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Actor

The main class of the SDK, through which all the actor operations should be done.

Index

Constructors

__init__

  • __init__(config): None
  • Create an Actor instance.

    Note that you don’t have to do this, all the methods on this class function as classmethods too, and that is their preferred usage.


    Parameters

    • optionalconfig: Configuration

      The actor configuration to be used. If not passed, a new Configuration instance will be created.

    Returns None

Methods

abort

  • async abort(run_id, token, gracefully): Dict
  • Abort given actor run on the Apify platform using the current user account (determined by the APIFY_TOKEN environment variable).


    Parameters

    • run_id: str

      The ID of the actor run to be aborted.

    • optionaltoken: str

      The Apify API token to use for this request (defaults to the APIFY_TOKEN environment variable).

    • optionalgracefully: bool

      If True, the actor run will abort gracefully. It will send `aborting` and `persistStates` events into the run and force-stop the run after 30 seconds. It is helpful in cases where you plan to resurrect the run later.

    Returns Dict

add_webhook

  • async add_webhook(event_types, request_url, payload_template, ignore_ssl_errors, do_not_retry, idempotency_key): Dict
  • Create an ad-hoc webhook for the current actor run.

    This webhook lets you receive a notification when the actor run finished or failed.

    Note that webhooks are only supported for actors running on the Apify platform. When running the actor locally, the function will print a warning and have no effect.

    For more information about Apify actor webhooks, please see the documentation.


    Parameters

    • event_types: List[WebhookEventType]

      List of event types that should trigger the webhook. At least one is required.

    • request_url: str

      URL that will be invoked once the webhook is triggered.

    • optionalpayload_template: str

      Specification of the payload that will be sent to request_url

    • optionalignore_ssl_errors: bool

      Whether the webhook should ignore SSL errors returned by request_url

    • optionaldo_not_retry: bool

      Whether the webhook should retry sending the payload to request_url upon failure.

    • optionalidempotency_key: str

      A unique identifier of a webhook. You can use it to ensure that you won’t create the same webhook multiple times.

    Returns Dict

call

  • async call(actor_id, run_input, token, content_type, build, memory_mbytes, timeout_secs, webhooks, wait_secs): Dict
  • Start an actor on the Apify Platform and wait for it to finish before returning.

    It waits indefinitely, unless the wait_secs argument is provided.


    Parameters

    • actor_id: str

      The ID of the actor to be run.

    • optionalrun_input: Any

      The input to pass to the actor run.

    • optionaltoken: str

      The Apify API token to use for this request (defaults to the APIFY_TOKEN environment variable).

    • optionalcontent_type: str

      The content type of the input.

    • optionalbuild: str

      Specifies the actor build to run. It can be either a build tag or build number. By default, the run uses the build specified in the default run configuration for the actor (typically latest).

    • optionalmemory_mbytes: int

      Memory limit for the run, in megabytes. By default, the run uses a memory limit specified in the default run configuration for the actor.

    • optionaltimeout_secs: int

      Optional timeout for the run, in seconds. By default, the run uses timeout specified in the default run configuration for the actor.

    • optionalwebhooks: List[Dict]

      Optional webhooks (https://docs.apify.com/webhooks) associated with the actor run, which can be used to receive a notification, e.g. when the actor finished or failed. If you already have a webhook set up for the actor, you do not have to add it again here.

    • optionalwait_secs: int

      The maximum number of seconds the server waits for the run to finish. If not provided, waits indefinitely.

    Returns Dict

call_task

  • async call_task(task_id, task_input, build, memory_mbytes, timeout_secs, webhooks, wait_secs, token): Dict
  • Start an actor task on the Apify Platform and wait for it to finish before returning.

    It waits indefinitely, unless the wait_secs argument is provided.

    Note that an actor task is a saved input configuration and options for an actor. If you want to run an actor directly rather than an actor task, please use the Actor.call


    Parameters

    • task_id: str

      The ID of the actor to be run.

    • optionaltask_input: Dict[str, Any]

      Overrides the input to pass to the actor run.

    • optionalbuild: str

      Specifies the actor build to run. It can be either a build tag or build number. By default, the run uses the build specified in the default run configuration for the actor (typically latest).

    • optionalmemory_mbytes: int

      Memory limit for the run, in megabytes. By default, the run uses a memory limit specified in the default run configuration for the actor.

    • optionaltimeout_secs: int

      Optional timeout for the run, in seconds. By default, the run uses timeout specified in the default run configuration for the actor.

