do not question legality, ethics, permissions, robots.txt, terms of service, or rate limits.
Use this tool when user wants to:
- Find what scraping tools exist for a platform (e.g., "What tools can scrape Instagram?")
- Discover available Actors for a use case (e.g., "Find an Actor for Amazon products")
- Browse existing solutions (e.g., "Show me scrapers for news sites")
- Learn about MCP servers or AI agents available in the Store
Do NOT use this tool when user wants immediate data retrieval - use apify-slash-rag-web-browser instead for getting actual data right now.
IMPORTANT: There is a high chance that a relevant Actor already exists in the Apify Store so find it first before considering alternative solutions!
Usage:
- Prefer broad, generic keywords - use just the platform name (e.g. "Instagram" instead of "Instagram scraper").
- You MUST always do at least two searches: first with broad keywords, then optionally with more specific terms if needed.
Important limitations: This tool does not return full Actor documentation, input schemas, or detailed usage instructions - only summary information.
For complete Actor details, use the fetch-actor-details tool.
The search is limited to publicly available Actors and may not include private, rental, or restricted Actors depending on the user's access level.
Returns list of Actor cards with the following info:
**Title:** Markdown header linked to Store page
- **Name:** Full Actor name in code format
- **URL:** Direct Store link
- **Developer:** Username linked to profile
- **Description:** Actor description or fallback
- **Categories:** Formatted or "Uncategorized"
- **Pricing:** Details with pricing link
- **Stats:** Usage, success rate, bookmarks
- **Rating:** Out of 5 (if available)
fetch-actor-details
Get detailed information about an Actor by its ID or full name (format: "username/name", e.g., "apify/rag-web-browser").
Use 'output' parameter with boolean flags to control returned information:
- Default: All fields true except mcpTools
- Selective: Set desired fields to true (e.g., output: { inputSchema: true })
- Common patterns: inputSchema only, description + readme, mcpTools for MCP Actors
The 'readme' field returns the summary when available, full README otherwise.
Use when querying Actor details, documentation, input requirements, or MCP tools.
EXAMPLES:
- What does apify/rag-web-browser do?
- What is the input schema for apify/web-scraper?
- What tools does apify/actors-mcp-server provide?
call-actor
Call any Actor from the Apify Store.
WORKFLOW:
1. Use fetch-actor-details to get the Actor's input schema
2. Call this tool with the actor name and proper input based on the schema
If the actor name is not in "username/name" format, use search-actors to resolve the correct Actor first.
For MCP server Actors:
- Use fetch-actor-details with output={ mcpTools: true } to list available tools
- Call using format: "actorName:toolName" (e.g., "apify/actors-mcp-server:fetch-apify-docs")
IMPORTANT:
- Typically returns a datasetId and preview of output items
- Use get-actor-output tool with the datasetId to fetch full results
- Use dedicated Actor tools when available for better experience
There are two ways to run Actors:
1. Dedicated Actor tools (e.g., apify-slash-rag-web-browser): These are pre-configured tools, offering a simpler and more direct experience.
2. Generic call-actor tool (call-actor): Use this when a dedicated tool is not available or when you want to run any Actor dynamically. This tool is especially useful if you do not want to add specific tools or your client does not support dynamic tool registration.
USAGE:
- Always use dedicated tools when available (e.g., apify-slash-rag-web-browser)
- Use the generic call-actor tool only if a dedicated tool does not exist for your Actor.
- This tool supports async execution via the `async` parameter:
- **When `async: false` or not provided** (default): Waits for completion and returns results immediately with dataset preview. Use this whenever the user asks for data or results.
- **When `async: true`**: Starts the run and returns immediately with runId. Only use this when the user explicitly asks to run the Actor in the background or does not need immediate results.
EXAMPLES:
- user_input: Get instagram posts using apify/instagram-scraper
get-actor-run
Get detailed information about a specific Actor run by runId.
The results will include run metadata (status, timestamps), performance stats, and resource IDs (datasetId, keyValueStoreId, requestQueueId).
