Actor builds and runs
Actor builds and runs are fundamental concepts within the Apify platform. Understanding them is crucial for effective use of the platform.
Build an Actor
When you start the build process for your Actor, you create a build. A build is a Docker image containing your source code and the required dependencies needed to run the Actor. The build uses the files in your Actor definition, such as your source code, actor.json, and Dockerfile.
Run an Actor
To create a run, you take your build and start it with some input.
Lifecycle
Each run and build starts with the initial status READY and goes through one or more transitional statuses to one of the terminal statuses.
While a run or build is still READY, it can also time out, or you can abort it.
| Status | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| READY | initial | Started but not allocated to any worker yet |
| RUNNING | transitional | Executing on a worker machine |
| SUCCEEDED | terminal | Finished successfully |
| FAILED | terminal | Run failed |
| TIMING-OUT | transitional | Timing out now |
| TIMED-OUT | terminal | Timed out |
| ABORTING | transitional | Run is being aborted |
| ABORTED | terminal | Run aborted |