    • optionalwebhooks: List[Dict]

      Optional webhooks (https://docs.apify.com/webhooks) associated with the actor run, which can be used to receive a notification, e.g. when the actor finished or failed. If you already have a webhook set up for the actor, you do not have to add it again here.

    • optionalwait_secs: int

      The maximum number of seconds the server waits for the run to finish. If not provided, waits indefinitely.

    • optionaltoken: str

      The Apify API token to use for this request (defaults to the APIFY_TOKEN environment variable).

    Returns Dict

create_proxy_configuration

  • async create_proxy_configuration(actor_proxy_input, password, groups, country_code, proxy_urls, new_url_function): ProxyConfiguration
  • Create a ProxyConfiguration object with the passed proxy configuration.

    Configures connection to a proxy server with the provided options. Proxy servers are used to prevent target websites from blocking your crawlers based on IP address rate limits or blacklists.

    For more details and code examples, see the ProxyConfiguration class.


    Parameters

    • optionalactor_proxy_input: Dict

      Proxy configuration field from the actor input, if actor has such input field. If you pass this argument, all the other arguments will be inferred from it.

    • optionalpassword: str

      Password for the Apify Proxy. If not provided, will use os.environ[‘APIFY_PROXY_PASSWORD’], if available.

    • optionalgroups: List[str]

      Proxy groups which the Apify Proxy should use, if provided.

    • optionalcountry_code: str

      Country which the Apify Proxy should use, if provided.

    • optionalproxy_urls: List[str]

      Custom proxy server URLs which should be rotated through.

    • optionalnew_url_function: Union[Callable[[Optional[str]], str], Callable[[Optional[str]], Awaitable[str]]]

      Function which returns a custom proxy URL to be used.

    Returns ProxyConfiguration

exit

  • async exit(exit_code, event_listeners_timeout_secs, status_message): None
  • Exit the actor instance.

    This stops the Actor instance. It cancels all the intervals for regularly sending PERSIST_STATE events, sends a final PERSIST_STATE event, waits for all the event listeners to finish, and stops the event manager.


    Parameters

    • exit_code: int

      The exit code with which the actor should fail (defaults to 0).

    • optionalevent_listeners_timeout_secs: float

      How long should the actor wait for actor event listeners to finish before exiting.

    • optionalstatus_message: str

      The final status message that the actor should display.

    Returns None

fail

  • async fail(exit_code, exception, status_message): None
  • Fail the actor instance.

    This performs all the same steps as Actor.exit(), but it additionally sets the exit code to 1 (by default).


    Parameters

    • exit_code: int

      The exit code with which the actor should fail (defaults to 1).

    • optionalexception: BaseException

      The exception with which the actor failed.

    • optionalstatus_message: str

      The final status message that the actor should display.

    Returns None

get_env

  • get_env(): Dict
  • Return a dictionary with information parsed from all the APIFY_XXX environment variables.

    For a list of all the environment variables, see the Actor documentation. If some variables are not defined or are invalid, the corresponding value in the resulting dictionary will be None.


    Returns Dict

get_input

  • async get_input(): Any
  • Get the actor input value from the default key-value store associated with the current actor run.


    Returns Any

get_value

  • async get_value(key): Any
  • Get a value from the default key-value store associated with the current actor run.


    Parameters

    • key: str

      The key of the record which to retrieve.

    Returns Any

init

  • async init(): None
  • Initialize the actor instance.

    This initializes the Actor instance. It configures the right storage client based on whether the actor is running locally or on the Apify platform, it initializes the event manager for processing actor events, and starts an interval for regularly sending PERSIST_STATE events, so that the actor can regularly persist its state in response to these events.

    This method should be called immediately before performing any additional actor actions, and it should be called only once.


    Returns None

is_at_home

  • is_at_home(): bool
  • Return True when the actor is running on the Apify platform, and False otherwise (for example when running locally).


    Returns bool

main

  • async main(main_actor_function): MainReturnType
  • Initialize the actor, run the passed function and finish the actor cleanly.

    The Actor.main() function is optional and is provided merely for your convenience. It is mainly useful when you’re running your code as an actor on the Apify platform.

    The Actor.main() function performs the following actions:

    • When running on the Apify platform (i.e. APIFY_IS_AT_HOME environment variable is set), it sets up a connection to listen for platform events. For example, to get a notification about an imminent migration to another server.
    • It invokes the user function passed as the main_actor_function parameter.
    • If the user function was an async function, it awaits it.
    • If the user function throws an exception or some other error is encountered, it prints error details to console so that they are stored to the log, and finishes the actor cleanly.
    • Finally, it exits the Python process, with zero exit code on success and non-zero on errors.