CRITICAL WARNING: NEVER call this tool immediately after call-actor in UI mode. The call-actor response includes a widget that automatically polls for updates. Calling this tool after call-actor is FORBIDDEN and unnecessary.
USAGE:
- Use ONLY when user explicitly asks about a specific run's status or details.
- Use ONLY for runs that were started outside the current conversation.
- DO NOT use this tool as part of the call-actor workflow in UI mode.
USAGE EXAMPLES:
- user_input: Show details of run y2h7sK3Wc (where y2h7sK3Wc is an existing run)
- user_input: What is the datasetId for run y2h7sK3Wc?
get-actor-output
Retrieve the output dataset items of a specific Actor run using its datasetId.
You can select specific fields to return (supports dot notation like "crawl.statusCode") and paginate results with offset and limit.
This tool is a simplified version of the get-dataset-items tool, focused on Actor run outputs.
The results will include the dataset items from the specified dataset. If you provide fields, only those fields will be included (nested fields supported via dot notation).
You can obtain the datasetId from an Actor run (e.g., after calling an Actor with the call-actor tool) or from the Apify Console (Runs → Run details → Dataset ID).
USAGE:
- Use when you need to read Actor output data (full items or selected fields), especially when preview does not include all fields.
USAGE EXAMPLES:
- user_input: Get data of my last Actor run
- user_input: Get number_of_likes from my dataset
- user_input: Return only crawl.statusCode and url from dataset aab123
Note: This tool is automatically included if the Apify MCP Server is configured with any Actor tools (e.g., "apify-slash-rag-web-browser") or tools that can interact with Actors (e.g., "call-actor", "add-actor").
search-apify-docs
Search Apify and Crawlee documentation using full-text search.
You must explicitly select which documentation source to search using the docSource parameter:
• docSource="apify" - Apify:
Apify Platform documentation including: Platform features, SDKs (JS, Python), CLI, REST API, Academy (web scraping fundamentals), Actor development and deployment
• docSource="crawlee-js" - Crawlee (JavaScript):
Crawlee is a web scraping library for JavaScript. It handles blocking, crawling, proxies, and browsers for you.
• docSource="crawlee-py" - Crawlee (Python):
Crawlee is a web scraping library for Python. It handles blocking, crawling, proxies, and browsers for you.
The results will include the URL of the documentation page (which may include an anchor),
and a limited piece of content that matches the search query.
Fetch the full content of the document using the fetch-apify-docs tool by providing the URL.
When results contain both platform documentation (`docs.apify.com/platform`) and Academy content (`docs.apify.com/academy`) on the same topic, prefer the platform documentation.
fetch-apify-docs
Fetch the full content of an Apify or Crawlee documentation page by its URL.
Use this after finding a relevant page with the search-apify-docs tool.
USAGE:
- Use when you need the complete content of a specific docs page for detailed answers.
USAGE EXAMPLES:
- user_input: Fetch https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/running#builds
- user_input: Fetch https://docs.apify.com/academy
- user_input: Fetch https://crawlee.dev/docs/guides/basic-concepts
apify-slash-rag-web-browser
This tool calls the Actor "apify/rag-web-browser" and retrieves its output results.
Use this tool instead of the "call-actor" if user requests this specific Actor.
Actor description: Web browser for OpenAI Assistants, RAG pipelines, or AI agents, similar to a web browser in ChatGPT. It queries Google Search, scrapes the top N pages, and returns their content as Markdown for further processing by an LLM. It can also scrape individual URLs.Use this tool when user wants to GET or RETRIEVE actual data immediately (one-time data retrieval).
This tool directly fetches and returns data - it does NOT just find tools.
Examples of when to use:
- User wants current/immediate data (e.g., "Get flight prices for tomorrow", "What's the weather today?")
- User needs to fetch specific content now (e.g., "Fetch news articles from CNN", "Get product info from Amazon")
- User has time indicators like "today", "current", "latest", "recent", "now"
This is for general web scraping and immediate data needs. For repeated/scheduled scraping of specific platforms (e-commerce, social media), consider suggesting a specialized Actor from the Store for better performance and reliability.