Overview

This node allows users to run an Apify actor synchronously without providing input and retrieve dataset items generated by the actor run. It is useful for automating web scraping, data extraction, or any task encapsulated in an Apify actor, where you want to trigger the actor and immediately get the results in various formats such as JSON, CSV, or XML. Practical examples include running a web scraper actor to collect product data from an e-commerce site and getting the results directly for further processing or analysis.

Use Case Examples

1. Run a web scraping actor to collect data and get the results as JSON for immediate use in a workflow.
2. Trigger a data extraction actor and receive the output as a CSV file for reporting purposes.

Properties

Name	Meaning
Actor ID	The identifier of the actor to run, which can be an actor ID, a tilde-separated owner's username and actor name, or a URL pointing to the actor.
Timeout	Optional timeout for the actor run in seconds, overriding the default run configuration.
Memory	Memory limit for the actor run in megabytes, overriding the default run configuration.
Max Items	Maximum number of dataset items to return from the actor run, useful for limiting results and controlling costs.
Build	Specifies the actor build to run, either by build tag or build number.
Webhooks	Base64-encoded JSON array defining optional webhooks to receive notifications about the actor run status.
Format	Format of the results returned, such as json, jsonl, csv, html, xlsx, xml, or rss.
Clean	If true, returns only non-empty items and skips hidden fields (fields starting with #).
Offset	Number of items to skip at the start of the dataset results.
Limit	Maximum number of items to return from the dataset.
Fields	Comma-separated list of fields to include in the output items, fixing the output format.
Omit	Comma-separated list of fields to omit from the output items.
Unwind	Comma-separated list of fields to unwind, expanding arrays or merging objects into separate records.
Flatten	Comma-separated list of fields to flatten nested objects into flat structures.
Desc	If true, returns results in reverse order.
Attachment	If true, forces the response to be downloaded as a file rather than displayed.
Delimiter	Delimiter character for CSV files, used only if format=csv.
Bom	If true, includes UTF-8 Byte Order Mark (BOM) in text responses, especially CSV files.
Xml Root	Overrides the default root element name for XML output.
Xml Row	Overrides the default element name wrapping each item in XML output.
Skip Header Row	If true, skips the header row in CSV output.
Skip Hidden	If true, skips hidden fields (fields starting with #) from the output.
Skip Empty	If true, skips empty items from the output.
Simplified	If true, applies legacy parameters to emulate simplified results from the legacy Apify Crawler product.
Skip Failed Pages	If true, skips items with errorInfo property, emulating legacy API behavior.
Use Custom Body	Whether to use a custom request body for the actor run.

Output

JSON

• items - Array of dataset items returned by the actor run in the specified format.

Dependencies

• Requires Apify API credentials (API key) to authenticate requests.

Troubleshooting

• Ensure the Actor ID is valid and accessible with the provided API credentials.
• Timeout errors may occur if the actor run exceeds the specified timeout; increase the timeout if needed.
• Memory limit errors can occur if the actor requires more memory than specified; adjust the memory parameter accordingly.
• Invalid format or query parameters may cause the API to reject the request; verify parameter values and formats.
• If using webhooks, ensure the webhook URLs are correctly encoded and reachable.

Links

• Apify Webhooks Documentation - Details on how to configure webhooks for actor runs.