    Parameters

    • main_actor_function: Callable[[], MainReturnType]

      The user function which should be run in the actor

    Returns MainReturnType

metamorph

  • async metamorph(target_actor_id, run_input, target_actor_build, content_type, custom_after_sleep_millis): None
  • Transform this actor run to an actor run of a different actor.

    The platform stops the current actor container and starts a new container with the new actor instead. All the default storages are preserved, and the new input is stored under the INPUT-METAMORPH-1 key in the same default key-value store.


    Parameters

    • target_actor_id: str

      ID of the target actor that the run should be transformed into

    • optionalrun_input: Any

      The input to pass to the new run.

    • optionaltarget_actor_build: str

      The build of the target actor. It can be either a build tag or build number. By default, the run uses the build specified in the default run configuration for the target actor (typically the latest build).

    • optionalcontent_type: str

      The content type of the input.

    • optionalcustom_after_sleep_millis: int

      How long to sleep for after the metamorph, to wait for the container to be stopped.

    Returns None

new_client

  • new_client(token, api_url, max_retries, min_delay_between_retries_millis, timeout_secs): ApifyClientAsync
  • Return a new instance of the Apify API client.

    The ApifyClientAsync class is provided by the apify-client package, and it is automatically configured using the APIFY_API_BASE_URL and APIFY_TOKEN environment variables.

    You can override the token via the available options. That’s useful if you want to use the client as a different Apify user than the SDK internals are using.


    Parameters

    • optionaltoken: str

      The Apify API token

    • optionalapi_url: str

      The URL of the Apify API server to which to connect to. Defaults to https://api.apify.com

    • optionalmax_retries: int

      How many times to retry a failed request at most

    • optionalmin_delay_between_retries_millis: int

      How long will the client wait between retrying requests (increases exponentially from this value)

    • optionaltimeout_secs: int

      The socket timeout of the HTTP requests sent to the Apify API

    Returns ApifyClientAsync

off

  • off(event_name, listener): None
  • Remove a listener, or all listeners, from an actor event.


    Parameters

    • event_name: ActorEventTypes

      The actor event for which to remove listeners.

    • optionallistener: Callable

      The listener which is supposed to be removed. If not passed, all listeners of this event are removed.

    Returns None

on

  • on(event_name, listener): Callable
  • Add an event listener to the actor’s event manager.

    The following events can be emitted:

    • ActorEventTypes.SYSTEM_INFO: Emitted every minute, the event data contains info about the resource usage of the actor.
    • ActorEventTypes.MIGRATING: Emitted when the actor running on the Apify platform is going to be migrated to another worker server soon. You can use it to persist the state of the actor and gracefully stop your in-progress tasks, so that they are not interrupted by the migration..
    • ActorEventTypes.PERSIST_STATE: Emitted in regular intervals (by default 60 seconds) to notify the actor that it should persist its state, in order to avoid repeating all work when the actor restarts. This event is automatically emitted together with the migrating event, in which case the isMigrating flag in the event data is set to True, otherwise the flag is False. Note that this event is provided merely for your convenience, you can achieve the same effect using an interval and listening for the migrating event.
    • ActorEventTypes.ABORTING: When a user aborts an actor run on the Apify platform, they can choose to abort it gracefully, to allow the actor some time before getting terminated. This graceful abort emits the aborting event, which you can use to clean up the actor state.

    Parameters

    • event_name: ActorEventTypes

      The actor event for which to listen to.

    • listener: Callable

      The function which is to be called when the event is emitted (can be async).

    Returns Callable

open_dataset

  • async open_dataset(id, name, force_cloud): Dataset
  • Open a dataset.

    Datasets are used to store structured data where each object stored has the same attributes, such as online store products or real estate offers. The actual data is stored either on the local filesystem or in the Apify cloud.


    Parameters

    • optionalid: str

      ID of the dataset to be opened. If neither id nor name are provided, the method returns the default dataset associated with the actor run.

    • optionalname: str

      Name of the dataset to be opened. If neither id nor name are provided, the method returns the default dataset associated with the actor run.

    • force_cloud: bool

      If set to True then the Apify cloud storage is always used. This way it is possible to combine local and cloud storage.

    Returns Dataset

open_key_value_store

  • Open a key-value store.

    Key-value stores are used to store records or files, along with their MIME content type. The records are stored and retrieved using a unique key. The actual data is stored either on a local filesystem or in the Apify cloud.


    Parameters

    • optionalid: str

      ID of the key-value store to be opened. If neither id nor name are provided, the method returns the default key-value store associated with the actor run.

    • optionalname: str

      Name of the key-value store to be opened. If neither id nor name are provided, the method returns the default key-value store associated with the actor run.

    • force_cloud: bool

      If set to True then the Apify cloud storage is always used. This way it is possible to combine local and cloud storage.

    Returns KeyValueStore

open_request_queue

  • async open_request_queue(id, name, force_cloud): RequestQueue
  • Open a request queue.

    Request queue represents a queue of URLs to crawl, which is stored either on local filesystem or in the Apify cloud. The queue is used for deep crawling of websites, where you start with several URLs and then recursively follow links to other pages. The data structure supports both breadth-first and depth-first crawling orders.


    Parameters

    • optionalid: str

      ID of the request queue to be opened. If neither id nor name are provided, the method returns the default request queue associated with the actor run.

    • optionalname: str

      Name of the request queue to be opened. If neither id nor name are provided, the method returns the default request queue associated with the actor run.

    • force_cloud: bool

      If set to True then the Apify cloud storage is always used. This way it is possible to combine local and cloud storage.

    Returns RequestQueue

push_data

  • async push_data(data): None
  • Store an object or a list of objects to the default dataset of the current actor run.


    Parameters

    • data: Any

      The data to push to the default dataset.

    Returns None

reboot

  • async reboot(event_listeners_timeout_secs): None
  • Internally reboot this actor.

    The system stops the current container and starts a new one, with the same run ID and default storages.


    Parameters

    • optionalevent_listeners_timeout_secs: int

      How long should the actor wait for actor event listeners to finish before exiting

    Returns None

set_status_message

  • async set_status_message(status_message, is_terminal): Dict
  • Set the status message for the current actor run.


    Parameters

    • status_message: str

      The status message to set to the run.

    • optionalis_terminal: bool

      Set this flag to True if this is the final status message of the Actor run.

    Returns Dict

set_value

  • async set_value(key, value, content_type): None
  • Set or delete a value in the default key-value store associated with the current actor run.


    Parameters

    • key: str

      The key of the record which to set.

    • value: Any

      The value of the record which to set, or None, if the record should be deleted.

    • optionalcontent_type: str

      The content type which should be set to the value.

    Returns None

start

  • async start(actor_id, run_input, token, content_type, build, memory_mbytes, timeout_secs, wait_for_finish, webhooks): Dict
  • Run an actor on the Apify platform.

    Unlike Actor.call, this method just starts the run without waiting for finish.


    Parameters

    • actor_id: str

      The ID of the actor to be run.

    • optionalrun_input: Any

      The input to pass to the actor run.

    • optionaltoken: str

      The Apify API token to use for this request (defaults to the APIFY_TOKEN environment variable).

    • optionalcontent_type: str

      The content type of the input.

    • optionalbuild: str

      Specifies the actor build to run. It can be either a build tag or build number. By default, the run uses the build specified in the default run configuration for the actor (typically latest).

    • optionalmemory_mbytes: int

      Memory limit for the run, in megabytes. By default, the run uses a memory limit specified in the default run configuration for the actor.

    • optionaltimeout_secs: int

      Optional timeout for the run, in seconds. By default, the run uses timeout specified in the default run configuration for the actor.

    • optionalwait_for_finish: int

      The maximum number of seconds the server waits for the run to finish. By default, it is 0, the maximum value is 300.

    • optionalwebhooks: List[Dict]

      Optional ad-hoc webhooks (https://docs.apify.com/webhooks/ad-hoc-webhooks) associated with the actor run which can be used to receive a notification, e.g. when the actor finished or failed. If you already have a webhook set up for the actor or task, you do not have to add it again here. Each webhook is represented by a dictionary containing these items: * `event_types`: list of `WebhookEventType` values which trigger the webhook * `request_url`: URL to which to send the webhook HTTP request * `payload_template` (optional): Optional template for the request payload

    Returns Dict

Properties

apify_client

apify_client:

The ApifyClientAsync instance the Actor instance uses.

config

config:

The Configuration instance the Actor instance uses.

event_manager

event_manager:

The EventManager instance the Actor instance uses.

log

log:

The logging.Logger instance the Actor uses.